The Sky Bird

by Laura O'Reilly, age 11, from New Zealand

A long time ago there was an enchanted forest. Everything that lived there was magical in some way. There were pink and green striped tigers who could turn anything into ice cream. Or the flying pigs who had their own airline. And that was not all. The most fantastic plants grew there, The money trees grew edible money all year round. The fruit was juicy and delicious. It tasted like anything you wanted it to. You only had to imagine it. The unicorns roamed free and wild. They could grant any of your wishes.

Everything in the forest could talk. The owner of the forest was a sorcerer named Emen. Emen could conjure up anything except another human. With all of his forest friends and all of his spells, Emen was never truly happy. With his 100th birthday coming up, the forest animals wanted to cheer him up.

"What can we do to help him?" a dream pondered.

"What is the one thing he really wants?" wondered a small violet dragon.

"A human friend, of course!" said the sky bird. The sky bird was made out of the purest, whitest cloud with thin delicate feathers made out of silver and gold. It had eyes the color of the sky on a summer day. If you looked closely, the middle of each eye looked like it was on fire. Its mesmerizing eyes could hypnotize even Emen!