"Once upon a time there was a shabby wolf" is a saga in 12 episodes written by T. Isyoma (a pen name). The saga is now available as a Finnish audiobook (3,5 hours) with 32 accompanied songs and furnished with sound effects.  

T. Isyoma is a father who many years ago created and told her youngest daughter, when she was a preschooler, animal fairy tales about a black wolf-cub who was born in the Sun Island of the South Sea. He was nicknamed Shabby by his malicious elder brothers, who didn't let him eat meat so that he had to eat vegetables, fruits and coconuts. Shabby becomes vegetarian and works his way through the crooked plots of his evil brother Roarroary and Roarroary's evil spouse Roarytar, the tiger shark Mackie, the dragon Holocaust and Evilspecter. He is assisted by the owl Professor Alzheimer, the wild boar chief Sauerbruch, the sea eagle Robinson, the giantsnail Columbus and dolphins Hermes and Aphrodite at sea. 

Shabby the Smart overcomes all hardships, becomes King of the Sun Island and convinces all meat-eaters of his kingdom to eat vegetables, fruits and coconuts, i.e. to become vegetarians.

As an adult, the daughter remembered the Shabby stories and asked Dad to take them down so that she could tell them to her own kids. Below you'll see a few samples of these illustrated stories.

Table of contents 

1. Once upon a time there was a wolf-cub.

2. Shabby and the cocoanuts

3. Shabby and the mean plan of Roarroary

4. Shabby and Mackie, the cruel tiger shark

5. Shabby in distress at sea

6. Shabby and the election of the new king

7. Shabby and the revenge plan of Roarytar

8. Shabby and Evilspecter-Hellanlettas

9. Shabby and Holocaust, the dragon

10. Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye

11. Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye arrive at Sun Island

12. King Shabby the Smart and Queen Twinkle-eye the Sweet

ATTENTION! Below you'll see the complete manuscript of the story, edited in English. After you've browsed it, you see sample pages of the Finnish story furnished with the illustration and the list of all 32 songs, as well. At the end of this presentation you could listen two files of spoken introduction and eight accompanied songs sung by the author in his broken English!

1. Once upon a time there was a wolf-cub…

Once upon a time there was a small island far, far away in the South Sea. The sun shone there all day and the gentle ocean waves flushed the shores of the leafy island. The animals called their cosy dwelling place Sun Island. They lived there in accordance with the Unwritten Animal Law. None of them had seen a single human being in their entire life.

On the top of a high hill, just in the middle of the island, there was a Meeting Square. On one end of this Meeting Square stood a mighty stone block called the Base. The King of Sun Island, an age-old, grey-bearded bear Parkinson, sat upon the Base and solved all disputes between his subjects by waving his trembling paw: It was forbidden for the meat-eaters to chase the plant-eaters and each other in the Meeting Square. Palm Beach was also reserved for peaceful coexistence.
The wisest being of Sun Island was an owl, Professor Alzheimer. He lived in the hole of a big oak. He was two hundred years old, in his own view. Even King Parkinson asked the owl-professor for zoo-juridical advice, which was interpreted in everyday animal speech by the assistant of the owl professor, the hopelessly curious parrotpecker Knocker.
In the spring, on a moon-lit night, four wolf-cubs were born on the wolf-family of Sun Island. Three of them were big, chubby and pale grey, but the fourth and the last-born was small, weak and pitch-black. The father, Brutmonster, was a widely feared rabbit-hunter, while their mother Darling preferred cleaning the nest cave. She often sang her small wolf-cubs the lullaby of wolves:

Doze off my little ones. This night will pass so fast.
With bellies filled with milk. Your dreams will be sweet as silk.
All noises are fading away. Your eyelids so heavily weigh!
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh. Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.

At long last the day dawned, when according to the Unwritten Statute of the Unwritten Animal Law, the wolf pups had to stop drinking breast milk and become meat-eaters. For their big day, father Brutmonster hunted a fat mother-rabbit and tore it into three parts with his robust jaws; one front leg for himself, another for Darling-mother and the rest for his four sons.
" That’s it, boys!" Brutmonster growled. "Come and get it!"!

Darling-mother felt sad and slipped out of the den; the childhood of her little ones was over. However, father Brutmonster proudly watched his sons attack the bloody rabbit- meat and devour it in two ticks. The smallest one, the pitch-black was pushed aside by his bigger brothers. Dad, I didn´t get anything!" the small one whined. Father Brutmonster frowned and bellowed,The truewolf has to hold one´s own, Be faster, lick breast milk now!"

The big brothers lolled on the floor with plump bellies. Brutmonster ordered them to rise and growled, "You three will soon be truevolves feared by the rabbits and all plant-eaters. According to the Wolf Statute, I’ll give you three your first wolf names now. "You", he pointed to one, "who so bravely attacked the rabbit first, are called Roar, and you," he indicated the next, who was clumsy but still the second, are Sulky. But you, who first only giggled, let your name be Frisky. A truevolf never giggles at food, so laugh only in your mind! Only after you’ve caught your first rabbit all by yourselves, I give you the right to use your truevolf names, Roarroary, Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky. Then Brutmonster growled to the smallest, pitch-black one, who lolled in the corner, sad and hungry,
"You, because you are so helpless and look so shabby, you’ll get your first name only after you’ve tasted rabbit-meat."
The bigger brothers burst into laughter, pointed at their unhappy little brother with their bloody paws and yelled, "Shabby, shabby! The name suits for you perfectly; even your fur is earthy!"
Darling-mother heard the noisy laughter, peeped in and asked, smiling gently, "What's so funny, my little ones?"

"Mother, we’re little ones no more," Roary answered, "but will soon be truevolves!" We’ll eat only meat from now on. We only laughed at our shabby brother over there." Roary guffawed and pointed at their little brother. "He’ll get his first wolf name only after having eaten meat. Now he didn’t get even a bite, we three ate all the meat! Hi-hi!
"It’s easily arranged!" Darling-mother purred. "I give a mouthful of my own meat-bit to my little one.”
"No, you don’t!" father Brutmonster thundered. "The truevolf must learn to take care of himself! Or do you want our son will be a poor wolf instead? Have you ignored the Wolf Statute?"

Darling-mother slipped out quietly, as the obedient wolf-mothers do.

Hunger rumbled in the tiny belly of the small, pitch-black wolf pup and a tear rolled on his cheek. He turned around against the wall…and his snout hit on the wild carrots sticking from the roof. Being so hungry, he snapped one of them in his mouth and the carrot disappeared in his belly in a flash! Suddenly, he was hungry no more and finally fell asleep in the far corner behind his big brothers competing in snoring father Brutmonster.

The next day, father Brutmonster threw a new rabbit to his sons. Again the big brothers devoured all meat leaving nothing for their pitch-black little brother, who had no choice but to eat another carrot. The scorn of his big brothers didn’t make the little brother cry that time. "It’s all the same, what I eat, if it makes me full." He consoled his anxious Darling-mother. "Besides, even the smell of bloody rabbit-meat makes me feel sick."

One day Shabby-- the name with which the pitch-black wolf-pup had started to call himself-- left his brothers to play hunting games in the sunny meadow. He walked to the surrounding jungle, feeling, a bit frightened because of the high trees, dark shadows, strange voices and smells. While slipping down the narrow path between the trees, he took heart by singing a self-made song.

A wolf-puppy here is wandering. The jungle is vast and frightening.
But go on to find something to eat. Otherwise you’ll be entirely weak.

Shabby began to pick berries along the path. Oh, how tasty they were! Humming his battle hymn, he walked deeper in the jungle scaring rabbits and small plant-eaters. Suddenly, the path made a sharp turn and what a moment of horror! Right in the middle of the path there stood a long, yellow creature with a ragged, black tongue sticking out of his mouth. Shabby's heart jumped and he tried to growl but could only weakly squeak.

Is this beast a snake, which Darling-mother warned of? He wondered. But a snake hisses, twists and turns. This beast in front of him lay motionless. Hmm, it’s so small, could it be a snake-puppy? Shabby took heart and politely asked, "Excuse me, are you a snake-puppy? I’m Shabby, a wolf-puppy. What’s your name?"
The yellow creature with the black tongue neither answered nor moved. Shabby reached out and touched it cautiously with his paw. The creature swung around, Shabby was scared again, jumped backwards and hit his head against something above him. He saw bunches of yellow-green creatures, similar to the one in the path, hanging from green-leaved bushes. Shabby sighed in relief, but asked again, for safety’s sake: "You’re not a snake?"
Because the yellow creature still didn’t answer, Shabby got an idea and said to himself aloud. "You look like a carrot, could I possibly eat you?" He gently touched the skin of the yellow-green creature and bit. He grimaced at first, but then smacked his lips, when his tongue touched its mellow, white meat.

Hmm, he thought. The yellow-green skin is sour, but the white meat is sweet. The skin must be removed! When I press this creature against ground with my left front paw, I can split the skin in half with the claw of my right front paw. His idea worked; the skin split in half and Shabby devoured the sweet, mellow meat in a second. Oh, this is tastier than carrots and berries and definitely better than bloody rabbit-meat. Even the sight of blood makes me feel sick! Shabby thought and got an idea: What about taking a few of these with me to the nest cave? If I offer them to my big brothers; maybe they’ll stop bullying me, and I can bring them to my sick Darling-mother… and even to Daddy. Daddy needs no more to hunt rabbits and other unhappy plant-eaters.

"Hoh-hoh-hoo!" Roary whined, when he saw his little brother come out of the bushes with a bunch of bananas in his jaws. "Who’s there bringing us his booty?"
"Hah-hah-haa!" Sulky mocked. "Shabby, did you catch them all by yourself?"
"Hih-hih-hii!" Frisky giggled. "They must have died by a heart-attack, because they’re so pale?"

Father Brutmonster, sunbathing in the meadow, opened his eyes and raged, "What do my old eyes see? A wolf has bananas in the mouth! What a shame! I understood carrots, because I thought you ate them only for fun, but this is too much! So your name will be Shabby until you’ve eaten meat. I’ll chase two rabbits for tomorrow! Feel ashamed, you…you shabby wolf-blot!"

The feverish Darling-mother heard the noise, peeped out of the cave and nagged, "Don’t you big brothers mock your little brother and Brutmonster, behave yourself! Let my tiny one eat bananas, is he likes them! Come, dear boy, to my arms!"
"Mollycoddle, mollycoddle!" the three big brothers guffawed, when Shabby slipped into the cave with the bananas in his mouth and his tail between back legs.
He gnashed his teeth and decided, I’ll never tell my big brothers and Dad, how tasty bananas are.

Brutmonster rushed to the jungle outraged. He had just tracked down a young rabbit, when his back right paw hit a piercing thorn and the rabbit escaped. Brutmonster had to limp back to the home cave with empty jaws, where Roary, Sulky and Frisky waited with drooling jaws. Shabby was dozing in the far corner, with banana skins beneath his snout. Darling-mother slept next to him, feverish, breathing heavily.
"The truevolf survives without eating up to two weeks!" father Brutmonster snapped at the big brothers, who whined with disappointment. "It’s a high time for you to run after rabbits, not after each other in your silly games. Do you think that I’m going to bring you rabbits for the rest of your lives?"

The days passed by and the weeks, too. Father Brutmonster’s right paw became infected and he could catch only old or sick rabbits and even them not so often. Roary, Sulky and Frisky scuffled for rare rabbit-bhis so fiercely that even leftovers were not left for the sick Darling-mother. Shabby ate, ignoring mocking of his big brothers, bananas, peaches and dates that fell from the trees. He offered them to his sick mother, who became weaker and weaker and moaned that she could no longer eat anything, not even rabbit meat.
One morning Darling-mother didn’t wake up. The tears gleamed even in Brutmonster' eye, when he limped behind the dead body of Darling-mother, which was carried by her four weeping boysto the graveyard of animals.

Father Brutmonster's back right paw was so badly infected that soon he could only rest in the cave, groaning in pain. Roary, Sulky and Frisky were already almost as tall as their father. They had to go hunting rabbits by themselves. When Roary proudly took his first catch, a small rabbit-puppy, to the cave, father Brutmonster got up, groaning, and put his right front paw on Roary' head and puffed:
"Roary, you’re a truevolf now, my son, and your truevolf name is Roarroary. Take care of your brothers; I cannot do it any more. I leave now for the graveyard alone, to die beside Darling-mother.

Two days later Roary, Sulky and Frisky succeeded together to catch a fat she-rabbit. Roarroary solemnly proclaimed to his two brothers, with his right front paw raised,
"Obedient to the last wish of our dear father and in accordance with the Wolf Statute, I Roarroary, being a truevolf myself, thus appoint you two truevolves, as well." Roarroary touched the heads of his two brothers with his paw and said: "You'are Sulkysulky and you Friskyfrisky and you must obey me from now on as if I were your father! But let us celebrate this big day now!

The bloody rabbit-corpse quickly disappeared in the hungry jaws of three truevolves. Thereafter they began to whisper and frequently glance at Shabby, who chewed a peach in the far corner. Then Roarroary raised his bloody snout and groaned,
"Listen to me, Shabby! We three, being your brothers but also truevolves, see now that you’re not a truevolf and that you’ll never become a truevolf, either. You refuse to hunt rabbits. For this reason we three truevolves have decided that you must leave us and find a nest cave of your own!"
"Well, it’s all right, if you truevolves and the wolf-law so decide," Shabby said incidentally. He had begun to consider leaving home already after the death of Darling-mother. "I leave these peaches for you truevolves as a dessert! he added, quite innocently."

But Shabby's remark was too much for his truevolf brothers. They attacked him and Roarroary bit off half of his black tail. Shabby had to escape, wailing and as fast as he could, to the beach of Sun Island, which was flushed by darkening ocean rollers. He had never ventured that far.

How will Shabby survive, being alone for the first time in his life, when the night falls and even the poisonous snakes are wiggling out of their holes?

Well, that’s another story!

2. Shabby and the coconuts

The blue rollers of the vast ocean rumbled on the white sand of the shore. The screaming flocks of seagulls, terns and ospreys dashed to the salt water to snatch silvery fishes in the light from the beams of the afternoon sun. High above the other birds circled the brave, hook-nosed sea eagle of the Sun Island, Robinson.
Shabby watched, astonished and even a bit afraid of the vast ocean and the high coconut palms on the shore and sang his battle hymn to cheer himself up. His hoarse voice interrupted the noisy quarrelling of the monkeys in the palm tops. They saw a hated wolf below and aped his song with mocking words.

You should feel sorry, you wolf with bobtail.
       You can’t climb to reach us, better run away.
If you try to climb, you certainly will fail!
       You should run to hunt rabbits again!

"I don’t want to hurt you, I’m plant-eater!" Shabby shouted.
"He lies, he lies!" the monkeys yapped. "Here are some plants for you!"

Heavy coconuts rained on Shabby. One of them hit his head and he felt dizzy for a while. After he recovered, his paw touched a large bump on the top of his head. He screamed in pain. The monkeys laughed so hard that they almost fell down.
The brown ball that hit his head had split in half. Shabby carefully licked the white stuff out of the brown-shelled half.

Mmm, this is indeed tasty! he thought. In a flash the sweet inside of both halves disappeared into his belly. Then Shabby pondered, with his snout white with coconut milk: Good bye bananas, peaches and dates! The milk of these brown balls is by far better! Shabby attacked another brown ball, but in spite of all his efforts it stubbornly rolled about on the sand and he only got bitter hair between his teeth.
Shabby sat down, with the brown ball between his front paws, and began to think about, how he could break it… The one that hit my head, split…No, no, no, it hurts! What is as hard as my head? A stone, of course! This brown ball must split in half, when it hits a stone. But from where can I get stones? Just from below the cliff, of course!

The romping monkeys taunted Shabby while he hauled three small stones to a spot beneath a palm. Then he shouted,
"Throw those brown balls down now. Aim at the stones, not at me!"
"Climb up here and drop them yourself, fool that you are, bob-tailed! By the way, these are coconuts, stupid!" the monkeys yapped and sang their mocking song again.
"All right!" Shabby gnashed his teeth, took a running start and rushed up to the curved, knotty trunk as fast as he could. But he didn’t get high on the trunk before his claws slipped and he fell down and landed on his aching tail. He screamed with pain and the romping monkeys in the palms laughed so that they almost fell down.

The unhappy Shabby lay down and began to ponder again; about how he could break the coconut, but he didn’t find any solution for it; moreover, the bump on the head and his aching tail were burning. Finally he got an idea at dusk. Owl professor Alzheimer, of course! He immediately got up and left for the nesting tree of the professor in the half-dark jungle.
"Professor Alzheimer, Sir!" Shabby cried when he found the home tree of the old wise owl. "I’ve something to ask!"
"Minuteminute! I’ll present your request to the owl professor!" The parrotpecker Knocker peeped out of the small hole above Professor Alzheimer's big hole. "Whatwhat, whowho you are? the tufted bird clattered.
"I'm Shabby, the youngest son of late Brutmonster and I'm asking for advice."

Knocker jumped onto the edge of his hole, skilfully bent down his head and with his beak rattled a salvo above the hole of the owl professor… After a while of puffing and sniffing, a round, grey-feathered head showed up in the hole, blinking thick and fast in the light.
"Sirsir!" The parrotpecker clattered. "Here is one asking you for advice."
"Device! I need no device for thinking!" The owl professor was half-deaf and often repeated the last word of his talking partner as he had heard it. "I know everything!"
"Quitequite, Sirsir!" Knocker clattered. "Here is Shabby, the youngest son of the late wolf Brutmonster. Shabby seems to be in a pinch!"

The owl professor Alzheimer jumped on the branch beside Knocker and bent down so that he was about falling down and snarled,
“Finch? I don’t like finches!” Then the owl professor peeped downward. “So you’re the son of late Brutmonster? I remember your father of two hundred years ago...I think. Tell him my best regards. You’ve something to ask?”

The parrotpecker Knocker interpreted Shabby’s coconut problem to the owl professor. When the parrotpecker told the snoozing owl professor that the poor wolf-boy wanted to break coconuts by dropping them on to the stones, the owl professor opened his eyes and squeaked,
" Bones? I eat no bones, either!"
"Stones, Sirsir! Coconuts break when dropped from palms on to stones!"
"I know it, you stupid parrotpecker! But stones lie on the ground, coconuts swing on palms!"
"Quitequite, Sirsir!" the parrotpecker clattered. "Shabby-wolf tried to climb up a coconut palm to drop coconuts on to the stones, but his claws didn’t hold and he fell down."
"Crown? I need no crown, you stupid parrotpecker!" the owl professor snapped. "Be quiet and don’t interrupt me, I’m thinking!” Alzheimer put his head beneath the left wing and began to think, puffing and sniffing. After a long while his head appeared from beneath of the wing and the owl professor snarled: "Shabby's claws are blunt…The palm trunk is hard… The Quartz Cliff!"
"Sirsir professor means that your blunt claws don’t bite the hard trunk of palms," Knocker clattered. "You must sharpen your claws by grinding them against the Quartz Cliff."
"It was exactly what I said, you stupid parrotpecker!" the owl professor snarled. "So, be off your way, my Shabby boy... Greet your father!"

By moonrise Shabby had reached the Quartz Cliff on the western end of Sun Island. He sharpened his claws against the shiny face of the cliff and merrily sang:

Here is a wolf-boy his claws sharpening,
      So that he can start to the palms climbing.
From the palmtops I'll throw nuts down.
      To scare the monkeys run for life,
to run-run-run- to run-run- run for their life!

