Trafford Publishing: Knotty Wood: Secret of the Sacred Ibis

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Knotty Wood: Secret of the Sacred Ibis

by Barbara Ann White

62 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); Color Illustrations; catalogue #04-2835; ISBN 1-4120-5026-x; US$26.00, C$30.00, EUR21.50, £15.00

After Thoth the moon god uses his magic powers, Knotty Wood (home to creatures from all over the world) turns into a place of mystery full of secrets and intrigue.

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About the Book About the Author Excerpts Catalogue Information

About the Book

The forest where Duck lived caught fire from the heat of the sun. Duck and all the animals fled to safety. All alone, tired and hungry, not able to find his Mom and Dad sad little Duck fell asleep only to be discovered by Maggie Magpie the next morning. She takes him to her home in Knotty Wood were creatures from all over the world live happily together. Mystery and intrigue starts to evolve around a thin scraggy scare crow bird that has lived in the wood for many years his name is George. George is a special friend to all the animals and birds because they believe the wood belongs to him and he planted all the trees in Knotty Wood. This puzzled little Duck because most of the trees appeared to be well over a hundred years old. Even when the GREAT BATTLE erupted and men began to cut down trees, every creature big and small fought for days to stop the destruction of 'George's Wood'. A new friend of Ducks called Bertie Blackbird was shocked when told an unbelievable, crazy, impossible story called THE GREAT MOVE. How George had moved rivers, barns, fields and lakes to a new location. Who was George? Who was Thoth? Why did Thoth the moon god with magic powers suddenly appear with his sacred Ibis bird? Duck certainly was very confused also very excited. He happily finds his Mom and Dad at an incredible REST CENTRE teaching damaged animals how to look after themselves. Having always loved solving mysteries, Duck proudly announces to his Mom and Dad that he has been made 'MYSTERY SOLVER OF KNOTTY WOOD', but will he be able to solve all the secrets and mysteries of Knotty Wood and find answers to so many questions?

About the Author

Two years ago Barbara, her husband Jack and daughter Emma together with their animals moved to the Eastern Cape South Africa. Barbara and Jack to open an art gallery in St Francis Bay and Emma to attend the University in Port Elizabeth for a B.A. in Media and Communications. Son David, his wife Michelle and grandson Adam happily not far away in Cape Town also have an art gallery. Barbara and Jack are totally involved with all aspects of their gallery as well as photography, writing, painting, design and architecture living in a wonderful environment close to the sea. Recently they made a new 'friend' a Cape Clawless Otter on an early morning walk. Their dogs mesmerised and puzzled watched as this strange creature splashed around in the waves a couple of meters away teasing and showing off. Olly Wolly is his name now and he is included in Barbara's next book. This kind of incidence of which there are many, together with hundreds of bedtime stories Emma was told when very young at home in England, led to Emma convincing Mom to write the stories down. Knotty Wood: Secret of the Sacred Ibis is the first.

All this is far removed from the hectic professional life of lecturing and design work in her home country. After seven years full time study, graduating with 1st class honours from the Royal College of Art London UK, she went on to lecture for 12 years in architecture, environmental design and art in London. During the same period producing designs for hotels throughout England and Sri Lanka. Interiors for Mbale Cathedral Uganda, holiday village in Greece, sailing school in Scotland, exhibitions in Germany, England and Milan, art critic for the National Newspaper, and buyer and valuer of art works for the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and the Museum of African Art in Belgium etc etc.

Now in the harmony of St. Francis where birds, animals, whales, dolphins and seals live against a backdrop of tremendous winds, incredible sky formations and thundering waves Barbara is free to pursue painting, design, writing and research, areas of great interest that will eventually help in different ways to contribute to conservation and wild life.

Excerpts

Duck was alarmed, he kept very still. Then he heard a soft and gentle voice say "Oh, all of you are so silly" and then a laugh. "This isn't an evil night vampire it's a very dirty duck". The silence was broken with laughter, laughter from all the little faces that had stared at Duck through the holes. Duck wiped the tears of panic from his eyes and also began to laugh. He was surrounded by dormice, frogs, rabbits, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies and birds. The biggest bird was a Magpie - Maggie Magpie with the soft gentle voice. They all thought Duck was an evil night vampire because he was black with soot from the burnt forest. His eyes were red from the smoke and crying, and with two big yellow flat feet, he looked very frightening.

***

This is what George wrote as he flew from branch to branch; WAR BATTLE; KNOTTY WOOD ...... Reason: - trees must not be cut down. Over 2000 creatures of Knotty Wood birds, spiders, beetles, snakes, animals, butterflies, flies, mosquitoes, fish, lizards, bats and worms all came together today and because I am their friend they are helping me to get rid of forever the 103 men who are chopping down the trees to make strawberry fields. This is what I can see:

Pigeons and doves are swooping down pulling out the men's hair.
Cows are making flops everywhere so that the men slip on them.
Bees are landing on the men's noses in groups of 6 and stinging.
Flies are buzzing in men's ears,three at a time.
Snakes are tripping men over by lying all around their feet.
Fish are splashing men with water. The men are all wet now.
Spiders are spinning thick webs around the men's ankles. They fall when they try to walk.
Baby birds and Moths are fluttering along shaking pollen into men's eyes.
Beetles are crawling inside the men's shirts, tickling.
Mosquitoes are biting the men everywhere. They are covered in red lumps.
Eagles are dropping stinking rotten meat onto the men's faces and clothes.
Seagulls are dropping onto men's heads dung rolled up by the dung beetles.
Owls are cutting men's shoulders as they land to hoot down their ears.
Grasshoppers are jumping in and out of the men's noses.
Bats are whizzing and screaming around the men's heads making dreadful noises. The Men are dizzy.
And so the list went on and on page after page. Even the smallest of all the creatures in the wood were helping. Baby spiders were bungee jumping from the branches of trees with small pieces of wax dipped in honey given by the bees. As a baby spider reached the top of a man's head it would let go of the sticky ball landing it 'plonk' on their hair.

