“Hehe, using this big mushroom as a sunshade is such a great thing!” The lazy witch lay under a beautiful big mushroom, basking in the sun and stretching lazily.
Red Mushroom
A red ant grabbed the edge of the red mushroom’s cap and happily swung like on a swing. “Achoo—” The lazy witch sneezed loudly. With the burst of air from the sneeze, the red ant flew into the air and finally landed on the lazy witch’s shoulder.
The lazy witch caught the red ant and, using a little force, pinched the red ant’s red bottom.
“Wheeze—” A round little red ball shot out from the red ant’s bottom, landing right on the lazy witch’s nose. The lazy witch frowned and angrily said, “You little rascal, daring to fart in front of me, watch me deal with you!”
Taking advantage of the moment when the lazy witch reached to touch her nose, the red ant scurried away. No matter what the lazy witch did, she couldn’t remove the little red ball from her nose.
“Hehe! Don’t knock me off, I can wash your face!” Haha! The little red ball actually spoke.
Oh, the lazy witch really wished someone would wash her face! However, she said to the little red ball, “You’re just a little ball, how could you wash my face? You must be a liar!”
“In the red ant’s bottom, there’s a red gem. With it, I can turn into a little girl who can wash your face.” The little red ball spoke earnestly, “Let’s go find the red ant.”
“Dee dee dee! Ta ta ta! I am a happy dancer!”
Look, right on this red mushroom dotted with white flowers, the red ant was happily dancing and humming a tune!
“One sneeze, and I’ll blow you down!” The lazy witch said angrily.
Oh no! The lazy witch’s sneeze made a big hole in the mushroom cap—the red ant fell into the hole! At this moment, something even more unexpected happened: the red mushroom grew taller and taller, bigger and bigger, and finally turned into a beautiful mushroom house. What a beautiful mushroom house! A red roof, blue windows, and golden-yellow curtains, so very beautiful!
“Ah! I want to bloom!”
“I want to bloom!”
…………
Around the mushroom house, magical golden flowers bloomed, so vibrant and beautiful!
“Hey! Lazy witch, come catch me!” The red ant ran into the golden flower bushes.
The lazy witch searched and searched in the golden flower bushes but couldn’t find the red ant.
“Hehe, I’m here!” The red ant’s voice came from a magical flower. This magical flower had seven petals, each of a different color, and it seemed to be smiling mischievously at the lazy witch.
The little red ball on the lazy witch’s nose spoke: “The red ant is hiding in the pistil of the rainbow flower. It can only come out when the rainbow fruit of the rainbow flower matures.”
So, the lazy witch waited and waited in the mushroom house, hoping the rainbow flower would bear the rainbow fruit.
Spring quietly left with a slightly sultry breeze. The summer sun grew more and more scorching in the cicadas’ incessant chirping. The golden flowers groaned in pain under the blazing sun.
“Rainbow flower, you have to hold on,” the lazy witch said to the rainbow flower with a frown, “With the rainbow fruit you bear, the little red ball on my nose can turn into a little girl who can wash my face.”
Hearing the lazy witch’s words, the little red ball spoke, “Lazy witch, use your magic to draw water from the river here and water the flowers.”
The lazy witch hadn’t used her magic for a long time because she was lazy! But the lazy witch really needed someone to wash her face, so she pulled out a long hair and built a hair bridge between the mushroom house and the river. The lazy witch also took a few pumpkin seeds from her pocket and threw them into the air. Instantly, these pumpkin seeds turned into little wooden bucket children of different colors. They had hands and feet and big belly-like wooden buckets, busily working on the hair bridge.
“Ha! Such cute little wooden bucket children!” The little red ball said happily, “Look! They’ve brought water, the flowers are saved!”
“Achoo—”
“Achoo—”
“Achoo—”
…………
Oh no! At this crucial moment, the lazy witch kept sneezing! Each wooden bucket child was toppled over by her sneezes.
“Naughty witch, how could you sneeze at this time?” The little red ball said angrily, “Without the rainbow fruit from the rainbow flower, I can never wash your face.”