By sunrise, Shabby’s claws were as sharp as piercers. He ran to Palm Beach and rushed up to the trunk of the palm under which he had left his three stones. The monkeys jumped to other palms, scared. Shabby dropped one coconut; it fell to the sand next to the stones and didn’t break. Only the third coconut hit on the stones.

Shabby descended, drooling. But oh and ah! The brown ball lolled unbroken beside the small stones that had only spread over the sand by the strength of the impact. Shabby scratched his head: My stones were too small. What to do? Should I run again to the owl professor Alzheimer for advice? No, I must find out for myself, how to break a coconut. What about taking one to the top of Palm Beach cliff and dropping it to the rock land? Well, it’s worth trying, at least!

So Shabby hauled a coconut to the top of the cliff, dropped it and then saw two white, brown-edged circles shining between the grey stones. Swinging his bleeding bob-tail hopefully, Shabby descended and devoured the sweet, white coconut milk in a flash. After that Shabby ate almost exclusively coconuts, made friends with the monkeys and taught them to break the coconuts by dropping them. The reputation of the plant-eating wolf spread all over Sun Island.

He made friends with all the plant-eater animals, particularly with the speedy rabbits and their leader, the red-eyed Darwin as well as with the wild boars and their leader, the blue-toothed Sauerbruch. At the same time, the meat-eaters began to shun Shabby. The mean big brothers, led by Roarroary, called him the shame of the wolf-family. When they dashed by Shabby in the jungle, they sang a lampoon song:

His tail is off and a coconut in snout,
He’s a blot and stinks like a crow.
No more, no more, no more, NO MORE !
Shabby is only a poor boor!

One day sad news reached Sun Island; King Parkinson had died. The animals silently gathered in the Meeting Square. "What shall we do, who’ll be our new king, when there are no bears in our island?" they whispered, embarrassed. "Let’s ask professor Alzheimer for advice," the rabbit leader Darwin proposed. Approving murmuring, bleating, hissing and grunting was heard from all sides. Darwin sent his fastest female to the nesting tree of the owl professor.

A few minutes late the owl professor silently blazed up to the branch of the big oak behind the Base, followed by the parrotpecker Knocker, who yapped:
"Whatwhat, who dares to ask me and the owl professor to fly that far?”

Roarroary had pushed himself into the first row and raised his right paw:
"Highly esteemed professor Alzheimer. I’m Roarroary, the eldest son of the late Brutmonster. I represent wolves that are second in the ranking order of animals of Sun Island. We’re now asking you for advice; how to elect the new king for our island after the death of King Parkinson, who had no heir.
"I need no air, I know everything!" owl professor Alzheimer snarled.
Parrotpecker turned to whisper to the ear of Alzheimer. The owl professor puffed and sniffed, pushed off his assistant and snarled a Wailing Song.

On the Base I'm sitting mournful, desperately an idea searching.
But this stupid parrotpecker all the time is my thought badly mixing.
But I do not care for it even a bit, when I am thinking, thinking,
thi-i-i-i-n-king!

Knocker listened to his singing boss, demonstratively jumping on his branch. After having finished, the owl professor put his head under his left wing and thought, puffing and sniffing. After a long while Alzhemer raised his head and snarled,
"Old King…two full moons… new King… big noise here"

The parrotpecker rapped salvos on the oak trunk and snapped, "Youyou the wingless…I mean the ground animals down there! We mean that the new king can be elected after two full moons have elapsed since the death of the old king. The new king will be the animal who receives the most votes in the election to be held here in the Meeting Square."
"It was exactly what I said, you stupid parrotpecker!" the owl professor snarled and he flew off followed by Knocker.

An electoral fever occupied the Sun Island after the funeral of King Parkinson. Almost all species nominated their leader for the royal vote. The rapid rabbits proposed their red-eyed Darwin, the skipping squirrels their grey-tailed Hippocrates, the comely capricorns their white-chested Pasteur, the filthy foxes their blink-eyed Freud, the witty wild boars their blue-teethed Sauerbruch, the romping monkeys their black-capped Pavlov and so on.
The self-evident candidate of wolves was Roarroary, who was absolutely certain about winning the vote after having eavesdropped on Knocker. The parrotpecker had whispered to the owl professor too loud that the electoral law of the Sun Island gave wolves, being second in the ranking order of species after the bears, more votes than any of other species.

One evening Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky rushed to Roarroary, alarmed.
"Awful, awful!" Sulkysulky panted.
"Absolutely wildboar-terrible!" Friskyfrisky wailed.
"What? Can'’t you see I’m thinking?" Roarroary snapped.
"Sauerbruch has proposed that the plant-eaters form a coalition with Shabby as its only king candidate!" Sulkysulky screamed.
"WHAT!" Roarroary jumped up and hit his head on the roof. "Ouhouhouh! What, our shameful brother as the king candidate?…Sauerbruch, that blue-toothed rogue? Tell me all you know!"

Sulkysulky explained how in a meeting of the plant-eater leaders Sauerbruch had told his colleagues that Roarroary will be elected the new king, if they each went to the vote separately: "Shabby is the best candidate for us in every respect. He was originally a meat-eater, but he is a plant-eater now, as well. We all respect him for that particularly, because Shabby can receive votes even from some farsighted meat-eaters," the muscular wild-boar leader had grunted. His proposal was approved unanimously, with passionate enthusiasm. So Pavlov, the monkey leader had screamed to Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky from his palm top.
"Does Shabby, that wolf-blot, know of this himself?" Roarroary asked.
"Pavlov babbled that the speakers of the vegecoalition will go ask Shabby to be their candidate tomorrow morning," Sulkysulky growled.
"Our dear brother was dozing in front of his cave with a coconut between his claws, when we passed by this afternoon. He didn’t even lift his snout, although we teased him a bit," Friskyfrisky giggled. "Our dear brother most certainly doesn’t know of his candidacy."
"That’s good, indeed! In any case Shabby should not become the joint candidate of plant-eaters!" Roarroary wheezed and frowned. "He would beat me in the final ballot right off, with the joint plant-eater votes, I mean. Brothers, then we would be faced by hard times! Shabby would certainly take revenge on us. Brothers, we’re in an emergency now. Let me think…."

The younger wolf-brothers waited obediently, until Roarroary finished his thinking process, lifted his right paw and ordered:

"You, Friskyfrisky, run to this wolf-blot Shabby. Tell him that you two are very sorry for your recent, stupid behavior and that I… no, all three of us invite him for a big peace jubilee here tonight. Bring him with you here, haul half-forcibly, if need be! And you, Sulkysulky, run to the sea eagle Robinson and persuade him to fly to the giant seasnail Columbus, who’s passing by our island just now. Robinson is to ask Columbus to sail to the beach below the Quartz Cliff early tomorrow morning. I’ll have an important cargo for delivery to Fairytale Island. Roarroary revealed his yellowish fangs with a cruel grimace.

Friskyfrisky and Sulkysulky rushed out and their mean brother began to plan a mean plot for the defeat of his own brother.

Can Shabby avoid falling into victim to the mean plot of his big brother?

Well, that's another story!

3. Shabby and the mean plan of Roarroary

When Friskyfrisky pushed Shabby into their home cave, Roarroary had already brought a bunch of bananas from the jungle for the peace party. Alarmed by the noise at the entry, the evil brother hardly had time to hide the trophy, which was Shabby's tail. It hung in the wall under the bones in the far corner.
"Shabby! Uh… my dear little brother!" Roarroary fawned and patted Shabby’s shoulders . "It was really nice you had time to come to see us!"
"Friskyfrisky woke me up by stepping on to my tail… or what’s left of it," Shabby snarled. "Couldn’t we have celebrated tomorrow…dear big brother?"
"Well, uh, Friskyfrisky is sometimes a bit too Frisky!" Roarroary muttered, irritated. "Sulkysulky is out just now, but he should be back in no time. Maybe we shouldn't eat these bananas until he arrives?" Roarroary said, pointing at the banana bunch.
"All the same!" Shabby said and went to the far corner, where he slept when he lived here and saw his own tail glimmer from below the stinking bones. He walked back to Roarroary and said, tentatively "I left two halves of a big, fresh coconut in my cave; I could bring it for a dessert for you.""No, no, no, don’t bother for anything, dear brother! We’ll have time for it tomorrow!" Roarroary frowned and moved to the cave entry.

There was rustling outside. Sulkysulky appeared in the entry, panting heavily, but didn’t see Shabby in the darkish cave.
"I had to promise Robinson a rabbit," Sulkysulky puffed. "Otherwise that greedy vulture wouldn’t have left for the giant seasnail Columbus in the night. What will that fat lump come to take from below the Quartz Cliff tomorrow, Shabby or...?"
"You’re a real meathead! Roarroary shouted and smiled tensely at Shabby. "Sulkysulky misunderstands everything! Dear little brother, the giant seasnail Columbus will take all of us to Fairytale Island tomorrow. But let’s eat these bananas now to celebrate our friendship!"

Roarroary gave a banana to each of them, raised his own with his fangs gleaming and solemnly declared: "To the memory…uh…to the honor of our eternal friendship!"
"Thanks a lot, brothers!" Shabby said when Roarroary swallowed, grinning, the last bit of the almost green banana skin. "It’s really fine that we are friends again, but it’s already late. I’ll go home to sleep. Fairytale Island doesn’t interest me."
"No, no, no!" Roarroary cried. "You don’t need to sleep alone any more! Shabby, this cave is also your home from now on. Let’s sing the first verse of our March of Bloody fangs to celebrate it!

We the wolves are rushing forward. With the bloody fangs we rush!
When we leave for rabbit-hunting, our hearts are cold as ice!
Farewell, home cave!  Goodbye its bloody walls!
Rushing always only forward our hearts are cold as ice!

"I don’t particularly like rushing with bloody fangs, but all the same!" Shabby said. "But isn’t this cave a bit too tight for four adult wolves?" he asked. The untidy mess of the cave disgusted him and Roarroary' strange behavior made him anxious.
"The unity will make room, dear little brother!" Roarroary said with a flattering smile. "Let’s go to sleep so that we’ve strength to travel tomorrow!"
"Okay! "Shabby reluctantly consented. He was still anxious, because Roarroary was blocking the entry of the cave. “But please tell me, dear big brother, why there is such a haste? We could sail to Fairytale Island on the scheduled voyage of Columbus after the next full moon?”

Roarroary looked darkly at Shabby, wandered twice in a circle, chasing his tail and said, "Well, I tell you, why we must go Fairytale Island so soon. As you know, we’re all true male wolves. There is, however, something we don’t have and that something is essential for all of us!" Roarroary paused and watched his three open-eyed brothers with a knowing smile on his banana-split lips.
"Now, I don’t understand!" Shabby cried.
"Me neither!" Sulkysulky growled.
"Nor me!" Friskyfrisky put in.
"Listen carefully now! Our dear dad Brutmonster told me he had to go to Fairytale Island to get our dear Darling-mother to be our mother, because there were no she-wolves on Sun Island in those days, and there are still none here. But on Fairytale Island there’s an abundance of single she-wolves in the kingdom of the Wolf King Hellanhellas. But we must hurry, if we wish to have first class fiancées!"
"So we go there to find fiancées?" Shabby cried. "Leave me out of it… No she-wolf will want me, a poor bob-tail!"
"Dear little brother, don’t look at life through your tail!" Roarroary said piously.

The three big brothers started to praise Shabby; telling how handsome he was and how his black fur was smooth as silk, how white his fangs were and his claws were so sharp that he could climb palms like no other wolf could do.
"All right," Shabby said a bit pleased. Perhaps my big brothers have a bad conscience and they’re repenting now, he thought. "I’ll join you to swell your number, but I think I do not need to chase a fiancée for me, unless I want it?"
"Of course, not! Roarroary assured him. "Fairytale Island is a paradise for sightseeing!"

At dusk the four wolf brothers ran through the dewing jungle to the Quartz Cliff. The rabbits, who were enjoying their grass breakfast, ran off, scared. At sunrise the wolves stood, panting, on the top of Quartz Cliff. Below, on the beach, they saw the giant seasnail Columbus with his brown shell, dotted by white seagull spots, glittering in the sunshine.

The giant seasnail Columbus took care of the sea traffic between the small islands and Fairytale Island, the big mother island of South Sea. It was rumoured that inside Evil Mountain, behind Evil Swamp, in the eastern end of Fairytale Island, there were hundreds of fairy tales, imprisoned. All animals of the South Sea believed that Fairytales were magic food and anyone who tasted it, could live without eating evermore.

On the top of Evil Mountain there stood Black Castle, where the dreadful Evilspecter kept guard over Fairytales together with his even more dreadful Dragon Holocaust. His only task was to prevent the animals getting the fairy tales of Evil Mountain. The animals held Evilspecter responsible for all disasters and adversities they faced. Not a single one of them dared to go anywhere close to Evil Mountain, which was overshadowed by hot, sulphurous clouds puffed by Dragon Holocaust day and night.

The giant seasnail honked when it saw the wolves. Roarroary had no time to say anything, because the sea eagle Robinson, sitting on Columbus's shell, screamed,
"Kraa, the rabbit! Where is the rabbit that you bloody wolves promised to me?"
"Uh, sorry, we had no time for hunting, but we’ll bring you two rabbits after we have come back from Fairytale Island," Roarroary stammered.
"Kraa, usually I don’t give credit, but so be it ths time!" Robinson spread his wings and flew to his nest, a pile of brushwood, on the top of the Quartz Cliff. As he flew, remnants of chewed-up mackerels fell on the wolves from his crooked bill.
"Ouh, ouh, ouh," the giant seasnail Columbus puffed with his tentacles threateningly atilt towards the wolf brothers. His deep voice was hardly audible amidst the splashing waves. "You must have a really urgent reason to ask me to interrupt my route!"
"We-we certainly have some urgency. You know...we are-" Roarroary became mixed in his words, before he could tell Columbus about their wooing plans.
"Ouh, ouh, ouh," Columbus hummed. "So you’re chasing fiancées instead of rabbits? There are other animals with the same intention under my shell, mostly buck roebucks. My fee is fifty palm leaves per snout, to and fro, or two hundred leaves for four. Your fiancées can join you free of charge. It's my wedding present to you, ouh, ouh,ouh!"
"Well, uh…. we’ve no time to collect these leaves now. We’ll pay you our fare on Fairytale Island. There are certainly palms over there? We’ll pay two hundred and fifty leaves! Roarroary quickly promised Columbus.
"Ouh, ouh, ouh," the giant seasnail hummed. "No deal, you’ll stay here! There are palms on Fairytale Island, but no monkeys to drop the leaves down to the ground. You can only find wilted leaves dropped by the wind. Besides, you’ll hardly find even faded leaves in time, because I’m shipping so many other leaf collectors to there. It’s the main mating season now! You wolves cannot climb the palm trees!

You’re wrong, you swollen fat lump! Shabby thought and cried,
"But I can climb! I’m vegetarian and my claws are so sharp that I climb any tree! Look!" Shabby cried and and climbed the closest palm tree as fast as a squirrel.
"Ouh, ouh, ouh," Columbus hummed. "Wonder of wonders! A wolf can climb. Okay, I trust that you can collect palm leaves for me on Fairytale Island!"
"You’ll certainly get your fare! My brother can get leaves even from the tallest palm trees. Such a wolf he is!" Roarroary proclaimed and patted Shabby on shoulders.
"Ouh, ouh, ouh! You must collect the leaves in three days. You can stay without visa on Fairytale Island for only three days or the amount of time I must stay at the snailyard for cleaning. Clams and seashells fix to my tummy in thousands…If I don’t get my leaves by my departure, the guards will take you to Black Castle in Evil Mountain to become a meal for Evilspecter!"

Then the giant seasnail Columbus raised his voice: "Cargo! Everyone below the deck! And you, wolves, keep in mind that it’s forbidden to eat other passengers during the voyage. The shore is another matter." The giant seasnail Columbustooted three times, crept to the water and left for Fairytale Island growling the Bored Seafarer’s Song in his deep voice :

Hoohoo hoohoo, hoohoo hoohoo. I must be sailing, even against my will!
This ocean and ocean, this damned ocean. I now must cross once again.
Even though the animals under my shell. Are running and jumping, always romping!
I’ll soon quit this job and begin to feel well! Hoohoo hoohoo, hoohoo hoohoo, hoohoo…

On his deathbed father Brutmonster had told Roarroary of his wooing trip to Fairytale Island: On the way there the giant seasnail Columbus had passed Palm Island, a small island that was famed for his juicy coconuts. On the way back to Sun Island Columbus doesn’t pass Palm Island.

That was where Roarroary had gotten the idea for his mean plan: First he would tell Shabby that Columbus would insist on having his palm leaves from Palm Island. Then Roarroary would persuade Columbus to land Palm Island on the pretext that Shabby preferred to collect palm leaves from there. Finally he would tell Shabby that Columbus would pass Palm Island on a week in the way back to Sun Island. In this way Roarroary would make sure that Shabby would stay on Palm Island at least a month. In the absence of Shabby, Roarroary would be elected the new king of Sun Island!

At nightfall of the first day, Roarroary went to whisper to Columbus's ear:
"Listen to me, Columbus. My brother, who yesterday climbed a palm tree, cannot, however, collect palm leaves for you on Fairytale Island in three days. But he’s not interested in having a fiancée for himself just now so he prefers to stay on Palm Island instead. Could you go ashore there on your way to Fairytale Island? We wouldn’t be in such a hurry and, besides; you would get tuftier palm leaves. We could give you even more, say three hundred?"
"Ouh, ouh, ouh," the giant seasnail hummed. "Why not, but I won’t pass Palm Island again until a month from now. Your brother will have hard times; there are no rabbits on Palm Island!"
"It’s no problem! You heard this morning that my brother is vegetarian, even though he’s a wolf. The coconuts are his favorite food. That’s also why he’s willing to go to Palm Island for the palm leaves!"
"Ouh, ouh, ouh! What a wonder of wonders, a wolf eating coconuts!" Columbus cried. "I love tufty palm leaves so it’s a deal!" Columbus added with his mouth watering. "But warn your brothers of the cruel tiger shark Mackie, who patrols these waters. That sea monster mercilessly kills all animals, who take a risk by going too deep into water… The final fee is three hundred palm leaves, right?
"Right, three hundred!" Roarroary confirmed, then crawled back under the shell and whispered to his brothers with his ears laid back,
"This fat worm is blackmailing us!" The evil brother took them to peep out from under the shell and said. "On the pretext that we did not pay our fare in advance, Columbus wants to have three hundred palm leaves instead of two hundred fifty. And the leaves must be collected from Palm Island which you can see over there on the far right.

Then Roarroary put his right paw on Shabby' shoulder, looked at his eyes and said,
"Dear brother, you’re our only hope! Could you please stay on Palm Island to collect these palm leaves? You told us you’re not interested in having a fiancée for yourself yet? Columbus will pick you up and his palm leaves on his way back within a week. Palm Island will be paradise for you with his tasty coconuts! If we don’t give in to this greedy worm's blackmail the guards will take us to Evil Mountain to become a meal for Evilspecter!
"Columbus was certainly joking about Evilspecter!" Shabby snorted. "All right, a paradise or not, I’ll stay on Palm Island, if there are coconuts there! I’ll look for my fiancée after I feel that I’m ready for it!"

Shabby stood on the sand beach of Palm Island and waved until the brown shell of the giant seasnail Columbus had almost disappeared beyond the horizon. The mean Roarroary and his two mean brothers were about splitting their sides with laughter which made all the other animals aboard tremble in fear.

