The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl. Part 2.
Watch on KineScope.
I ran home and waited for things to happen. They happened fast.
I shall now tell you what those things were. I got the whole story from Philip and William the next morning, after it was all over.
In the afternoon of the very same day that I put the Magic Finger on the Gregg family, Mr Gregg and Philip and William went out hunting once again. This time they were going after wild ducks, so they headed towards the lake.
In the first hour they got ten birds. In the next hour they got another six.
‘What a day!’ cried Mr Gregg. ‘This is the best yet!’ He was beside himself with joy.
Just then four more wild ducks flew over their heads. They were flying very low. They were easy to hit.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! went the guns.
Mr Gregg got very red in the face. ‘It’s the light,’ he said. ‘It’s getting too dark to see. Let’s go home?
So they started for home, carrying with them the sixteen birds they had shot before.
But the four ducks would not leave them alone. They now began flying around and around the hunters as they walked away.
Mr Gregg did not like it one bit. ‘Be off! he cried, and he shot at them many more times, but it was no good. He simply could not hit them.
All the way home those four ducks flew around in the sky above their heads, and nothing would make them go away.
Late that night, after Philip and William had gone to bed, Mr Gregg went outside to get some wood for the fire.
He was crossing the yard when all at once he heard the call of a wild duck in the sky.
He stopped and looked up. The night was very still. There was a thin yellow moon over the trees on the hill, and the sky was filled with stars. Then Mr Gregg heard the noise of wings flying low over his head, and he saw the four ducks, dark against the night sky, flying very close together. They were going around and around the house.
Mr Gregg forgot about the firewood, and hurried back indoors. He was now quite afraid. He did not like what was going on. But he said nothing about it to Mrs Gregg. All he said was, ‘Come on, let’s go to bed. I feel tired.’
So they went to bed and to sleep.
When morning came, Mr Gregg was the first to wake up.
He opened his eyes.
He was about to put out a hand for his watch, to see the time.
But his hand wouldn’t come out.
‘That’s funny,’ he said. ‘Where is my hand?’ He lay still, wondering what was up.
Maybe he had hurt that hand in some way?
He tried the other hand. That wouldn’t come out either. He sat up.
Then, for the first time, he saw what he looked like! He gave a yell and jumped out of bed
Mrs Gregg woke up. And when she saw Mr Gregg standing there on the floor, she gave a yell, too. For he was now a tiny little man! He was maybe as tall as the seat of a chair, but no taller. And where his arms had been, he had a pair of duck’s wings instead!
‘But… but… but… cried Mrs Gregg, going purple in the face. ‘My dear man, what’s happened to you?’
‘What’s happened to both of us, you mean! shouted Mr Gregg.
It was Mrs Gregg’s turn now to jump out of bed.
She ran to look at herself in the glass. But she was not tall enough to see into it. She was even smaller than Mr Gregg, and she, too, had got wings instead of arms.
‘Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!’ sobbed Mrs Gregg.
‘This is witches’ work! cried Mr Gregg. And both of them started running around the room, flapping their wings.
A minute later Philip and William burst in. The same thing had happened to them. They had wings and no arms. And they were really tiny. They were about as big as robins.
‘Mama! Mama! Mama!’ chirruped Philip. ‘Look, Mama, we can fly!’
And they flew up into the air.
‘Come down at once! said Mrs Gregg. ‘You’re much too high!’ But before she could say another word, Philip and William had flown right out the window.
Mr and Mrs Gregg ran to the window and looked out. The two tiny boys were now high up in the sky.
Then Mrs Gregg said to Mr Gregg, ‘Do you think we could do that, my dear?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ Mr Gregg said. ‘Come on, let’s try.’ Mr Gregg began to flap his wings hard, and all at once, up he went.
Then Mrs Gregg did the same.
‘Help!’ she cried as she started going up. ‘Save me!’
‘Come on, said Mr Gregg. ‘Don’t be afraid.’
So out the window they flew, far up into the sky, and it did not take them long to catch up with Philip and William.
Soon the whole family was flying around and around together.
‘Oh, isn’t it lovely!’ cried William. I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to be a bird!’
‘Your wings are not getting tired, are they, dear?’ Mr Gregg asked Mrs Gregg.
‘Not at all, Mrs Gregg said. ‘I could go on for ever!’
‘Hey, look down there!’ said Philip. ‘Somebody is walking in our garden!’
They all looked down, and there below them, in their own garden, they saw four enormous wild ducks! The ducks were as big as men, and what is more, they had great long arms, like men, instead of wings.
The ducks were walking in a line to the door of the Greggs’ house, swinging their arms and holding their beaks high in the air.
‘Stop!’ called the tiny Mr Gregg, flying down low over their heads. ‘Go away! That’s my house!’
The ducks looked up and quacked. The first one put out a hand and opened the door of the house and went in. The others went in after him. The door shut.
The Greggs flew down and sat on the wall near the door. Mrs Gregg began to cry.
‘Oh, dear! Oh, dear!’ she sobbed. ‘They have taken our house. What shall we do? We have no place to go!’
Even the boys began to cry a bit now.
‘We will be eaten by cats and foxes in the night!’ said Philip.
‘I want to sleep in my own bed!’ said William.
‘Now then, said Mr Gregg. ‘It isn’t any good crying. That won’t help us. Shall I tell you what we are going to do?’
‘What?’ they said.
Mr Gregg looked at them and smiled. ‘We are going to build a nest.?
‘A nest!’ they said. ‘Can we do that?’
‘We must do it,’ said Mr Gregg. ‘We’ve got to have somewhere to sleep. Follow me.’