Catweazle

bunch of bananas.
    Catweazle
fumed as the young sorcerer disappeared. ‘Thou spider’s spittle,’ he muttered
to himself as he picked up Rapkyn’s book, ‘I will confound thee.’ A spell of
really extraordinary power had to be fashioned, one that would enchant the
Hexwood wizard and turn him into something very nasty, perhaps a slug or even a
flea.
    Presently
he found the spell he was looking for and began to prepare. He rummaged among a
collection of herbs and dried plants and produced a strange twisted root. It
looked almost like a tiny man. Next he tied nine knots in a short length of
string, and sprinkled some dead flies into the fire.
    ‘Take
thou a mandrake,’ Catweazle read from the book. ‘Mandrake, ’tis good,’ he said
as he picked up the root.
    ‘Bind
the root, with a witch ladder,’ he held up the knotted string. ‘Saying the
while… ‘ Catweazle squinted at the cabalistic symbols in the book. ‘Ah, Rapkyn,
thy writing is a poor scrawl,’ he complained. ‘Saying the while:
     
    A hog, a dog, a bat, a cat,
    A vole, a mole, a pig, a rat.
    As these knots bind thee tight,
    Be thou now the one I spite.’
     
    Catweazle
wound the string tightly round the root.
    ‘Change
thou thy shape,’ he commanded. Then hold-ing the root over the fire he spun it
round and round. ‘Zazas. Zazas. Natansandas. Zazas,’ he cried.
    He felt
a twinge of shame at first that he should have made such a spell, especially
against his brother in magic. Then he remembered how Carrot had refused to
share the electrickery and, growing angry again, he hoped the spell would have
a devastating effect.
    He was
relaxing after his efforts and absently eating a banana when a small monkey
climbed down the ladder into the tank.
    Catweazle
had never seen a monkey before and he scuttled away from it in fear while the
two turkeys ran about uttering gobbling cries of alarm, their necks turning all
the colours of the rainbow. Quite unperturbed the monkey picked up Catweazle’s
banana and began to eat.
    Catweazle
watched it, and trembled. He drew Adamcos and waved it at the monkey. Avaunt,
thou goblin!’ he cried. ‘Gab, gaba, agaba!’
    The
monkey took no notice and went on eating the banana.
    ‘What
devil art thou?’ Catweazle inquired in a quavering voice.
    The
monkey finished the banana and threw the skin at Catweazle.
    Slowly
it began to dawn on the magician who the creature might be.
    ‘Art
thou ...? Art thou ...?’ stammered Catweazle. But the monkey said nothing.
    The
spell had worked! Catweazle was triumphant. He had turned the young sorcerer
into this hairy gnome with the long tail! ‘See, Touchwood,’ he said, ‘how
strong was the spell! ’Tis our brother!’ But Touchwood, who didn’t like the
look of the monkey at all and had already had enough of the turkeys, tried to
wriggle from his master’s grasp.
    ‘Canst
thou not speak?’ Catweazle said to the monkey, and the monkey bared its teeth
and jumped up and down.
    ‘I warned
thee of my power, thou disbelieving dribblet.’
    Catweazle
looked closely at the monkey. ‘Thou art a strange beast,’ he said, twisting his
forefinger in his beard with wonder. ‘Yet I would know thee. Thou hast thy
look. Thou art but half-changed. A demi-devil.’
    The
monkey, who had calmed down now, like the rest of the menagerie, allowed
Catweazle to pick him up, and immediately began to groom his whiskers.
    Catweazle
sat on one of the boxes and cradled the monkey in his arms. ‘Mock me now, thou
hairy thing,’ he said gleefully, and Touchwood crawled away in disgust.
    ‘If
thou art good to me, I’ll change thee back,’ Catweazle promised the monkey.
‘Thou shalt be as thou wert,’ and he sat back, highly pleased with the success
of his spell.
    Carrot,
who was quite unaware that he had been turned into anything, had reached home
to find Colonel Upshaw, whose land adjoined the farm, talking to Sam and his
father.
    ‘You
haven’t seen him, have you?’ said the colonel, very red in the face.
    ‘Who?’
said Carrot, worried that Catweazle had been discovered.
    ‘My
monkey,’ explained the colonel.
    ‘Oh,
no,’ said Carrot with relief.
    ‘I was
dustin’ me stuffed rhino when it happened,’ said the colonel. ‘Opened the cage,
the cunning little beggar. Skipped out before I could catch him.’
    ‘We
haven’t seen him,’ said Mr Bennet.
    ‘Didn’t
think you would have, George,’ said the colonel. ‘Just thought I’d check. Would
happen today with