Does Shabby really have to stay on Palm Island for a month so that Roarroary can be elected the new king? And does he avoid falling into the jaws of the cruel tiger shark Mackie, lurking below the surface?

Well, that’s, however, another story!

4. Shabby and Mackie, the cruel tiger shark

Giant seasnail Columbus became smaller and smaller in Shabby's view and finally disappeared behind the horizon. Shabby felt anxious, when he turned to the jungle. There was something strange in the air, as though something were missing; everything was too silent. He listened and sniffed, his heart beating nervously. Not a single monkey jumped in the palm tops, and he couldn’t hear their romping from father off, either. No other familiar jungle sounds could be heard and no familiar smells flooded his nostrils. A few odd little birds chirped in the thick bushes and only some small lizards wandering on the sands seemed familiar to him.

When he saw some big coconuts at the tops of the tall palm treese, his anxiety vanished. Ah, it really looks like a paradise for me! he thought. Without wasting time, he climbed the nearest palm tree, dropped down two coconuts and said out loud to himself: "I only need a Dropping Cliff now!"

With a coconut between his jaws he ran along the beach, which constantly veered to the right. However, he didn’t see even the slightest hill on the beach! In an unexpectedly short time, he stumbled upon his own footprints and his second coconut on the beach. He had run all the way around the island! It takes two whole days to run around Sun Island, Shabby thought, disappointed. Palm Island must be a hundred times smaller. Not a sole cliff! This island is flat like a slate! Without a cliff I cannot break coconuts, but never mind! I’ll find bananas, peaches and dates in the jungle. I’ll get along nicely with them for a week!

The sharp thorns on the bushes in the jungle pricked his snout, got stuck in his fur and blocked the entry to the middle of the island. He could see no banana bush nor peach nor date tree on the narrow strip between the palms and the line of thorn bushes. Shabby tasted red berries on the thorn bushes, but spat them out, because they tasted so bad. What I do now? I’m hungry. He sat down under a palm and hummed, depressed, The Cheer-up Song for a Discouraged Wolf-boy:

A wolf-boy is sitting, with his heart down, heart down.
What’s wrong with you, wolf-boy? Haven't you guts any more?
Pull you up, pull you up. put more press on!

Shabby startled and stared at the coconut in front of him without blinking his eyes. The words urged him to try again. He scribbled meaninglessly in the sand. When his paw hit a small stone, an old idea popped into his mind: The stones. The beach palms are taller than those on Sun Island; it could work! He hastily dug a pile of stones from below the sand, even though they were not bigger than his paw. Then he climbed a palm tree and dropped all its coconuts on to his pile of stones. Not a single one broke!
Shabby was rocking in the empty palm top and thought, downhearted: I’ll starve unless Columbus arrives here within a week. If I’m too weak, I cannot climb palm trees and drop enough palm leaves for him.
His heart sank even more, while he watched the small bay below him. Shoals of small fishes and octopuses swarmed between coral reefs, similar to the ones he had seen in beach waters of Sun Island. The yellow-red balls of brown-green sea plants blinking farther away were familiar for him, too. But something in the yellow-red balls made him think: Those balls grow in sea water, but look like dates. Could I possibly eat them, too?

Shabby instantly descended and ran to the water line. He had never gone into water, because father Brutmonster had taught them that the fishes and ducks swim, but we wolves run on the dry ground. Keep in mind that water is only for drinking! Never wet yourselves in water voluntarily! Shabby put hisfront paw in the warm water. Then he cautiously paddled deeper, climbed a small stone and shook off water from his fur. He saw sea-dates glimmer farther off. He leapt forward, but his paws didn’t reach the seabed. He panicked, swallowed salt water, but automatically started to flap with all four paws and suddenly found himself moving forward in the water, with his snout above the surface. "I’m floating on the surface like a seagull!" Shabby sighed with relief. "Where are those sea dates?" He instinctively closed his nostrils and put his head underwater.

A shoal of small fishes swam below him and father off; in the darkening water, he saw swaying bushes of sea dates. Shabby dabbled, till something tickled his belly. He put his head underwater. The closest yellow-red ball was flowing just beneath his eyes. Shabby tried to catch it, but to no avail. He raised his head above the surface and thought intensely: I can move on the surface, could I move below it, too? It’s worth trying, anyway. He took a deep breath, closed his nostrils, put his head underwater and stroked with all his paws. Finally, he only needed to open his mouth and bite. A sea date in his mouth, he surfaced and started to chew it.
"Mmm…almost as good as a coconut. I can easily survive with them for a week!" Shabby said to himself aloud, spat out the hard date stone and dove again.

The cruel tiger shark Mackie, patrolling in the high sea, felt vibrations on his side lane. They told him that a fairly big creature was moving in the beach water. The shark opened his big jaws with rows of knifelike teeth and turned toward the bay. Shabby was diving for the sea dates there, unsuspecting. Mackieswam closer to Shabby, parallel to the shore, in order to avoid getting stuck in the too shallow water during the attack. His mighty jaws were already wide open; when something hard hit him from the beach side. His jaws snapped shut and Mackie turned towards the sea, but almost touched Shabby, who only saw a big, dark creature flash past him. Shabby got scared so badly that a sea date almost got stuck in his throat. Soon he became even more frightened, when he felt himself raised above the water.

Hermes, the duty dolphin, had foreseen the sly plan of the tiger shark at the very last moment. He hit Mackie with his sharp snout, like an underwater missile. Then Hermes swam under Shabby and lifted him on his back.
"Chi-chi-chi, grasp tightly my dorsal fin!" Hermes chirped. "I take you to the shore before that scoundrel Mackie attacks again."
The furious Mackie had already turned for a new attack, but Hermes was already too near the shore Shabby grasping his dorsal fin. The eighteen foot long Mackie sped past Hermes's tail so near that the waves nearly threw Shabby off of Hermes' back.
"I’ll show you, the nipple fish and you…the fur fright!" Mackie yelled.

Hermes turned parallel to the shore and when the sandy bottom scratched his belly, he chirped, "Chi-chi! Jump to the shore side and swim! Your paws will soon touch the seabed." Shabby obediently dabbled a few yards till his paws touched the sandy bottom. After he reached dry land, he shook water off his fur, turned and saw a shuttle-shaped blue object floating in the rollers at a short distance.
"Thank you very much!" Shabby panted, his heart still pounding. "Who are you and who was that thing…that tried to grab me? He pointed at the ragged, black dorsal fin swimming a circle at sea farther away and whose owner fiercely yelled:

I, the shark, have such teeth, you!
       And I keep them pearly white.
I’ll tear you to pieces, you,
      the dolphin and the fur fright!

"Chi-chi, I’m Hermes, the duty dolphin, commissioned by the Dolphin Headquarters of Fairytale Island. My official duty is to see that the scoundrel Mackie doesn’t capture land-walking animals, who are mammals like we dolphins. The giant seasnail Columbus asked me and my partner Aphrodite to keep an eye on you until he arrives here in a month, to pick you up and, of course, his palm leaves!
"In a month! My brother Roarroary told me that Columbus will arrive here in about a week!" Shabby cried.
"Chi-chi! Your brother didn’t know it…or he lied! Now you know. I’m sorry that I came so late, but I…uh… we were enjoying ourselves, I mean my partner Aphrodite and myself, over there," Hermes vaguely waved his right pectoral fin. "But please don’t ever again go that deep in water as you just did. Mackie senses your movements many miles off."
"Certainly not! Shabby assured Hermes, relieved.
Suddenly an awful thought struck Shabby; should he survive a whole month without sea dates?
"Mr. Hermes!" he cried. "I was just diving for sea dates to have something to eat. Without sea dates I’ll starve in a month! I ate coconuts on Sun Island. There are fine coconuts here, but I cannot break them without a dropping cliff. There are no such cliffs in this island!"

Hermes didn’t answer but dove. Shabby stared at the bubbling water for a long time. Then he desperately sighed and turned to leave, when he heard a cheerful chirping behind him.
"Chi-chi! Don’t rush, buddy! Maybe these will keep you alive till tomorrow?"
Shabby turned around and saw a branch of sea dates floating in the beach water offering yellow-red fruits. He was instantly in high spirits, paddled into the water and pulled the sea dates to the dry land.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Hermes. I’ll survive brilliantly with these!" he said.
"Chi-chi! You’ll get them as much as you want, buddy!" Hermes chirped and promised that he or his girlfriend Aphrodite would bring sea dates to Shabby every day, until the giant seasnail Columbus arrives to take him home.

Shabby climbed palm trees and dropped leaves just in case that Roarroary could have persuaded Columbus to return to Palm Island in a week. In a few days, most of the palms by the small bay arose as brown trunks toward the blue sky.
"The bay starts looking like Mackie's jaw with his worn-out teeth!" Hermes said in one day, when he and Aphrodite brought Shabby his daily portion of sea dates. They even took him for the ride around Palm Island but swam so close to the shore that Mackie couldn’t do anything but furiously roar, particularly, when Hermes and Aphrodite teased him by singing The Glory of the Dolphins:

The dolphins love so much the sea and high waves of it.
Our tails give us the right speed and the radar right rhytm.
Chi-chi-chi-cha! We’re swimming far, we, the dolphins glorious!

The snout we have so very sharp, such is our brain as well.
And easily we repel the sharks that we can proudly tell!
Chi-chi-chi-cha! We’re swimming far, we, the dolphins glorious!

In the afternoon of the seventh day, Shabby went ashore to wait, just in case, whether the giant seasnail Columbus would arrive to take him home, after all. Hermes and Aphrodite dashed to the coastal rollers and chirped,
"Chi-chi, buddy! What about going afternoon surfing?"
"No thanks, not just now," Shabby answered, "I’m waiting for Columbus, just in case he comes. Perhaps my brother Roarroary has persuaded him to come here today."
"Chi-chi, we’ll know it soon!" Hermes chirped. "I’ll contact the Dolphin Headquarters with my snout radar."

Hermes remained underwater a long time. At last his head popped up beside Aphrodite.
"Chi-chi! The commanding duty dolphin informs us that Columbus left for Sun Island three days ago. Columbus is scheduled for Sun Island tonight. But don’t worry, buddy! We’ll keep you in sea dates as long as it’s necessary!" He stopped and turned to Aphrodite, who had whispered something in his ear. Hmm, right you’re, sweetheart, it could work!... Listen to me, buddy," Hermes chirped to Shabby.
"You already ride on my back so well that I could take you to Sun Island. It would be, of course, a pleasure, if you could stay here longer with us. We understand that you’re longing for the coconuts and for your coconut eating pals there. There is the problem of Mackie, however. I swim faster than Mackie, but I’m helpless with you on my back. So, we have to leave at night, when Mackie is patrolling farther away in the deep waters. The sharks must be swimming all the time in order to get oxygen from the water through their gills. The sharks never sleep. We cannot depart until my snout radar tells me that Mackie is patrolling on the other side of Palm Island.

Will Hermes and Shabby avoid tiger shark Mackie's sharp teeth? And what will Shabby's mean brothers do, if he manages to get back to Sun Island in time for the election of the new king?

Well, that’s, however, another story!

5. Shabby in distress at sea

At midnight, in pitch-darkness, Hermes and Aphrodite swam to chirp at the edge of the bay, where Shabby dozed amidst the heaps of palm leaves, his head on his paws.
"Chi-chi, buddy, wake-up! Mackie’s swimming in the other side of the island! We’re safe, it’s time to go!"
Shabby rubbed his eyes, still drowsy. Hermes and Aphrodite were floating like grey balls in the phosphoric shimmer of gentle beach rollers.
"Just a moment!" Shabby cried, then went to drink water from a small stream; Hermes had told him that the voyage to Sun Island would take at least a day and night and there would be no drinking water along the way. With Shabby on his back, Hermes could only swim at half-speed.
"We would be lost, if Mackie caught us on the high seas!" Hermes said

Shabby climbed onto Hermes' back and wrapped his front paws around Hermes’ dorsal fin. Hermes tenderly bid farewell to Aphrodite, who anxiously sang him her Farewell Song:

Drive gently, Hermes, my dear.
       That you avoid Mackie’s evil ear.
I’ll stay here waiting for you. T
      To play with me so very soon!

"Chi-chi, don’t be afraid, sweetheart!" I’ve come back from even worse situations! Hermes bravely chirped and dashed away with Shabby on his back.

At daybreak, the boundless ocean embraced two brave voyagers. Shabby dozed, his fur wet, clinging to Hermes' coarse skin, tightly grasping the dorsal fin with his front paws.
"Chi-chi, buddy!" Hermes chirped. "We’ve passed the halfway. No more fear!
"What, what?" Shabby raised his head and opened his eyes, but the bright sunshine made him close them again immediately.
"Your Sun Island is already glimmering at the horizon! We won’t be harassed by any mackies any longer!"

Instinctively, Shabby looked behind him, blinked and then swallowed. Not so far away behind them, an enormous, black dorsal fin cut through the waves.
"H-Hermes!" Shabby screamed, scared almost stiff. "Look, some big black thing is chasing us. It can’t be Mackie, or can it?"
Hermes trembled and made a turn to look behind him.
"It is Mackie!" Hermes anxiously snapped. "I recognize his ragged dorsal fin. Now, keep your head down and grasp my dorsal fin tightly!

Hermes sped up and Shabby found it difficult to breath, with the salt water rolling over him. But Hermes didn't succeed in increasing the distance between them and Mackie, on the contrary. Mackie's threatening dorsal fin drew closer and closer them. Finally Mackie swam on their side and wheezed,
"Now you’re at your wits’ end, you the nipple fish!"

Hermes whispered to Shabby; "Draw a deep breath, stab your claws into my skin and hold tight!" Shabby obeyed. Hermes dove, made a sharp curve and swam underwater so long that Shabby was about to choke. When the duty dolphin finally surfaced, Shabby saw something bright not so far ahead.
"I saw our Quartz Cliff, we’re almost home!" Shabby said to Hermes, panting.
"I know, I just transmitted an emergency call to the Mobile Dolphin Squad patrolling in these waters."

The trick dropped Mackie off their heels for only a short while. Soon Mackie was swimming on their side again and wheezed,
"It was a good try, nipple fish, but vain! I heard your emergency call, but it takes time for your nipple friends get here! Let’s make a deal! Drop that fur fright from your back and I’ll eat only it. You can swim back to your Aphrodite intact."
"Never!" Hermes creaked, then whispered to Shabby. "Draw a deep breath again and hold tight!"

Hermes repeated his trick, but Mackie was not fooled and was beside them almost immediately and roared,
"Nipple fish! Don’t try to do it for the third time! If you do, I kill both of you and you will be the first! That fur fright is helpless in the middle of the ocean without you!
" If you even try to do it, our dolphin combat unit will sink you!" Hermes cried.
“Ha, ha!” Mackie called. “You're dreaming! I admit that you dolphins are faster than me, but I dive so deep that you cannot follow me there…I’ve plenty of time to kill you both. I’ll count to ten. Think of the consequences, if that fur fright is still on your back, when I say ten! One-”
"Save yourself, Hermes, I’ll jump off; I can swim!" Shabby cried, although he was scared stiff. He was about to release his grasp, when Hermes snorted,
"Don’t talk nonsense, but breathe in and hold tight!"

Hermes dove. This time he didn’t curve underwater but surfaced again immediately and sped toward the brown block approaching them straight ahead; it was the giant seasnail Columbus. Mackie thought Hermes tried to pull the same trick as before and reacted accordingly. When Shabby looked back, he saw Mackie's ragged dorsal fin a couple hundred yards behind them.
"Fiuh, fiuh, fiuh, giant seasnail Columbus!" Mayday, mayday! Hermes' shrill whistle tore the air "Put your tentacles down and quickly!"
The long tentacles of Columbus touched the surface at once.
"Jump, buddy!" Hermes halted, panting, between the tentacles.

Shabby grasped the tentacles with all his paws. They lifted him up at the very last moment; the dorsal fin of the jumping Mackie almost touched him. On the deck, the thoroughly wet and panting Shabby first shook off the water from his fur and then hardly had time to mumble his thanks to Columbus, when the giant seasnail puffed,
"Ouh, ouh, ouh! Shabby, look to the right over there!"
Shabby turned his head and saw a formation of six blue dolphins curve in sight from behind Columbus. The Battle March of Dolphins rang out over the waves:

Let’s join in now, my boys, to sink the sharks down!
Farewell to beach joys, we swim in one through
dawn-dawn-dawn!
Over the waves we always make our way.
To fill our noble duty:
Sink the sharks, sink the sharks down!

Soon Hermes joined the dolphin patrol, too.
"Fiuh-fiuh-fiuh! Let us sink that black scoundrel, boys!" The shrill whistling of Hermes tore through the air once again.
The formation split in two and the dolphins hit Mackie like torpedoes. With water splashing high in the bright sunbeams, the tiger shark moaned and wriggled in the middle of the blows of sharp dolphin bills.
"Please don’t boys! Let me go! Honestly, I didn’t mean to hurt your friends, I was only teasing!" Mackie moaned.

The dolphins didn’t stop their attack and Mackie could not dive; so heavy and fast did the dolphins hit his sides, belly, tail and head, in flank and from below. When there was no water with oxygen flowing through his gills, Mackie was soon exhausted and finally floated, wriggling slightly and helpless on the waves his white belly up.
Shabby and all animals on deck applauded, when the dolphins hauled the lifeless body of the hated tiger shark beside Columbus.
"Chi-chi, buddy!" Hermes chirped. "Jump down! We'll take you ashore on Mackie's belly. It’s your sign of victory. You see Sun Island just in front of you!"
Shabby hesitated for a moment, but then took heart and jumped onto Mackie's white belly. He turned and cried to Columbus,
"Before I forget, Columbus. There are three hundred palm leaves waiting for you on Palm Island."
"Ouh, ouh, ouh! What do my old ears hear? I couldn’t have imagined that you remembered them, too. Very good, I need fuel. Cargo, below the deck! We’ll push on!" The giant seasnail tooted three times and sailed away.

While the dolphin patrol hauled Mackie's body, Shabby lolled, with his fur almost dry and eyes half-shut, on his white belly and thought: What a day! Without Hermes and his friends I would be in this belly, not on it!... How could I thank them for all this? Then another thought popped up in his mind; what shall I do on Sun Island now? My big brothers with their fiancées are here, because Columbus was sailing away from here. What shall I say to my mean brothers, who violated their oath about our eternal friendship? His dark meditation was interrupted by Hermes, who cried,
"Chi-chi, buddy! We’ll soon reach the beach rollers and are almost ashore. Where do you want us to leave you and this heap of meat? We cannot swim too close to the shore. Your brothers could eat from this for weeks!"
Shabby was startled. He looked around and saw the familiar looking bay with his palms just in front of him.
"All the same, you can leave me here," he answered. "The rollers will flush Mackie’s body ashore, because the tide is at his highest now… You Hermes and you six brave ones, you saved my life. I don’t know how to thank you for your deed but I wish you all the best and a safe trip back. And, of course, my best thanks and regards to your sweet Aphrodite. Maybe we’ll meet again some time?"

The dolphin patrol gladly chirped, made a fine farewell jump and dashed away.

Once he reached the shore Shabby frowned. There was something strange in the air, as though something was missing, but what. Everything was too silent. Not a single monkey jumped in the palm tree tops, and he couldn’t hear their romping from father off, either. Only flocks of seagulls, terns and ospreys screamed over the beach rollers. Where were all animals? Of course, all animals were in the Meeting Square electing the new king for Sun Island. I must go there, even though it’s all the same. My brother Roarroary will certainly be elected, if he has not already been elected the new king.

