Minchkin and Pinchkin of Merricourt

Sample of:

–

Minchkin and Pinchkin 

– 

of Merricourt

 

–

Written by:

Jan Harting

Stephen N. Bradley

 © Stephen Bradley 2014

–

Jan Harting was my grandmother.  My brother and I called her “Doty.”  She loved all of the kids that went to Merricourt Kindergarten in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Merricourt was open from 1946 until 1979. The address was 157 Fairview Ave.  I had the distinct privilege and joy of living with my grandmother while, she was running Merricourt.  I have nothing but very wonderful memories.  I miss you and love you “Doty.”

–

I quote from my grandmother (Doty): To you thousands of children of Daytona Beach who came to Merricourt, I love you; and to all those I did not know, I love you, too.

–

For

Franklyn and Nana

Doty

Jacqueline

–

The following story is about the two elves, Minchken and Pinchkin.  My grandmother, “Doty,” came up with these wonderful elves while she was operating Merricourt Kindergarten.  I hope you enjoy the story, mostimportantly I hope “Doty,” enjoys the story.

–

Minchkin and Pinchkin are two elves from Fairyland.  The two elves live in oak trees. Acorns, fruit, and leaves are all they eat.  They are sometimes referred to as the Merricourt Pixies.  They both dress alike, both in a green jacket, yellow breeches, and a little brown cap that comes up to a point at the top.  A silver bell dangles from the pointed top of the cap and merry little bells jingle from the pointed toes of their brown shoes.

–

Both elves have twisted legs and wrinkled faces, and for good reason. Both elves are very old.  No one knows their age, but both are so very old.  The two elves love children and the two of them enjoy doing good things for good little boys and girls.  Of course, because of their love of children the two elves live in an oak tree where they can watch good little boys and girls play.  The place they live is called Merricourt. They did not always live in Merricourt.  Years before, they lived in a place called Fairyland.  In Fairyland, there was also an old mean wicked witch named Grada.

–

Of course, because of their love of children the two elves live in the oak tree where they can watch good little boys and girls play.  The place they live is called Merricourt.

They did not always live in Merricourt.  Years before, they lived in a place called Fairyland.  In Fairyland, there was also an old mean wicked witch named Grada.

–

The two elves lived in a small town, in a land far far away. There were the elves mother and father, Andrew and Jane Mesek.  The elves also had 66 brothers. The whole family was happy and living a wonderful life.  One day the wicked witch Grada, who was not a very nice witch, decided that she was going to do something about this Mesek family. She was a mean old ugly witch who was not nice and did not like the Mesek family who were always nice.  One day, Grada burned down the Mesek house in Fairyland.

–

The elves were not at home when Grada burned down their home.  When Grada burned down their house, the two elves were off playing with their little pixie friends. The elves never knew what happened to their father and mother, along with their 66 brothers.  The two elves looked sadly through the ashes of their burnt down house but found no clue of their parents or many brothers.  They lost their entire family; the elves were so sad, so they decided to leave Fairyland and get away from the mean old witch Grada.  They both climbed aboard a white cloud and floated up into the air.

–

The elves traveled a very long ways riding the white cloud, after traveling very far they landed and stepped off the white cloud onto a river bank. They had no idea where they had landed, except that it was very far away from Fairyland. They were still so sad about the wicked witch Grada burning down their home and over the loss of their family. The two of them just sat there on the river bank and cried. They just sat side by side leaning against one another wondering what was going to happen to them. Someone heard their sobs. A leprechaun who was visiting from Ireland was now living in an oak tree not far from where the elves were sitting.  The leprechaun felt bad for these two elves crying by the river.  The leprechaun pulled on his green boots, then got into his green coat and jumped out of the trunk of an oak tree.  He went to see the two crying elves.  He walked up to the elves very slowly and asked them in a very gentle manner, “What’s the matter, little elves, why are you so unhappy?”

–

The elves told the leprechaun about what happened.  The leprechaun felt so very sorry for these two small elves.  He reassured them that they had nothing to be afraid of in this new land.  The leprechaun put one arm around Minchkin and his other arm around Pinchkin, they all walked to the oak tree where the leprechaun lived.  All three climbed into the trunk of the oak tree.  The elves were both so tired so they both laid down.  The leprechaun felt so sad for the elves, he sang them to sleep. He sang:

–

“Go to sleep Minchkin and Pinchkin too,

Fireflies and goblins cannot harm you.