The tiny fleas lay waiting in the grass to jump up as soon as a man walked near. Up their trouser legs they would go biting as they went. The little worms and grubs managed to get rides on the beautiful butterfly's backs. As the butterflies fluttered over the arms of the men, the worms and grubs flicked out bits of stinging nettles coated in sticky bud glue on to the bare arms, stinging as they stuck to the skin.

Even the hard working ants had collected the largest prickles from the rose bushes and placed them with spikes from the thorn bushes all around the trunks of the trees. These spikes and prickles cut through the covers the men had on their feet and made their feet so sore they could hardly walk. The men fell, groaned and cried out in pain, itchy, hurting, all freezing cold with wet smelly clothes, sticky hair and faces red from mosquito bites, eyes all puffed with pollen and their noses were huge because of the bee stings.

They began to run and shuffle away as best they could. Cars started up and screeched out of the wood at full speed. The only helicopter took off so fast it turned upside down. Men on bicycles rode fast over lumps, bumps and rocks until the wheels were all buckled and bent but they still kept going. The men, who couldn't walk because of spider's webs and snakes tying their feet together, crawled so fast they looked like lizards with sore knees. The battle went on for hours, until the last man, in such a mess because he had tripped and fallen into the bees large honey pot, jumped into the river and swam to safety.

***

Berties day was also wonderful with all his helpers. They planted strawberry seeds in every patch they could find, in every corner and crack, around rocks, close to fences, up slopes, top sides of waterfalls, under ledges, everywhere. When they all grow Bertie told his friends, our wood will look so pretty with all the strawberry patches. We will have to call the wood - Knotty Strawberry Wood. They all laughed because of the way he said it, it sounded like Nutty Strawberry Wood. "Best of all" said Bertie who was laughing so much he could hardly speak. "That naughty frog by the Rock pool said to Fat Rabbit, who you know loves strawberries. "Fat Rabbit" he said "you must watch the strawberries because they grow very quickly.' "How quickly? Asked Fat Rabbit. "Oh a couple of hours" said frog and walked away. "Well Fat Rabbit is still sitting by a planted patch of strawberry seeds, drooling at the mouth waiting to eat them". Bertie could hardly finish the sentence because he was doubled over laughing.

***

"We all decided we wanted to leave River Marsh and find another place to live but it turned out to be impossible. Everyone wanted to leave but everyone wanted to stay. Bertie looked a little confused. "So what happened? What did you all do?" Asked Bertie, very excited that George was telling him all this. Wait till I tell Maggie and Duck he thought.

"The birds had special trees they lived in and didn't want to leave them. The geese, ducks and swans had special ponds they swam in. The owls, bats and mice had special barns as their homes. The fish had beautiful pools and rivers they loved to swim in every day. Cows, horses and donkeys had fresh green fields of food every day. Beatles and spiders had bushes everywhere to play in. I could go on and on." said George. A big decision was made by all to move but only if they could take the trees and ponds and barns, pools, rivers, fields, bushes and plants with them." Bertie nearly fell over backwards from the log he was sitting on in shock as he said. "Move Rivers, ponds, trees and fields - all to another place - that's not possible - it's crazy. They must have been mad." George laughed. "No no, he told Bertie. "It was possible and we did it." Bertie did fall over backwards this time. "Where did they go?" gulped Bertie picking himself up and sitting on the log again. "Well" continued George "everyone searched for months until they found a huge old farm left empty and bare for years and years. It was dreadful to look at. Not one tree or bush, no flowers not one blade of grass. All the creatures great and small decided to move to this farm and make it their home. The first thing they had to do was to carry tons of the fertile marsh soil, to the new farm. Everyone helped. Backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards they went for years carrying the soil. The massive eagles and goats were strong, they carried buckets and buckets of soil but the little dung beetles took a long time. They found long hollow reeds, filled them with soil and six of them together carried one long reed to their new home, again backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards. Buildings, barns, fences and gates were taken to pieces and carried by the horses and donkeys to where they were to be rebuilt." Bertie could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Rivers." He asked "How did you manage that? How can you move a river?" George told him it was one of the easy problems. All the river animals dug and dug until a trench reached the new location from the old river. The beavers opened the dams on the old river and the water rushed down the trenches to new dug out ponds and lakes. "Oh my" gasped Bertie Blackbird. "I wish Maggie and Duck were listening to all this, they will never believe me when I repeat what you have said George".

***

"There was a huge flash and a dazzling light covered everything. This sparkling light was whirling through the trees and began spinning faster and faster around George. From the centre bathed in yellow from the sun emerged a magnificent sacred Ibis with wings stretched out each side - it was George. George moved slowly until the fading glow around him vanished like a puff of smoke upwards to the heavens.

A sudden gust of wind blew, and then all was still. Bertie said it was a magic sight, he had never seen anything like it before. I wish I had seen it, don't you Duck?' Duck listened to every word Snail had used describing how George had been returned to becoming a sacred Ibis again.

Duck and Snail stood so very still looking at each other. Eventually Snail whispered. "Are you alright Duck?" Duck whispered back. "Oh yes Snail. Please, would you kindly tell me all that again? I always thought magic was pretend, not real. All that happened to George was real magic wasn't it Snail?' Snail nodded and began the story again.

Catalogue Information