Forest Pouques

By Guernsey Gwen

Introduction
Pouques are members of the fairy folk in the Channel Islands. Each
island has its own colony of pouques who like to live underground.
They are very tiny, about the size of toddlers and like to wear hats and
green clothes.
Only children can see and hear pouques. These fairy folk are quite
mischievous, but they do have a kind heart. If you ask them their
name, they will always say Jean Petit as they will never tell a human
their real name.
Pouques are shape shifters and can change into animals and rocks.
Adults can see them as animals, and they are often coloured with
green or orange fur or feathers which is a big clue that they have
changed shape.
The Guernsey pouques speak Guernsey French and you will come
across then speaking this language in the book. Look at the bottom of
that page for a translation.

Forest Pouques
An adventure especially written for Year 1 at FOREST School.
The Forest Pouques lived underground in the area behind the sports
field next to Forest School. Le Grand Colin and La Grande Mabelle
pouque were not allowed any visitors because they were selfisolating
due to a sickness that was spreading amongst the fairy
population. These older pouques needed to avoid everyone so that
they didn't catch the sickness, which was caused by a tiny germ
called a virus. The virus looked like a crown and so its nickname was
coronavirus. It didn't seem to harm young pouques very much, so
they were very bored stuck underground not able to talk to or visit
any of the older pouques.
P’tite Jeanne turned to her brother, P’tit Jean, “What can we do? I
want to get out and play.”
“Hmm,” the young pouque thought for a minute, “shall we go and
visit Forest school and play some tricks on the children?”
“Yeh! That’s a great idea,” smiled P’tite Jeanne, and a mischievous
grin appeared on her face.

The two pouques set off across the sports field and headed towards
the school.
“It’s going to be extra difficult to play a trick on the children,” said
P’tit Jean, “because they can see us.”
“Ah ha, but the adults can't,” replied his sister, “and that will make it
more fun!”
The first place they reached when they got to the back of the school
was the playground.
“Wheeee,” they shouted with glee as they played on all the
equipment. “This is fun!”
The playground was deserted as all the children were in lessons so
the pouques didn't take too long to get bored.
“Come on, let’s go and find some humans,” said P’tit Jean.

The young pouques enjoyed playing on the playground equipment

The two pouques cautiously opened the back door and walked along
the corridor until they got to the reception. The receptionist Mrs
Jones couldn’t, of course, see them. She was sat in her office when
the main school front door opened slowly then slammed shut. Mrs
Jones looked up puzzled. Then it happened again.
“Oh dear,” she thought, “it must be the wind,” and she got up to
have a look.

The reception at Forest school. Can you spot both pouques?

There in the doorway, to her great surprise, were two orange cats
with green collars and a green tip on their tail and paws.
“Here, kitty, kitty, come on, come to me,” she said and walked
towards the cats.
The two naughty pouque cats ran off towards the headteacher’s
office. Mrs Jones followed them. The two cats stopped at a slightly
open door just the other side of the school office and looked up.
The sign said Mrs Sullivan.
They tiptoed through the door. The receptionist didn’t see them do
this and called out to the cats for another couple of minutes and
then gave up. She went back to her office thinking that the cats must
have gone back out again as the school front door was slightly open.
Mrs Sullivan was working at her desk. The two cats padded very
softly towards her and slipped under the desk. There was a knock at
the door. It was Mrs Naftel, the Year 1 teacher, with Harry:
“Come in,” said Mrs Sullivan.
They both entered into the office.

