Pixies , livre ebook

THE PIXIES
Anna Claire




Published in 2021 by
A H Stockwell
www.ahstockwell.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2021 Anna Claire
The right of Anna Claire to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.




To my sons – Karl, André, Thomas, Luke & Matthew – and my grandchildren.



Introduction
The Pixies is my tenth book. I have self-published nine other books under my former name of Anna Ashton. They are:
The Forest Elves
The Daisy Bank
A Promise Kept
Molly and Ben
Our New Puppy
Bubbles and Blossoms
Happiness
Joy and Sorrow
Not Just Cats!
Austria
Austria is a small landlocked country situated at the heart of the Alps in Central Europe. It is a mountainous country with forests mainly of coniferous trees.
Vienna is the capital city. It is situated on the River Danube, which flows from Southern Germany to its delta in the Black Sea.
German is the language spoken in Austria.
The Moon
The same face of the moon points towards us as it orbits, or circles, the Earth.
The moon has no atmosphere to regulate the temperature, and so it is extremely hot during the moon’s day and icy-cold at night.
There is no plant or animal life on the moon as there is no water. Plains stretch across the moon’s surface and there are also mountains and craters. Since the moon does not produce light of its own, we see it because, like a mirror, it reflects light from the sun.
The moon is a natural satellite. It orbits the Earth.
On the magical side of the moon is a beautiful garden where water springs from below the ground and flowers grow. In this garden live the Moon Pixies.
The female pixies are called Silvia and Selena; the male pixies are called Magic and Moonstone.
The Earth – The Blue Planet
The Earth, our home, is one of eight planets that circle the sun. Having oxygen in its atmosphere and oceans full of water, the Earth can support life. Oxygen and water are essential for life. The distance between the Earth and the sun means that it is neither too hot nor too cold for life to exist. More than two-thirds of the surface of the Earth is water (the oceans), land making up less than one-third.
There needs to be a natural balance to support life on Earth. However, many people are concerned that pollution, human overpopulation and land misuse may destroy this balance, causing plant and animal life to be endangered. Global warming affects the weather, which can cause great suffering to people in developing countries as a result of crop failure.
In these stories the Earth Pixies live close to a river and near a wood. The female pixies are called Larissa and Ulrika; the male pixies are called Karl and Finn.
Mars
Mars, with eight other planets, Earth being one of them, orbits the sun. The sun and the eight planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – make up the solar system.
Mars is the planet nearest to Earth. On Mars valleys and mountains are deeper and higher than we have on Earth and the landscape is red, stony and dusty.
Mars has a thin atmosphere and this planet is much colder and smaller than Earth.
Two tiny satellites, Phobos and Deimos, orbit Mars.
On the planet Mars live the Martians, one of whom, Johan, a scientist, visits Earth to collect information about people and the environment to take back to Mars.
Bats and Moths
Bats sleep upside down in a nesting place called a roost. At night, when most creatures are sleeping, bats are awake. They are the only mammals that fly, and, with leather-like wings, they swoop and glide silently through the night sky catching insects.
Bats find their way in the dark by very high-pitched squeaking that humans do not hear. This is called echolocation. This means that the sounds made by the bat bounce off a nearby object and the bat can detect the returning echoes and know the size, distance and direction of that object.
A moth is an insect similar to a butterfly, but with longer antennae. It is usually duller in colour than a butterfly and is generally a nocturnal insect.