Jade and the Enchanted Wood Read online

  “How?” Jade asked, but she didn’t have time to ask further as her feet really were tingling. “Say goodbye to the sylphs for me,” she said instead. The glowing shoes began to sparkle, and the sparkles turned to a mass of colours that swirled around Jade’s feet.

  Just before Jade was lifted up and whisked away, a gentle whisper came to her ears, as if from deep in the wood. “Thank you for saving our Enchanted Wood.”

  Jade’s heart sang.

  “Goodbye! Goodbye!”

  Jade looked down at her feet and smiled. Her little red shoes were still on, but she was back standing in the corridor outside the studio at Madame Za-Za’s in her normal ballet outfit. She touched her hair. A few strands had escaped, but it was mainly in the bun.

  What a time she’d had in Enchantia! The thought made her eyes fly open in alarm. Everyone in class must be wondering where on earth she’d got to. She could hear music from the other side of the door. Strangely, it sounded like the same music that had been playing when she left the room, but it couldn’t be, could it?

  It took quite a lot of courage to go back in because everyone was bound to stare at her.

  “Oh well, here goes!” she whispered under her breath.

  But no one looked at her as she took her place in the row. And even more oddly, they were still doing the same exercise as before.

  “That was quick!” whispered the girl standing next to her, throwing Jade a smile.

  Jade frowned. Quick? She looked up at the clock. It said ten twenty-nine. That was amazing! No time at all had passed in the real world while she’d been away in Enchantia.

  “Stretch the supporting leg, Jade, and frame the head with the arm.” Jade did as she was told.

  “Lovely!” There was a note of something that Jade hadn’t heard before in Madame Za-Za’s voice. “Look in the mirror, my dear.”

  Again Jade did as she was told. Is that really me? she thought. The girls on either side of her were both smiling at her and one of them mouthed, “Really good!”

  Jade’s heart soared. She lowered her arm with the music and imitated the movements that the other girls were doing to form a new shape. Her arms felt a little stiff so she softened them and turned out her supporting leg.

  When she looked up, Madame Za-Za’s appraising gaze was upon her. She nodded at Jade, her eyes full of warmth. “Well done!”

  I belong here, thought Jade. I actually feel as if I belong in this ballet class. But why? What’s happened? Have I somehow been touched by the magic of the sylphs? No, maybe it isn’t that, she realised. Maybe it’s simply the magic of ballet!

  For a second in the mirror, it was as though Jade was looking at a beautiful misty glade filled with dancing shimmering white light. She smiled and danced on. She’d had one adventure in Enchantia. When would the next one begin?

  Tiptoe over the page to learn a special dance step…

  1. Start by standing in fifth position with your arm in preparatory position.

  2. Move your arm through preparatory position. Also lift your right foot slowly off the floor and begin to bend both knees.

  3. Demi-plié with your left leg and coup de pied with your right with pointed toe. Turn out both your legs as much as possible.

  4. Open your right leg and slowly stretch your supporting left leg whilst moving your right arm to second position.

  5. Hold your left arm and leg both in second position, looking straight ahead. Balance and stretch out as far as you can.

  6. Lower your right leg and arm back into fifth position. You can do this to the front and back as well.

  Giselle lived with her mum in a little thatched cottage in the middle of their village. More than anything else in the world Giselle loved to dance. Sometimes her mum would get cross with her. “Too much dancing will make you ill, daughter you have a weak heart,” she scolded. But Giselle just spun away to practise her steps.

  A boy named Loys had just moved to the village. Nobody knew very much about him, but everybody liked him. He liked watching Giselle’s dances and soon they fell in love.

  But Loys wasn’t the only person who loved Giselle. The local gamekeeper Hilarion had been friends with her since they were little. He wanted to marry her one day. He was jealous of Loys and he didn’t trust him. “There is something strange about him,” he thought. “He is not like the rest of the villagers.”