What will the mean Roarroary and his mean brothers do, when they see Shabby, who doesn’t know that he is the joint candidate of the plant-eaters?

Well, that’s another story!

 6. Shabby and the King election

Shabby rushed across the darkening jungle as fast as he could. When he finally halted at the borderline of the jungle, the trees cast long, dark shadows over the Meeting Square, which was brightly lit by the full moon. The sea of animal backs of different colors opened before his eyes. The meat-eaters were grouped on the right and the plant-eaters on the left side as seen from the Base.
The parrotpecker Knocker was jumping around the owl professor Alzheimer on the Base. Roarroary stood in the front row of meat-eaters with his mate, the evil-looking Roarytar from Fairytale Island. Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky with their mates Sulkytar and Friskytar, also from Fairytale Island, also stood in the front row. In the second row the foxes sneered led by their leader the blink-eyed Freud. The rest of the meat-eaters stomped their feet farther away.
In the front row of the opposite side of the passage the leader of wild boars, the blue-toothed Sauerbruch stood motionless like a statue in front of his wild boars. Behind Sauerbruch the white-chested Pasteur lifted his head with his capricorns. The rest of the plant-eaters swarmed further back as a restless crowd.

A tiny mouse in the backmost row startled, when a shadow fell over it, then looked up and cheeped, "Shabby is back!"
The whispering of ”Shabby is back”gained strength row by row. When it reached the front row, Roarroary's and Sauerbruch's heads turned simultaneously. Roarroary's look blackened, whereas Sauerbruch's wrinkled snout spread into a relieved smile.
The chief of wild boars immediately invited other leaders of plant-eaters to join him. After a short whispered conversation, the plant-eater leaders sang the Invitation Song. It should have been presented to Shabby in the morning following their meeting, where they decided to vote for him as their joint candidate, but Shabby was already under Columbus's shell on the way to Fairytale Island.

Dear Shabby, our dear Shabby. Ardently we ask you now.
Become the candidate. For the plant-eaters.
For the king of island. Our dear island.
Please believe us, dear Shabby, Our dear Shabby.
We are now pleading you!

While the wolf brothers were on their way to Fairytale Island, the following events took place on Sun Island:

When the delegate of plant-eaters came to Shabby's home cave they found it empty. A rabbit knew to tell them that Shabby had left for his old home cave with Friskyfrisky late in the previous evening. Only Sauerbruch dared to approach the home cave of wolf brothers and found it empty, too. The emergency search arranged by Sauerbruch discovered that no wolf had been seen in the island during the whole day. Then the sea eagle Robinson flew over the Palm Bay screaming, "Those crooked wolves left for Fairytale Island with Columbus at dawn. These scoundrels owe me a rabbit!"

A confusion occupied Sun Island, when both Roarroary and Shabby, the leading king candidates, had disappeared. Almost all species of animals began to calculate their chances to gain votes for their candidate from other species. Election campaigns were held in the Meeting Square. A day before the Election Day the blink-eyed Freud of the smirking foxes was the leading candidate of meat-eaters according to the poll made by the parrotpecker Knocker. The blue-toothed Sauerbruch and the white-chested Pasteur struggled neck to neck for the votes of plant-eaters.

The plant-eaters were confused, when only Roarroary, Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky and their mates heaved in sight from below Columbus's shell two days before Election Day. Sauerbruch grew pale and asked Roarroary, where Shabby was.
The mean Roarroary roared with laughter and said, 
       "That wolf-traitor wanted to stay on Palm Island for his tastier coconuts. He told me he never wants to see you again, because you’re so dull!
"You’re lying! Shabby wouldn’t say such a thing!" Sauerbruch grunted and turned to the giant seasnail Columbus and asked him: "Did Shabby voluntarily go to Palm Island?"
"Ouh, ouh, ouh, he went there absolutely voluntarily in order to collect palm leaves I need for my fee. I’ll pick him up and the leaves, too, when I sail to Fairytale Island next time, in about three weeks," Columbus puffed.
"We should have asked Shabby to be our candidate already that night, when we qualified him, as I proposed! Shabby wouldn’t have left for Fairytale Island then," the white-chested Pasteur said to the leaders of other plant-eaters. "Please, keep this in mind during the final round of the election!”
"This hindsight doesn’t help us!" Sauerbruch grunted darkly. "Anyway, we should have a joint candidate in order to win the vote. It’s maybe too late now, unless we find out something new and quickly. Have you any ideas, Pasteur?"

Roarytar eavesdropped on the whispering between Sauerbruch and Pasteur and ran to whisper with Roarroary. Soon all six wolves disappeared to their Meeting Square in the jungle, under dark cypresses. Roarroary looked at his brothers and growled:
"Sauerbruch and Pasteur just agreed with the leaders of other plant-eaters, that Sauerbruch is their new joint candidate. My victory is certain no more. That’s why I will form the coalition of meat-eaters and become its only candidate. Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky! Run to the fox-boss Freud and tell him that Sauerbruch has been elected the joint candidate of plant-eaters. I’ll make Freud vice king, if he supports me with his foxes. If that squint-eye hesitates, tell him that we’ll kill him, next time we meet in the jungle. Then go to the leaders of other meat-eaters, promise them vice kingship and threaten them with the same punishment, if they refuse to vote for me.

All meat-eaters were forced to back Roarroary as the joint candidate of the meat-eaters in the election. But now Shabby stood in the Meeting Square in the cross-fire of all eyes, confused by the invitation for the joint candidate of plant-eaters. A deathly silence spread over the Meeting Square and the owl professor woke up.
"What a noise! Be quiet, all of you!" he snarled. "You confuse my thinking!"

Knocker jumped on the Base and began to croak his Duty Rap:

My noble duty is, completely without gaps,
to give the owl professor my helping gags.
If he gets confused, I give him the right choice,
staying straight-backed, when raising my voice.

What, who or where, easily unmask.
If someone tries to mix his noble task,
If he gets confused, I give him the right choice
Staying straight-backed, when raising my voice.

Then Knocker turned to whisper to the ear of his boss.
"I surely heard that impure bellowing of plant-eaters, you stupid parrotpecker!" Alzheimer growled. " Shabby, come closer!"

Shabby began to walk toward the Base and glanced at Roarroary, who bowed his head down. Sauerbruch pulled Shabby behind the Base and whispered, "Shabby, my friend, please accept the nomination. Otherwise Roarroary, who is the meat-eaters' candidate will be elected the new king. You know, what that means!"
Shabby felt his snout get dry. How can I fulfil all the duties of the king? he thought. Then he saw the pleading eyes of the plant-eater leaders, but also hostile, green eyes of Roarytar sneering beside Roarroary, who smiled surly with his brothers standing behind him. Shabby thought for a few moments, then nodded.

Sauerbruch rushed before the Base.
"Professor Alzheimer, Sir!" he said. "The plant-eaters give up their previous candidates in this election and call Shabby-wolf to be the joint candidate for all plant-eaters."
A great fuss arose; everywhere in the Meeting Square howling, barking, cracking and whining was heard. Roarytar hissed something to Roarroary and finally pushed her hesitating mate to in front of the Base.
"Professor Alzheimer, Sir! We oppose!" Roarroary whined, pop-eyed. "According to the Unwritten Animal Law, the new king must be elected from among the candidates who we officially confirmed eligible a moment ago."
"I’ve no lumbago, you stupid wolf!" the owl professor growled. "I know everything!"
"Quitequite, Sirsir," the parrotpecker Knocker clattered and continued, "All present candidates of plant-leaders just requested Shabby their joint candidate for the new king. Roarroary, the joint candidate of meat-eaters insists now that only the candidates confirmed earlier today are eligible. It’s a question about the Unwritten Animal Law!"
"Maw and maw! I understand it without my maw, you stupid parrotpecker! Be quiet, all of you! I’m thinking." The owl professor put his head under his left wing and began to think, sniffing and tuffing. Finally his head heaved in sight from beneath his wing and he snarled, "The Unwritten Animal Law is not an obstacle…The new joint candidate is eligible, if all previous candidates officially don't want it... The owl professor closed his eyes and began to snore.

The parrotpecker Knocker sped up to interpret:
"Sirsir owl professor means that the Unwritten Animal Law does not forbid the joint candidacy of Shabby, if all present candidates of plant-eaters unanimously and officially withdraw their candidacy."
"That’s exactly what I said, you stupid parrotpecker!" Alzheimer opened his eyes and growled. "Don’t babble, but hold the election. I must fly home for my evening mouse!" The owl professor closed his eyes and began to snore again.

Knocker flew to the oak branch behind the Base, rattled sharp salvos on the oak trunk and clattered,
"Youyou the wingless, I mean you ground animals down there. You heard what owl professor Alzheimer said? Silence! The law doesn’t prevent Shabby’s candidacy as the joint candidate of plant-eaters. Who of the previous candidates of plant-eaters support this resolution? Raise your paws and claws!"
The front limbs of all the plant-eater candidates rose as though pulled by the rope.
"The wolf Shabby has been unanimously elected the joint candidate of all plant-eaters in the royal election of Sun Island!" Knocker clattered and rattled more salvos on the oak trunk. "According to the powers allowed to me, I hereby announce the election for the new king of Sun Island opened. Raise your paws and claws, if you vote for the wolf Shabby to be the new king of Sun Island."
All the plant-eaters raised their paws and claws.
"Raise your paws, if you vote the wolf Roarroary to be the new king of Sun Island.
All the meat-eaters raised their paws.

The election results didn’t become clear until late in the afternoon. Knocker rattled salvos on the oak trunk and clattered:
"Attattention, you wingless...I mean ground animals down there. I pronounce the official election results." The animals began to howl, bark, crack and whine... "Silence! Hear, hear! The wolf Shabby has got four hundred and ninety-one votes…The number of votes the wolf Roarroary received is-" Knocker waited until a deathly silence prevailed in the Meeting Square, "is….four…hundred…and…ninety…votes!"

A tremendous disorder caught fire in the Meeting Square after it became clear to everybody that Shabby had defeated Roarroary by only one vote! The plant-eaters cheered and patted each other, whereas the growling meat-eaters threw cruel looks at the cheering plant-eaters. The wolves gathered around Roarroary to whom Roarytar was whispering something, with her ears laid back. WhenRoarroary shook his head, Roarytar jumped before the Base and howled,
"You, Alzheimer! We, the wolves ask for the recount of votes!"
Knocker jumped to the Base, landed next to the snoring owl professor and clattered,
"There’s no need for the recount! The counting of votes was just and checked by me several times. I’m tired and don’t want to start counting again. You, the ground animals, are disqualified for the recount, because you participated in the vote."

A furious howling, growling and wheezing arouse from the meat-eaters. Roarytar jumped before Shabby and growled with her fangs gnashing.
"You’ll be sorry for this, you wolf-traitor! All meat-eaters, to the jungle!"

The meat-eaters rushed to the jungle growling furiously; most of the plant-eater animals began to tremble with fear. The owl professor Alzheimer and the parrotpecker Knocker flew away. The bloodthirsty meat-eaters formed a shining ring of threatening eyes around the Meeting Square. The rabbits began to scream and soon all the awe-stuck plant-eaters joined in their Wailing Song.

Woe is us now, we desperate plant-eaters!
       A terrible fate is in front of our eyes.
Where to find a savior for our souls
       To bring us back safely to homes?
Let's raise our eyes to the heavenly heights.
        So that we get rid of these mental weights!

"Let’s raise our eyes to the heavenly heights," Sauerbruch said to Shabby, with a heavy heart. "You and we wild boars will get through, probably a few capricorns, too, but the rabbits and the smaller ones will face hard times. What shall we do?"

Shabby thought intensely thinking; will my kingship start with bloodshed? Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind; he raised his voice and yelped,
"Silence in the Meeting Square!"
He waited until the wailing in the open field ceased and the edge of the jungle was silent, as well. The he shouted to the dark jungle,
"My brother Roarroary, do you hear me? Let’s make a deal!"
"We don’t make any deals with a wolf-traitor!" Roarytar yelled back.
"I spoke to my brother, not to you! Shabby angrily answered.

Roarytar growled angrily and a few pairs of eyes disappeared from the forest edge. After a few moments of excited snarling, the scornful voice of Roarroary shouted from the darkness:
"Allright, but I agree only, if you give up your crown so that I can become the new king."
"You certainly know that I cannot do that, my brother. I’ve been elected the new king according to the Unwritten Animal Law. My proposal for the deal is of another kind: I offer you and all meat-eaters, fresh meat worth about a thousand rabbits provided that you let all plant-eaters leave this place safely."

A deep silence occupied the dark jungle for a while. Then all the animals heard Roarroary's distrustful voice,
"How on earth can you provide such a huge amount of meat so quickly?"
"I killed tiger shark Mackie, when I swam back here from Palm Island! Mackie’s dead body is lying on the shore."

Roarroary burst into laughter, then all the other wolves and finally all the meat-eaters were splitting their sides with scornful laughter. The plant-eaters in the middle of the dark Meeting Square nestled tighter against each other.
"Go and see for yourselves, that I speak the truth, if you don’t believe me!" Shabby shouted as soon as the laughter had calmed down.
"Friskyfrisky, you go and we'll keep watch on these chickens here!" Roarytar ordered.
"Roarroary, do you give me your word of honor that we can leave freely from here, if my words are true?" Shabby asked, when Friskyfrisky left for the shore, muttering protests.
"Of course, a truevolf always keeps his word," Roarroary answered, then burst into laughter. "Ha-ha-ha! You are only trying to gain time. But you cannot stay there forever! You’re free booty for us in the jungle…according to the Unwritten Animal Law!"

Shabby and the plant-eaters spent a long hour in the middle of the glowing eyes of meat-eaters, before Friskyfrisky returned, heavily panting, and wheezed,
"Yes, it’s indeed there, a big black body of a shark!"
"What did I say…my dear big brother?” Shabby shouted. “You told me that the truevolf always keeps his word? So would you please order your meat-eaters to leave this place and run back to the go home caves...You, Sauerbruch, would you kindly go with your wild boars to see that the meat-eaters really go away."

Roarytar howled and Roarroary and other meat-eaters furiously growled. Little by little the glowing ring of eyes died away on the edge of the jungle. The wild boars cautiously followed the beasts into the pitch-dark jungle.

The reputation of King Shabby, the killer of tiger shark Mackie, spread widely not only on Sun Island but also on Fairytale Island and other islands of the South Sea through the giant seasnail Columbus. The animals of Sun Island called their king Shabby The Brave. He just needed to wave with his paw and they obeyed his orders.

The mean Roarroary, his even meaner mate Roarytar and his two evil brothers with their mates almost as evil, didn’t, however, forget their humiliation. But only the vengeful Roarytar began to plan revenge against Shabby.

Will Shabby fall victim to the mean Roarytar's wicked plan?

Well, that’s another story!

7. Shabby and the revenge plan of Roarytar

The scarce but humiliating defeat in the election irritated Roarroary, but Roarytar felt immensely insulted, particularly when she noticed that her mate seemed to give in to his defeat. One evening, only a week after the election, she turned her mate, who snore beside her and growled,
"We must get rid of him!"
"Of whom?" Roarroary asked, still half-asleep.
"Of Shabby, of course, stupid!"
"Bu-but we cannot do it, no way!" Roarroary stammered.
"Of course, we cannot do it, but there is someone, who can! You should know that."
Because Roarroary could not do anything but wordlessly open his jaws, Roarytar blew her top and screamed,
"Why have I been punished with such a good-for-nothing mate? You promised me I’d become the queen of Sun Island. It was the only reason I accepted your proposal of marriage!"
"Bu-but I didn’t know that Shabby would escape from Palm Island!
"You didn’t and didn’t! It’s not a question about didnts! The question is about how to make you the king and me the queen and who makes it so."
"To make me…who...we?" Roarroary stammered.
"Not we, you stupid, but Evilspecter of Fairytale Island!" Roarytar wheezed.
"E-e-evilspecter!" Roarroary screamed. "He is the root of all evil!"
"Exactly! We cannot get help from anything that is good, meathead!"

Roarroary listened, with his eyes and ears pricked up, while his mate told him, how she had once met Hybris, the hyena, on Fairytale Island. The stinking creature had immediately made friends with her and told her stories about Evilspecter and the dragon Holocaust.

"Listen to me, sweetbody!" Hybris had croaked. "Evilspecter doesn’t invent his evildoings by himself, no such thing, ha-ha-ha. The evildoings are bespoken and Evilspecter carries out them free of charge, out of spite, so to say, ha-ha-ha! Requests for his services flood from all animals in the South Sea; they want him to break a leg of a neighbor or to bury somebody’s home cave under the landslide and so on, ha-ha-ha. You are so decent and law-abiding in your own opinion! But if your smooth fur is shaken up a bit, envy and ill will emerge from your hearts, ha-ha-ha!"
"I don’t want to become king in that way!" Roarroary muttered. "Shabby is my brother."
"That wolf-traitor! How do you dare call him a brother!" Roarytar jumped up, ran out, raised her snout toward the moon and howled her Aria of Fury.

Right now I’m wild with rage. Because my mate is a pale face.
If I need a deed in need. He always gets cold feet.
A truevolf only has luck. Not a weakling awe-struck!
So we two must go on. As I tell you from now on!

Roarroary had no other choice but to agree to his vengeful mate's demand. She took him to Fairytale Island in the next departure of the giant seasnail Columbus. As soon as they landed on Fairytale Island, Roarytar ran to the jungle and returned with the stinking hyena Hybris, who sneered with his yellow fangs and croaked,
"This sweetbody said you wish to see Evilspecter in the Black Castle, ha-ha?"
Roarroary instinctively fell back from the stinking creature and said tentatively,
"If it’s possible."
"If your intention is evil, Evilspecter gladly welcomes you, ha-ha!"
"We-well, it’s quite…e-evil!" Roarroary said, his teeth clattering.
"It must be really evil!" Evilspecter is overworked at present and he doesn’t want to arrange for minor ill doings like breaking legs or tails and so on. Evilspecter must take a new shape for every order and it’s a tedious job!"

Roarytar pushed Roarroary aside and snarled.
"Our intention is really evil! It concerns the brother of my mate."
"Bloody good! Quarrels between brothers are best and at the top of the wish list of Master, ha-ha!” Hybris licked his lips and asked them to follow.

The wolf couple crossed Evilswamp along a winding path following Hybris's footprints but trembling with fear of the snakes and lizards squelching in the bad- smelling mud. Finally they reached a high mountain, the slopes of which were covered by thorn bushes with poisonous snakes wiggling amidst them. A slimy, stone-paved road lead to the Black Castle, dimly visible in the middle of sulphurous clouds of smoke. The road and black walls of the castle were lined by bald-headed vultures who made the wolves tremble with fear again. Hyena Hybris guffawed loudly and the biggest of the vultures standing on the wall flew off and landed on the road slightly above them.
"Who’s asking and for what?" the vulture cracked, his bald wattle swinging.
"Hyena Hybris. This wolf Roarroary and his mate want to make evil to his brother and they ask Master to make their wish come true, ha-ha!"
"Bloody good, at last something decent! Follow me!" The vulture cracked. He bounced uphill and ordered the honor guard of vultures. "Croak the March of Bloodthirsty Vultures!"

 Thorny slopes of the Black Castle saluting.
        Our march in the air is bursting out.
 The nastiness of vultures boasting.
        It makes us immensely proud.
 Let’s now march stomping away.
        When wickedness paves our way.
 Evilspecter keenly watches us.
        His vultures with bloody guts!

