Lazarus and the silver spy of the Levels
The travellers’ tale began when The Voice of The Wind said to Eliza the forces of Stink the Mink will be wiped out when the ring of roses has been brought to the floor of reeds. Eliza Wood was a blind spider who webbed prophetic messages across tow paths, gate ways in hedgerows etc where they would be seen, by interested animals. Business had been going fairly well for Eliza for the past few hundred years but unfortunately he did not see the arrival of the mink coming. The general way of things he believed was that God had made the levels to be paradise and it would continue that way with the odd hiccough for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately the minks introduction proved a bit more than a hiccough in fact it left a very bad taste in the mouth and made a mess of all his prophesies. It used to be his signs read things like 'rejoice for a new dawn is come', and 'consider the Lilly isn't it pretty', then it turned to 'try and be an optimist', 'look on the bright side its not so bad'. In recent years his signs had read more 'the end is nigh', and 'repent your sins you are basically doomed'. His Friend the shield bug, Ralph Bernstein, tried to cheer him up saying its not that bad and at least you aren't an enslaved Rabbit. One day Ralph decided that something had to be done to help the levels and so crawled up to Eliza in his web and said Look Eliza you have to find a prophecy that actually works I can't stand to see you just mopping around like this. Eliza thought for a bit then climbed to the top most quarter of a nearby Scots Pine...and he listened to the wind. It told him there was a golden egg that held the secret of the levels its salvation from the Mink Dominion by Stink. There is a bed of Roses over near Godney at a Garden Centre. And In the Garden centre there is a sad eyed seamstress and she works all day and all night to make Rings of Roses. Unfortunately she doesn't sell many and so is very poor but in amongst the pile of dying rose rings which have been discarded is one magic ring that will not fade or die even unto the end of all time. If this one ring of roses can be brought to the golden egg then a new dawn will reign over the levels one of freedom for all animals except the mink, and will see the end of the cruel King Stink for ever. When Eliza had heard this he climbed down and told his friend Ralph who said - there you go now don't you feel much better now?
Lazarus McDonald had been chosen for this quest by Ralph, acting as a kind of casting director for Eliza Wood. Lazarus was an otter of some promise but had been frittering away his talents for fishing and hunting, by playing gleefully away down rivers and rills at the foot of the Mendips. He had made his living in the past through a number of outrageous schemes. One for instance was working as a bandit -for- hire by making raids on battery hen farms with a few wayward foxes. Another time he spent months lazing about near a fishery finding it a most easy way of life as the fish were practically willing to give themselves up to him. Though all this laziness had bored him and he had become increasingly over weight by his life style so it was a surprise when a tiny but self possessed Shield bug with the self confidence of a Lord of the Manor sidled up to him and recruited him.
Lazarus was standing behind a fence of a garden centre peering into the ring of roses production centre with his comrade Hubert Cherrybatten. Lazarus now upon seeing the stinking pile of dead roses was regretting his decision to join up. But the truth was that all the community of otters on the levels thought him a wastrel and wanted him out of their sight so it was his only option really to join a war party.
In front of him now was what seemed to be an enormous pile of rotting roses. In fact that was exactly what it was. The smell was really awful and there were a lot of flies buzzing around who had evidently laid eggs there. "But why do I have to go in there?" Because, the Brown owl, Hubert Cherrybatten said, you are the chosen one.
” Well it did not say anything about rummaging through rotting compost in the job description.” He protested.
“Stop being such a big girl’s blouse Lazarus McDonald and get in there.” There was something in the serious and stern way the owl pronounced his name that made Lazarus or Lazy Laz to his friends, feel compelled to jump in.
Sarah Sutton, who had made the rose ring, was sitting a way back previously with her back to them but with the scuffling sounds now turned and watched interestedly while an owl squawked at an otter who then proceeded to jump in her compost pile. Stranger things had been known to happen in the Garden Centre it was true, like the time a porthole to another universe opened up and Miss Sutton journeyed instantaneously to the prehistoric town of Clacton on sea bought a shell fish then returned, that had been about four months ago and it didn't involve an owl and an otter on speaking terms. Suddenly she saw the otter emerging black and slimy but with what appeared to be an intact ring of her roses. As unbelievable as this actually sounded the otter then ran off followed by the owl.
So then the quest to travel across Meare began in earnest. The pair were soon joined by other animals the shield bug had recruited and they all met at the bottom of the lane of a place called Kirlegate and walked beside the gate. There was Samson Matravers the badger, who a fairly dark and difficult to fathom creature. There was Eliza Wood, the prophetic spider, a family of rabbits -Michael and Nancy Robertson and their boys Tony and Ned. A field mouse was there also by the name of Teddy Murdoch.
To begin with they looked out across the estate of Kirlegate and pondered how to get to the Shapwick heath levels. This was a dark and foreboding place as they stared into its blackness a shiver of instinct which made them very fearful passed through them all. Their wild side kept the animals away from built up areas and so all of them felt a natural mistrust of their surroundings now.