  One day, when nobody was looking, Hilarion crept quietly into Loys’s cottage. Inside, he found a long velvet cloak and a glittering silver sword. They looked like they belonged to a very rich person. “Aha,” he thought, “now I know his secret…”

  Outside in the square, there was lots of noise and excitement. A prince and his beautiful daughter had stopped to rest in the village and a big crowd had come running to see them. Giselle couldn’t stop staring at their colourful silk clothes and shining, golden jewellery.

  “Don’t just stand there, silly,” said her mum. “I expect our guests would like something to eat and drink.”

  Giselle felt a bit shy as she helped her mum bring out trays of food but the prince’s daughter smiled kindly at her, “My name’s Bathilde,” she said, “What’s yours?”

  Soon the two of them were chattering away and laughing together. Giselle even showed Bathilde a few of her dance steps. “Oh! I wish you could come and live with me at the palace,” said Bathilde. “We’d have so much fun.”

  “That would be lovely,” agreed Giselle, “but I’m getting married soon to a boy from the village.”

  Just at that moment they heard angry voices. Hilarion was arguing with Loys and waving a cloak and sword in the air. Giselle ran over to them.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked. Hilarion explained that the sword and cloak belonged to a man called Duke Albrecht. Loys wasn’t really a village boy – he was the Duke in disguise! Someone royal like that would never be able to marry a peasant girl like Giselle.

  “Is that true?” asked Giselle. Loys just hung his head and looked uncomfortable but Bathilde spoke instead.

  “Yes,” she answered sadly, “he is really Duke Albrecht, and what’s more, he is engaged to marry me!”

  At this horrible news Giselle burst into tears and with a gasp, collapsed and died.

  In the forest lived the sylphs, the spirits of girls who had had their hearts broken. They were beautiful, but dangerous. They were wearing shimmering, white dresses and had delicate wings on their backs. And Giselle was now one of them.

  “Come and join us in our dance,” they called to her.

  Giselle and the sylphs twirled and spun in a wonderful moonlit dance. But then over the magical music she heard Loys calling her name. He had come to find her to say sorry.

  Giselle was ready to forgive him, but the sylphs were cross that he had made their new friend so sad.

  “We will take him to our queen who will keep him prisoner in the deep, dark forest for ever,” they said. They danced around the terrified Loys, pulling at him with their ghostly white fingers.

  Giselle felt sad, but she didn’t want him to be taken prisoner. She whirled between the sylphs and held his hand. “Dance with me,” she told him. Giselle and Loys danced a beautiful pas de deux – a dance for two – moving slowly through the forest. When the dance ended Loys saw that Giselle had brought him to the edge of the trees. The sun was shining and Loys was safe. He wanted Giselle to come back to the village, but she shook her head.

  “I must be with the sylphs,” she said. Then with a last wave goodbye, she spun off into the forest to dance with the sylphs.

  Meet another girl in Enchantia over the page…

  Holly

  Hi, my name’s Holly and I love ballet more than anything. Dancing makes me think of my mum because she’s a professional dancer. I love the emotions and stories in ballet, sometimes I get so carried away I forget where I am! Luckily I’m always in the best places: dancing at Madame Za-Za’s or in Enchantia! The White Cat and I have done so much there: protecting Cinderella from an evi
l magician, reuniting Beauty and the Beast, and even making things right in the Land of Sweets!

  Hair colour:Dark brown

  Eye colour: Green

  Likes: Expressing myself through dancing

  Dislikes: Feeling left out

  Favourite ballet: Sleeping Beauty (particularly the Rose Adagio dance)

  Best friend in Enchantia: The White Cat

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to Ann Bryant and Dynamo Limited

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s “Books 2010

  HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road

  Hammersmith

  London W6 8JB

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  Text copyright © HarperCollins Children’s Books 2010

  Illustrations by Dynamo Limited

  Illustrations copyright © HarperCollins Children’s Books 2010

  MAGIC BALLERINA™ and the ‘Magic Ballerina’ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007370986

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

  Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1 Auckland,

  New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com