05 The Gruncher Knows You're Up Here

The Gruncher Knows You're Up Here Little Billy saw a room that was lit by a pale yellow light of some sort and it was furnished with beautifully made miniature chairs and a table. To one side was a four-poster bed. It was like one of the rooms Little Billy had once seen in the Queen's Doll's House at Windsor Castle.

'It's beautiful,' Little Billy said. 'Are they all as lovely as this one?' 'Most are smaller,' the old Minpin said. 'This one is very grand because I am the Ruler of this tree. My name is Don Mini. What is yours?' 'Mine is Little Billy,' Little Billy said. 'Greetings, Little Billy,' Don Mini said. 'You are welcome to look into some of the other rooms if you wish. We are very proud of them.' All the other Minpin families wanted to show Little Billy their own rooms. They rushed about along the branches calling out, 'Come and see mine! Please come and see mine!' Little Billy began climbing about and peeping into the tiny windows. Through one window he saw a bathroom, just like his own at home only a thousand times

smaller. And through another he saw a classroom with lots of tiny desks and a blackboard at one end. In every room there was a stairway in one corner leading up to the room above. As Little Billy went from window to window, the Minpins followed him, clustering round and

smiling at his exclamations of wonder. 'They're all absolutely marvellous,' he said. 'They're much nicer than our rooms at home.' When the sightseeing tour was over, Little Billy sat down again on a large branch and said to the whole company of Minpins, 'Look, I've had a lovely time with you all, but how am I ever going to get home again? My mother'll be going crazy.' 'You can never get down from this tree,' Don Mini said. 'I've told you that. If you're stupid enough to try, you'll be eaten up in five seconds.'

'Is it the Spittler?' Little Billy asked. 'Is it the Terrible Bloodsuckling Toothpluckling Stonechuckling Spittler?' 'I've never heard of any Spittler,' Don Mini said. 'The one waiting for you down there is the fearsome Gruncher, the Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher. He grunches up everything in the forest. That's why we have to live up here. He has grunched up hundreds of humans and literally millions of Minpins. What makes him so

dangerous is his amazing and magical nose. His nose can smell out a human or a Minpin or any other animal from ten miles away. Then he gallops towards it at terrific speed. He can never see anything in front of him because of all the smoke he belches out from his nose and mouth, but that doesn't bother him. His nose tells him exactly where to go.' 'Why does he blow out all that smoke?' Little Billy asked. 'Because he's got a red-hot fire in his belly,' Don Mini said. 'The Gruncher likes his meat roasted, and the fire roasts it as it goes down.' 'Look,' said Little Billy, 'Gruncher or no Gruncher, I've simply got to get home somehow. I'll have to make a dash for it.' 'Don't try it, I beg you,' Don Mini said. 'The Gruncher knows you're up here. He's down there now waiting for you. Climb down a bit lower with me and I'll show you.'