enthralled.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, for my greatest, er, illusion, I need the assistance of my gran, Ethel please step into this cabinet."
"My pleasure," Ethel beamed.
"Credis quod habes et habes, cloakem chokem makem a croakem," Marlon cast the spell.
The guests watched open mouthed as Nyma opened the cabinet and out jumped Ethel the frog.
"Ribbit," Ethel croaked.
"Evil wizard!" one of the guests yelled as he got to his feet while drawing his sword.
Others rose shouting. "Burn the wizard!", "Drown him in the moat!", and "I want my money back!", they started toward the stage.
"Quick Nyma into the orange cabinet," Marlon took Nyma by the hand and pulled her into the cabinet. "Credis quod habes et habes, letsgo mustgo doublo quicko makem allgo."
There was a bright flash, a puff of smoke, the walls of the cabinet fell open, and Marlon and Nyma were gone. The guests, confused by what had happened, start rushing around the castle, searching for the lovers.
Marlon stood in an open field, a cold wet wind brushed his cheeks as his eyes began to focus, he realised that it was raining lightly, about him were rocks, heather, and sheep.
Then he heard Nyma calling.
"Marlon, I'm here, behind you."
Marlon turned around to see his Nyma….in the body of Ethel.
"Oh bum! Now I know why Blodwyn changed into a beautiful young woman like Fifi," Marlon whispered as he fell to his knees.
"Marlon is that you?" A croaky old voice came to him on the wind. "Over here, it's me, your uncle Roger. You've been playing with my magic tricks you naughty boy. Now you're stuck on this remote Scottish island with me, two old hags, a group of monks, and fifty sheep."
"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Ethel the frog was celebrating the success of her plan to get Marlon to change her into the frog so that she could become young and beautiful again. Just another fifty five minutes or so to go and she would be like Nyma.
“Hmm, being a frog is hungry work,” Ethel thought to herself, “all that jumping about is so hard. I'll pop down to the moat and see if there are any flies to eat.”
It took Ethel all of forty five minutes to hop down to a spot by the moat out of sight of the castle, though there was one solitary knight sat in a deckchair fishing.
The knight saw movement to his left and spotted a frog surveying the moat, he leant over and picked it up.
“You're a pretty frog,” he said, “I wonder, if I kiss you, will you turn into a beautiful princess?”
He kissed the frog, which seemed to make it smile, but no princess so he set it back on the ground.
“Just another five minutes handsome knight, and I'm all yours.”
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