Summary: ‘Harmony Island’ is the story of two witches who are against each other. One of them is a good witch and the other one is a bad witch. Mony (the bad witch) wants to do bad things while Har (the good witch) wants their island to have peace. Read this book to find out if the bad side wins or if the good side wins.
Genre: Fantasy
By: Chaitrali Ashtekar
Once upon a time, there was an island called Harmony Island. There were two witches living on Harmony Island. One of them was a good witch, and the other was a bad witch. The good witch was named Har because in the Marathi language, Har means ‘flower garland’. The bad witch was named Mony because she was selfish and she wanted a lot of money. By combining their names together, the island was called Harmony Island.
Mony was wicked and she had many powers. She had invisibility powers. She could become invisible and back to normal any time she wanted. She could also change her size at any time.
She always kept a lucky charm with her. It was a bracelet that only had three beads. If she wanted to make a wish, she would take one bead out of her bracelet and then eat it. Then she would whisper her wish to herself quietly. But she used it carefully because the bracelet had only three beads. That meant she could only make three wishes.
The bracelet was first used by Mony’s great great grandmother. Her name was Kadida. Kadida was born with the bracelet on her hand. It had many beads in it. It was stuck to her hand as if it was a part of her body. But as she grew up, the bracelet started to become loose, and at last it came out of her hand. But when it came out, only three of them came out and the rest of the beads where stuck onto Kadida’s hand. She named the bracelet ‘Tiwi’.
She looked carefully at the bracelet and understood that it was magical. It could grant any three wishes of it’s owner. But Kadida was too old so she only had one wish. Her wish was to live forever and never die.
But Tiwi was also able to speak in a soft voice and it said, “ This wish is too big and it will take all of the beads’ power to fulfil this wish. And remember, if you want this wish to be granted this will be your first and last wish. If the last or the third wish does not work, then the owner would immediately die. If you want your wish to be granted, you must go and live under water. And if you don’t go there, I will teleport you there. If you don’t want to live under water, then I will not grant your wish.” So Kadida started to prepare to go and live under water. She didn’t want to and she couldn’t make any more wishes so she decided to give Tiwi to someone who would like to make three wishes.
Before she left to go and live under water, she gave Tiwi to her daughter, Nadia. Today, a fake form of Kadida can still be found deep in the sea swimming happily with all the fish living there. Sometimes some people even go under water to meet her.
The bracelet passed from one generation to the next until it finally came to Mony. Mony was a very kind and generous girl. Mony’s first wish was that she could have any type of power. Since Mony was a very good girl, she was gifted with two powers. They were invisibility powers and size changing powers. Mony got overexcited when she got her powers that she didn’t notice what she was doing. She overused her powers and soon she started using her powers for doing bad things. The people of Harmony Island soon started calling her a witch.
Mony did so many bad things. She became invisible, increased her size, and destroyed the farms and homes of Harmony Island. She did many bad things like this. The people forced her to stay in a far away forest where the people won’t be harmed by her. But no matter what they did, the witch would still come out of the forest and she would do something bad. All the people started to get worried and scared.
One day, the people decided to go and meet Kadida underwater. Kadida had been alone for thousands of years. When the people arrived at the place where Kadida lived under water, Kadida welcomed them very happily. “I am so happy that you have come to meet me! I have been alone here for ages! The only thing I have seen until today was the water and fish. I was so bored until you came!” Kadida said. “ Actually, we came to share our thoughts with you,” one person said. “Tell me! Tell me! I am always happy to hear other people’s thoughts.” Kadida said.
The leader of the people said, “Kadida, there is a witch named Mony. She is always disturbing us. She can become invisible and she can also change her size. She increases her size, becomes invisible, and then starts destroying our homes and farms. We don’t even know where she is. Our island has become very dangerous and we have no idea of how to stop her. We were wondering if you have any idea. Can you please help us?” “Hmmm. I do have an idea.” Kadida said. “ Really? You do? Please tell us!” the people said. Kadida said ,“ Actually, I am Mony’s great great grandmother. So, I can’t do anything to physically hurt her. I wouldn’t be able to do that even if she wasn’t a part of my family because I am forced to stay in the water and I would immediately die if I get out of here. But I have another plan.” Kadida went over to a small plant growing besides her under water. She took it out and said,” This plant is magical. Under water you will only see leaves on this plant, but when you bring it to the land, a big flower will grow on it under five seconds. The next day, you will see that a beautiful fairy has come from the flower. She won’t have any powers, but she will be very smart. I am sure she will find a way to stop Mony’s evil spells.” She gave the magical plant to the leader of the people. All the people said ‘thank you’ and left.
They took the plant back to Harmony Island and just like Kadida said, a big flower began to grow . The next day, Mony found out about all of this and she rushed to the place where the flower was kept, right away. “I must destroy that plant before the fairy comes out of the flower!” Mony said. But she was too late. When she arrived there, in front of her eyes was a beautiful fairy. They named the beautiful fairy ‘Har’. That was when their island got it’s name.
