Billy Stuart in the Eye of the Cyclops Read online

  The dog escapes from Foxy’s arms and runs toward the cyclops.

  “FrouFrou!” Foxy yells.

  WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

  The monster moves Yeti around in front of his single eye, trying to get a better look. Eventually he settles on putting him a meter from his nose. Then he lets out a cry that sounds like a mixture of rage and…sadness?

  IIIIAAAARRR!

  The cyclops shakes Yeti. The weasel’s cap falls from his head and is retrieved by the poodle, who brings it to Shifty.

  The giant gets down on his knees and holds Yeti underwater for a few seconds. Is he trying to drown poor Yeti? Again the giant cries out.

  The cyclops brings the weasel out of the water and up to his face.

  Bing!

  Yeti punches him in the nose.

  Shocked, the cyclops drops Yeti into the water and then looks around. His vision seems quite poor. Maybe with a little bit of luck we can escape.

  “HERE I AM!” a voice near me calls.

  I barely have time to see that sneaky Ugobos take off running at full speed.

  The cyclops’s hand encircles me.

  Getting Dunked

  I curse Ugobos for intentionally directing the giant’s attention toward me.

  The monster has an IRON grip, but he isn’t hurting me. If only he would hold me upright instead of upside down. Suspended in the air like this, BLOOD is going straight to my head.

  Also, my hanging upside down like this is giving everyone else quite a show, as my kilt is obeying the law of gravity.

  No longer serving its purpose, it is hanging down around my shoulders. I am humiliated to be so exposed!

  “Don’t look, I beg you!” I cry to the witnesses of this embarrassing scene.

  “SERIOUSLY, Billy Stuart!” says Foxy. “Your life’s at stake, not your dignity!”

  Just as he did with Yeti, the cyclops brings me up close to his eye. I find myself face-to-face with him. He lets out a mighty cry:

  IIIIAAAARRR!

  Pew! His breath smells of rotten bananas and makes my fur bristle.

  “NOOOOOOOOOO!”

  I can see the lake coming close at an infernal speed. Then, the cyclops dunks me. I hold my breath. I must not fight it, I have to conserve my energy. With my head underwater, I can hear the cyclops crying.

  He brings me out of the lake and holds me up to his half-shut eye.

  “What? What did you say?”

  To answer my question he dunks me in the water again and cries:

  “YES…BUT…”

  He brings me to the surface. My ears are plugged with water. It’s not a good feeling. It feels like I’m wearing a helmet.

  Plus, I’m struggling to take normal breaths.

  I’m nervous, my heart is racing, and I think I have figured it out.

  I’m panting like FrouFrou does after running laps in the heat.

  “What can we do, Billy Stuart?” yells Foxy, using her hands as megaphone.

  I reassure her with a gesture.

  “It’s okay…go!”

  The cyclops violently shakes me.

  “Yes, okay, I’m ready.”

  And…I’m in the lake again. When the cyclops shouts, I hear the power of his voice underwater. I concentrate really hard, and this time I understand.

  I tap him lightly on the fingers. He brings me up face height. Luckily, I’m no longer being held upside down. I am sitting in the palm of his hand and feeling much more calm.

  His cry wasn’t meant to terrorize or threaten us. It was a CRY FOR HELP.

  I don’t think I’m wrong, but if I am, I’ll stick my finger in my own eye.

  CAREFULLY I grab one of the cyclops’s nostrils and climb to the top of his nose, just under his eye. With my left hand I hold on to his unibrow to anchor my position. With my right hand I pull his upper eyelid out toward me. The white of his eye is all RED and irritated.

  “Hmm, I don’t see anything here.”

  I sense the cyclops’s impatience.

  I continue by examining his lower eyelid. YUCK! His eye is soaking in a mixture of tears and pus.

  The Zintrepids, aware that there is no imminent danger from the cyclops, gather at his feet to see what’s going to happen next.

  “What’s the problem, Billy Stuart?” asks Musky.

  “The giant has something in his eye. ”

  Super carefully my agile fingers seize an eyelash trapped at the bottom corner of his eye. Whitish yellow pus oozes out with the eyelash as I remove it.

  The cyclops blinks. Tears roll down his nose.

  In his JOY at being free of pain, he throws me high into the air and roars with happiness.

  AAAAAAAAAAARK!

  The roc catches me!

  With Skill

  This is turning into a terrible habit! First it was the flying foxes, and now it’s the roc that carries me between earth and sky.

