The Befana Drama

The Christmas witch, the Befana, has popped candy and coal into the stockings of naughty or well-behaved children across the globe for centuries and is so famous in her little village that she even has her own festival and postbox. In fact, she's one of the world's greatest VIPBs - Very Important Present Bringers - and life is just perfect ... until she is told that Santa Claus is taking over her present drop and her festival is going to be downsized and probably cancelled altogether! What an insult! As steam comes out of her ears and candy balls go bouncing down the street, she vows to take over from Santa before he can take over from her! After firing up her broomstick with potatoes and horse manure, what results is a global adventure by broomstick, as the Befana calls in a favour from the descendants of the Three Wise Men - who just happen to be a boy band called 'The Three Kings' living in Dubai - and then sets off with their gold to buy enough coal and candy to achieve her mission.

In the meantime, she decides that she needs more energy, should be a young witch once more and definitely requires a disguise, all of which she has an inkling she can get from Old Father Time - a rather crotchety old guy who lives in a cave in a desolate location. After visiting him, the Befana becomes a dynamic superhero called 'Bef', who is ready to take on anyone and anything, in order to protect her VIPB territory.

Unfortunately, Bef's first mission has to be to get her broomstick adapted to carry more gifts, which entails a visit to its truly crazy creator, Bernhardt Bürstenfrisür, otherwise known as 'The Most Fearsome Feller in Folklore' and, to put it mildly, a total lunatic. After facing up to this tiny terror with very big hair, she then experiences a terrifying time in a coal mine in Russia and an equally exciting incident in a candy factory in America. Having successfully escaped from both places, she sets her broom for Lapland, where she intends infiltrating Santa's empire and making him realise that the Befana cannot be messed with!

What Bef hasn't bargained on is the devious 81st elf and the utter nastiness of Santa's shopaholic, diva wife, Capriccia Claus, who the 81st elf adores, but luckily she has already got an ally in tow - the best reindeer whisperer the world has ever seen, Lars Llangfjord, who has a few scores to settle himself.

Who will triumph - Capriccia and the 81st elf, or "Bef" and Lars ... and on whose side will Santa prove to be? Only the lucky reader will find out!