Roarytar had to push Roarroary, before he took heart enough to walk, with his paws trembling, through the lines of croaking vultures toward the Black Castle. The drawbridge lowered creaking and the pale wolf couple slipped through the dark, saturated gateway to the half-dark castle-yard crowded by bald-headed vultures. The most bald-headed one escorted them through a narrow door and along spiral stairs to the topmost floor of the castle. The double door opened, crunching, revealing the darkish throne room. They saw cobweb-covered skulls hang from the slimy ceiling and the aisle was lined by croaking, bald-headed court-vultures; glowing-eyed rats twittering between their feet.

On the black throne in the rear sat a black-hooded, horned creature, whose eyes were burning like embers below brown, snakelike eyebrows. His mouth threw out flames and yellow smoke. A jewelled golden scepter shone in the dreadful creature's right hand. Evilspecter himself!
"Ha-ha-ha-haaa!…Welcome, you the true-evil-lovers!" Evilspecter's gap-toothed mouth opened in a friendly grimace. "You’re in the right place, if you really want to make your truly evil thoughts come to life! Come closer!"
"Do you still think this is a good idea? What about if Evilspecter eats us, if we cannot pay him?" Roarroary moaned, trembling on his paws in the middle of maliciously croaking vultures and nasty twittering of rats.
"Don’t always be such a mollycoddle!" Roarytar wheezed even though she was afraid. "Don’t you remember that Evilspecter doesn’t want any other fee but the opportunity to do evil things? It’s a question about your kingship and my queen-ship now. Pull yourself up, you meathead!"
"My assistant told this is about a fraternal wolf-slaughter? Is it true?" Evilspecter wheezed, when the wolf couple stood in front of his throne.
"We-well, I-I don’t know, possibly," Roarroary’s teeth were clattering, because he so feared the black, sulphurous smoke-vomiting monster.
"It holds true, your evil-mindedness!" Roarytar snapped and pushed Roarroary aside.
"Really? I don’t want to fiddle!" Evilspecter blew out an even thicker cloud of sulphurous smoke into their sensitive nostrils.
Roarroary dropped on his knees, hacking, and Roarytar trembled, too, but then rose to face the throne stand and whispered:
"This good-for-nothing, I mean my mate down there, and his two brothers want to get rid of their little brother, who was elected the king of Sun Island by means of sly manipulation. This wolf-traitor is vegetarian and accordingly a shame to the whole wolf-family! His name is Shabby and he must be removed from the throne by any means, and forever!"

Evilspecter jumped down from his throne, bounced to the aisle, clapped with his hands and hooves and began to dance his Bloody Polka accompanied by the croaking vultures.

Bleeding blood, bleeding blood!
       Blood must bubble from every gob.
For once we’ve got, we really have got.
       And Evilspecter has an evil plot.

Evilspecter feels now so hot. 
       He’s feeling soso damned hot.
and will surely enjoy every drop!

Evilspecter jumped back to his throne, panting, and wheezed,
"Exercise is good! But before I take action, I need facts for my evil plan."

Roarroary only trembled. Roarytar contemptuously glanced her mate and began to tell Evilspecter, how Roarroary had tried to abandon Shabby on Palm Island for the duration of the king election. When she explained, how Shabby had escaped from Palm Island by swimming and had even killed the tiger shark Mackie on the way to Sun Island, Evilspecter interrupted her and raged,
"That’s not, how it happened! Dolphin Hermes brought Shabby on his back from Palm Island to your island and a dolphin patrol killed Mackie, a good friend of mine and particularly of dragon Holocaust. The white sharks told me…us about it. I’ll…we’ll show that nipple fish!"
"I didn’t know that!" Roarytar startled and then said. "We all were, of course, more than astonished when Shabby told us that he had swum such a long distance and single-pawed killed a big tiger shark. But we had to believe our eyes, when we saw Mackie's dead body on the shore. Shabby, the wolf-traitor, didn’t tell the truth, of course, but played a hero in the eyes of his simple-minded subjects. We must get rid of this wolf-traitor! Without you, your evil-mindedness, I cannot do it. I beg you to help me! I’ve no use for this good-for-nothing!" Roarytar growled and pointed at Roarroary, who trembled on the floor with his fangs clattering like castanets.
"Ha-ha-ha-haa! Bleeding blood, bleeding blood! Put the brother to death!" Evilspecter guffawed. "Such a long time I have been without a really good opportunity to use my evil imagination! Nothing is better than a good quarrel between brothers about the crown and especially, when there is a female as a grey partner in the plot. Roarytar, you’re my favourite evil-doeress! It will be a pleasure to make evil things with you!"

Evilspecter became silent for a while with his ember-eyes looking far away and his nostrils throwing tiny meditative clouds of sulphurous smoke. Then he leaned over, winked at Roarytar to rise higher in front of his throne and whispered,
"Look, you called your mate a good-for-nothing. What about if I make you the queen of Sun Island without a king?"
"Does your evil-mindedness mean that he," Roarytar furtively pointed at the trembling Roarroary", would be…removed from the picture, as well?" Roarytar whispered with a wicked twinkle in her poison green eyes.

Evilspecter's horned head made a slow bow. Roarytar rose as high as she could against the throne stand, heavily panting, but didn’t say a word. Evilspecter bent down so close to her that their heads almost touched each other and whispered,
"Shabby must, of course…be removed first so that your mate becomes the new king. We’ll let some time elapse and see, how the second phase of our evil plan could be accomplished. Do you approve this double-sided evil plan?"

Roarytar hesitated just a moment, then slowly nodded and sank back on her four paws beside the trembling Roarroary, who hardly noticed anything had happened. Evilspecter bowed down deep and asked Roarroary in a loud voice,
"Duke Roarroary. Is it true that the king, I mean your brother Shabby, has not yet a queen?"
Roarytar pushed Roarroary, who muttered weakly,
"Ye-yes…I mean n-no!"
"Hmm, I could make something of that," Evilspecter threw clouds of sulphurous smoke into the air and yelled, "Be quiet now, all of you! I’m thinking."

The croaking of vultures immediately ceased and the twittering of rats as well; the deathlike silence occupied the dim throne room. Evilspecter buried his horned head in the folds of his black hood, grumbled now and then and threw more clouds of sulphurous smoke into the air. Finally his horned head came in sight from the folds of the hood. Evilspecter wheezed with a satisfied smile on his drooling lips,
"This will not be an easy job, but I’ll do it. You’ll see soon, what I mean!"

Evilspecter buried his head in the folds of his hood again and began to babble some weird words. Black wound from below the black hood and made the deadly-silent throne room darker and darker until it was pitch-dark. After a long while and completely unexpectedly, the black smoke disappeared. A snow-white she-wolf with a jewelled golden tiara on her head stood on the throne in front of the unbelieving eyes of the startled wolf couple.

"Dear Roarytar, may I introduce myself. I’m Helanletty, your second cousin, and Miss Fairytale Island of this year. Let us go to greet this vegetarian wolf-king of Sun Island!" Evilspecter-Helanletty evilly giggled, jumped down from the thrown and ran toward the exit. The wolf couple followed him, with their mouths and eyes wide open, amidst the court vultures furiously croaking their applauses to their ingenious Evil-Master.

What kind of evil plan has Evilspecter-Helanletty created in his evil mind to remove Shabby out of Roarytar and Roarroary's way? Is the poor Shabby doomed now?

Well, that’s another story!

8. Shabby and Helanletty

Sea eagle Robinson hardly believed his eyes during his usual preying flight early one morning, when he saw the giant seasnail Columbus approaching Sun Island. "Columbus shouldn’t call us until in a half moon from now," the brave bird creaked to himself; dived and knocked Columbus's brown shell with his crooked beak and said,
"Kra-kra, Columbus! Why are you here so soon?"

The wicked trio of Evilspecter-Helanletty, Roarroary and Roarytar doze under the shell, but the knocking alarmed them. Evilspecter-Helanletty ran her white tail swinging to the edge of the shell and wheezed to Columbus,
"Listen carefully, you fatty worm! You tell that vulture that you’re bringing the most wonderful wonder to Sun Island and that all animals must come to welcome it. Then you tell this vulture that you will toot seven times, as soon as you are in the coastal waters so the animals know to come to the Palm Beach. If you tell that vulture anything else, I’ll change you into an octopus! "

Evilspecter had bewitched the giant seasnail Columbus into being his weak-willed tool and the giant seasnail could not do anything but do what Evilspecter ordered. Robinson was surprised and annoyed by the strange behaviour of his good old friend, but flew back to Sun Island to tell the animals the message of the most wonderful wonder approaching their island.
Immediately after the giant seasnail had landed, Roarroary jumped down from between the tentacles and howled,
"Listen, everybody and particularly," Roarroary paused, because he didn’t see his king brother, Shabby The Brave, on the shore.

He didn’t know that the king was in the Meeting Square solving a dispute between squirrels of different fur colors about acorns with their leader Hippocrates and Sauerbruch who was acting as the mediator in the dispute.

Roarytar jumped down, pushed Roarroary aside and screamed,
"Listen, everybody! Our island is honored by the visit of Helanletty, Miss Fairytale Island of this year and my second cousin. She will spend her holiday here and has promised to touch the fur of all of us with her lovely paw as a sweet reminder of her visit…Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky, come to assist Miss Fairytale Island to get down…Columbus, lower your tentacles!"

Helanletty slid down between wolf-brothers, who gazed at the snow-white she-wolf with their mouths and eyes wide open. Helanletty gently smiled at them and touched their shabby furs with her right paw. Sulkytar and Friskytar threw icy eyes at their mates and at their bonny wolf-sister, as icily.

The parrotpecker Knocker, as curious as ever, flew in a hurry to the Meeting Square to tell the king of the news. Shabby had just made his judgement in the acorn issue.
"You-your Majesty, King Shabby the Brave!" Knocker clattered.
"What is it now, parrotpecker?" Shabby frowned a bit annoyed, because he didn’t like his nickname but couldn’t deny it, either. He was sorry he had had to tell everyone on the Election Day that he had killed Mackie, single-pawed.
"A-ashore…overover there, the giant seasnail Columbus and Roarroary and Helanletty, a wonder of wonders, whowho..."
"Who Helanwhat? Clatter clearly!" Sauerbruch grunted.
"Sheshe’s she-wolf Helanletty, Miss Fairytale Island and a second cousin to Roarytar. She came to spend her holiday here. Oh, Your Majesty, we were all about dropping our eyes, when we saw her snow-white fur, sky-blue eyes and thethe shi-shining ring on her head!” Knocker clattered with his tuft swinging.
"This means trouble for us, Your Majesty!" Sauerbruch grunted.
"For what reason? Everyone can spend his or her holidays here; Miss Fairytale Island is no exception, dear Sauerbruch. And don't call me Majesty, I’m Shabby to you!"
"I don’t trust Roarroary and trust Roarytar, even less, Shabby. I think they’ve some kind of wicked plot in mind. You’ve certainly heard of her threats? She is the evil spirit for your brother."
"The words are not deeds, dear Sauerbruch!" Shabby laughed. "Which kind of danger do you see in my brother's mate, not to speak of this Miss Fairytale Island?"
"I only warned you! The females are the root of all evil. That’s why I’ve tried to keep single so far,” Sauerbruch grunted and turned away. "Anyway, let’s go and see this wonder girl with our own eyes."

When they reached Palm Bay, they saw a snow-white she-wolf give her paw-marks in the middle of her enthusiastic fans. Roarytar noticed Shabby first and pushed Roarroary, who stood trembling to wait for his king brother. When Shabby came to Helanletty, Roarroary stiffened before his king brother with his tail obediently between his legs and stammered,
"Yu-Your Majesty, Ki-king Shabby the Brave. May I introduce? She is Helanletty, Miss Fairytale Island and the second cousin to my spouse Roarytar."

Helanletty swept a curtsey and lowered her head, then raised it. Her sky-blue eyes under the sparkling tiara threw such a glowing gaze at Shabby that it nailed the King of Sun Island right on the spot. All reasonable thinking in his mind disappeared. Roarroary and other animals sank in a grey fog. His mesmerized eyes saw only Helanletty, who opened her snout in an inviting smile and devotedly howled her Fascination Aria, her sky-blue eyes fixed at Shabby’s eyes.

Look at me, you gracious king, I adore you.
        Your fame is great in the South Sea, too.
All of us are praising the king so smart.
       Who single-pawed killed the cruel tiger shark.
I want to twine my paws round your shiny neck.
       With kisses my admiration on you to check.

Suddenly, a magic voice whispered to Shabby’s ear: ”Stretch your right paw and say, welcome to Sun Island, Miss Fairytale Island.” As if in a trance Shabby gave, with his heart beating, his right paw to Helanletty and spluttered,
"Welcome to Sun Island, Miss Fairytale Island."
"The pleasure is all mine, Your Majesty!" Helanletty cooed.
A magic voice whispered to Shabby again what he must say.
"No, no, the pleasure is all mine…I’m Sun Island’s honest and outspoken wolf-king…Our dear island has no queen…May I now ask you for your hand in marriage and to become the queen of Sun Island?" Shabby spluttered with his mouth and eyes wide open; he couldn’t free his paw from Helanletty's grasp.

Sauerbruch nudged Shabby and grunted in a low voice,
"That she-wolf is a trap!"
Helanletty heard it, jumped in front of Sauerbruch, turned her glowing eyes on him and growled,
"Excuse me, what did you say?"
In a few seconds Sauerbruch stiffened in place pop-eyed and his shaggy bristles erect. Then he slowly sank on his kneels before Helanletty and gladly but brokenly cried,
"I mean that…that it’s so wo-wonderful that our ki-king is e-engaged!"

Helanletty quickly swept her paw-mark on the shaggy bristles of Sauerbruch, ordered him to get up and stepped back to Shabby,
"I feel flattered by the devotion Your Majesty shows to my humble person," Helanlettas cooed smiling sweetly. "But Your Majesty has to ask my father for my paw in the Fairycastle. My father Helanhelas is the wolf-king of Fairytale Island."
A magic voice gave the words to Shabby once again.
"Your wish is my law… We’ll leave for Fairytale Island with the giant seasnail Columbus immediately…I authorize my brother Roarroary to act as the king of Sun Island during my absence. All animals must obey him as if they obeyed me," Shabby mechanically repeated.

The plant-eaters were scared stiff immediately after they heard the strange words of their king. The rabbits and squirrels dashed away at once and the capricorns a moment. The monkeys climbed their palm trees. Only the wild boars stayed on the shore and watched with their small boar-eyes wide open, while their leader Sauerbruch ran in a small circle on the dusty sand and grunted, stammering,
"It’s so wo-wonderful, so wo-wonderful! Our ki-king is e-engaged!”
"Lift us up! Columbus!" Helanletty ordered.
"Your wish is my law!" Columbus hummed and lifted Shabby and Helanletty onto his back.

Helanletty told the weak-willed Shabby to wave to his remaining, confused subjects on the shore. Then the black and white couple disappeared, paw in paw, under the brown shell of the giant seasnail, who gloomily tooted three times and turned to puff toward Fairytale Island without singing his farewell song.

Immediately after arriving at Fairytale Island, Helanletty led Shabby to a broad path, which she said would lead to the Fairycastle. Strange trees and jungle plants paved the path. The humming-birds, bumblebees and honeybees buzzed and sucked nectar from stunningly smelling flowers. The singing, cooing and calling of nightingales, parrots and other strange birds jingled in the jungle. Shabby watched all this, confused, and listened to Helanletty who told him stories of the splendor of Fairycastle.
Sooner than Shabby anticipated, he saw a white castle on the mountain top. Its white walls and gilded cupolas glittered dazzlingly in the sunshine. A broad alley paved with white marble plates and bordered by a double file of pitch-black wolves, lead to Fairycastle. Helanletty waved her hand and the wolf guard started to march in place and to sing their Honor of the Wolves march.

Tails up for our brave traditions.
       Let this song of ours far away stride.
Over fields, oceans and mountains.
       To trumpet our glory far and wide.

The clang of steps is always the same.
       We all know so well our fame.
       When Helanhelas looks at his guard..
       From the window of his Fairycastle.

A glittering gateway led to the vast castle-court. When Shabby and Helanletty entered the courtyard, the white she- and black he-wolves applauded, threw flowers over Shabby and Helanletty and began to shout rhythmically “Shabby The Brave and Helanletty the Graceful!”
Helanletty took Shabby along the broad marble staircase to the topmost floor of the castle. A mighty double-door opened and before Shabby's dazzled eyes opened a vast throne room decorated with golden coconuts hanging from the ceiling or fixed to the marble walls and pillars. The red carpet in the aisle led to the golden throne which was, however, empty.
Helanletty escorted Shabby, who was completely blinded by this splendour, between the bowing court-wolves and their pets, white kittens, to the throne. To the great astonishment of Shabby, Helanletty didn’t stop but jumped onto the empty throne. In front of his disbelieving eyes the snow-white Helanletty raised her right front paw and began to babble weird words. Helanletty's snow-white fur began to blow black smoke that soon made the throne room pitch-dark. After a long while the smoke suddenly disappeared. Shabby saw throught his terrified eyes that the brightly lighted throne room had changed to a dim cave. Instead of golden coconuts, cobweb-covered skulls hung from the slimy ceiling and were fixed to the walls and pillars. Instead of noble court-wolves the aisle was lined by bald-headed vultures with glowing eyed rats that twittered between their feet.

The golden throne had changed to a black monolith and a horned, black-hooded creature, whose eyes burned below snakelike eyebrows, sat on it. The smelly mouth of the black-hooded monster blew out flames and yellow, sulphurous smoke and his right hand held a golden scepter. Evilspecter himself!
"The game is over, Shabby the Brrr-ave!" Evilspecter wheezed. "From now on you’ll be my guest!" Evilspecter pressed a handle with his scepter and the floor disappeared Shabby's paws. He fell down into a stony hole which became pitch-dark, when the hatch creakingly closed over it.

Shabby recovered slowly in the total darkness. Sauerbruch was right, why didn’t I trust him, he thought. This is a trap arranged by Roarroary and Roarytar. They want to get rid of me so that Roarroary could become the new king of Sun Island.
The desperate wolf king cleaned his fur, looked around and saw a tiny gleam of light in the far corner. He crawled over and found a small hole and on the other end he saw a small but clear light spot. Brushing against pale bones now and then, Shabby crawled through the tubular cave toward the light. Finally, the cave opened in the open air. He poked his head out, but saw only a vertical rock-face all around. The bad-smelling, yellowish smoke made the air difficult to breathe and was so dim that he heard rather than saw the stormy sea farther away.

Suddenly his whiskers were almost scorched by a burning hot puff of air. He quickly drew his head inside. After a while he pulled himself together and crawled back to the cave entrance and carefully peeped out again. On the sand below him stood a huge dragon blowing out smoky tongues of flame through his fangy-toothy jaws and snotty nostrils.
"Who are you?" Shabby cried, although he knew, who the monster was.
"I am Holocaust! the dragon thundered so that the air and ground trembled and threw a new shower of flame onto Shabby.
Shabby pulled his head in again, thought for a while and then cried from inside the cave,
"Hi, Holocaust! Please, don’t any more smoke. Let’s talk."
"I've never talked with my meal before!" Holocaust burst into thunderous laughter. "But it’s so lonely to stay on watch down here all day alone, so that let's talk. I’m hungry, but I won’t blow now!"

