Chapter 1

Once upon a time in the magical kingdom of Sdrawkcab, there lived a tiny village of strange and wondrous creatures. There were dogs who sang from their nests in the trees, birds who barked viciously at visitors who stumbled across their leashes, cats who hid timid and shy in holes in the floorboards, and fearless mice who roamed the streets in search of prey. One day, a little girl named Eibba accidentally stumbled and fell into this tiny village with its strange and wondrous creatures. “Where am I?” she thought in confusion to herself as she stared at the bustling village before her, as bold rabbits waved their wares under her nose, while their timid apprentices gathered their bushy red tails around themselves. “Hey you!” Eibba spoke commandingly as she pointed to the smallest of the trembling apprentices. “Yes you, the uncontrollably shaking fox. Come and tell me where I am, as you seem to be doing nothing useful at the moment.” The rabbit in charge rapidly swiveled on its meaty haunches, and pasted its beady eyes on the shivering offender. “Timmy the timid fox, why on earth do you continue to not do anything? What am I feeding you for? If you refuse to do anything, you will be thrown out of the village to fend for yourself. Then you can see how terrible the big, bad world really is then!” The tiny fox yelped and began to shake horrifically, and then swooned into a faint, falling into the startled Eibba’s arms. She dropped him suddenly, confusion clouding her face as he whimpered in pathetic pain. “Why is everything backwards?” she questioned as she gazed at the startling scene before her that she had previously overlooked. Enormous turtles were galloping around, as petite horses slowly inched their way across the ground. Eibba spun in amazement and gazed with awe as lumbering ants as big as cottages thundered past, trees slung over their backs as minuscule elephants trickled orderly into a mound dotted with gaps. “Everything here is wrong!” Eibba gasped in horror, “Nothing here is natural and I want to go home.” Eibba crossed her arms and sunk to the ground as she picked up the still moaning fox in her arms. She began to sob tremendously as the cheetah in front of her was brutally mauled to death by a violent antelope, and eventually she fell asleep on the road as the sky darkened with the approach of dawn.