Lazarus was standing looking at his friends. This was the peoples state of Meare - it was a treacherous road and held many dangers. It was filled with people the good and the bad and had a criminal fraternity who ran a racket and were in with the peat barons, they cared not for the levels wildlife they wanted the mink to prosper because they kept the curious types from snooping in on their dealings and dodgy businesses.
Of the good there were some who stood up for the rights of the wild life but these were a precious few and their will to fight was crushed by the continual progress of the peat barons - unstoppable it seemed under law.
Their enemy were the Mink and their leader King Stink the Mink. His tribe haunts the levels and besets its population with terror and destruction. The mink had already covered much of the levels, and had bred and bred. They were also greedy for wealth and power and had dug up much of the peat in order to sell it off to the people who lived nearby. The levels had practically become a city built of peat and filled with mink. In the middle of all this was Stink’s castle which stood set out alone in the bogs and lakes. It was an impregnable fortress built of peat, reeds and bird feathers all stuck together with fishy glue.
The mink in their desire to conquer the levels had eaten many of the birds and wiped out many types of wild life. They had cut down trees fouled the landscape killed off small shrubs and flowering plants that animals like deer eat and enslaved the rabbits of the area in their peat works using them as digging labourers. All in all if a species of animal had not been enslaved by Stink and his mink then they had fled the area in fear of their lives, nothing much of beauty was now left of this once picturesque landscape, they had even poisoned the water to almost all except themselves and their dietary requirement -the fish.
The animals stood poised - a sound could alert the men folk who were wary of wild animals and kept pets of Doberman dogs and tabby cats to ward against their intrusion. The cats ate the wild birds and prowled the streets of Meare and were known to the animal travellers all around as the dreaded Meare Cats. Their strong hold was Meare Manor where they breakfasted, luncheoned and dined in great style and often invited their raucous cousins the Mink to come off the levels to join them, headed at the table by Stink the Mink. The head of the Meare cats was a cat called Moses, a mean spirited gypsy like cat who had two sons one Morris and the other Tobias.
Sometime later...Somewhere near the northern face of the isle of Meare.
Beckoning in the distance of a long forgotten pose
The brown owl scowls morosely at the rose.
By any other name it would but smell so sweet
And the name of this one went by
Was St Mary's Street
The cock eyed cockerel crew
Again
Yearning for his winter Hen
And above the church tower the weather vein
Wheeled and squealed in a mild sunny breeze
The village was drowsing as men cut lawns
The sound of drilling rang out
While mothers hung laundry out doors
It was a good day for washing
And the shabby tabby cat lazed
Sprawled out on
The tar pitch roof of the granny annex
Warming itself in the rays
Lazarus observed this scene here
With the cool serenity
Of one who knows his destiny is to travel across
The Great Plains and estates of Meare
And far from loathing the prospect of danger
Coming from many quarters
He courts it like a suitor to the otter king’s pearly daughters
Starlings chattered in ever amassing flocks
As the animal troops look to the West
Of the eastern Glastonbury Blocks
The Tor faced back at them the sun its
Glimmering halo
And stretching between vast plains of country side
Thick with streams of alder and willow
And next to these Lazarus spied
The dark moors of Shapwick heath
Now shrouded in shadow
As if beset by some dark ineffable force
Yet this must be their final goal.
"Long will be our journey guarded the owl Hubert Cherrybatten
And many our foe,
The road will be dark
And every day the enemy grows
But end in sight there will be
Even when times seem darkest,
Even then the floor of reeds (Rush) will call
The Ring of Roses to it."
As he stared across the levels which once were his home, a monologue began in his mind and he was lost in remembering more innocent times, before the rise of the mink:
The Reeds which mark the water's edge
Do stay to unburden my night
In them I have all hope of day
And think my future bright
They are the Natural statute
Upon which are written Nature's Laws
And they mark the edge of an otter's emotions
How he conquers all his fears
My heart is proud
Will see me through dark night
I will not stoop to fear
Though I feel close to tears
That nature has absorbed from me
She will not let it near
The mighty oak stands in the bog
Myrtle sweetly smelling sways
Pigeons flock across the corn
On long hot summer days
The sun pours down its virgin rays
Upon this holy ground
The earth its hold
As natures song sings on and on
In this place which has my mould
The midnight swans move on the lake
The drake's song is clear
The twilight to the heaven turns
A wheel on celestial sphere
Ladders turn into the sky
Where silhouettes of silence roll
Into passing cloud shadows
As into Nature's folds I fall
As if carried by spiralling sparrows
The animal troops led by Lazarus chose to travel through the gardens of Meare, as the lamp lit pavements were too obvious a route and the Meare cats would spot them, at least, that was the plan.
Lazarus crawled up to the fence and looked over a black current bush into the garden. Then they snuck in. A light was on in the kitchen as old Ann the retired teacher was pottering around, she had yet to let Tobias the fearful nine- paw high cat back in so he was somewhere around. A crow came down from above in the frozen sky but Mr Matravers threw a piece of shingle and knocked it down. Then as if as a swarm more crows began dive bombing the animals and Lazarus lead them all into the safety of a potting tunnel. The crows flew off and the animals exited the garden onto the pavement.