  “Foxy! It’s your friend! Tell him to…”

  But I’m already too far from the fox for her to hear me.

  AAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!

  The winged monster soars on the wind, then makes a turn. Is he going to bring me to his nest on the rocks and feed me to his babies? Will there be raccoon-in a-kilt on their menu?

  No! I am convinced the roc’s little ones would prefer the flesh of a tasty little doggy. I know just the one.

  The cyclops lets out a whistle to bring the winged creature back to the beach.

  So long as the bird doesn’t…

  NOOOOOOOOO! NOT AGAIN!

  He opens his claws, and I fall through the air. I can see that it’s sand, not water, under me. I’m going to hit the ground. Hard.

  And then…nothing!

  The cyclops catches me and gently puts me back down on the forest floor. The roc flies higher and disappears beyond the FOREST.

  My friends the Zintrepids encircle me, happy to have me back with them.

  I explain what has happened.

  “The cyclops’s voice is too loud for us to hear clearly what he says. When he dunked me under the WATER, his voice was quieter, and I could hear what he was yelling about.”

  The giant had an eyelash trapped in his eye. His fingers were too big to get it out. It took my petite and agile ones to get it done.

  I introduce the Zintrepids. ALL OF A SUDDEN I realize I understand him without having to be submerged underwater. As if he understands my confusion, the giant says:

  “It was the pain that made me cry that LOUD. I am very sensitive to pain, especially my own.”

  Loslobos and Timoree approach. The captain’s men, including that coward Ugobos, decide it is wiser to keep their distance.

  I still have the eyelash in my hand. It looks like a whip. Just as I am about to get rid of it, the cyclops stops me.

  “NO! You should keep it, Billy Stuart. That eyelash has swum in the tears of a cyclops. In times to come, it might serve you well. You’ll see,” he says enigmatically.

  I slide the eyelash into my purse, even though I have no idea why it would be useful. The giant gives me a kind smile.

  Touching Farewells

  The distance it took the bats less than an hour to fly is going to take practically a whole day for us to walk.

  Led by our new friend, we walk single file through the forest in the direction of the cave. His knowledge of the land helps us avoid some of nature’s natural TRAPS, the CARNIVOROUS plants, the spiderwebs as big as a house, the colonies of FIRE ANTS, the MARSHES where deathly toads swarm…lots of really cheerful spots that would make this place an unparalleled tourist attraction!

  That FrouFrou got lost for nearly an hour is a story without interest.

  By the end of the day, we have finally reached our destination, the entrance to the CAVE where my grandfather Virgil has left
us a clue.

  “The way is clear. Hurry before the bats detect your presence,” warns the giant.

  We thank the cyclops. He continues on the path with the others to bring them to their boat on the beach. Ugobos isn’t with them. He has been gone for over an hour. No one minds.

  Our farewells with Loslobos and Timoree are very touching. There is no doubt in our minds that we will never see each other again.

  “Thank you for reuniting us,” says the captain, bowing.

  His sister Timoree, whom we saved from the labyrinth and the Minotaur, hugs me close.

  Kabillions of crusty-clawed crawfish in that Bulstrode River! As for a memorable goodbye, I have FAILED.

  Timoree thanks each Zintrepid. With her eyes full of TEARS, she goes off in the company of her brother.

  Surely this story is not going to end so flatly.

  We have gone halfway up the passage when Foxy detects a movement in front of us.

  “Little rolling stones,” she whispers.

  “Rock’n’roll!” says Yeti, amused with himself.

  “Normally stones don’t roll by themselves,” says Shifty.

  “You’re right.”

  I should have known. It was no accident that he disappeared from the group.

  CROUCHING in the shadows, waiting, Ugobos now threatens us with his sword.

  Unexpected Help

  NOT SURPRISINGLY, the weasel is ready to fight the slave master. Yeti’s enthusiasm is tempered a bit by our enemy’s sword, however.

  “You will go no further!” thunders Ugobos. “Your voyage ends here, in this cave. Since the day you climbed aboard our ship, you have ruined my life. IT’S OVER FOR YOU!”

  He waves his weapon in front of each of our faces, one by one.

  “Whom should I start with? THE DOG?”

  Wait, can he read my thoughts?

  “No,” he replies. “That would make you too happy, Billy Stuart.”

  “You are right,” I say, shrugging.

  “SERIOUSLY, Billy Stuart!” says an angry Foxy.

  Ugobos’s sword stops in front of Shifty.