The two cats entered the headteacher’s office

The pouques had, by this time, changed back into themselves,
climbed on the desk and were sitting on the edge waggling their legs
with their arms crossed and staring at Mrs Naftel and Harry as they
walked in.
“Hello Mrs Sullivan,” said Mrs Naftel, “I have brought Harry to see
you because he has tried really hard with his writing this week and it
is very neat.”
The adults couldn’t see the pouques, but Harry could. P’tite Jeanne
pulled out her tongue and P’tit Jean pulled a funny face. Harry stared
and the corners of his mouth started to rise up. He coughed to stop
himself laughing. P’tit Jean then did a buncho and landed on top of
Mrs Sullivan’s head. P’tite Jeanne did a perfect swirl and all the

papers on the desk went flying. The two adults looked surprised, and
Harry couldn’t hold on for any longer and burst out giggling. Mrs
Naftel looked at Harry sternly.
“That was not funny,” she said crossly. “Now come and help pick up
this paper.”
Well, Harry couldn't wait to get back to the Year 1 classroom so he
could tell all his friends what had happened in the headteacher’s
office. He rushed past the reception class and waved at his sisters
Charlotte and Emma. By the time he arrived, the pouques had made
it there first.
“It is numeracy now,” said Mrs Naftel, and asked the children to get
out their exercise books. “We are going to do a test on the number
bonds of 20.”
Mrs Naftel put the first question on the board. It said, What do we
need to add to 5 to make 20? The pouques stood on the front table
and waved at the children. They all giggled.
“Children!” exclaimed Mrs Naftel, “this is a test, be quiet!”
The children looked at the teacher. Then they looked at the pouques.

The pouques helped the children do their times tables with Mrs
Naftel

P’tit Jean had 1 finger up and P’tite Jeanne had 5 fingers up. The
children grinned and wrote down 15. Mrs Naftel was very surprised
that the children seemed to know the answer almost immediately
after she had finished saying it - they didn't even need to think. The
two pouques proceeded to give the correct answers to the children
for every question in the test. The LSA adults, Vicky, and Mrs O’Hara,
and the teacher and went around the class looking at the answers
that the children had written. Every single child had got 100% in
record time.
“Well,” said Mrs Naftel most delighted. “Every single child may have
a special sticker.”
The pouques put their thumbs up and the children smiled and did a
high five with each other.

It was soon playtime and the children
loved playing with the pouques outside
in the playground. They just couldn't
catch the pouques when they played
tag though, because both pouques kept
changing into a Gros bec and flew over
their heads as the children tried to tag
them.
Before they started next lesson, the teacher told the class that they
were going to repeat some Guernsey French.
“How do we say Hi?” she asked.
P’tite Jeanne shouted out Warro! to the children. They all repeated it
back to Mrs Naftel and she was very pleased.
“Now something much harder. Would you like to ask how are you?”
the teacher asked the class.
This time P’tit Jean yelled out,“Coum tchi qu’l’affaire va?”

He pronounced it carefully and slowly for the children. Kawm tcheek
lahhffair vahh? They copied him and pronounced it beautifully. Mrs
Naftel, Vicky and Mrs O’Hara were just amazed.
“That was fantastic children. You can all have another special
sticker,” said the teacher.
The two pouques went around the class and did a high five with each
child. The adults watched the children slap the air and looked at each

other most puzzled at this strange behaviour. The next lesson was
drawing.
“Now we are going to draw some pouques,” said Mrs Naftel, “and I
want you to use your imagination.
P’tite Jeanne and P’tit Jean were delighted. They went around to
each table and posed for the children in lots of different, funny
positions. The children loved it and scribbled away all lesson
colouring in and making their drawings look really great. At the end
of the lesson Jo went and collected in all the drawings. All the adults
looked at the pictures in amazement. They were all very, very similar.
How could that be? The children were using their imagination.

How could they all be imagining the same things? Jo looked around
the room quite suspiciously.
She stopped and stared exactly where the two pouques were
standing. The pouques stared back and the children gasped.
“Do you think that she can see the pouques?” asked Florence to
Isabella………….
You will have to wait for a new instalment next week to find out
when the pouques come back another day and Mrs Thomson and
Mrs Lowin are in the class.
Buncho - somersault
Gros bec – sparrow
Warro! - Hello!
Coum tchi qu’l’affaire va?” - How are you?
www.pouques.gg
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