The cameraman had already been on a break for almost two hours. The Tumbawunda Valley was a breathtaking place, he was quite certain of that. He had such a wonderful view from his position here at the edge of the field. When he got home to his friends, he would tell them all about it. He had also noticed a lot of action in the city, but he had not been able to see as much as expected because of the crowds. Although they hadn’t found any aliens yet, he was sure that something magical was slumbering here. His colleagues had sensed it too. If this had just been a normal assignment, their broadcasters would already have pulled them out again. Having so many staff at the same scene and then not getting any substantial footage was expensive and not affordable in the long run. But whether they came from Japan, Australia, Columbia, Russia, the USA or India – all professional journalists could sense that something newsworthy was going on here! But what could it be? The cameraman knew that he didn’t have to move on for another hour or so. His team had finally managed to get an appointment with Mayoress Moneybags. He changed the lens of his camera now and started testing the new one straight away. While he was doing that, he lifted it onto his tripod and simply pointed it towards the middle of the field, at the two tractors that had been standing still for some time. He had seen the two farmers walking out of the field, leaving their tractors behind. The two machines must be broken or something, just like the two tractors that belonged to the other two farmers at the bottom of the field. He adjusted the little knobs on the camera for a moment, then he focused on the two abandoned tractors. But what was that? „Hey, Mike, look!“

This is a reading sample. If you like the story, the butterflies would be happy if you bought the book!

Mike, the sound technician, had taken his shirt off and was taking a nap on the withered grass just wearing his jeans. „Huh?“ he muttered, half asleep, half awake. „I think there’s some sort of prank going on up ahead.“ That woke up Mike’s mind a bit. He too had got into all kinds of mischief when he was younger. Yawning loudly, he stood up. Mike grabbed a deckchair and set it up next to the tripod. „Move it down a bit, I don’t want to have to stand the whole time.“ Stan, the cameraman, rolled his eyes. Mike was such a lazybone. „Pffff,“ he moaned, but then did as he was asked. He lowered the camera a bit, opened up a chair for himself and crouched down next to it. „Do you want a drink?“ Mike asked, while his can hissed as he opened it. „Yep,“ Stan took his. But what Mike saw when he looked through the camera amazed him. This was definitely not a prank. There seemed to be some kind of tactical manoeuvre going on. Groups of children were scooting in straight lines to the four tractors. They could see the two in the middle most clearly. „Tell me, did you turn on the camera?“ Mike wanted to know of Stan. He looked at him in bewilderment. „No, why? It’s just some kids messing around over there.“

Mike now gave Stan a puzzled look. „Are you sure?“ Stan pushed Mike away from the camera, and now looked through the lens himself. „Erm,“ he scratched his head. Mike looked around. They were standing with their camera truck here at the edge of the field. To their right, the settlement on the edge of the field began, the gardens reaching as far as the farmers‘ land. The road led along to their left. From there, one could turn into the centre of Tumbawunda town or leave the Tumbawunda Valley altogether. They were the only camera crew here who had chosen this quiet spot for their break. But that did not mean they were alone. Within a minute, someone strolled past them here as well. Just a few moments ago, a group of Frenchmen with metal detectors had passed them. The French had pretended to be passing by ‚by chance‘, but the whole team had heard the metal detectors making their beep-beep sounds. „Bonjour,“ they had greeted them and had looked around sheepishly. „I think something’s a bit off here, too,“ Stan murmured quietly to Mike. Mike, however, was looking at the two wild bees that were taking a little rest right on the top of his camera. Should he wave them away? „Well,“ thought Mike, „I suppose they’ve earned their rest and a few moments of sunshine.“ It looked like they were just going to sit down to watch them both. It was actually much more interesting to observe the goings-on in the fields. And Stan couldn’t believe his eyes: a line approaching the one tractor seemed to consist of ten ninjas. Didn’t he recognise their leader’s face? Wait, wasn’t that the boy they had seen that morning in the street where everything had started? What was the name that his mother had called him this morning? Oh yes, Oskar. The boy was called Oskar. Was that a deer and a bear running along with them in their perfect line? And what was that meandering behind them just above the ground?

Were those the rest of the forest animals? „Let me have a go now,“ Mike pushed Stan away. „Oi,“ he complained. „Um,“ Mike was pretty amazed. The kids and all their companions were fiddling around with the tractor. All of a sudden, a butterfly flew into the air giving instructions to the others. „Dude, what on earth is going on?“ Stan now wanted to have another look. The children of the Tumbawunda Valley were now in full swing. Among other things, they were also busy at the bottom of the seed drill. He could now see some unbelievable action and it was absolutely eerie: again and again, small rainbow-coloured lightning bolts hissed around, puffing up clouds of sparkling blue smoke here and there. It buzzed and whirred for a short time, and then all you could hear was the hammering, drilling and cutting by the kids and they could see the flying sparks all around them. „Tell me, is this just a kids‘ prank or something more serious?“