  “You, chameleon. You ate all those critters on the boat, my precious scorpions. It was a REAL MASSACRE!”

  “No,” Shifty corrects. “It was a real treat! They were delicious, your little critters!”

  Reddening in fury, Ugobos raises his sword to bring it down on Shifty.

  In the distance, a noise…

  The sound of shaking raincoats!

  I shout:

  “Hit the deck!”

  We throw ourselves to the ground. Ugobos, frozen in fear, stays put. And in the next second, he is gone, carried away by a flock of giant bats coming from the heart of the cave.

  The flying foxes seemed never-ending in number. Every now and then I feel one fly past so low that its wings graze my tail, and I am thankful to be pinned to the ground.

  “AAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

  That’s Foxy!

  She’s still with FrouFrou, who is safe under her arm. What made Foxy shriek like that?

  Long minutes pass before the last of the flying foxes has left the cave for their nocturnal flight. Slowly we get up off the ground.

  “AAAAAAAAARRRRGHH!” cries Foxy again.

  It isn’t a cry of terror but of disgust.

  While flying over us, the bats have let loose. Guano! Plenty of it landed on Foxy’s BEAUTIFUL RED COAT.

  “I hate bats!” she says, furious.

  “Yes, but thanks to them, Ugobos is gone, Foxy.”

  “Look at me, Billy Stuart!” she wails.

  I hide my growing smile.

  “You just have to clean your fur with your tongue like you do every day!”

  I’m lucky. Somehow I’ve managed to escape the guano AVALANCHE.

  I celebrate by doing a Highland fling, kicking up plenty of dust with my dance. Musky blows her nose, and now we have bagpipes to go with my dance!

  The dog, excited by my steps, rams into my legs. I lose my balance and fall.

  Ouch!

  A Cyclops’s Tear

  We haven’t gone down the passage we think my grandfather followed just yet. Sitting on the ground, near the STONE with Virgil’s engraved signature, we hesitate to go farther.

  I consult my notebook. There is only a single blank page after the one with the eye that was spying on us. We have no idea what to do next.

  I shake the notebook as if I can somehow find the solution that way.

  “Tell me your secrets!”

  I look at the cyclops’s eye my grandfather drew on the page. Why not? We have nothing left to lose. From my purse I take out the eyelash I extracted from the giant’s eye.

  Musky looks disgusted.

  In my head I hear the giant telling me that the lash would be useful to me one day.

  Has that day come? Who knows?

  Under the attentive gaze of my companions, I place the eyelash (with the tear still attached) on the blank page. Immediately it expands and is absorbed by the sheet of paper.

  …

  Grandfather Virgil!

  You are a magician!

  A clue is revealed before our eyes.

  We are walking cautiously. Each of our steps brings us closer to our next destination. But we have no idea where it will be.

  Had someone found the volume control on that pesky mutt?

  There is only one explanation for the dog getting this quiet.

  The poodle has crossed into the great unknown…

  The shock is immediate and INTENSE.

  White.

  Blinding.

  FREEEEEEZING! Unbelievable!

  Kabillions of crusty-clawed crawfish…in…that…Bulstrode…River!

  We are somewhere else!

  Brrrrr!

  THE END

  The Mystery Sleeper

  In theory, Yeti should sleep between Billy Stuart and his dog, FrouFrou.

  “It’s not my dog!” says Billy, speaking in his sleep.

  But in reality, no one is actually sleeping, because FrouFrou snores as loudly as an airplane engine.

  RIDDLES

  First riddle U-knee-FORM (uniform)

  Second riddle M-us-key (Musky)

  Third riddle Knock-turn-null (nocturnal)

  THE MIGHTY BILLY STUART’S MAGIC TOUR

  Mighty Billy Stuart says: Dog

  SEARCH AND FIND

  Fly

  Virgil’s notebook

  Rock

  Fish

  Watermelon

  Flying fox

  Crab

  Yeti’s hat

  Stars

  Captain’s sword

  A prolific author, Alain M. Bergeron has written over 250 children’s books. He devotes himself exclusively to writing and leading school workshops. His inexhaustible imagination has made him a fixture in children’s literature, and he has received many awards and accolades. Alain lives in Victoriaville, Quebec.

  Multitalented, self-taught illustrator and cartoonist Samuel Parent, better known by the pen name Sampar, possesses a lively imagination that draws viewers into worlds that are moving, wacky and sometimes even mythical. He lives in Victoriaville, Quebec.