Shabby pushed his head cautiously out of the hole and saw the dragon standing twenty yards below him slowly swinging his snobby head and holding his bat-like wings tightly against his sides.
"Look…buddy!" Shabby said in a persuasive voice. "I need to get out of here. Would you please help me? First you should lean against the rock-face. Then I could jump on your head and slide along your long neck between your wings. From there I can easily jump on the ground and get away."

Holocaust tilted on his back, scratched his scaled belly with his short claws and laughed so that the air and ground trembled. His wagging tail slung stones all over; a small stone flew up and hit Shabby's forehead forcing him to take cover deeper in the cave. Then he heard Holocaust sing The Dragon Watch Song.

Amidst these slimy stones
       Holocaust is doing his duties
By eating every animal. 
        Which puts his head
Out of the cave hole…

Shabby risked his head by putting it carefully out again. Then he said as amicably and persuasively as he could,
"Holocaust, my friend! Would you please be a bit more careful with your tail? I almost caught a stone with my head! Could we negotiate? Look, I’m Shabby the Brave, King of Sun Island. You told me a moment ago that you’re hungry?... I could help. You could get sea dates as much as you wish for your daily meals. Besides, vegetable food is healthy and good for digestion, too...I know Hermes, the dolphin, who could bring you sea dates with his buddies..."
"WHAT?" Holocaust belched out a long, hot flame shower as soon as he heard the name of Hermes. Shabby hardly had time to take cover from the hot flames. "Don’t tell me of Hermes and the dolphins. That crooked nipple fish with his crooked fellows killed my buddy, tiger shark Mackie…Someday, I’ll show that damned dolphin!"

The scaled tail of the enraged dragon threw stones all over and some of them flew into the cave. Shabby had to take cover again.

The sun threw his last beams onto the stony beach through the sulphurous smoke clouds, and the cave became pitch-dark. Shabby could only see his guard, when he blew flames on the stony shore now and then. In the middle of his desperate thoughts the darkness, however, gave him an idea; Holocaust sees hardly better I do in the darkness? If I drop down to the stony beach, even though the fall is terribly long? If I break my legs, I’ll be an easy booty for Holocaust. But I have to take this risk, what other alternatives do I have?

Deep in his thoughts Shabby was pushing small stones out of the cave the stony beach. Unexpectedly, the cave opening filled with light; Holocaust's flame shower of Holocaust made the cave almost as bright as in the daytime.
"I heard some rustling. You’re not trying to slip out, are you? I would miss you then!" Holocaust scorned.

Shabby didn’t care to answer, instead he withdrew deeper into the cave, depressed. It seems impossible to escape even at night; he thought desperately. What can I do now? He put his head between his front paws and started thinking intensely. Holocaust's showers of flame lit up the cave opening from time to time.

Will Shabby find a way to get out of the cave? Or will the unhappy wolf king starve in the cave or fall victim to the bloodthirsty dragon Holocaust on the shore?

                                                         Well, that’s another story!

9. Shabby and Dragon Holocaust

Filled with new hope he pushed his head out of the cave, blinked a moment in the pale sunshine and called,
"Hi, Holocaust! Where are you?"
"Oh, you’ve not yet lost your mind and jumped down voluntarily?" Holocaust neighed dancing below the cave with a half-eaten ink fish in his jaws. "You look a bit stiff, may I precook you a bit?" A lazy flame rose from his nostrils but didn’t reach the cave opening.
"Have you any dying wish before you dii..ee?" the dragon asked amicably and puffed sulphurous smoke into the air.
"Look, Holocaust. I bet ten to one that you don’t know how many teeth you have in your jaws?" Shabby enigmatically suggested to the dragon.

Holocaust scratched his scaly head with his right front claw and then touched his jaws, which blow out small clouds of sulphurous smoke.
"Uh, I have at least as many teeth as I’ve claws in my front leg."
"Oh, you’ve faaar more teeth in you jaws than you’ve claws in your four legs altogether! I could count your teeth, if you only open your mouth."
"What can I do with this knowledge?" Holocaust wheezed scratching his scaly head.
"Well,...you could tell your dragon buddy that I have so and so many teeth my jaws. Then you could ask your buddy, whether he knows the number of teeth he has. Your buddy most certainly doesn’t know t, either. But if you knew, your buddy would start to envy you. Soon you would be a terrible but also terribly wise dragon in the whole world of dragons. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing?"
"Maybe, but is it much, if there are so and so many teeth in my jaws?"
"Well, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t tell anything. You must know the quantity of your teeth in numbers," Shabby explained.
"In numbers? What are the numbers? Can I eat them? Are they tasty?" Holocaust asked and dropped the remainder of the ink fish on the ground.
"You certainly can eat numbers, you’ll see it soon!" Shabby quickly answered." - But let’s not waste time. Lean against the rock on your hind legs."

Shabby instructed Holocaust stand as high as possible and soon his jaws breathed sulphurous smell a few yards below the cave opening.
"Splendid, Holocaust!" Shabby cried. "But you must help me in counting. Open your mouth and listen carefully! Every time, when I say “one tooth”, you pick up one stone from the beach and put it up here. After I’ve finished, the number of stones up here is the same as the number of your teeth. Computing is that easy if one knows his rules!"

Holocaust strained his jaws so hard they grattled. Shabby looked into the gaping jaws and cried “one fang”. Holocaust obediently lifted one middle-sized stone to the cave opening and set it inside. Shabby pushed it to the left side and said, "That was your first tooth. I’ll sing a Toothstone Chanty to you now. It’ll be easier for you to lift your tooth stones up here in step of my chanty."

Again one tooth, thanks, Holocaust, two!
Again one tooth, thanks, Holocaust,three!
Again one tooth, thanks, Holocaust, four!
Again one tooth, thanks, Holocaust, five!
Again one tooth, thanks, Holocaust, six...

Shabby had not drunk water for a long time. His throat and tongue were dry before the heap of stones in the cave was high enough for his plan. Then he peeped out over the pile of stones and cried to Holocaust,
"Would you please open your jaws still a bit more so that I can see all of your back teeth? And close your eyes!”

Holocaust strained his slobbery jaws so that his bulging eyes closed. Shabby took a good start and pushed the heap of stones down. He heard awful roaring, followed by choking sounds. He peeped out and saw the huge dragon writhing on the stones with his short front legs around his neck. Shorter and shorter tongues of flames poured out of his jaws and nostrils. Little by little the wiggling ceased and only thin smoke curls slowly climbed in the air from the dragon's nostrils.

Shabby waited in the cave, until the huge body lolled completely motionless on the stony beach. He drew a deep breath, turned around and edged his hind paws and then the half of his body outside the cave. Hold tight, my precious claws, he prayed, then closed his eyes and began to slide down the rock-face. His sharp claws scraped tiny cracks and bumps of the rock-face slowing the falling speed. Only his left hind paw twisted, when he bumped on the stones. His sharp claws had, however, broken so badly that his paws were bleeding.
To climb palms with these claws is wishful thinking, Shabby thought grinning in pain, and started cleaning his paws by licking them. But these claws saved my life!

Shabby limped toward the buzzing seashore. When he passed Holocaust's dead body, it seemed to move. Shabby was scared stiff and tried to limp faster, but then stopped: The scaly body didn’t move but became smaller and started changing his form. Finally his surprised eyes saw the motionless body of Evilspecter, with his crooked horns between stones, his hooves sticking out from below the black hood and his right hand grasping a pale bone, previously the golden scepter.
"Evilspecter and Holocaust were the different sides of the same evil creature. Both of them are now dead and I have killed them!" Shabby said aloud, almost dizzy.

The earth began to tremble and Shabby raised his head; instead of slimy stones he suddenly felt warm sand below his aching paws. The dark-grey rock-face behind him changed into a green hill, on the top of which he saw a white castle similar to the one he had seen on his arrival with Helanletty. The white walls and gilded cupolas of the castle glittered dazzlingly in the bright sunshine. He could clearly hear the cheerful chirping of birds. The stormy ocean breakers had faded away and changed into mild rollers above which the seagulls, terns and ospreys played.

The amazing change of scenery made Shabby quiver; he instinctively looked around as if to see, if Helanletty or the hyena Hybris was around to threaten him. But he calmed down, when he all saw behind him was the body of Evilspecter-Helanletty as a big heap of black, crumpled seaweed with a yellowish shin-bone in the middle of it.

Shabby' relief was interrupted, when he saw odd events taking place on the top of the hill; two-legged creatures were coming out of the white castle along the drawbridge. One of these strange creatures began to jump down the slope and finally stopped in front of Shabby. Shabby had never seen such a creature!

The creature had a white, hairless snout and front paws, as hairless and white. A big, brown lump like a big coconut was hanging from his paws. The white snout was bordered by long, blonde hair in which there was a red flower. The rest of the body was covered by large, colourful palm leaves; Shabby couldn’t find a better name for them. The white hind paws had black shiny claws and the creature reminded Shabby of a monkey, but it was at least hundred times more beautiful than romping, ugly monkeys.

The creature opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that was more beautiful than what Shabby had ever heard.
"I’m Little Red Riding Hood and I came to thank you in the name of all Fairytales you have liberated from Evilspecter's slavery. We’re now free to go to all corners of the world to bring joy and amusement to the children. I was given this task of honor, because I’ve experience with a wolf, although an evil one, not a kind one like you. What’s your name and where do you come from?"
"I’m called…Shabby and I come from Sun Island," Shabby said timidly. "I only did my duty. But who are you, Red Riding Hood, who walks on two paws? You’re not an animal, at least not an animal I know, because you’ve no fur. In some way, you resemble monkeys, but monkeys are…babblers.”
"Never mind!" Little Red Riding Hood laughed "I’m a human being, but a human being who lives only in fairytales. Human beings walk on two legs, not on two paws. We have no fur as you and other animals have. But even we fairytale human beings have to protect our hairless skin with clothes…Look, this is a skirt or robe, this jacket and this bonnet or cap and what I’ve in my feet are called shoes." Little Red Riding Hood pointed to her garments. "Under my outerwear I’ve underwear or my bra and panties… but let’s not talk more about them! Without our clothes we would be naked…and it’s not decent among the human beings!"

So the two-legged and hairless creatures call themselves human beings. Shabby thought. He felt sorry for Little Red Riding Hood and other human beings, who had to hide themselves under all kind of... claims and shows or what on earth they were called?...Then another question popped in his mind: Are there males and females among the human beings? In any case, Little Red Riding Hood smelled in his sensitive nose as female.
"Are you a human female?" Shabby politely asked her.
"Of course, I’m female, Shabby!" Little Red Riding Hood laughed. "But the human beings call their females girls and their males boys. I’m a girl," Little Red Ridinghood said and quickly looked at Shabby and sweetly blushed. "You seem to be a boy-wolf in our language, because you have…a willy."
"You’re right; I’m a boy-wolf. Shabby admitted, " So I would be a boy, if I could walk two-pawed and if I had…claims?
"Clothes, not claims," Little Red Riding Hood corrected. "Claims mean things that the human beings demand from each other and these claims often lead to disputes and fights. But let's not talk about human behavior any more, because the disbutes make life difficult for everyone. The only thing I want to tell you now is that you, Shabby, are a very brave boy! You beat Evilspecter! Now I see that all the fairy tales seem to want to shake your hand…er, your paw. Then we’re going to leave for all corners of the world to make all children of the world delighted and happy! Without you, Shabby, we would have remained slaves of Evilspecter forever!"

Two legged creatures streamed down the hill. The first one of three black-haired girls was followed by seven small, bearded oldsters with crooked sticks on their shoulders singing and whistling “Hi ho, hi ho! It's home from work we go…”
"Snow White and Seven Dwarfs,” Little Red Riding Hood explained.

A golden crown shone on the head of the second black-haired girl, who walked hand in hand with a lanky, crown-headed boy.
"Princess Sleeping Beauty and Prince Florestan!” Little Red Riding Hood said.

The third black-haired girl had a transparent hoof on one of her hind legs. She was called Cinderella. Then Shabby had to rub his eyes: Behind three small wild boars running on two legs, he saw two wolves, also running on two legs. The bigger wolf wore ragged clothes and a hat, as ragged. The smaller one was dressed more tidily and seemed to be a wolf-puppy. Are these two werewolves? Shabby wondered.
"Three Small Pigs and Big Bad Wolf with his son,” Little Red Riding Hood presented.

Then Shabby saw a feather-capped boy and a tiny, winged girl chase tidily by an ugly creature, which had a hook in his right front paw and with a black patch on his right eye. They were Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Captain Hook.
To shake paw with an endless stream of fairytales finally began to hurt Shabby's right paw. At long last, the last comer, a long-nosed fellow, pressed Shabby's aching paw and exclaimed, "Buongiorno!"

A delicious fragrance had been coiling out Little Red Riding Hood's basket to tickle Shabby's sensitive nose already for some time. His belly started to rumble. After the long-nosed fellow, Pinocchio, had left them, Little Red Riding Hood heard the rumble and cried,
"Good heavens, you seem to be thirsty and hungry!"
"Well, you could say so," Shabby said, ashamed of his noisy belly.
"Ah and oh! I’ve only bread, bananas, orange juice and coconut pie for my grandma in my basket, Little Red Ridinghood said with a sob.
"Orange juice and coconut pie will do very well! Coconuts are my favorite dish. I’m vegetarian! Shabby answered, drooling.
"Really? Little Red Riding Hood giggled and her mouth formed a nice ”o”.

Then she spread her white apron on the sand and lined up a clay-mug, juice bottle, bananas and coconut pie on her makeshift tablecloth. When Shabby attacked the gifts of the tablecloth, Little Red Ridinghood began to sing in her lovely voice:

Drink, Shabby, chew and try.
      This juice and my coconut pie.
They seem to meet your great need. 
       And make your hunger to speed.
Eat, drink and don’t worry 'bout me!
       A lovely surprise you’ll soon see.
Lal-lal-lal-lal-lal-lal-laa.
       Lal-lal-lal-lal-lal-lal-laa.

Shabby's eyes moistened, when he recognized the lullaby melody his Darling-mother had once sung. But he had no time to ponder, what Little Red Riding Hood meant by the lovely surprise, because he heard sand rattle behind him. He turned around and saw a snow-white she-wolf with a golden, jewelled crown on her head, invitingly blinking her sky-blue eyes at him.
"He-Helanletty!" Shabby screamed with fear and swung around behind Little Red Riding Hood. "Why didn't you die as Evilspecter?"
"I’m not Helanletty but Princess Twinkle-eye, the only daughter of the wolf-king Helanhelas of Fairytale Island," the snow-white she-wolf said in her lovely voice. "Hyena Hybris captured me some time ago and Evilspecter bewitched me Helanletty and enslaved you, too. My father will certainly thank you for your freeing me Evilspecter's clutches and reward you as is common in fairy tales!"
"Well, I just did my duty!" Shabby said and stepped out from behind of Little Red Riding Hood, a bit ashamed.
"The brave and smart Shabby killed Evilspecter-Holocaust with stones just like the hunter killed the cruel wolf in my fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood said. "Listen, you two! I have to go back to the Fairycastle to make a new food basket for my grandma. Be happy, you two!"

Shabby glanced at Princess Twinkle-eye, who blushed and made Shabby blush, too. They watched in silence, while Little Red Riding Hood collected her basket and disappeared to the Fairycastle behind the fairyfolk. Suddenly, Shabby pricked up his ears and turned his eyes toward the sea. He thought he heard familiar chirping amidst the rushing rollers and screaming seagulls. He narrowed his eyes in the bright sunshine and finally saw two familiar figures approach the shore.
"Chi-chi, buddy. Here we are, Hermes and Aphrodite," Hermes chirped and the dolphins stopped on the coast-rollers with their heads side by side.

Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye ran to the coastline.
"How did you know to come here?" Shabby asked, astonished.
"A dolphin patrol signalled that a wolf has killed Evilspecter-Holocaust and that the fairytales have been liberated. We immediately guessed that it was you, buddy! We came to take you…and your fiancée, of course, to Sun Island."
"As a matter of fact…we’re not yet…in that way,..." Shabby muttered and glanced at Princess Twinkle-eye, who also blushed.
"Oh, please, don’t! I can see even from here that you’ll become a happy couple," Aphrodite cooed.
"A couple or not, we shouldn’t waste time now!" Hermes ordered. "A patrolling dolphin squad has informed me of alarming events taking place on Sun Island."
"I can well imagine it," Shabby said and then turned to Princess Twinkle-eye. "Princess, "I must go now, my duty as the king of Sun Island calls. You can go to your father Helanhelas, who must have missed you greatly and for such a long time."
"I’ll go with you, if you so wish, Princess Twinkle-eye said, gently lowering her eyes. "We’ll have time to see my father later on. He has promised me and a half of his kingdom to the one, who frees me from Evilspecter's clutches."
"Chi-chi, you heard words of wisdom, Hero of the South Sea! You’ll soon be a king of two islands." Hermes chirped. "Shabby, jump up on my back! Princess Twinkle-eye will certainly enjoy riding on Aphrodite. Hold tight our dorsal fins! We must swim all night and probably rest on some island before we reach Sun Island. It’s a long way to swim to there and we have a headwind. Besides, Aphrodite needs to go slower now, but you shouldn't worry about it!"

The black and white wolf couple paddled into the water. Hermes and Aphrodite, with Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye firmly on their backs, turned to the open sea and headed toward Sun Island.

Do King Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye arrive at Sun Island safely and in time to save his kingdom? And what will the mean Roarroary, even meaner Roarytar as well as Roarroary's mean brothers and their mean mates do, when they notice that their evil plan has failed?

Well, that’s, however, another story!

10. Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye in danger

The mean Roarytar was convinced that Evilspecter-Helanletty had pushed Shabby into the jaws of the bloodthirsty lizards and snakes in Evilswamp already on the way to Blackcastle. It took about three days for Columbus to sail to Fairytale Island. Already on the fourth day after his departure. Roarytar demanded that Roarroary informs the animals of the death of Shabby’ and his fiancée Helanletty Roarroary proposed that it would be better to wait for the official death notice, but Roarytar circled on the cave floor and raged,
"The official death notice! Evilspecter will not waste time in killing a king! We must immediately issue a message about the tragic destiny of our beloved king and his sweet fiancée! What about my going to tell Sulkytar and Friskytar of a story I allegedly heard from the sea-hawks this morning? I'll say they saw the dreadful dragon Holocaust snatch both Shabby and Helanletty in the Evilswamp. I'll make my goofy sisters-in-law swear that they keep my confidential message in secret. It’s guaranteed that those stupid chatter-lumps will rush to tell their secrets absolutely confidentially to every passer-by."
"I can’t become a king on the basis of hearsay!" Roarroary argued.
"But you can start behaving like our new king!" Roarytar shouted. "Evilspecter will certainly order Columbus to confirm Shabby's death. Where would you be without me, you meathead!"

Roarytar was right; Sulkytar and Friskytar ran all around the island to spread the sad news about Shabby's tragic death after he had heroically defended himself and his sweet fiancée Helanletty against the dreadful dragon Holocaust. Wailing and howling filled Sun Island; all the plant-eaters, particularly the rabbits, began to fear the tyranny of Roarroary. The red-eyed Darwin, leader of rabbits, invited all plant-eaters to the memorial service of Shabby in the Meeting Square. At the end they sang The Funeral March of Shabby written by Darwin:

Let us all bow now mourning heads.
       When our king has met his tragic death.
Such a short time he could be near.
       But his memory remains for us dear.
Let us hope for these roaring times.
      That we'll be saved from Roary crimes!

