Series 3, Episode IX

Back at the beginning of the month, I noticed at reference 1 the casting of a picnic table on the edge of the deep dark wood. A place where foxes are known to play when they think that no-one is looking. Probably other animals too, possibly even hedgehogs, although it is a long time since one has been seen, here or anywhere else.

This morning, Polly was getting a bit fed up with being confined indoors and decided that the way forward was an al-fresco porridge picnic on the new table. Grandma was out somewhere and Grandpa was fiddling about in his study - probably reading a detective novel - and so the way was clear.

First of all she pinched some of Grandpa's porridge (which happened to be on the cooker, waiting for him to get around to it) and put it into an egg cup, not so much that Pedro and Yuri would have trouble getting it down the garden. Sprinkled a little soft brown sugar on top. She then thought that it would be a good idea to invite the trolls, but she had forgotten that trolls are rather likely to be naughty first thing in the morning and that unlike with people, girl trolls are much more likely to be naughty than boy trolls. So the upshot was that Jill-the-Troll was not allowed to come at all and Jack-the-Troll was only allowed to come as an observer. He was not to be allowed inside the magic circle and he was certainly not going to get any porridge.

Grandpa had done quite a good job on building the magic circle, but he had not done a very good job of clearing up, leaving a large dead leaf in the middle, just to the left of the egg cup in the snap above. Polly is gazing at it crossly, wondering who she is going to task with moving it. Pedro and Yuri had worked hard to get the porridge in place and it seemed a bit mean to ask them to do anything else - so her thoughts went over to Jack-the-Troll. Perhaps if he was to get rid of the leaf, he would be allowed to join in after all?

Which is about how far how things had got when Grandpa got out the telephoto lens for his telephone.

Reference 1: psmv4: Series 3, Episode VIII.

Reference 2: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - 1926. Claimed by one Dr. O. Tearle of Loughborough University to be one of the best ever, and quite possibly the detective novel in question.

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