By Demi and Tiya

It was a still, starry night. The sky was as black as coal and all that could be heard was the hoot of a solitary owl and a gentle rustle, as the breeze danced through the trees.The entrance to the Magik Circus was quiet and deserted. A sign by the entrance held a poster: Artistes Wanted.

Amongst the Magik Circus was a small, scruffy caravan, sat inside the caravan was a small girl. As the girl dropped a single dusty coin into a wooden box, small hot tears ran down her rosy cheeks. The sound of the small box closing echoed around the desolate room. The only light that could be seen was coming from a small flickering candle. The girls eyes were filled with terror as

she was worried she couldn’t pay her invoices. The sound of howling filled the silence of the night.

Suddenly, a glittering, golden teapot approached the sign which held a poster that read “wanted artists.” Jumping happily, the teapot read the poster and hopped away into the darkness of the Circus. A gust of wind blew away dust revealing another poster that said: Magik Circus.

Tossing and turning, the girl was worried at the thought of where she would get the money to pay her invoices.

The noises outside caused the girl to turn and wake. The girl heard a mysterious sound from the circus and peered out of the dirty window. The girl saw a strange shadow moving along the wall of the circus. Slowly the girl got out of bed and rubbed her eyes. She picked up her fluffy, cute teddy bear, hugged it close and sat it back on her bed. The girl peeped back out of the window and saw the shadow moving along the canvas of the tent again.

“I wonder who that is?” whispered the girl as she got her shoes on and crept towards the circus.

The girl crept over the dusty floor and into the circus, her footsteps echoed through the dark room. The circus was desolate and bare. The girl, who had fear in her eyes, lit a candle and began to look around. As she wandered around the room she heard a clanking noise coming from behind the circus’s dusty curtains. The girl turned around, as a result of seeing nothing she sighed. Just then, she saw a golden teapot. The teapot wandered forward, fell down the stairs and landed in front

of the little girl, who seemed amazed. “w.. wh ..what… who a.. a.. are you?” spluttered the girl petrified. The teapot moved towards the girl a little more. The teapot began to shake as if he was trying to say something. The girl looked puzzled and shrugged as she didn’t know what the teapot was trying to say.

The teapot shook again and a ghost like figure whirled around the room and landed on the floor with a large “THUD.” “Erm, excuse me little…whatever you are, but I am a Frog Genie!” Scolded the Frog Genie. The girl jumped backwards with fright. “ s…sorry, I didn’t know!” muttered the girl, her eyes burning with tears. The Frog looked at the girl with pity and in a cloud of smoke a venus fly trap appeared in his hand.

The plant snapped at the girl fiercely making her jump and get more upset. The Frog Genie looked at the plant, then it snapped at him too, so he threw it on the floor with huge force. The Frog Genie looked at the girl sympathetically. The Frog Genie held out his hand and from nowhere the poster from the bright red board appeared in his palm.

The frog held out his hand and looked at the girl. “Please say yes,” thought the frog as the plant snapped again breaking the silence of the gloomy circus.

The girl was about to shake her head when the genie became desperate and said, “Oh please I have a lot of marvellous ideas to show you!”“Maybe I could see his ideas, and if they are as marvellous as he says they are I could give him a job and finally have the money to pay my invoices!” thought the girl. The Genie pulled a rope and revealed his ideas and a dark blackboard.

All of the ideas were horrible, they all resulted in the little girl getting hurt! The Genie thought that his ideas were wonderful, on the other hand the girl thought they were absolutely terrible – the worst ideas she’d ever seen!

The girl began to get upset. She put her hands to her face and began sobbing. The girl had still not managed to find a way to pay her invoices. She was afraid she would have to hire the genie anyway, just to earn money to pay the bills.

“Oh dear,” said the genie, “I never meant to upset you.” He looked thoughtful and suddenly an idea sprang to his mind. He took out his shiny, blue wand and in a flash had transformed himself again. This time he was a tiny, green frog with as wide mouth and big eyes.

The girl squealed with excitement and picked up the tiny green frog. She threw him high into the air and caught him. This gave the little girl a fantastic idea (but maybe not so fantastic for the frog!). “I have found a flying frog!”

The frog didn’t seem too pleased when he heard these words. He looked miserable. He began to wish he had never transformed himself into a frog.

The girl hurried out and put posters everywhere: The Magik Circus presents The Flying Frog. As soon as people saw the poster they surged towards the circus to watch the flying frog.

The performance began. The poor frog was flying everywhere. He bounced off balls, fell on ropes, and just when he thought it was all over, he was shot out of a cannon and fell on another rope!

The frog finally thought he was safe when the girl appeared and cut the rope he was perched on! Down the frog fell until he hit the floor with a massive bang. By this time the frog was very angry and upset. “Why me?,” thought the frog as he just lay on the floor, too fed up to stand up.

The girl stood in amazement as money and confetti fell onto the floor. The girl grinned, she felt so proud of herself. The frog closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of cheering and clapping. The girl had solved her problems, she could now pay all of her invoices.