IGGLY WIGGLY AND THE PRINCESS

by Neville Honey

Poor Iggly Wiggly was so sad. He iggled and wiggled his way up the white stone pillar and onto the top. This was his favourite place as he could lie in the sun in the afternoon and see everything going on around him. It also got Iggly Wiggly off the ground and away from the feet of the much larger creatures. That was sensible, because when they rushed around in a big hurry they sometimes forgot to look where they put their feet. If Iggly Wiggly wasn't careful, he could be turned into Squishy Still.

Iggly Wiggly settled down in the sun and, just as he gave a big sigh, a furry face appeared over the edge of the pillar. A wide mouth opened in a big smile, showing a set of sharp white teeth.

"Hello, Chad," Iggly Wiggly said to his best friend.

"Hello Wiggly," replied Chad the cat. "Why the sigh? It was so big it almost blew me flat on the ground." And he laughed at the joke because he could hardly feel the puff of breath on his face.

"I am so sad because I hate my name. Iggly Wiggly is the worst name ever. All the other creatures have much better names; like the brave bear, or the diving dolphin, or the enormous elephant, or even the happy hippopotamus."

"That is sad," agreed Chad. "Why don't you ask Mary, Queen of the Jungle, for a new name?"

Iggly Wiggly thought that was a good idea, so he went off to see the Queen of the Jungle.

"Please, Queen," he asked. "Can I have a new name? My name is so horrible, it's embarrassing. When people call out my name, I often pretend not to hear."

"Well," said Mary, "it is your name and you are rather icky-ugly and you do wiggle when you wriggle."

"But it doesn't have to be a grand name," begged Iggly Wiggly. "Even something like the mad monkey, or creepy cockroach, or slithery snake, or vile vampire, would be OK. Perhaps not the vile vampire, though; that is going too far."

"I'm sorry," said Mary, Queen of the Jungle, "but all of the names have been used up and there are none spare for you. You will just have to accept what you have got."

Iggly Wiggly slowly and sadly left the palace. He iggled and wiggled his way through the garden and up the rough brown bark of a tall tree. After a while Iggly Wiggly got bored with climbing and besides, he wanted to stop so that he would have time to feel sorry for himself some more. He made his way along the bottom of a branch of the tree, which for Iggly Wiggly was just as easy as walking along the top of the branch for everyone else. Iggly Wiggly wasn't paying attention to where he was going, so he was most surprised to look down and see water below. The branch of the tree was growing over the river that ran and chuckled and swirled past the edge of the palace grounds.

Iggly Wiggly looked downstream towards the faint sound of a distant roar. He looked upstream and saw a small rowboat floating down the river. "Oh, no, that is terrible," he said to himself. "The boat is going to float down the river and out to sea, where it will be lost and never seen again." The boat drifted a little bit closer and Iggly Wiggly could see Princess Anabanacanadana, who preferred to be known as Liz, in the boat.

"Oh, yes, that is great," he said. "Princess Liz will row the boat to the riverbank and it will be saved." The boat drifted a little bit closer and Iggly Wiggly could see that Liz was asleep. Oh, no, that is terrible," he said. "The princess is asleep and she is going to go over the waterfall just around the bend in the river. She will get smashed on the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall and then she will drown. I must wake her up and warn her."

Iggly Wiggly shouted as loud as he could. "Princess, princess, you must wake up. You are in dreadful danger." Unfortunately, Iggly Wiggly had a very little voice and it wasn't nearly loud enough to wake up Princess Liz. Iggly Wiggly tried to think of a plan of how to save the princess. "Perhaps I could drop into the boat as it floats under the branch," he thought. "Oh, yes, that's a great idea. But what if I miss and fall into the water? I can't swim and I will drown. Oh, no, that's a terrible idea." Iggly Wiggly had to decide whether to risk his life to save Princess Liz, or whether to play it safe and let her go over the waterfall.

"After all," he thought, "she might wake up before the waterfall and save herself. And even if she did go over, Liz is very strong and a super swimmer, so she might live." Iggly Wiggly couldn't decide what to do. Then, when the boat was almost under the branch, but not quite, Iggly Wiggly took a deep breath and dropped off the branch and fell straight towards the water. The boat drifted just far enough as he fell and Iggly Wiggly landed with a plop, right on Princess Liz's face.

"Eek," Liz shrieked and she sat up with a start. "Eek," she shrieked again when she saw that she was floating towards the waterfall. Liz grabbed the oars and rowed rapidly to the riverbank.

Well, there was such a fuss. Princess Liz got into big trouble for going rowing on her own and she got into bigger trouble for falling asleep. Iggly Wiggly, on the other hand, was a hero for saving the princess' life. Mary, Queen of the Jungle sent for Iggly Wiggly and Liz. Chad came too, because cats love to poke their nose into other people's business.

"Anabanacanadana, where is Iggly Wiggly?" Mary asked her daughter.

"It's Liz," insisted the princess quietly and she held up her arm. Iggly Wiggly wriggled off Liz's coat sleeve and onto her hand and she giggled as it tickled.

"Iggly Wiggly, you deserve a reward for risking your life to save Princess Anabana…, I mean Princess Liz's life," said Mary. "What do you want?"

"I would like a new name," replied Iggly Wiggly.

"Oh, very well. What shall it be?"

That was a very difficult question as there were so many good names. Iggly Wiggly couldn't decide between them.

"You could use the name pillar, as you like lying on your favourite one so much," suggested Liz.

"That's a good strong name," said Iggly Wiggly.

"You could use my name," offered Chad the cat. "You are proud and brave and don't like the water. I would be pleased for you to have cat as a name."

"Cat is a good name, too," said Iggly Wiggly.

Mary, Queen of the Jungle, was in a hurry to give Iggly Wiggly his new name, as ruling the jungle kept her busy and she had lots to do before dinner.

"Come on," she commanded. "What shall it be?"

Iggly Wiggly replied "I can't decide whether to choose cat or pillar for a name."

"Done," said Mary, who wasn't really listening properly. "Caterpillar it is."

And that is how the caterpillar got its name.

Neville Honey is a New Zealander who has lived in Australia, USA, UK (for six months), and is now back in New Zealand. During that time, he managed to collect a PhD in genetics. As he is now a university lecturer, this means that he has been at school for over 45 years. Neville teaches courses in general and human genetics, on topics ranging from animals, plants and fruit flies, to humans. He likes to walk, go to the movies, and especially to read. About eight years ago, Neville started writing stories for his two nephews.

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