Title :
Minpins
Author :
Roald Dahl
Illustrator
: Patrick Benson
Publisher
: Puffin
ISBN :
978-0-141-50178-9
"Little
Billy's mother was always telling him exactly what he was allowed to do and
what he was not allowed to do. All the things he was allowed to do were boring.
All the things he was not allowed to do were exciting.
One of
the things that he was NEVER NEVER allowed to do, the most exciting of them
all, was to go through the garden gate all by himself and explore the world
beyond".
Thus
begins another adventurous tale spun by none other than the ace storyteller
Roald Dahl whose imagination knows no bounds and who dares his readers to enter
the magical worlds where anything and everything is possible .
So little
Billy kept on looking at the garden gate longingly day after day, month after
month, year after year but the lure of the world at the other side of the gate
never mitigates in his mind. And one odd afternoon, a devil whispers in Billy's
ears and instigates him to cross the garden gate to explore the lovely world
that is alien to him. He makes Billy believe that there is no such thing as
Hornswogglers and Snozzwanglers and Vermicious Knids and the Terrible
Bloodsuckling Toothpuckling Stonechuckling Splitter about which Billy's mother
often alarmed him. Little Billy stops
'being good' and follows the advice of the devil whispering in his ears.
He enters
the forbidden forest and soon enough finds himself being chased by none other
than the terrible snorting smoke-blowing, smelly breathed beast. Billy runs for
his life and on finding a mysteriously low branch climbs on the tree and enters
the world of green leaves and thick, smooth branches with no earth or sky in
sight. As he rests there in peace for a while, he notices tiny little windows
and doors opening up in the bark of the tree and many miniature faces staring
at him. He realizes that he is in an
extraordinary strange world of tiny people who called themselves Minpins.
Minpins had taken refuge in the hollows of the trees for the fear of Red-Hot
Smoke-Belching Gruncher, who had grunched up hundreds of humans and millions of
Minpins. They had special suction-boots which helped them walk up and down
almost vertical branches without any trouble and the feathered birds were their
friends and transporters with whom they had a beautiful symbiotic relationship.
But now
with the fearsome Gruncher waiting for Billy under the tree how could Billy
reach back home again? Can he help Minpins get rid of this Gruncher so that
they enjoy their freedom once again? Read on to find that out.
The curtain draws on the adventurous story with these words - "Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you
because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most likely places. Those
who don’t believe in
magic will never find it."
These
words capture the essence of life and how it should be approached with open
senses and mind to experience the wonders all around us.
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