Ella Enchanted - By Gail Carson Levine Page 0,27

you."

"Don't cry." Slannen gave me a green handkerchief. He looked at me consideringly. "Sir Peter is a witty man and a shrewd trader, but if he had admired our things as you do, we would have been gladder to let him have them."

"But he told me that you are the best potters."

"He should have told us. 'How can I exchange this gnomish copper stewpot for two such paltry vases?' he'd say. 'The workmanship doesn't compare,' he'd say."

And Father had thought Slannen a poor trader!

My gift was packed on a fat pony along with enough food to last until I reached my destination -- more elvish generosity (although the pony was a loan).

"Vib of pess waddo," Slannen said in parting. ("Stay in the shade.") "With any luck you will reach the giants in three or four days."

But I had no luck.

14

THE MORNING after I left the elves, an ogre woke me by poking me with a stick. "Wake up, Breakfast. How do you like to be cooked? Bloody? Medium? Or done to a crisp?"

Eight ogres surrounded me.

"It will only hurt for a minute." My ogre (the one who woke me) stroked my cheek. "I'm a fast eater."

I looked at the others, searching vainly for a sympathetic face. Not far off, I saw my saddlebags, next to a pile of bones. Whose bones? I hated to think.

Then I realized. The elves' pony. I swallowed convulsively. My stomach heaved and I threw up.

When I was done, my ogre spat at me. His spittle burned my cheek. I wiped it off with my hand, and my hand burned too.

"forns uiv eMMong FFn00 ehf nushOOn," he growled. ("It will taste sour for hours.") I was an it -- I had studied sufficient Ogrese to understand almost everything.

One of the women spoke. I think she was a woman because there was less hair on her face and she was shorter than my ogre, and I think he was a man. She called my ogre SEEf and asked him if he thought he was going to eat it all by himself. He answered that he'd found it and caught it, so it belonged to him.

Anyway, he added, if he shared, there wouldn't be enough to go around. And besides, he'd allowed everyone to eat the pony.

Her answer was that the pony had been last night, that they were hungry again, that he always had a hundred reasons not to share, and that he didn't care if the whole tribe starved so long as he got his special treat.

He lunged at her and she lunged at him. In a moment, they were rolling on the ground, with everyone watching.

Except me. I looked for a place to hide. Not far from where I stood was a low tree still covered with leaves. If I could get there and climb it, maybe they wouldn't think to look up when they searched for me.

I edged sideways. The combatants were pulling each other's hair and biting and yelling. I was halfway to the tree.

"It's escaping, SEEf!" one of the ogres yelled.

The brawl ended immediately.

"Stop!" SEEf commanded in Kyrrian.

I took a few more steps and almost reached the tree, but the curse wouldn't let me go farther.

SEEf dusted himself off, although there was no visible difference between dusty and dusted. "I told you how obedient it is," he said in Ogrese. "No need to be persuasive with this one. It'd cook itself if we told it to."

He was right. If they wanted to fry me, I'd step right into the pan. I stood where I was and pretended I had no idea what they were saying.

After further bickering, they decided to take me with them, hoping to capture additional people or animals on the road to eat along with me. Side dishes, I supposed.

I was allowed to take my saddlebags and my carpetbag. SEEf wanted to know if there was food in them, and there was great excitement when I said yes. But when they opened the elves' flasks, they spat in disgust.

"lah1FFOOn! ruJJ!" ("Vegetables! Fish!") The ogres pronounced the words as though they were poisonous.

SEEf scratched his head. "I wonder how it can eat those things and still taste good," he said.

"Maybe it doesn't taste good. We haven't eaten it yet." The speaker was the ogre who had warned of my escape. He was younger than the others, approximately my own age.

We set out on the road, moving almost as quickly as my pony had. I had to ride on their shoulders,