The words of Funeral March irritated Roarroary, while Roarytar became frantic with rage. She ordered her nervous mate to give an order saying that the rabbits would be allowed to eat only in a restricted area between Quartz cliff and the home caves of the wolves.

After having heard this order Darwin, already sorry for his Funeral March lyrics, leapt to the Meeting Square and asked Roarroary, with his harelips quivering:
"Pup-pup, Your Majesty. May I humbly ask why only we rabbits are forced to eat in a restricted area?"
Roarroary questioningly glanced at Roarytar, who wheezed to Darwin,
"After you’ve eaten grass in the restricted area for some time, the grass outside will grow taller and greener. We’ll let you go to a new area in due time."
"Pup-pup, well, it’s possible to understand this order in this way, too." Darwin said timidly but suspiciously. "But, why only the rabbits? Why not wild boars and capricorns, too? They eat mostly the same stuff as we do! "
"They are higher on the hierarchy of animals and have more votes than you, according to the Unwritten Animal Law. You should know that, Darwin!" Roarytar wheezed.
"Pup-pup, but there should prevail equal rights between all animals now, as King Shabby declared. Isn’t this new order a legal offense to this law?” Darwin stuttered with his long ears laid back. He fell silent, a lump in his throat, when Roarytar jumped to a stone just above him, sneering, and screamed:"
"Must I remind you, you…pointed-ear that King Shabby authorized Roarroary to act as the king during his absence and that’s why all animals must obey Roarroary as if they obeyed Shabby himself! You shouldn’t resist our new king, Darwin; you may pay dearly for it!"

Darwin rushed to the jungle in panic. Late the next night while Roarroary was asleep, Roarytar sneaked out, killed and ate the unhappy Darwin as a warning for the rest of plant-eaters, as she explained to Roarroary in the morning.
"All attempts to defy our absolute power must be brutally suppressed in the very beginning," Roarytar wheezed to Roaroary,who was shocked by his mate terrific act.
"What will the rabbits and other plant-eaters say when they hear of Darwin's death?" Roarroary wailed.
"It doesn't matter, what they say, we’re in power now!" Roarytar snapped.

Early next morning and before he heard Darwin's murder, the sea eagle Robinson left for a long open sea flight to meet his brother on Fairytale Island. Suddenly, in the middle of the boundless ocean he saw two strange creatures, a black one and a white one speeding toward Sun Island. Robinson dove and immediately recognized Shabby on the back of the darker dolphin. They exchanged a few words that made Robinson turn around and fly back to Sun Island in haste. Circling above the Palm Bay Robinson excitedly sang:

King Shabby the Brave comes back to us.
       I saw it with my sharp eagle eyes.
      On the back of dolphins he rides
With his sweet white fiancée.
:;Hurrah, hurrah, all fears are swept away,
       our dear king is coming this way!:;

Our brave King asked me to tell you.
       That he is going to chase away.
All fears that shadow our living free.
        In our island in the middle of sea.
:;Hurrah, hurrah, all fears are swept away,
       our dear king is coming this way!:;

When Roarytar heard Robinson’s message, she became shocked in spite of the fact she had believed that something positive had happened to help her plans on Fairytale Island two days before: The silly grunting of the wild-boar chief Sauerbruch about the engagement of the king had ceased then. Sauerbruch had no idea, where he had been or what he had been doing. He couldn’t understand, either, why his fur was covered by sand. He withdrew to his cave, embarrassed, and asked that no one would disturb him. Roarytar reasoned then that the sudden change of Sauerbruch’s behavior meant that Shabby had been killed by Evilspecter and that the wild-boar chief was freed of his bewitchment at the same time.

Roarroary, shocked by Robinson's message, ran around in circles in the cave, biting his tail, but Roarytar quickly recovered and barked to her helpless mate:
"Whatever happens, you don’t get out of it by biting your tail, you coward! The game is not over! We must do something. I will ask your stupid brothers and their mates, just as stupid, to a secret meeting to plan a welcome party for Shabby!"

Sulkysulky, Friskyfrisky and their mates didn’t understand at all, why they should secretly creep under the dark cypresses to plan the welcome party for Shabby. They were glad after they had heard that that Shabby was alive and coming back. They had no idea of Roarytar's evil plan to kill Shabby. But their cheerful looks faded, when Roarytar wheezed,
"My dear wolf-brothers and –sisters! We face a very serious situation now. Evilspecter, that two-tongued snake has started to play his own game. He didn’t follow the evil plan we agreed upon and is now coming here as Shabby's fiancée."
"Just a moment, Roarytar! Is Evilspecter coming here? That is terrible!" Friskyfrisky cried pop-eyed. "And what evil plan are you talking about? I am just now hearing about such a plan."
"Exactly," Sylkysulky growled. "I don’t understand what you're talking about, either."

Roarytar was forced to tell her stupefied brothers-in-law what the real reason was for their trip to Fairytale Island: King Shabby was to be eliminated with the help of Evilspecter so that Roarroary would become the new king. In order to get the unsuspecting Shabby to fall into the trap, Evilspecter transformed himself into Helanletty, bewitched Shabby and took him to Fairytale Island.
"Why should our brother Shabby have been killed? Friskyfrisky asked. "Shabby was lawfully elected our king and he has been fair at least to me and Friskytar. And I think that you have nothing against him, either?" Friskyfrisky nodded to Sulkysulky and Sulkytar, who both nodded back to him.
"Don’t you blockheads understand anything?" Roarytar exploded. "Before long Shabby would force us, too, to eat coconuts, bananas and other fodder. The question is about rabbits and real wolf-food, you dumb-heads. It will be easier for you, too, to chase rabbits in the restricted area as Roarroary just ordered."
"I didn’t think of it that way," Sulkysulky said, scratching his head. "One needs not to run that much."
"Hmm, it has his good sides, no doubt," Friskyfrisky murmured. "But it’s still not fair, in my opinion, to have Shabby killed, I mean. But what are you going to do now, when Shabby is alive and coming back here? Our brother must be aware of your evil plan. Otherwise he couldn’t have escaped Evilspecter.”
"What WE are going to do!" Roarytar growled "Don’t even imagine that you can pull your paws out of this! Your dear brother surely believes that all of us are behind the plan. Whether you want to or not, we have to carry out our evil plan. In other words, Shabby can’t arrive here alive. Or does someone disagree? Paws up!" Roarytar ordered.

There was a deep silence. Only the wind buzzed in the cypresses under which six wolves lay silent, with their snouts down and without looking at each other. Not a single paw rose.
"Unity is power!" Roarytar grumbled. "Robinson told it takes half a day before the dolphin rogues with their so called royal cargo arrive here. I have a new plan. Look, Evilspecter told us on Fairytale Island that the tiger shark Mackie was a good friend of his, of dragon Holocaust and of white sharks, as well. Mackie was killed by the dolphins led by Hermes which is certainly one of the dolphins bringing Shabby and Helanletty here. White sharks want revenge on Hermes and his dolphins for Mackie's death. Now I will order Robinson alert the white sharks to hunt the dolphins. We will promise the white sharks that they can have the stinking remainder of Mackie's body as an extra bonus!”

As Roarytar commanded, Robinson flew around Sun Island and announced that white sharks were requested to swim to Sun Island for a cleaning job. Three big white sharks heard the invitation and swam to the beach waters. Roarytar climbed onto Mackie' body and screamed her instructions to the white sharks, however, so that no other animal heard them on the shore.

Then she ordered the reluctant Sulkysulky tear meat lumps from Mackie's stinking body and Friskyfrisky, even more reluctant, to hand them to Robinson, who dropped the lumps to the white sharks as a prepayment. The wondering animals of Sun Island flowed onto the shore to watch the bloody show. The rabbits, standing for safety’s sake at the edge of the jungle, gave way to Sauerbruch, who appeared from the bushes and ran to the wolves.
"Wha-what’s going on he-here?" Sauerbruch had begun to stutter after he was freed of his bewitchment.

Roarytar jumped behind Roarroary, who also startled when he saw Sauerbruch's questioning snout before him.
"Oh, it’s you, Sauerbruch, it’s really nice that you’re well again!" Roarroary stammered. "What do you mean?"
Before Sauerbruch had time to answer, Roarytar cooed behind Roarroary,
"Dear Sauerbruch. Mackie's body stinks. We decided to do some cleaning after we heard that our beloved king is coming back with his fiancée Helanletty. I…we were quite sure that the news about the death of our beloved king was false… I just wonder who the scoundrel spread those rumors? Even the sea eagle Robinson gently offered his services for this cleaning job. We’re doing this for the sake of our island."
"Fo-for the sake of our is-island?" Sauerbruch asked sceptically. "Hard to be-believe, but so be it. The bo-body of Mackie sti-stinks really awfully. When will our ki-king be here with his fiancée?"
"Late in the afternoon, Robinson estimated," Roarytar said and added. "You need not wait for Shabby here. We’ll let you know, when our beloved king and his fiancée are in sight."
"All-all right, it’s really ve-very hot here and that bo-body stinks," Sauerbruch grunted. – Let’s go to the wo-wood, boys. It’s a bit coo-cooler there," he addes to his wild boars.

After the last pigtail had disappeared, Roarytar turned to Roarroary and wheezed.
"We have no time to waste! Sauerbruch is dangerous. We must take care of him next. For that reason, we must declare the immunity of plant-eater leaders ended immediately after the white sharks have killed Shabby and his fiancée. Thereafter we have no shortage of easily obtainable food!" Roarytar bellowed.
"Bu-but it’s against the Unwritten Animal Law!" Roarroary whimpered. "And what will Professor Alzheimer say?"
"The Unwritten Animal Law will be rewritten by me! And for Alzheimer there are martens in the woods!" Roarytar snarled with her green eyes meanly wrinkled. "Now I order the white sharks to leave to hunt the dolphins and their passengers!"

The dolphin squad patrolling the waters around Sun Island heard the communication between the white sharks and informed Hermes of the new threat. Hermes was frightened, because he, like all dolphins, was more afraid of white sharks hunting in flocks than of tiger sharks hunting mainly alone in their territory. A team of twenty dolphins immediately left toward Hermes's signals, which also instructed the white sharks to swim in the right direction. Fortunately, the dolphins were faster. The three white sharks were hit by the dolphins swimming in a fan-shaped formation ahead of Hermes and Aphrodite. Besides, the white sharks' bellies were full of the stinking Mackie meat so that they soon got enough and lazily turned away.

The long voyage against the head wind and the evasive movements to save themselves from the white sharks exhausted Hermes and Aphrodite and their passengers and slowed them down. They realised that they couldn't reach Sun Island before nightfall. Therefore, they decided to overnight on a small islet and to leave for Sun Island at dawn.

Will Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye get safely to Sun Island and if so, will the mean Roarytar still have new dirty tricks in store to kill them?

Well, that’s, however, another story!

11. Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye arrive at Sun Island

By nightfall not a splash of the royal couple riding on the dolphins could seen in the open sea. The animals were buzzing, anxious and even afraid on the shore in the light of the rising moon. One by one, they left for their home caves or nests. Only the wolves remained on the shore; at the secret order of Roarytar they waited for the white sharks to tell them of the killing of Shabby and his fiancée. Then, unexpectedly, the wild-boar chief Sauerbruch appeared on the shore from the darkness. He stayed motionless, with his head down and an anguished look in his eye that stared at the smoothly rolling sea. Roarytar noticed Sauerbruch and ran to him.
"Apparently, the rumors about the death of our beloved king seem to hold true, dear Sauerbruch." Roarytar's snarling poorly disguised the scorn in her voice. "Robinson, that senile bird sees all kinds of delusions and thinks they are real."
"Le-let's put Robinson under cross-exa-examination to-tomorrow!" Sauerbruch grunted. "I can ma-make him speak the truth. He tru-trusts me."

Roarytar's poison green eyes narrowed and she muttered half aloud, "Robinson will trust me, too, when I make that lame bird trust me!."  Roarytar turned around and rushed to the dark jungle, alone, but Sauerbruch saw it and ran after her.

The long flights had exhausted the old sea eagle Robinson. He was snoring in his nest on the top of Quartz Cliff and didn’t even wake up, when a dark figure attacked him, tore out his neck and pushed the dead body down to the rocks below. Then the dark figure turned his head as if to make sure no one had seen his evil deed. In the darkness it didn’t notice two animals who had seen what had happened on Quartz Cliff but had come too late to warn Robinson of the mortal danger.

The morning sun was already high in the blue sky, when Hermes and Aphrodite with Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye on their backs arrived at Palm Beach. The beach was empty and only the monkeys were romping in the coconut palms, as usual. A young monkey nudged his chief, the black-capped Pavlov just when the dolphin duo with their passengers turned toward the beach in the midst of splashing waves. Pavlov screamed with joy and amazement.
"King Shabby the Brave and his fiancée Helanletty have not died! Thank Heaven!" Then Pavlov said to his watchful monkey: "Go quickly to Viceking Roarroary and tell him that King Shabby and his fiancée are landing Palm Beach just now. But cry from a tree, don’t go down to the ground. That crook can do anything and so can Roarytar, too."

After a foamy lap of honor, Hermes and Aphrodite stopped amidst the waves near the shore. Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye paddled to the beach. Pavlov rushed to welcome the royal couple with halves of coconuts in his paws. The rest of the monkeys were dropping coconuts from the palms rushing to break them on the Dropping Cliff.

Happy animals began to flood onto Palm Beach to welcome their beloved king and his sweet fiancée without knowing anything about the dangers they’d to overcome. The rabbits and squirrels were the fastest, then came a few capricorns and wild boars. Finally six wolves led by Roarroary walked shyly out of the jungle. Roarytar was deathly pale; she pushed trembling Roarroary forward and quietly snarled,
"Go to welcome your brother… Find out some excuse, you good-for-nothing!"
Roarroary walked slowly to Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye, with his tail between hind legs, and stammered,
"Yo-Your Ma-Majesty, King Shabby and your fiancée He-Helanletty. We-welcome you back. I ha-have…"
"Shut your snout, Roarroary!" King Shabby yelled so loud that Roarroary fell to his knees. "I know your plot. You and Roarytar knew very well that Helanletty was Evilspecter. Now you see in front of you my true fiancée Princess Twinkle-eye, the only daughter of Wolf-king Braveheart of Fairytale Island. Princess Twinkle-eye was freed from the bewitchment, when I killed Evilspecter-Holocaust, this time truly single-pawed. Fairytale Island is now free and all the fairytales that were imprisoned in Blackcastle have left for the four corners of the world to make human puppies happy and merry."
"That's re-really good." Roarroary stammered. "I-I’ve tried to-to order… I mean to take care of our island a-as well as I’ve been a-able to."

Wild boar chief Sauerbruch pushed Roarroary rolled about on the sands.
"Don’t say well, you crook!" Sauerbruch yelled, this time without stammering. "This bloodthirsty beast ordered rabbits to stay and eat in a small restricted area so that they could be hunted more easily. And what’s worse; our friend the rabbit chief Darwin was killed by that cruel she-wolf two nights ago." Sauerbruch pointed at Roarytar with his right front hoof. The evil she-wolf whined and slipped behind Roarroary.
"I didn’t know, I only obeyed Roarroary’s orders!" Roarytar whined.
"It’s easy to say I only obeyed orders!" Sauerbruch growled. "Besides, it was exactly on the contrary. You gave orders and Roarroary obeyed them."
"You’re right, de-dear Sauerbruch, just right!" Roarroary cried. " Roarytar planned the whole plot a-and forced me to visit E-Evilspecter. She killed Darwin, my good friend, too, without saying a word to me in advance. I would never have given my permission for assassination!"
"Roarytar also killed the sea eagle Robinson last night!" Sauerbruch roared. "I saw it with my own eyes. There’s also another eye-witness for this cruel deed, the squirrel-chief Hippocrates."

Hippocrates jumped onto Sauerbruch's head and clattered, "I saw it all from the top of an oak. Roarytar attacked Robinson, cut off his head and pushed the dead body down to the rocks below." A circle of accusing eyes was immediately formed around Roarytar.
"Why, Roarytar, why?" Roarroary mumbled. "Old Robinson didn’t do any harm to anyone."

Roarytar didn’t answer but sneered and looked at Roarroary and her wolf-relatives, whose eyes were filled with disgust and bewilderment. Then she raised her snout and howled her Song of Disgust:

In this shabby island, so damned backward.
       There’s no hope for real wolves in sight.
       The wolf-traitor king is plant-eater.
       The sky for meat-eaters is no more bright.
That’s why I’m leaving this place.
       A mad dog only can show here his face!
       Farewell forever this rotten islet!
I leap howling to my death!

Roarytar's jaws opened and she rushed, howling bloodthirstily, towards Shabby who quickly pulled Princess Twinkle-eye behind him and prepared to fight off the enraged she-wolf's attack. But Roarytar didn’t attack him but ran past Mackie's stinking body and jumped to the sea. Her howling cut off, when she started to swim to the open sea. Not a single voice was heard from the animals on the shore. Only the buzzing swells and the screaming seagulls disturbed the silence.

Three dorsal fins had been circling in the deeper waters for some time. Three white sharks were waiting for the remainder of Mackie's stinking body, as Roarytar had promised. Their circling abruptly ended and they dashed toward Roarytar. The reddening water splashed high, when Roarytar was torn pieces by the furious white sharks.

After the carnage had ended at sea, the eyes of startled animals turned to King Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye who softly sobbed beside him. Roarroary couldn’t do anything but stand still, shocked by the cruel death of Roarytar, and the same did Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky and their mates, as shocked.

At last King Shabby raised his head and said in a loud and steady voice, "We have witnessed a sad event which was, in a way, justified. Roarytar took her destiny in her own paws and saved me from a very difficult decision. Let us pay respect to her for this decision. But we must always keep in mind that all evildoers will always get punished, in one way or another, sooner or later." Then King Shabby turned to his brothers and their mates and commanded,
"Come closer to me! Roarytar is dead now, but her death doesn’t wipe out your responsibility for the injustice that seems to have taken place here in my absence. Why, my brother Roarroary, why didn’t you turn down Roarytar's wicked plan?"

King Shabby became silent in order to give Roarroary time to answer, but his brother couldn’t do anything but dig downheartedly the sand in front of him.
"You were weak-willed and simply carried out Roarytar's will!" King Shabby proceeded in a harsh voice. "Your zest to become the king of Sun Island made you blind, but it is no excuse. You should have stood against what you certainly knew was wickedness and against the Unwritten Animal Law. And you, my brothers Sulkysulky and Friskyfrisky, you’re not much better than your brother Roarroary. You should have fought against Roarytar, too. But you and your mates kept silent and approved her evil doings. If you silently approve injustice, you favor it! If you try to benefit from injustice, it’s criminal and punishable. I would be a bad king, if I let you go without punishment. But I don’t want to pass my judgement alone. Let us go to ask Professor Alzheimer for his advice in this difficult matter."

The parrotpecker Knocker jumped about on the beach stones, as curious as ever.
"Youryour Majesty!" Knocker tapped. "Sirsir Professor Alzheimer is sleeping, but I can wake him; there is such an important state affair in question. But it’s much too bright for him here; we have to go to see him in his home tree."

