The Awfully Angry Ogre Read Free Page B

when Lysandra sat down beside him.
    â€œHave Edward and James left to go hunting yet?” Tansy asked.
    Her mother nodded. “They left before your father and I were up,” she said, passing around a basket of apple tarts. “They promised last night they’d bring back some rabbits for dinner.”
    The princesses exchanged worried looks. James had said they might be gone a couple of days. And rabbits certainly weren’t “big game.”
    â€œWhen did they leave?” Tansy asked.
    â€œI’m not sure,” her mother replied. “But Jonah might know.”
    After the girls finished breakfast, they went outside to search for Jonah. Matthew came too. Walking alongside Lysandra, he told her the names of all the trees and wildflowers growing near the castle. He loved studying nature.
    They found Jonah in the field behind thecastle, finishing a painting of Mount Majesta. As usual, he’d been up with the sun.

    â€œHow did you make the snow on the mountain look so real?” Elena asked, admiring the picture. “I can almost feel how cold it is.”
    Jonah beamed, obviously pleased at Elena’s interest. He started to launch into an explanation of his painting techniques, but Tansy interrupted. “Did you see Edward and Jamesgo off this morning?”
    â€œSure did.” He rubbed his freckled nose, leaving a smudge of blue paint. “They left about two hours ago. Their poor horses were loaded down with so much stuff, it looked like they were going off to war!”
    This news alarmed Tansy and her friends. Excusing themselves, they started back to the castle.
    â€œI imagine we’re all thinking the same thing,” said Elena.
    Tansy nodded. “We’ve got to stop them! If we took your flying carpet, could we catch up to them, Fatima?”
    â€œOf course,” she said.
    â€œThen let’s go!” said Lysandra.
    Soon the four princesses were sailing over the forest toward Mount Majesta. Tansy had thought it would be easy to spot Edward and James from the air, but the trees were so thickand leafy, it was impossible to see the ground.
    â€œWhere does the ogre live?” Lysandra asked.
    Tansy pointed north, toward a clearing about halfway up the mountain, and Fatima steered the carpet in that direction. When they neared the ogre’s camp, the princesses saw a stone well in a meadow. Tansy counted eight granite statues surrounding the well. Shesighed with relief. At least there weren’t any new ones.

    The ogre was nowhere in sight.
    â€œWhere now?” Fatima asked after they’d circled the meadow a couple of times.
    â€œI don’t know,” Tansy admitted.
    The princesses finally landed at the edge of a small lake. Tucked between the trees, butclose to the shore, stood a trim white cottage.

    â€œLet’s ask whoever lives there if they’ve seen my brothers,” Tansy said.
    Fatima rolled up her carpet and strapped it onto her back. As the princesses approached the cottage, they heard someone singing in a dry, raspy voice. It sounded like a key rattling in a rusty lock. When they knocked on the door, the singing stopped. Then the door creaked open, and a wrinkled and bony old woman stared out at them.

5
The Old Woman
    â€œS TARS AND MOONBEAMS!” THE OLD WOMAN exclaimed. “And who might you young ladies be?” Her eyes were so sharp and gray, they sent a shiver down Tansy’s spine.
    But when the old woman stepped outside in her baggy flowered dress, suddenly she didn’t seem so frightening anymore. After introducing herself and her friends, Tansy said, “We’re searching for my two brothers. I wonder ifyou’ve seen them.”
    â€œThey look a lot like her,” Lysandra added helpfully. “Only they’re bigger and hairier.”
    â€œOne has dark hair and lots of muscles,” said Fatima. “The other is sandy haired and a bit shorter.”
    â€œAnd they’re