Eva Ibbotson - The Ogre of Oglefort

She ran like the wind toward the castle and threw open the door of the laundry room. Clouds of steam billowed toward her; the fire roared. She could make out nothing at first, then saw what she had expected.

The little bat had fallen to the ground and was fluttering, stunned and frightened, in a corner, half drowned, getting caught on the wooden slats. Ignoring everything except the animal she had come to save, Mirella knelt down on the floor, groping and searching. As soon as she had fastened her hand around the petrified, quivering creature, it squealed and bit. Her clothes were soaked, her hair trailed in the puddles, but she saw nothing except the plight of the terrified bat.

The ogre had lowered himself farther into the tub — but as his behind touched the water, he rose up again, pointing a furious finger at Ulf.

“It’s too hot! I told you it was too hot. You’re trying to kill me.” He grabbed a towel and wrapped himself in it. It was only now that he saw Mirella crawling on the floor.

“And WHAT IS THAT?” he roared, wrapping himself tighter in the towel. “Get it out! Get it out at once!”

Mirella neither saw nor heard him. She went on crawling along the soaking floor, while the ogre yelled and cursed, and more and more steam billowed through the overheated room.

After they had sent the rescuers off to save the Princess Mirella and slay the ogre, the Norns fell into a deep sleep.

They slept for days and days, snoring gently in their bed in the cave deep under Aldington Crescent underground station.

And while they slept, the ghosts went around and around in the ghost train along the deserted track, and the Harpies roosted and the rats scuttled about, and water dripped from the roof.

When at last they woke, the Norns were very woozy, not quite certain where they were and how much time had passed. They sat up slowly and stretched out their skinny arms, and the nurses who had been dozing in the back of the cave came forward with syringes and gave them injections and handfuls of pills, which they popped into their mouths.

Even so it was a few more days before the Norns remembered about the princess and the ogre. Then the First Norn said, “Ogre slain?”

And the Second Norn said, “And princess saved?”

“Must be,” said the Third.

All the same, they thought they had better make sure. The magic screen was brought down in the lift by the Norns’ attendants and set up in a corner of the cave. Then the Norns were wheeled over, the necessary words were said — and the screen flickered into life.

As before the picture showed the wave-lashed cliffs, then the forest path which led to the castle — then the castle itself.

There were no ogres to be seen in the great rooms of the castle — perhaps the monster was already dead and buried? And no sign of the rescuers either.

But now the picture traveled down and down, into the dungeon and past it — into a dreadful torture chamber full of smoke.

The smoke swirled and rose and blotted out what was in the room. They could make out nothing at first; there was only the smoke… or was it mist… or steam?

Then the hellish vapor cleared for a moment and they saw a truly terrifying sight. The hideous ogre, far from dead, was standing beside a boiling cauldron. He was wrapped in a kind of shroud; his fiendish face was twisted with rage; his great forefinger pointed at something which crawled like a tortured beast of burden on the floor.

At first they could not make out what this apparition was; then to their horror they saw that it was the Princess Mirella! The princess in sodden, filthy clothes, too terrified to rise to her feet, groveling like the lowliest animal. They could not make out what the ogre was saying, but his contorted face and the pitiless pointing finger made it certain that he was pronouncing her doom.

The screen went dark and the Norns, in their rumpled bed, became extremely agitated.

“Princess must be saved,” said the First Norn.

“And ogre slain,” said the Second.

“Slain utterly,” said the Third.

But that wasn’t all. Something had to be done about the rescuers who had failed so spectacularly in their mission.

“Rescuers must be punished,” said the First Norn.

“Pulverized,” said the Second.

“Obsquatulated,” said the Third.

But who could they send? They had tried to find proper warriors at the meeting of Unusual Creatures and they had failed. Too frail to leave their beds, the Norns peered hopelessly at the empty platform.

The ghost train went past. The white-faced specters stared blankly in front of them. Water dripped from the roof.

“Who?” said the First Norn.

“Yes, who?” said the Second.

When a princess is in danger, something has to be done. This is a rule which binds all ancient creatures.

They went on swallowing pills, shaking their wobbly heads.

The ghost train came around again and still nothing occurred to them. Their eyes were beginning to close. What they wanted desperately was to sleep and sleep and sleep.…

With a great effort they shook themselves awake. The ghost train came in sight for a third time.

The Norns looked at one another. They struggled to their knees again. They stretched out their bony arms.

“Stop!” ordered the First Norn as the train drew level with the mouth of the cave.

“Stop!” said the Second Norn.

“Stop absolutely!” demanded the Third.

The train slowed down, stopped. The door opened a crack, opened a little farther, opened completely — and the specters’ white dead faces stared out in puzzlement.

The ghosts in the train were not there for nothing. The sins they were being punished for by circling the circle line forever and ever all had to do with traveling.

Now they were bewildered. The train had never stopped before — it just went around and around.

But it had stopped.

And the doors never opened.

But they had opened; they were sliding slowly apart. And, not quite believing it, the specters glided out onto the platform.

There was the Honker — a very old ghost with one leg and a crutch who had done nothing when he was alive but honk and spit and let out huge, revolting gobbets of saliva which got on the seats and the floor of the train for other passengers to slip on.

There was a ghost in city clothes and a bowler hat who had sharpened the point of his umbrella like a rapier and stuck it into the feet of any passenger who got in the train ahead of its owner. The umbrella still had bits of skin and blood clinging to it even now.

Behind him came the Aunt Pusher — a bruiser of a ghost with great hands like coal scuttles. He had pushed his aunt off the platform and under a train because he wanted her money, but when her will was read he found that she had left everything to a lost dogs’ home, and after that he went mad and started pushing everyone under trains who looked like her and wore a hat with feathers.

Two women ghosts glided out next. The Bag Lady was a fat ghost wearing a flannel nightdress and carrying a number of bulging shopping bags. During the war she had sheltered in the underground to get away from the bombs, but instead of lying quietly on the platform like the other shelterers, she had spread out a whole lot of clothes and blankets and pretended she had a family who was coming and had kept the other people away. Once she had turned away a young couple and they had gone back up the staircase and been caught by the blast from a bomb and been badly hurt.