In a small town far, far from here, lived three cranky, trouble-making old witches. Their names were Lotty, Millan and Hetty.

The townspeople were scared of the witches as they were very powerful. So, they did not complain when the witches decided they would like to make it rain on the town's annual picnic day.

Or, the day when the witches decided the happy chirping of the birds was too noisy and so put a silencing spell on them. The witches wanted everything how they wanted it and cast spells to make it that way.

Until - one day the witches went too far...

It was an especially wet, stormy afternoon and the postman was having a great deal of trouble getting his bike through the mud. Consequently, he was running a little late with his deliveries, which was quite understandable. Unfortunately, the witches were not the understanding type.

On this particular day, Millan was waiting for a special delivery of some herbs for her stew. When the postman arrived, Millan was even more cranky than usual.

With a flick of her wand and the whisper of a few magic words -

exsom, hipitty-hop - ha, ha!

she turned him into a toad!

The poor surprised postman could only croak and hop away, dragging the mailbag behind. Luckily for him, he'd already done his other deliveries for the day, or he may have been squished underneath it!

The next day, the sun came out and so did the children, to play. A little down the road from the witch's house lived a little boy with his mother and father. The little boy was having a wonderful time riding his shiny new red bike he had received for his birthday that year. It was his first two-wheeled bicycle, and best of all it had a little silver bell that he could ring as he rode around the yard.

His parents were doing the gardening while watching him riding round and round. The little boy was squealing with excitement and his parents laughed with him when he occasionally crashed.

The witches however, did not share in their enthusiasm. They did not like shiny red bikes, silver ringing bells or bright, sunny, warm days. They especially did not like squealing little boys.

I've had enough!

All that squealing and noise is giving me a headache !

"We know how to take care of that little problem don't we", cackled Millan. All three witches nodded in agreement and they followed Millan up the creaky spiral staircase to the balcony overlooking the neighbour's yard.

"Would you like the pleasure, Hetty?" cackled Lotty.

"Yes, thank you," and with the of a flick of her wand and the whisper of a few magic words -

exsom, hipitty-hop - ha, ha!

she turned the little boy into a toad. The little boy's parents were not nearly as pleased as the witches were about their son's sudden change.

"Oh, my little boy, what have they done to you!" his mother wailed.

"How dare you! Change him back this instant!" yelled his father angrily.

"Nobody talks to us like that!" exclaimed the witches and...

with the flick of their wands and the whisper of a few magic words -

exsom, hipitty-hop - ha, ha!

they turned the little boy's parents into toads too!

The townspeople began to get rather concerned about this latest development. It had not gone unnoticed that people around town had suddenly begun turning into toads. A special town meeting was held to decide what should be done about this. The people of the town all agreed that the police chief should go to the witches and demand that they stop turning people into toads. The only one who didn't agree was the police chief. However, it was his job, so that evening off he went.

The police chief nervously walked up the overgrown pathway leading to the witch's house. He stepped through the squeaky gate and slowly walked up the creaky wooden stairs to the front porch. He rang the rusty old bell by the front door and waited. It was Millan who stepped out from the musty darkness of the house into the moonlight.

"Yes," she murmured.

"Good evening ma'am. I'm Police Chief Mately".

"Yes," she murmured again. The police chief was only made to feel more nervous by Millan's silence and seeing the crooked old white faces of the two other witches hovering just inside the door did not help to ease his nerves. He cleared his throat and tried to sound gruff and serious.

"I'm here to inform you - er - ladies, that if you do not stop turning people into toads, I am going to have to ask you to leave this town or be arrested". The witches let out loud cries of laughter. Then Hetty stepped forward and they all suddenly fell silent.

"I don't think we'll be going anywhere," she hissed and...

with a flick of her wand and the whisper of a few magic words -

exsom, hipitty-hop - ha, ha!

she turned him into a toad.

The next morning, when there was no police chief to be found and in his place only a sad croaking toad, the townspeople knew straight away what had happened. They also knew they only had one last chance.

Another town meeting was held and a messenger was chosen.

Michael was a bright young man who was very brave. He was to ride

his horse to the next town and deliver a letter to the three young warlocks that were visiting there.

These warlocks were said to be kind and had been known to help people in the past. The letter discussed the matter of the witches turning people into toads and begged the warlocks for their help.

When Michael arrived in the town he asked a couple of people if they knew where he could find the warlocks. Finally, someone did and they directed him to an older, but neat and tidy house, on the edge of town. When he arrived at the house, he tied his horse outside the front gate. Michael quickly walked up the little path lined with brightly coloured flowers and sprung up the steps to the front door.

He rapped on the bright golden knocker and the door

opened suddenly.

A tall, pleasant looking man in a royal blue robe answered the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked smiling.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir," answered Michael, still puffing from the frantic ride, "but it's an emergency". He handed the letter from the townspeople to the warlock, hopefully. As the warlock read the letter, a frown slowly grew on his face.

"It seems you have quite a problem. My name is Simon. Please come in and have some refreshments. You must be very thirsty and tired from your ride. I shall see that your horse gets some water and food too, and we will see what we can do for you".

Michael thanked him wholeheartedly and followed him inside. Simon introduced him to the two other warlocks, Xavier and Lucas. They then sat and discussed what would be the best action to take. As Lucas pointed out, the three warlocks, although quite powerful, were no match for the three much older and more experienced witches.

"We cannot beat them face to face," Xavier agreed.

Simon nodded his head, "We must find a way to trick them".

They all sat up until the early hours of the morning. By sunrise, they had agreed on a plan and even though Michael had had no sleep, he left for home straight away. He was eager to be rid of the witches once and for all, before all his family and friends became toads.

The warlocks bid him farewell at the gate and handed him two sacks to take with him. One had food and water for the trip home and the other, Michael tied securely to his horse.

"Farewell my friend," said Simon, shaking Michael's hand warmly.

"How can we ever repay you?" answered Michael gratefully.

"Someday, sometime, we may just need your help," replied Xavier.

"Well, if you ever do," said Michael, climbing up onto his horse, "although I can't imagine how I could be of help to you, just say the word and you can count on me," and off he rode.