Chapter 7 - Gammelnok is kidnapped

It took a few nights for the animals to return to the pond for another story meeting.

It was not until the full moon or white moon was high in the sky that Gammelnok woke up, lit his pipe and began his next story.

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I was not sure what was happening to me. But I was very sure I would give them a good fight when they unloaded me.

We travelled quite a while, bumping over uneven surfaces, but never slowing down enough for me to jump off.

I suddenly remembered my Haversack which I had been carrying throughout my stay amongst the reindeer herders. I remembered the Chameleon Cloth inside, which my mother gave me the day she died and which I had not used for over a century.

Would it still work? I found it, pulled it out and struggling managed to drape it over myself. My captors shouted at me, in what sounded like GammelDansk, a language I had picked up from the reindeer herders, to stay still or they would have to bind me with ropes.

Covered now, I settled down and behaved myself. Then suddenly the trolley must have hit a rock or something because we came to an abrupt stop, throwing me off. The sack or cloth covering me fell off and I was left exposed on the ground next to my captors. Or so I thought..

My Chamelion Cloth had stayed in place and made me blend in with my surroundings. My captors stood around looking confused and scratching their heads. Where had I gone?

I quietly slid backwards from them, until I reached a rock wall from where I could survey where I was.

The sight was amazing. A large cave lit by bright torches. A mas of long work tables where beings no larger than myself, were working on a variety of items, assembling, carving, painting and wrapping them in colourful paper attaching name labels pulled from a huge sheet next to a large figure with an enormous beard.

Once labelled, the bright packets were carted away through doors in the rock wall. Above each door was a sign with the name of a country: Denmark, Germany, Poland, Argentina, Ukraine etc. There were hundreds of doors all around the giant cave. Some were just like cupboards reached by ladders, others were full sized doors, but all made of solid wood. Right at the top there were even smaller doors labelled Andorra, San Remo and Lichtenstein. That was all I could see.

The large figure with the beard had a deep booming friendly voice when he demanded to know what was happening down at the trolley level.

My captors started to explain..