Cool

Once, long ago in a place not far from here there lived a small boy. The boy lived in a town which was close to a village called Happyville. The people who lived in Happyville were happy and worked hard in their fields, growing crops which they traded with the people in the town. The people of the village would go to the town to take their goods to market and on their way they would pass through a wood, which was a lot quicker than going round by the road. The wood was full of birds which would sing as people passed by. Brightly coloured flowers grew there and these would make the people smile as they went on their way.
Then, one day a large man came to live in the wood. He built himself a cottage next to the path. He was not a happy man.
This large man sat every day on his porch outside his cottage in a huge rocking chair. As the people passed by he would reach out and snatch their smiles. He put the smiles into a huge pot which he kept beside him. He became known as the Smile Catcher.
Eventually all the people of the village had lost their smiles. They stopped going through the wood to town, the plants stopped flowering, the birds fell silent and the village became known as Sadville.
Many years passed until one bright morning the boy was asked by his mother to take some cloth to his cousin who lived in Sadville. His mother warned him not to go into the woods but to use the road and be back for supper. She warned him about the Smile Catcher who lived in the woods. The boy happily took the cloth but, as small boys do, on the way he stopped to look at the lambs playing in a field, he stopped to watch the tumbling river and soon it was getting late. He knew he could not reach the village and get back for supper so he decided to go through the wood. He had heard tales from adults about the Smile Catcher who lived there but thought they were just stories told to frighten boys like him. No-one had seen The Smile Catcher for years and the old stories did not frighten the boy.
The path into the wood was overgrown and he had to pick his way carefully through. The wood was very quiet. There were no birds singing and no flowers blooming. It was dark and he did not like this so decided to turn back and go home. However, when he turned round he could not see which way the path went and soon was lost. He began to cry. Suddenly he heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone crying but very loud. He went on and came to a cottage. In front of the cottage sat a huge man in a massive rocking chair. The man was sobbing.
’ Boo hoo, boo hoo hoo!’
The boy watched for a little time and, although his mother had told him never to speak to strangers, he was moved by the man’s sobbing. He stepped forward and said, ‘Excuse me, are you all right?’
The man looked up and saw the boy.
‘Who are you and what are you doing in my wood?’ he bellowed.
‘Sorry, sir, I am lost and it is getting dark. I am trying to get to the village to see my cousin and give him this cloth. I heard you crying and wondered if you were all right.’ said the boy.
‘Do you know who I am?’ the huge man stood up.
‘N...No Sir,’ the boy began to feel frightened.
‘I am called the Smile Catcher and I take peoples’ smiles’ bellowed the man. ‘I keep them in this pot’.
The man held up a massive pot which he had beside his rocking chair.
‘But why do you do that?’ the boy was amazed.
‘So I can be happy!! But it does not work. Look!’
The man reached into his pot and brought out a smile. He put it on. It was an old man’s smile and looked silly on him. Then he put on a baby’s smile – that looked even sillier. Then he put on a young girl’s smile but it still did not look right. He threw the smiles back into his pot and sobbed again.
‘See? I can never be happy, no matter how many smiles I snatch’. He sobbed.
‘But’, said the boy. ‘You can’t be happy using other people’s smiles. Happiness comes from inside – here!’ he pointed to his tummy. The Smile Catcher watched as the boy tried to smile. Eventually he gave the Smile Catcher his very best smile.
Immediately the Smile Catcher reached out to take the smile but, as he looked at the boy, something very strange happened. The corners of his mouth began to twitch. Then they began to rise up, then a strange feeling began in his tummy and he gave out a loud noise!
‘ Ha, ha!’ he put his hand over his mouth.
‘That’s right’, said the boy. ‘You have your own smile! ‘ He began to smile and then to laugh. ‘You did look funny with all those strange smiles on your face’, he said and began to laugh louder.
The Smile Catcher stared at him for a moment and then that strange feeling began to happen again. It started from inside, round his tummy. Again that loud noise came out, this time followed by lots more and he began to make the most strange noises.
‘Hee hee, ha ha, ho ho!’ The Smile Catcher was laughing.
**************
In the village of Sadville, the villagers were sadly going about their daily business. No-one had a smile and they all felt sad. Some were sadly working in the fields; some were just sitting in front of their houses looking miserable. Suddenly, they heard some very strange noises coming from deep in the wood. It sounded like someone laughing but very loudly. All at once someone very large burst through the trees and came out of the wood with a small boy on his shoulders. He carried a huge pot which he opened, reached in and from it, tossed smiles into the air.
The smiles flew round and round until they found their owners. Soon, everyone had their smile back and the Smile Catcher stood in the middle of the village with a huge smile on his face – his own smile this time.
Soon everyone began to laugh- they felt happy for the first time in ages and decided to have a feast. They used the huge pot as a cooking pot and made the tastiest stew ever.
In the town, the townspeople stared towards the village as they heard the laughter coming from it. They could not believe their ears. ‘ What’s that noise?’ they asked each other . ‘It sounds like laughing but it cannot be coming from Sadville!’ They rushed along the road to see and could not believe it when they saw the people of the village smiling again and the Smile Catcher grinning in their midst. Soon they too joined in the feast.
Now the people go from the village –which is called Happyville again- through the wood to the town. In the wood, birds sing as people go past and brightly coloured flowers bloom. In the wood, next to the path there is a cottage and often, on the porch in front of it, sits a large man in a rocking chair. He is always pleased to see people and they always stop to say ‘hello’. The man always has a smile on his face – his very own smile.