The lazy witch was also sad and regretted not holding back. At this moment, her nose itched again, “Achoo—” she sneezed a big sneeze.
“It must be because your nose is too dusty, that’s why you keep sneezing!” The little red ball said, “Go wash it by the river!”
The lazy witch went to the river, intending to wash her nostrils but ended up drinking the water, “Gulp, gulp.”
“Achoo—” The lazy witch sneezed another big sneeze. This time, her mouth became like a spray bottle, spraying all the water from her stomach towards the area around the mushroom house where the rainbow flowers bloomed.
With plenty of water, the golden flowers all bore golden fruits. The rainbow flower also bore a beautiful rainbow fruit, and the lazy witch happily waited for the rainbow fruit to ripen.
At night, the lazy witch slept in the mushroom house, feeling hungry and wanting to eat those golden fruits.
“Lazy witch, you can’t eat the golden fruits…” The little red ball said anxiously.
But before the little red ball could finish, the lazy witch used a hair to pull a bunch of golden fruits into the mushroom house through the blue window and started munching, “Crunch, crunch.”
When the lazy witch ate the seventh golden fruit, her stomach began to grow bigger and bigger…
“Ho ho! We are the golden fruit spirits!” Seven little heads popped out from the lazy witch’s stomach, made a face at the lazy witch, and shrank back in.
“Lazy witch, I told you not to eat the golden fruits,” the little red ball said, “All the golden fruits turn into golden fruit spirits, and you ate them into your stomach.”
“Ah, such a spacious house would be very comfortable as the new home for our rainbow fruit king.”
“Yeah, if our rainbow fruit king gets married in the lazy witch’s stomach, it will surely be a Guinness World Record.”
…………
Hahaha! The golden fruit spirits wanted to host a wedding in the lazy witch’s stomach!
“Beat the drums! Blow the suona! Sing the songs! Dance the dance!”
The golden fruits outside the mushroom house all turned into golden fruit spirits, coming one after another to attend the wedding.
“Here comes the rainbow fruit king!” A voice shouted, “Salute the supreme groom!”
Under the escort of the golden fruit spirits, the rainbow fruit king entered the mushroom house.
“The rainbow fruit is ripe! Darn red ant, come out!” The lazy witch pounced, trying to catch the rainbow fruit king.
The golden fruit spirits roared in anger, pouncing on the lazy witch, not allowing her to harm the rainbow fruit king.
“Haha! Lazy witch, we meet again!” The red ant crawled out from the core of the rainbow fruit king, accidentally tripped, and—
“Wheeze—” A red gem popped out from the red ant’s bottom, landing right on the lazy witch’s nose.
The red gem touched the little red ball, and in an instant, the little red ball turned into a thumb-sized girl in a red dress. The red dress girl sang on the lazy witch’s nose: “The sky is so clear, the world is so beautiful, the wedding prepared by the golden fruit spirits is so lively…”
“Oh! Our red dress fairy is born!”
“How beautiful, the rainbow fruit king’s bride!”
The golden fruit spirits marveled at the red dress girl’s beauty.
“Hahaha! I finally have someone to wash my face!” The lazy witch laughed wildly as she walked out of the mushroom house.
“Friends, don’t let the lazy witch take away our red dress fairy!” A little fruit spirit pinching the lazy witch’s nose shouted.
“Achoo—” The little fruit spirit made the lazy witch’s nose itch, and she couldn’t help but sneeze again. This time, the red dress fairy on the lazy witch’s nose, and the fruit spirits grabbing her hair, pulling her ears, and pinching her nose, were all blown back into the mushroom house by her sneeze.
“Red dress girl, come back! You haven’t washed my face yet! Achoo—” The lazy witch, in a hurry, sneezed again.
In the lazy witch’s sneeze, the mushroom house slowly flew into the sky—it carried the rainbow fruit king, the red dress fairy, and the golden fruit spirits, flying higher and higher, farther and farther. From a distance, it looked like a red mushroom cloud.
Short stories are shared for free on our ” Sitestorys “. Thank you for reading!