There was an amber glow to the estate, the tarmac road and drives seemed to suck the sound out of all living things added to this the layer of ice frosted curb edges and chilled the feet of the animals. The rabbits were shivering in the semi circle that they all made around Lazarus awaiting his command. "We must make it across the estate - the other side is Down's orchard and beyond the farmers' fields until we reach Shapwick heath."
“But what of Tobias and Moses asked a timid rabbit at the rear
We shall have to face them when our time comes.”
“And what of King Stink and his hoards? How can we hope to fight him after marching across those fields day and night we shall all be exhausted?” -Asked Nancy -Michael Rabbits wife.
There will be time enough for rest once we have passed our immediate obstacle - said Owl and that is the Meare estates and its Meare Cats.
Yes these are no mindless rabble of buffooning stoats and weasels we will be facing. Said Mr Matravers they are a highly organised collective of vicious Pets and their owners are all members of Neighbour hood watch. Even now their spies may be watching us.
Well that leaves nothing for it said Lazarus than to start right away the sooner we get moving the safer we will be.
Yes indeed Mr Otter I second that, we shall be much better in our spirits once we have passed out of this dark and gloomy cul-de-sac. - said Michael Rabbit.
At this the smaller rabbits started to giggle at the look Nancy Rabbit was giving her husband - as if to say one of these days father - you will have pushed this family too far. Even though after this, they all knew that she would forgive them and that to keep moving would be for the best.
The animals began moving off in the direction of the opening of the Main Meare to Glastonbury territory of Kirlegate
All we have to do said Mr Matravers is to follow the fence line surely. And yet it was not as simple as there appeared to be any number of nooks and crannies false ways and cul-de-sacs leading to who knew where. Oh we should never have come this way muttered the field mouse. Only a lion would have attempted walking through this terrain and at dusk too. Nothing much remains of our path; I can hardly see the tail in front of me let alone be sure of my or his footing.
The owl gave a twit-woo at this and flew up into the circling fog out of sight in a minute he had returned to say that the fog was thick and was covering most of the levels but a bank of clear air could be seen on the road - if only they could get to this.
Lazarus commanded: We will go forward I will be at the front and Michael Rabbit you bring up the Rear. With this they moved on...
Moses had been settled in one of the big luxurious armchairs at Meare Manor. A roaring fire and his owners rich brand of pedigree cat food had lulled him into a sleep in which he was coughing and spluttering in a dream. In it He was Stink the Minks butler and personal maid and had been charged with scrubbing him down in a bath. No matter how hard he scrubbed the Stinky mink just would not lose hid foul odour. Moses feeling he was losing his master affections rapidly kept pouring more and more suds into the bath to make it better but this resulted in the whole room filling with soapy bubbles. Eventually the whole wing and then whole of Meare Manor was filled to the brim with bubbles and Moses was in a raving panic being carried away down out onto the street and into the Brue in a sea of soapy foam! He awoke to his own voice screaming -no more Bubbles Sire! Please No more Bubbles! And the rap taps tapping of a rook on the window. His owner hearing only the sounds of an annoying meaoow! Bellow forth threw a determined slipper at him and he scarped away behind the curtain. Now at this time, to inform the reader, I should mention that Moses had been planning a party and banquet in Stink's honour at the Meare Manor to commemorate his rise to the king of levels. This was to be held when his owners were mercifully away on a holiday cruise around the Mediterranean .
Still here now again, what was that sound, a rap pa tap tap. The window! Moses sidled up to the glassy pane and lifted it a little to let the cool evening air rush in and with it the fog. Then as mysterious as a ghost, the large black rook revealed itself once the fog veil lifted. Sir- the rook spoke in that rough military way of a soldier. “A Party of animals has been spotted entering the valley of Kirlegate
“Animals, Wild animals you say well there cannot be any of them left surely King Stink has eradicated them or else brought them under the whip in one of his slave camps?”
“Sir they are as wild as the day I was born, if you'll pardon the expression and they mean to cross the whole village that is what my spies have heard.”
"Well we can't have that can, we Leopold?" No we can't a sly faced Siamese cat said sidling up beside him around one of the ornamental armchair feet.
“You as head of ravens And Spy Master Rook will inform my son Tobias of this that is his district And I will be damned if a son of mine can't stop a few rebels from going against the herd. Mark my words they will rue the day they decided to cross the estates of Meare.” With this, the Rook left in flap of feathers and Moses had shut the window pane.
“You are aware that Stinks visit is only hours away and we can't have a scene like this upsetting the apple cart Moses?”
“Yes. Thank you, Leopold, quite aware and nothing that these scoundrels are playing at will deter me from my preparations. Now how are the decorations coming, they both walked off into the hall way talking on the banquet and how it was to be achieved.”