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Mike and Stan didn’t notice the butterfly with a Mohawk wig, a gold chain around its neck and a sheriff’s badge on its chest, or the wild bee with a crown on its head sitting on the arms of their chairs. „Dude, what’s going on out there on the field is awesome,“ whispered Mike to Stan. Then Stan finally remembered that he was meant to press the ‚record‘ button after all. Click. He then pushed Mike away again and looked through the lens for himself. Now the second team of the Tumbawunda-Kids had arrived at its destination. Unlike the Fantastic Ninja Ten, they were smaller and all girls. What was striking was their almost entirely pink outfits. They were all dressed as princesses! Three foxes, some ferrets and many other animals were immediately recognisable with them. But to Mike’s astonishment, they also immediately knew what to do when they reached the second tractor. And they even received their instructions from a horse with rainbow splotches on its fur, which was now standing on its hind hooves, holding a map with its front hooves as well, pointing here, there and everywhere. Or was it actually a unicorn?

Depending on the angle, they were sometimes able to see a horn rising up from its forehead, towards the sky. Just like the boys, the girls jumped around the tractor with screwdrivers, pliers and all kinds of other tools, fiddling with this and that. Here too, little rainbow-coloured lightning bolts shot into the air, puffing up clouds of sparkling blue smoke, over and over again. „Pinch me,“ mumbled Stan. Huh? Mike didn’t hesitate: he grabbed Stan’s arm and nipped him. „Oooowww! Have you lost the plot?“ Mike looked at him in surprise: „Didn’t you tell me to pinch you?“ Stan looked at his colleague. „Yes, but not that hard!“ A ruckus immediately drew their attention back to the front: all of a sudden, the whole tractor was shaking. „Um,“ Stan scratched his head in confusion. Both Mike and Stan were so spellbound that they didn’t even notice the grinning Mohawk butterfly and Queen Majesta with her crown on her head. They also failed to notice that two raccoons and a pond turtle had sat down right next to them, while two buzzards and an eagle had settled on the camera truck as the air support team. The two of them were looking at the field as if they were hypnotised: „Dude, now they’re emptying out the seeds and thousands of ants are replacing them with other ones!“ Mike and Stan also didn’t notice how Queen Majesta was pointing at the two men.

Her wave was an order to two electric blue fireflies. They immediately whizzed over to the two racoons who quickly pulled a small brown secret agent bag out of their fur. When they opened it, a golden glow immediately shot into the surrounding area. The fireflies reached in briefly and brought out some stardust with some rainbow-coloured splashes! A big bumblebee buzzed over and dunked its bottom into it. „Dude, what on earth is happening on the field?“ whispered Mike, who had already pushed Stan aside again and was now looking through the camera. Stan used his hands to shade the sun from his eyes so that he could see better. What they both still didn’t notice was that the two electric blue fireflies were now guiding the bumblebee with its now golden rainbow-coloured bottom alongside the camera. Queen Majesta coolly nodded to the two flying secret agents. Then it was the turn of the butterfly with the Mohawk wig. „If the two gentlemen would please look this way…“ Mike and Stan were now completely overwhelmed. A wild bee with a crown was standing on top of their camera, there was a butterfly in a Mohawk wig with a dollar sign bling gold chain around its neck. Raccoons, a pond turtle, two buzzards and an eagle were also with them now.

„Thank you very much for your attention! I will now explain the process to you all,“ said the butterfly, flying around in front of them, holding its arms folded behind its back and looking at them completely focussed but nevertheless with a slight grin. „Please take a look at this flying bumblebee.“ Mike and Stan were so speechless, they couldn’t help but look at the bumblebee, or rather at its bottom. They were mesmerised by the golden rainbow colours. While they were still looking at it, the wild bee with the crown, the butterfly with the Mohawk wig, the raccoons, the pond turtle, the two buzzards and the eagle all put on sunglasses. Mike and Stan were already under hypnosis. „We’re going to do the bee spell with them now!“ The butterfly flew very close to them even feeling a bit sorry for them. „Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.“ All of a sudden, the bumblebee took a deep breath. „Everything that you have just seen never actually happened. You were sitting here in the field, enjoying the hustle and bustle in front of you, and you decided that you want to do more to help wild bees, insects, birds and animals when you go home!“ And whoosh! The butterfly released a golden rainbow-coloured flash which shot forwards, hitting Stan and Mike right between the eyes. Just over a second later, Stan and Mike subconsciously reached for their drinks cans, lifted them up and each took a sip.

Ah, that felt good. „Mission accomplished,“ one voice now said aloud. Stan and Mike suddenly looked up confused. „Did you say something?“ „Me? Nope. Did you?“ Huh? “ Nope.“ They looked around, but there was nobody there. Huh? The wild bees, butterflies and fireflies had disappeared. They only just caught glimpses of two raccoons wriggling away and the wings of buzzards and eagles flying off in all directions. What was there, though, was this strange feeling of dizziness that Stan and Mike couldn’t quite explain.