The Minpins Trivia Quiz

Answer: Going outside their garden alone

Billy's mother only let him do boring things and never anything he thought would be exciting. She emphatically forbade him from going through their garden gate into the outside world on his own, although he thought this would be the most exciting thing of all that he could do.

Answer: It contained dangerous animals.

Billy's mother warned him not to go a very large wood known as The Forest of Sin. Its trees were especially tall and close together so it was very dark in there. She said that everyone was scared to go into it as it contained lots of ferocious beasts, and one of them would eat him if he went in there.

Answer: A frightening snorting noise

The noise was very quiet to start with, but quickly grew louder, and it sounded to Billy as if a very large beast was running in his direction. He could not see it, but was scared and began to run away. Although he ran really fast, it sounded as if it was gaining on him and then he could see puffs of smoke, which he believed were coming from the creature's nostrils.

Answer: He climbed up a tree.

Billy saw an extremely large tree, whose branches hung low down, and he started climbing up it to escape the animal chasing him. When he had clambered up high enough not to be able to hear the creature's snorting any more, he found a safe place among the branches to sit and have a rest.

Answer: In houses inside trees

The Minpins were a race of very small people who had very little houses in the hollow trunks of trees and even in the larger branches of trees. Many thousands of Minpins lived in The Forest of Sin, and they believed they owned this forest. In the same way, other Minpins dwelt in other forests too.

Answer: They wore old-fashioned clothes and suction-boots

All the Minpins were dressed in clothes which had been in style hundreds of years ago but were now old-fashioned, and their hats were of unusual designs, too. Their boots looked like green wellington boots but had suction-pads on the soles so the Minpins could walk up and down the tree trunks without falling off and could even walk upside-down along tree branches.

Answer: Nobody knew

The Gruncher was the name of the huge beast which had been chasing Billy and it was waiting ready to catch and eat him as soon as he came down from the tree he was sheltering in. There were rumours among the Minpins about its appearance but nobody actually knew what it looked like because of all the smoke that came out of its nostrils.

Answer: On the backs of birds

The Ruler of the Minpins explained that the huge Gruncher was especially fond of eating humans but it also ate Minpins, and it was too dangerous for them to travel along the forest floor. The forest birds were the Minpins' friends and carried them on their backs to other parts of the forest so they could collect food in safety, and also flew them to other forests to visit their relatives.

Answer: A large swan

The only way a Gruncher could be killed was by going into deep water, which put the fire inside its stomach out and it died. With Billy on its back, a large swan flew near to the beast so that the beast smelt Billy and followed them. Then the swan flew over a deep lake and the beast, which could not see through the smoke it was making, ran into the lake and was killed.

Answer: About once a week

Whilst he was still small enough for the swan to carry him on its back, Billy was flown across to the Minpins' homes in the forest about once a week. After he had grown too heavy for the swan to carry, he and the Minpins took turns in visiting each other. Billy never told any other humans about the Minpins, but faithfully kept their existence a secret.