So King Shabby, Princess Twinkle-eye, the three wolf brothers with their two mates and the animal folk of Sun Island left for Professor Alzheimer's home tree.
"Sirsir Owl Professor!" Knocker tapped, when the convoy arrived at Alzheimer's home-oak and saw Owl Professor sitting at the edge of his nest hole. "Here is Kingking Shabby the Brave asking for your advice for what would be a fair punishment for his wolf-brothers and their mates. In the absence of King himself, the Viceking, that is his eldest brother Roarroary, appointed a restricted eating area for the rabbits so that the meat-eaters could hunt them more easily. The main planner of this crime and a few other crimes was Roarytar or Viceking Roarroary's mate. Roarytar didn’t, however, waited for her verdict but ran to the sea and fell victim to the white sharks. Nevertheless the three wolf-brothers of Kingking Shabby and their two remaining mates have violated the Unwritten Animal Law, at least in my humble opinion!"
"Onion? I need no onions for thinking, you stupid parrotpecker! Keep quiet, all of you, I’m thinking." Owl Professor Alzheimer put his head beneath his left wing and began to think, tuffing and sniffing. Finally his head heaved in sight from beneath of his wing and he snarled,
"The Unwritten Animal Law…Punishment to all accused wolves is community service and prohibition of hunting of plant-eaters…All the accused go to the Quartz Cliff, then two coconuts each from Dropping Cliff… Roarroary must take two extra coconuts for the king…until all meat-eaters plant-eaters. The eyes of Owl Professor closed.
"Sirsir Owl Professor means that the mean brothers of Kingking Shabby with their mean mates should be sentenced to community service and are banned to hunt rabbits. They must go to Quartz Cliff to sharpen their claws. Then they must drop two coconuts each from the palms and break them on Dropping Cliff. In addition, Roarroary must break two extra coconuts for the king. This community service must be carried on until all meat-eaters have become plant-eaters," Knocker tapped.
"You heard it!" King Shabby said. "You’ll atone for your crimes against Animalkind and the Unwritten Animal Law in this way. You must immediately go to the Quartz Cliff to sharpen your claws so that you can climb palm trees to fulfil your duties. And Roarroary, don’t forget that you must drop four coconuts and bring two of them to me and Princess Twinkle-eye every day. You’re not allowed to ask monkeys to assist you."

An awful outcry rose from the desperate wolves, while the rest of meat-eaters and all the plant-eaters burst into laughter. King Shabby commandingly raised his right paw and interrupted the laughter by shouting,
"Be quiet, all of you! I haven’t finished, yet. You should also eat bananas, peaches, dates, other fruits, berries and vegetables. According to the Unwritten Animal Law, you won’t be free from community service until all of you have become plant-eaters… And you, other meat-eaters, you laughed too early! You must start following the example of the wolves. Vegetable food is healthier than raw meat; I know it by my own experience!"
"Dear brother…I mean Your Majesty, you can’t be so cruel!" Roarroary cried and fell on his knees before Shabby with his brothers and their mates. "Could you please allow us just one rabbit each… for a week…or for some time? We may otherwise suffer from withdrawal symptoms." Roarroary stammered.
"Negative, Roarroary…The new constitution of Sun Island does not permit bloodshed of any kind. Sauerbruch, my most faithful friend! Would you and your wild boars please go and see that my dear brothers and their mates really follow my orders."
"It’s more than a pleasure, Your Majesty!" Sauerbruch grunted. "So, my dear wolf buddies, forward march! We wild boars will speed up your march by singing The Honor of Wild Boars!"

With our all four hoofs in step, we’re marching old comrades.
We have grown together, now marching side by side.
To trumpet honor and fame of our team not so tame.
Neither ahead nor a sidestep, ee have time to gaze now.
Neither ahead nor a sidestep, we have time to gaze now!

Five miserable wolves began to march through the darkening jungle in the middle of the wild boar patrol toward Quartz Cliff. All the plant-eaters were jumping and cheering around the convoy; the rabbits just being freed from their restricted area became absolutely wild and mocked the desperate wolves, until Sauerbruch lost his temper and yelled to the rabbits, "That’s enough; Their punishment doesn't include mockery!"

The rest of the meat-eaters left for their caves and nests with their heads down. The plant-eaters escorted their King Shabby The Brave and his fiancée Princess Twinkle-eye to his home cave. The monkeys jumped in the trees above the convoy with opened coconut halves in their paws.

The eyes of King Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye were about to close with weariness. The long journey, the hot day and the grave decisions had taken their toll.

Is the situation on Sun Island at last in such a good order that its animals can start preparing for the wedding festivities of their royal couple in peace? Is Evilspecter really dead or is there still an unexpected and unknown danger that will jeopardize life on Sun island?

Well, that’s another story!

12. King Shabby the Smart and Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet

As soon as the white belly of Queen Twinkle-eye the Sweet grew rounder, Sun Island intensely started to wait for the birth of crown princes and princesses. The animals would still have liked to call their king Shabby the Brave, because he had really killed Evilspecter by his own paws, but Shabby preferred The Smart as his byname. King Shabby The Smart soon became famous in the South Sea.

Little by little, Roarroary and his wolf-brothers and their mates became accustomed to the taste of coconuts, berries and vegetables. So did the rest of meat-eaters, little by little. The favorite course of the gourmet foxes was beetroot with sea-date coating. The dolphins Hermes and Aphrodite and their little ones were transferred from Fairytale Island to Sun Island. They delivered sea-dates to the shore and kept watch to make sure that the white sharks could not catch anyone. Bananas, peaches and dates were favorites of lynxes, wolverines and bigger meat-eaters. The martens preferred acorns and their dispute that arose about them with squirrels was arbitrated by King Shabby The Smart to the satisfaction of both parties.

The plant-eater animals and the former meat-eaters made a treaty for eternal peace at the big feast on Palm Beach under the full moon many full moons later. The splash of coconut shells echoed far away over the sea, when the animal chiefs knocked the shells against one another as a sign of Friendship, Cooperation and Assistance. Hermes and Aphrodite floated on waves that shimmered with phosphorescence as guests of honor, together with giant snail Columbus. Owl professor Alzheimer and parrotpecker Knocker witnessed the feast from the top of a coconut tree. At the end all animals sang Marchillaise, the National Anthem of Sun Island, arranged by the capricorn chief Pasteur.

Forward we go without fear. Evilspecter is overcome!
The white sharks make harm no more,
Mackie is put to the death, Mackie is put to the death!
And so saved is our island dear. Forever of all future fear.
Peace should always prevail here. And love of the vegetable food.
Let’s put the paw in the claw. And the claw in the paw
In this way only peace between us,
Is guaranteed forever here!

The vegetable food under the wise administration of King Shabby The Smart created a harmonious animal peace on Sun Island. The rabbit kittens basked and ate sea-dates with the wolf-puppies of Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet; one of them was white and the other black. Tiny capricorns tagged along Sulkytar's and Friskytar's cubs. Little fox girls played with little lemming boys beneath the Dropping Cliff. Sauerbruch's wild boars broke new arable land for wild carrots, batatas, bananas, beetroot and other vegetables. All animals fertilized the fields. The monkeys broke coconuts on the Dropping Cliff and were popular babysitters for all the animal babies.

In the summer many, many years later, King Shabby The Smart, already a bit sturdy, and Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet, as graceful as before, went out for their daily morning walk. That particular time, it took them to the top of Quartz Cliff to honor the queen's birthday. Their tiny grandchildren frolicked on the cliff, supervised by the babysitter monkeys, when the royal couple lay down on the cliff, in the sleepy warmth of the sun. The king tenderly scratched the ear-lap of his queen and sang her his annual birthday serenade, accompanied by the birds.

My queen, come closer to me my queen.
        I won't let you get out of my sight,
Let you get out of my sight.
      Your eyes make the night a bright day,
Your white fur makes you a fay, makes you a fay.

My queen, come closer to me my queen.
      Please come to my furry paws,
To my furry, warm paws.
        I'll take you so tenderly there,
Where the land of joy is near, The land of joy is near.

Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet tenderly kissed the snout of her royal spouse right in the middle of his snout. The king's eyelids were about to close, when his eyes burst wide open.
"What do my old eyes see?" King Shabby The Smart cried. "Look at the sea, my dear. I’ve never seen as high foam-crested waves as far as they are now!"

Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet raised her head for a moment, then tenderly caressed the greying head of her spouse and said,
"My dear oldster, they’re exactly same foam-crested waves as usual. Your old eyes only fool you!"
The foam-crested waves became higher and could be seen more clearly.
"You’re right, they are not foam-crested waves," Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet had to admit. "There are many layers of white and dark beneath. Not even a whale spouts like this and the Giantsnail Columbus is still preparing for departure on the shore."

The royal couple didn’t know that their island was approached by a sailing ship of the human beings, Endeavour, commanded by James Cook, Captain of His Majesty George III, King of England. The fine vessel had been sent to discover Australia but she had gone off course due to a hurricane.
The vessel was already so near that the royal onlookers could see tiny two-legged creatures swarming in the rig and on the deck, as well.
"I think, my dear, that those creatures over there are human beings," King Shabby The Smart said to his Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet. "They’re running on two legs and they’ve claims on them, as the Little Red Riding Hood told me a long time ago. What could they possibly claim from us?"
"But what if this monster is Evilspecter, woken up to life, and it is now coming to you with a revenge in his evil mind?" Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet cried.

At that very moment they saw two of their wolf-cubs, one pitch-black, another snow-white, ride across the bay on the blue-black and red-white dolphin kids of Hermes and Aphrodite. When they were speeding between Columbus and Endeavour they rose, with coconuts in their paws, and yelled:

Blow the fear out of our furs, We’re surfing over the sea.
We only drink coconut milk, Be it night or a shiny day.
Ashore, ashore, To the picnic we surf all right,
Ashore, ashore, To the picnic we surf all right.

"Oh and woe, why have they left for surfing just now!" Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet sobbed. "They fall directly into the jaws of that monster or be drowned!"
"Please don’t worry, dear!" King Shabby The Smart laughed, strained, because he was frightened, too. "Don’t you see that our cubs are from the last year brood? They can swim, I personally taught them! They just go to the picnic, with lunch coconuts in their paws, as you see. And Evilspecter cannot have come back to life. You saw yourself that black heap of seaweed and his bone sceptre on the shore back then?...Perhaps that monster is….only a giant seasnail of human beings who are now co-ming to say hello to us?"

When the seamen saw howling wolf-dolphins dashing straight toward their ship, they believed that they had sailed into bewitched waters and began to scream. They were convinced that the howling wolf-dolphins were gnawing bloody, king-size meat balls and that the terrible giant seasnail would sink their ship. Then they would fall as helpless victims into the jaws of bloodthirsty wolf-dolphins, which certainly waited for them in great number farther off.
Even the harsh Captain Cook was about to drop his telescope when he saw the threat from the sea. With his teeth clattering like castanets and his pale as pale as bed linen, Captain Cook shouted alarm to his crew.

Frozen on the cliff, the royal family saw two-legged creatures climb among the white claims of the monster. They sighed in relief, when the white claims turned around and the monster turned to move slowly away from Sun Island. They didn’t know that they, for the first and last time in their life, saw human beings, who were frightened half to death by their merry wolf kids, kind dolphins and the always helpful Columbus.

It took two years, before Endeavour returned to his home port in England. Captain Cook told his crew not to tell the Englishmen of the wolf-dolphins and giant seasnails; otherwise they would be taken as nuts. His command fell on deaf ears. The seamen told wild stories about their adventures in the South Sea to pop-eyed landlubbers in the tearooms:
"We almost suffered a heart failure when we saw dozens of bloodthirsty black and white wolf-dolphins rush toward us from a ghost island. These wolf-dolphins, with bloody meat lumps in their jaws, were howling a song, the first word of which sounded like bone in our ears. Besides, the wolf-dolphins were waiting for the fire-blasting, monstrous giant seasnail to come and sink our ship. After that we would have been easy prey for the bloodthirsty wolf-dolphins. We would not be here to tell you of all this, if we had not taken Endeavour in sail so quickly and skilfully. The melody of the bone song of wolf-dolphins was, ear-catching, however, that we made our own words for it on the way back to England."

The seamen started to howl it, splashing their teacups:

My Bonnie lies over the ocean, My Bonnie lies over the sea.
My Bonnie lies over the ocean, O, bring back my Bonnie to me.
Bring back, bring back, Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me.
O, bring back, bring back, Bring back my Bonnie to me.

To the great relief of Captain Cook, people only laughed and said, "These stories are normal fairytales of the seamen. It’s self-evident that nobody can sing with food in his mouth and, besides, should not even speak with food in the mouth. Dolphins have been fancied as mermaids and whales taken as all kinds of sea monsters for years, especially when you seamen have been suffering from sunstroke or drunk too much too strong tea.”

However, the Bonnie song became popular throughout the world.

Only the children believed the seamen. They whispered among themselves,
"When we become bigger and older, we’ll go to discover our own SouthSea, where the grown-ups are not allowed to come. The wolf-dolphins and the giant seasnails certainly will not do any evil to kind children!"

But how and from where can the children find their South Sea and Sun Island? This is a subject, however, a subject for an entirely different story. This story can best be found by the children and by all childlike grown-ups, too, in their very own imagination!

But this is the end of my story. And so I’ve told you about plant-eater animals living in peaceful co-existence on Sun Island of the South Sea. What should I still tell you about their life there? It peacefully climbed to the midday and went down to the evening rest, the golden sun setting down and rising up thousands of times.

Background melodies of the Shabby songs
(The lyrics have been made to fit the lyrics and melodies of the below mentioned songs or compositions)

1. Once upon a time there was…

1. ”Lullaby of the wolf-mother”(“Lullaby” by Bernard Flies: or s.c. ”Mozart’lullaby”

2. ”Wandering song” (Trad. spider-song)

2. Shabby and the coconuts

3. ”Mocking song of monkeys” (Same as in no. 2.)

4. ”Claws sharpening” (Georges Bizet: ”Carmen” Toreadore-aria)

5. ”Lampoon song of wolf brothers” (Alan Arkin: “Banana loader song”)

6. ”Wailing song of Alzheimer” (Ludwig Fischer. “Im tiefen Keller“)

3. Shabby and the mean plan of Roarroary

7. “March of bloody fangs” (Trad. “It’s a long way to Tipperary”)

8. ”Bored Seafarer's song" (Trad. ”The Volga ferrymen”)

4. Shabby and tigershark Mackie

9. ”Cheer-up song” (Finnish children's song”)

10. ”Mackie’s threat song” (Kurt Weill: ”Mack the Knife”)

11. ”Glory of the Dolphins” (Trad. ”A seaman loves sea waves”)

5. Shabby in distress at sea

12.”Aphrodite’s farewell” (Hans Blum: ”Drive slowly, dad!”

13. ”Battle march of Dolphins” (John P. Sousa: ”Anchors aweigh”)

6. Shabby and the king election

14. ”Invitation to Shabby” (Trad. French ”Alouette”)

15. ”Knocker’s Duty Rap” (Ilkka Aaltonen: "Rap")

16. ”Wailing Song of plant-eaters” (Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco: ”Choir of liberated slaves”)

7. Shabby and the revenge plan of Roarytar

17. ”Roarytar's Aria of Fury ” (Georges Bizet: Carmen: ”Habanera”)

18.”March of bloodthirsty vultures” (Aimo Mustonen: ”Sillanpää’s march song”)

19. “Bloodypolka of Evilspecter”(Finnish trad. ”Säkkijärvi’s polka”)

8. Shabby and Helanletty

20. ”Witching song of Helanletty” (Franz Lehar: " Merry widow")

21. ”March of wolves” (same as in no. 18)

“Holocaust wailing song” (W.A. Mozart: "Magic flute:" "Zarastro’s aria”)

9. Shabby and dragon Holocaust

23. ”Shabby’s toothstonerap (Ilkka Aaltonen: "Rap")

24. ”Song of Little Red Ridinghood ”( “Lullaby” by Bernard Flies or s.c. “Mozart’s lullaby”)

10. Shabby and Princess Twinkle-eye

25. ”Shabby’s funeral march” (Frédéric Chopin: ”Funeral march”)

26. ”King’s arrival” (Trad. ”A seaman loves sea waves”)

11. Shabby and Twinkle-eye arrive at Sun island .

27. “Death song of Roarytar” (Trad. “Song of mountain goblins”)

28. ”Glory of wild-boars” (Teike: ”Alte Kameraden”)

12. King Shabby The Smart and Queen Twinkle-eye The Sweet.

29. ”Marchillaisse” (Rouget De Lisle: ”Marseillaise”)

30. ”Shabby’s serenade” (Oskar Merikanto: ”Annina”)

31. ”Surf song of wolf-puppies” (Trad. ”My Bonnie”)

32. “Seamen´s chanty (Trad.”My Bonnie”)

Please note that the below pages are taken from the Finnish book only to show you  a few samples of the final illustration of the saga.  After the Finnish sample pages you could listen the introduction to the saga and 7 songs in English.  At the very end there are a few songs in Finnish, too.  

Sample recordings: 2 text files and 9 background melodies of the Shabby the Smart songs: (Total length 12 minutes)

Shabby_1_Introduction

Shabby_2_Episode 1_Lullaby of wolves

Shabby_3_Episode 2_ Wailing of owl professor Alzheimer 

Shabby_4_Episode 5_ March of dolphins

Shabby_5_Episode_7_ Fury aria of Roarytar

Shabby_6_Episode 8_ Charming aria of Helanletty

Shabby_7_Episode_9_Toothstone rap of Shabby

Shabby_8_Episode 11_March of wild boars

Shabby_9 Episode 12_ Marchillaise

Shabby_10_Closing

You can listen 7 mp3 songs in the following  audio samples, but only in Finnish, so far. Translations are seen under the titles.

1.1 Lullaby of wolf mother

"Doze off my little ones.
This night will pass so fast.
With bellies filled with milk
Your dreams will be sweet as silk.
All noises are fading away.
Your eyelids so heavily weigh
Ooh-ooh-ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh-0hh.
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh."

2.6 Shabby's claw sharpening song

"Here is a wolf-boy his claws sharpening,
So that he can up to the palms start climbing.
From the palmtops nuts will be thrown down
to scare the monkeys run for life,
to run-run-run, to run-run-run for their life."

2.7 Wailing of owl professor Alzheimer

"On the Base I'm sitting mournful,
desperately an idea searching.
But the stupid parrotpecker all the time
is my thinking so badly mixing.
But I don't care for it even a bit,
when I'm thinking. thinking, thi-i-i-i-n-king!"

7.19 Evilspecter's bleeding blood polka

"Bleeding blood, bleeding blood!
Blood must bubble from every gob!
For once we've got, we really have got,
And Evilspecter has an evil plot.
Evilspecter feels now so hot,
He's feeling so damned hot
and will surely enjoy every drop!" 

8.20 Helanletty's witching song

"Look at me, you gracious king, I adore you.
You fame is great in the South see, too.
All of us are praising the king so smart,
Who single-pawed killed the cruel tiger shark.
I want to twine my paws round your neck
with kisses my admiration on you to check." 

11.28 Glory of wild boars

"With our all four hoofs in step,
We're marching old comrades.
We have grown together,
Now marching side by side
To trumpet hono and fame
Of out team not so tame.
Neither ahead nor a sidestep
we have time to gaze now.
Neither ahead nor a sidestep
we have time to gaze now."

12.30 Shabby's serenade to his queen

"My queen, come closer to me my queen.
I won't let you get out of my sight,
let you get out of my sight.
Your eyes make the night a bright day,
Your white fur makes you fay,
Makes you a fay. 

My queen, come closer to me my queen.
Please come to my furry paws,
To my furry, warm paws!
I'll take you so tenderly there,
where the land of joy is near,
The land of joy is near."