The Magician and His Daughter

It was already time to set off for school but Josephina was nowhere to be found. Her father had searched for her everywhere, under the cart, atop the guava trees, in the well, to no avail. Scratching his chin pensively, he walked into his study where he stored all of his dusty tomes on magic and charms.

Something caught his eye — one of the books lay open. Approaching, he glanced at the title at the top of the page:

“SPELLS TO TURN SOMEONE INTO A ROOSTER”

Instantly, he knew where his daughter was hiding. With studied nonchalance, he ambled over to the chicken coop and peered in between the slats — there were four roosters and seven hens. He was quite confident he owned only three roosters and seven hens. Now, he mused, how to single out which one was his daughter?

“Ah! I must use the incantation that makes a rooster to crow loudly…” he muttered, loud enough he hoped, to be heard across the coop.

“ALABASTER MACAROONS NINCOMPOOOOP!” he uttered aloud, in the voice he reserved for casting spells. The plumpest rooster of the four looked straight up, flapped its wings clumsily and squeaked with a thick accent:

“Cock-a-doodle-doooooo!”

“Ha, I got you!” the magician grinned, and gently taking hold of the surprised-looking rooster and placing it under his arms, began to walk towards school. He knew the spell to reverse the child-rooster transformation by heart.

Josephina squirmed with indignation but knew her father had once again outwitted her.