There is the Magikito, sitting quietly on the shelf. Cheeky smile, wonky hat, looking as though butter would not melt. Tonight, we are going to imagine a rather busier life for him. This is a story: you provide the house, and we will bring the trouble.
Our story has one simple rule. Once the last human falls asleep, the brownies climb down from their shelves. One does it gracefully. Another gets his hat caught on a shelf and asks for the record to show that this was an acrobatic manoeuvre.
What do Magikitos do when nobody is looking?
In this story, they meet to swap socks, catch up on gossip and plan expeditions around the house. A food cupboard looks like a vast market to them, and a bookcase is a mountain of stories. Each brownie has his quirks. Some want adventure. Others only came because someone promised a comfortable chair.
The great odd-sock market
The meeting begins behind the sofa. One brownie spreads out a striped sock and announces that it is a luxury hammock. Another asks about the holes. “Natural ventilation,” says the first, who has quite a sales pitch despite nobody having brought any money.
Socks make sleeping bags, winter blankets and cases for storing hats. The spotted one is in great demand because the decorating committee says it goes with almost any beard. The committee consists of two brownies who never agree about anything.
Today, someone has brought a tiny sock. Nobody fits inside. After a lengthy and entirely unnecessary discussion, they appoint it the official glove for greeting visitors. The brownie in charge puts it on his head. By this stage, everyone has stopped asking questions.
An urgent meeting about something ridiculous
Next come the important matters. Someone suggests arranging the books by the colour of their spines. Another wants to sort them by how funny the titles sound with your mouth full. A third asks everyone to stop using his hat as a ballot box.
They also tell stories about the previous night. One claims to have crossed the entire kitchen without touching the floor. Eventually, it emerges that he was sitting in a basket pulled by someone else. An impressive feat all the same, particularly for the fellow doing the pulling.
Before setting off, they divide up the jobs. The smallest brownie volunteers to make sure nobody gets left behind. He counts the hats passing through the doorway three times and is always one short. His own is still on the table. There is a fair bit of palaver before anyone spots it.
A whole house to have adventures in
In the kitchen, they investigate a jar of cinnamon as though it were a remarkable archaeological find. On the desk, they discover a note saying “buy bread” and organise an expedition. It takes them a while to realise that this is not a map.
Among the houseplants, they set up a theatre. A leaf becomes the curtain, and the lead actor rehearses a solemn speech until someone sneezes. The audience laughs, the actor joins in and the play turns out rather better than expected.
The cat in our story watches from a chair. They offer him the position of keeper of the secret. He accepts on condition that he keeps the chair and never has to attend a meeting. By some distance, he has negotiated the best terms.
The case of the remote control that wanted to travel
Tonight's grand escapade begins when a brownie decides that the television remote looks like a boat. He places it inside a slipper and appoints a button as captain. The voyage ends a few inches later against a table leg.
“Port reached,” he announces. Nobody wants to spoil the moment. They put the remote back, rescue the button and agree that the next expedition will include snacks. We are making this story up here and now. It is neither a reader's account nor an explanation for your missing keys.
An outing could begin with this photograph
The photograph shows two Magikito figures with a bird behind them. We could imagine that they are ambassadors from the bookshelf, seeking permission to cross the park. The one in the red hat has prepared a speech. The one in yellow has a more pressing question: if his colleague does the talking, does he have to hold the hat? The bird has not confirmed any appointment. For the moment, the ambassadors are pretending that everything is going exactly to plan.
That is one way to start a story from a picture in our brownie collection. Look at a gesture, invent a small problem and decide how the characters solve it. You do not need to own a figure or arrange a perfect scene. Two characters trying to get through the same doorway in enormous hats can be quite enough.
Do Magikito figures move by themselves?
No. The handmade cold porcelain figures represent our characters and do not move on their own. The meetings, the socks and the negotiating cat belong to the story. If you own a figure, our brownie care guide explains how to look after it.
A pact before returning to the shelf
As dawn approaches, the brownies return to their places. They have agreed on one thing: adventures must end with the remote back in its place, so nobody misses the bus looking for it. The cat keeps the chair. The button insists on still being addressed as captain.
Everything is quiet again. The Magikito smiles from the shelf. You can give him another night of nonsense tomorrow if you fancy it. We only want to know one thing: who put that sock on his head?