“Let’s name this island ‘Monyhar Island’,” one person said. “No! It should be called ‘Harmony Island’.” the leader of the people said. “Why?” another person asked. The leader of the people said, “Har is going to be much powerful and she will defeat the wicked Mony, so we should name our island ‘Harmony Island’.” “You are right.” the first person said. “From now onwards, our island should be called ‘Harmony Island’.” “ From now on, you shall be our queen,” the leader of the people said. “I would be happy to be your queen,” the beautiful young lady said in a soft voice. They gave her a small house to live in and she happily lived in it.
But, nobody told her that her goal was to get rid of Mony. Soon the flower that Har had come out from slowly turned into a magical flower garden. Har kept the garden with her forever because the magical flower garden was like her mother. Soon she got hungry, so she went to find some fruits from the trees nearby. She couldn’t find a single fruit. She had no idea of what to do next. Sadly, she went to her small home. As she was coming home, it was a bit windy.
Soon, she reached home. She decided to cook and eat a flower from her magical flower garden. When she cooked it, the smell of it was so nice that it spread all over the island. When it was cooked, she started eating it. She looked out of her window and saw that it was still windy. “I wish the weather could be neutral.” Har said. In less than a second, the wind stopped and the bright sun came. “ Wow! I think those flowers are magical! Every time I want something good to happen, I will cook and eat one flower from my flower garden.” From then onwards, she made wishes that would be useful to everyone.
But all of this didn’t change the wicked Mony’s thoughts. She kept doing the same things again and again. Everyone expected Mony to become good because of Har. But nothing like that happened. Soon everybody ran out of ideas and became very sad.
As Har grew older, she started to look like Mony. Since both of them looked alike, by mistake, some people sometimes called Har ‘Mony’. One day, the leader of the people went to Har’s home to meet her. Even he thought that she has the evil and wicked Mony. “ MONY! What are you doing here! And where is our queen?” the leader asked angrily in surprise. “But I AM the queen! You were the one who told me that!” Har said. “ You are Mony! Don’t lie to me! I know who is lying and who isn’t.” the leader said. “Get out of here right now!” He forced her to get out of her small house. He said, “I will leave now, but the next time I come here, I shall see that you are not here.” “But I really am the queen! My name is Har. There has been a big misunderstanding. Please let me stay here.” Har pleaded. “Don’t argue with me. I am leaving now. I will come back in five minutes and when I come back I should see the real Har.” he said. He left after saying that.
“What should I do now?” Har thought. “Where will I live now? Now they think I am a witch. I will no longer be the queen.” Saying this, she began to cry. She quickly wiped her tears. She didn’t have time to cry. She had to leave before five minutes were complete. “I must take my flower garden with me because it is magical and it is like my mother.” Soon, she came out of her small house and began her journey to find a new home. She walked miles an miles. Finally, she found a small cave to live in that was far away from her previous home. There was a forest in front of the cave. But she didn’t know that the evil and wicked Mony lived in that forest. She went into the cave and set up her garden and all her other things.
A few months passed, but still Mony hadn’t changed. And now, they couldn’t find Har, so all the people became worried.
One day, it was very cloudy. Har looked at her flower garden and saw that there was only one flower left. But she wanted her people to be happy so she decided to use her last flower. She cooked the flower and the smell of it spread all over the island. After cooking it, Har ate it and whispered her wish to herself.
“Let the clouds be gone,
And let the sun come.
Let happiness be on,
Let everyone sing and hum.”
Then she looked out of a small hole in her cave and she watched as the clouds cleared away. The bright sun came and it became bright everywhere. Everybody was very happy. The adults ate ice cream peacefully. The children skipped around the flowers happily. All the animals danced in their forest. Even the flowers and plants were dancing!
But when Mony found out about this she became so angry. She just couldn’t resist all of their happiness. She decided to use her second bead. She took a bead out of her bracelet and ate it. Then she whispered…
“Let the sun be gone,
And let a big storm come.
Let there be strong winds and floods,
Let there be rain and mud.”
‘Drip drop. Drip drop’ Rain drops started to fall. “Hey! It’s raining!” one lady said. “It’s a bit windy,” another lady said. “A bit windy? It’s a TORNADO!” the leader of the people said. “AAAAAAHHHHHHH” all the people yelled. They all rushed home. The roof of the leader’s house came off. The homes of many people were flooded and torn apart by the strong winds and thunder storm. Trees were uprooted. Branches, sticks and leaves were carried everywhere by the wind. All of this created a monster that scared everyone. Since many houses were torn apart, the people had no choice but to start building an under ground basement to stay safe in. But they weren’t able to do that because all the people were tired and they didn’t have the energy to dig.
“Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! Ha! Everything is happening just as I planned!” Mony said. She increased her size, became invisible, and started destroying villages and farms. “NOW I’M UNSTOPPABLE!” Mony laughed evilly.
“ Oh no!” Har said looking out of the small hole in her cave. “ I must do something.” She looked at her flower garden. “ I used my last flower for making it sunny! It won’t be possible for my garden to grow more flowers unless I take it outside. For that I’ll have to go outside and if I go and if they see me, they will think I am Mony . It will take weeks for new flowers to grow in my garden! I must go outside to see exactly what is happening. I am going to take the risk of going outside. I don’t care if anyone calls me a witch or thinks I am Mony. I must stop Mony no matter what happens.”
Finally, after a long time, she comes out of her cave confidently.
Mony looks straight at Har. Mony didn’t like that Har had come out of her cave at all. She didn’t want her, so she decided to use her last bead. She took the last bead out and ate it forgetting that if her last wish did not work Mony would die. Then she whispered to herself…
“Diddly doddles, Doddily diddles!
Let there be a house full of riddles.
And if Har solves all five,
My great storm shall not survive!”
In less than a second, walls started to appear on all sides of Har. Then after the roof appeared, everything became dark. Everything was scary.
Suddenly, five ghosts came in front of Har. Each of them had a piece of paper with them and each paper had a riddle on it.
Har didn’t know that if she solved all the riddles right, then the owner of the bracelet (Mony) would die. She solved the riddles because she wanted to get out of that dark room.
The first ghost came up to Har. The ghost read the riddle on the piece of paper in a spooky voice. “ When a day is bad, you want me to come, and when I come, my name changes. Who am I?” Har thought for a long time. Soon it became night time. “‘Yawn!’ I’m sleepy. I’ll solve the riddles tomorrow.” she said. Then she suddenly said, “ Wait! The answer is ‘tomorrow’! When tomorrow comes, we call it ‘today’. “Correct,” the ghost said and slowly disappeared.
Then, the second ghost came to Har and read the next riddle. “Which word has double letters consecutively three times?” “One of my friends is a bookkeeper and he has read many books. He would definitely be able to solve all of these riddles.” she said. “ Wait. Doesn’t the word ‘bookkeeper’ have double letters consecutively three times? The letters ‘o’ ‘k’ and ‘e’ repeat two times, so the answer should be ‘bookkeeper’.” “Correct,” the second ghost said and slowly disappeared.
Next, the third ghost came up to her. The ghost read his riddle. He said in a spooky voice, “I have four letters in me and when you add one more to me, I have three letters. Who am I?” “ It is midnight and now I am too tired.” Har said. She sat down and tried to sleep. “Ugh! I just can’t sleep!” she said. She started counting sheep. “One sheep, two sheep … eight sheep, nine sheep, ten sheep… ‘nine’ has four letters in it and nine plus one equals ten. ‘Ten’ has three letters in it. This matches with all the rules in the riddle! Nine is the answer.” Har said. “Correct,” the third ghost said and disappeared.
The fourth ghost came up to her. The ghost read the riddle that was on his paper. He said in a spooky voice, “ I am very fragile that when you touch me, I turn into the material I was made from. Who am I?” Har thought for a while and said, “ A bubble! When you touch a bubble, it turns back into water. So, the answer is a ‘bubble’.” “Correct,” the fourth ghost said and slowly disappeared.
Finally, the last ghost came up to Har. The last one was not exactly a riddle. It was more like a puzzle. The ghost said, “ Which two important words are made from the letters r,i,l,a,h,m,s,a,o,y,n,d,and n?” “HARMONY ISLAND!” Har said immediately. “Correct,” the last ghost said and disappeared.
Slowly, the roof disappeared and the walls around her started to melt. In front of her eyes was the bright sun and the beautiful flowers. “ Oh no! What have you done to me? I’m melting! My storm is gone! My monster is also melting! I will never let go of you! Just wait and see what I do!” Mony cried angrily. “ You won’t even be alive to do anything to me. All your beads are gone too . Also, I don’t have much time to stay here. I must go and help the people rebuild their houses. Bye.” Har said. After the witch was fully melted, the only thing that remained was her bracelet. Har took the bracelet. All the people lifted Har and said, “From now on, you will be our queen again.” the leader said. “I would love to be your queen. Thank you.” Har said. “ Actually, we should be the ones saying thank you to you for saving us from that wicked Mony,” one person said. “Thank you!” everyone said. “Your welcome,” Har said. Then, Har looked at the bracelet and saw that there were three beads in it again. She took all of them out and ate them. Then she said, “My first wish is that all the homes of the people should be repaired. My second wish is that Kadida should be able to live on land again. My third wish is that no harm should be done to Harmony Island. Thank you.” After saying this, she gave the bracelet to the leader.
After that, they all lived happily ever after.
The End
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