Good elves and fairies are caring for you,

Sleep now and rest you, all the night through.”

(To the tune of “Rock-a-bye Baby”)

–

Pinchkin who was younger and smaller than Minchkin fell asleep almost right away.  The leprechaun and Minchkin made a bed of Spanish moss from the oak tree and in no time at all; all three were in dreamland.

–

The next morning all three of them woke up.  The leprechaun made all three of them a breakfast of acorns and fruit.  After everyone had breakfast, the leprechaun showed both elves how to climb the oak tree. He also showed them how to climb to the tops of the oak trees.  In no time at all, the three of them were jumping from tree to tree swinging from one tree to another catching the branches and swinging to the next tree. The leprechaun then took the elves to his workshop.  The leprechaun told the two elves that he spent most of his time making shoes for the poor children.  He showed them several shelves of shoes that were ready to be left on the doorsteps.  The leprechaun also had a little candy kitchen where he made peppermint sticks.  He explained to the elves that he loved to drop a peppermint stick out of a tree whenever a good child was near enough to catch it.

–

It was not too much later, and in the back yard of this big two story white house, there were slides, a sandbox, and swings.  Very soon after that, the elves woke up one morning and saw the pleasant woman.  She was opening the white gate to the big back yard.  Many children were lined up at the gate.  The children made their way into the big back yard. They started playing in the sand box, swinging on the swings, and sliding down the slides. “Oh!” exclaimed Minchkin, “This is going to be a garden of children now.  We’ll have children here every day to watch and play with.”

–

“Goody, goody!” said Pinchkin.  Of course, the children could not hear their tiny voices or the bells on their caps and shoes.  “Remember,” said Pinchkin to his brother, “We must never let the children see us.”  All that day the elves scampered from treetop to treetop watching the children at play.  Some of the little boys and girls shoveled sand in the sandbox.  Some children slid down the slides.  Some went high up in the air in a swing that was attached to the tree in which two elves lived.  Some of the children played with toys on the grass.

–

All of a sudden, Miss Jan, the pleasant lady in charge of the children clapped her hands very loudly.  When the children heard her, they stopped swinging on the swings, stopped sliding down the slides, and the shovels stopped shoveling.  “Come children,” said Miss Jan, “Now we’ll all sit under the tree.”  The children obeyed her and sat in their little red, blue, green, and yellow chairs under the old oak tree.  That is, all obeyed her except one boy who was very naughty.  He was doing his best to break the wheels off a toy truck.

–

Miss Jan, called, “Come, Terry.”  Terry made an ugly face and said, ” No, I won’t come.” Just then Minchkin pulled an acorn out of his green jacket pocket and popped an acorn right off Terry’s nose.  Terry looked up, but he couldn’t see anything.  He then looked at Miss Jan, and he saw that her face was now big and red.  She clapped her hands again, now louder than ever.  Terry decided he better mind Miss Jan, so he walked over and sat down with the other children.

–

“Now, children,” said Miss Jan in a soft sweet voice, “We are going to learn about two little words, be kind.”  Minchkin and Pinchkin were listening to her too.  “Can any of my children tell me what ‘be kind’ means?” asked Miss Jan. Judy raised her hand and said, “I would be kind to Billy if I pulled him in the wagon.”  Then Billy spoke up, “I would be kind if I always obeyed Miss Jan.”  Each child seemed to know a way to be kind.  Terry was the last one to speak.  “I was not kind. I pulled the wheels off the toy truck, but now I am sorry.” “Terry,” said Miss Jan, ” I’m sure you understand now what be kind means. The only rule we have in our garden of children is the two little words, be kind.”

–

All the children promised that they would obey the rule, “be kind.”  Suddenly a shower of peppermint sticks dropped from the tree into their laps.  The children shrieked with delight, but Miss Jan did not seem to know what all the excitement was about.  Ever since that day children have been coming and going through the white gate of the garden.  They are happy good children.  Of course, Miss Jan doesn’t know it but she has plenty of help from Minchkin and Pinchkin.

–

Thank you for reading this short sample from my new to be released book: Minchkin and  Pinchkin of Merricourt.

Stephen N. Bradley