Visiting Betty’s Family

Betty is very excited today. She is going to visit her family who live in a cave in the forest. Morty, Malcolm and Uncle Godfrey want to go with her. The bat family is only awake in the evening when the sun has already set, so Betty and her friends leave the castle in the evening. They bring along presents for the bats: special biscuits and sweet fruit. It is getting dark as they wander through the forest and soon they reach the bats’ cave.

Inside the cave it is pitch black and the friends can’t see where they are going. “Ouch!” exclaims Morty. “I have just bumped my head on the low ceiling!” Uncle Godfrey mumbles something in the darkness and with a sudden flash of light, the tip of his magic wand is glowing. The magic light is just enough to see for a couple of metres. Morty is sitting on a rock and rubs his forehead. Betty comes fluttering down to examine his wound. “It doesn’t look bad, but you might get a bump.”
“I wish we could hear just as well as a bat, then we would be able to walk in complete darkness,” says Malcolm. Suddenly, Uncle Godfrey smiles broadly. “That’s an excellent idea, Malcolm!” he shouts. “Let’s try a little experiment; let’s feel like bats for a while. I know exactly the magic spell we need for this and I’ve wanted to try it out for a long time!”

Curiously Betty sits down and watches Uncle Godfrey perform his magic trick. He waves his wand and sparkling magic dust settles over Morty, Malcolm and himself. Then something very strange happens: Their ears begin to grow, larger and larger still until they have big bat ears! It looks very funny and Betty rolls on the floor, laughing and holding her belly.

Morty looks up at his friends and starts laughing too. “This is amazing, Uncle Godfrey!” Godfrey chuckles and turns off the magic light. “Now let’s see –  erm, hear if this works,” he says. In the darkness, the friends listen intently to the echoes of their own voices and indeed, they can hear where the cave walls are. Slowly and with much giggling, they find their way deeper into the cave and after only a short while, they can hear perfectly where they are going.

Eventually they reach a large room inside the cave and they can hear the chatter of hundreds of bats. Glowing crystals in the cave wall give off a soft light so the friends can also see the bats. Betty’s family comes down to greet the guests. They are very happy to receive the presents and everybody settles down for a picnic.

After spending many hours together, the friends get very tired because it’s late at night and they say goodbye to the bats. As they walk back Malcolm turns to Uncle Godfrey. “I hope you know how to change our ears back to their normal size! I would not want to look like a giant green bat all the time when we get back home.”

Uncle Godfrey laughs out loud. “Don’t worry! The magic spell will wear off all by itself by tomorrow.”

“Phew! Now I’m relieved too,” laughs Morty.