FAIRY TALES Part 1

Fairies are normally a happy people. Everyday troubles don't bother them. So what if you spilled the milk? A bit of magic can fix that. A messy room? No problem. A cut on your arm? Healed. Fairy life is so easy. So simple. So happy. The different types of fairies know their roles and perform them with pride. The Forest Fairies paint the leaves in the Fall. The Water Fairies send waves and make the rivers flow. Cloud Fairies bring the snows.

Each type of fairy has a leader. The White Lady of Winter rules the Cloud Fairies. The Golden Queen of Summer rules the Desert Fairies. The Swamp Lord rules the Swamp Fairies, and so on. The rulers have special wands. All fairies have wands, but theirs can perform greater magic.

Adera was a Night Fairy. Her people brought the darkness and lit the stars. Her ruler was Nijir the Prince of Night. Adera was one of his assistants. Fairies don't have servants. She had seen the Dwarves come to their world many times, and she wanted to go to theirs. No fairy had ever gone to another world. When she had asked Nijir if she could go, he had said no, her place was here.

Here was so boring! Every night the same thing. Bring the darkness and light the stars. It never changed! Adera wanted some excitement. She wanted to go places. She told her cousin Harria that she intended to leave. Harria wanted to go too. So did their cousin Jorie and Jorie's fiance Kor. Kor's Aunt Eria and her husband Perto, wanted to join in too. Not to mention Gewq and Irua, Perto's nephew and niece.

These eight fairies represented the eight fairy tribes. Adera decided that they were the perfect group. Now, if only they could find a way to travel to another world. She had seen the Dwarves come though a hole they made in the air. How could she make her own hole?

"I know!" said Harria. "We can use one of the rulers' wands!"

"Nijir said no," said Adera.

"We'll steal it."

Adera stared at her cousin. Steal a ruler's wand? Unthinkable! No one ever stole anything from another fairy. To steal a ruler's wand was beyond unthinkable. Adera wasn't sure if there was even a punishment for it. They would probably make one up, and it wouldn't be at all pleasant.

"We'll take Nijir's while he's asleep. We'll be gone before he knows it's missing."

Adera hesitated. She really wanted to travel. She wouldn't have to worry about punishment if she was gone. "Okay. I'll do it."

That day when the Night Fairies were asleep, Adera snuck into Nijir's chamber and took his wand. She flew to meet Harria and the others.

"What do we do now?" asked Harria.

Adera waved the wand, concentrating on the hole the Dwarves used. It appeared. Through the whole was a world that looked very much like their own. They stepped through and the hole disappeared behind them.

The eight fairies flew up in the air to see the new world they had come to.

"Look over there!" said Irua. Is was a castle.

"I wonder who lives there," said Gewq.

"Let's go take a look," said Adera.

"Stay out of sight until we know if they're friendly or not," said Perto.

They flew low to the ground. When they arrived and the town around the castle, they landed and walked slowly toward the nearest house. Harria rose to look in the window and ducked again hurriedly. "They're giants!" she hissed to the others.

"Bigger than Dwarves?" asked Gewq.

Harria nodded.

"How do we know if they're friendly?" asked Irua.

"We will test them," said Eria.

A few minutes later Jorie and Kor, huddled under a blanket they found in a barn, knocked on the door. A human answered it. The two fairies got a good look at his knees. The human looked about and then down. He let out a yell when he saw the fairies.

"Who-What are you?" The human knelt down so he could look them in the face.

"We are travelers. Do you have a place for us to rest?"

"Certainly. Come in."

The two fairies entered, keeping the blanket over their wings. The house was small. A woman stood over the fireplace. She looked up at her husband. "Who was at the door?"

"These travelers," he pointed down at the fairies.

The wife looked down and gasped. She recovered quickly so as to not offend their guests. "Please, come in. May I offer you something to eat?"

"Yes, thank you," said Jorie.

The husband invited them to sit at the table. The two fairies stood on a chair. They were too short to sit. The wife dished up a bowl of stew and placed it before them.

The two fairies exchanged looks over this bathtub of food, shrugged their shoulders and began to eat. It was delicious.

"You have both been very generous. Are all your people as kind?" asked Kor.

"It is our custom to welcome strangers and make them feel at home," said the husband.

"This is good," said Kor. He and Jorie removed the blanket and fluttered their wings. "We are fairies, and we wish to return your kindness. What would you like?"

"The husband and the wife stared at each other then at the fairies. "I-I guess enough food to last us through the winter?" said the wife.

"You shall have it," said Jorie, "and through the spring and into the summer when the food grows again."

"Thank you."

Jorie and Kor flew out the window to join their friends.

"Well?" asked Adera.

"They are good people. They fed us good stew and we returned the gift of food though winter."

Harria grinned. "Does this mean we can go into the town and meet more people?"

"Yes, I think it's safe enough," said Perto.

That is exactly what the fairies did. They gave many gifts, not all appreciated. These are the fairies that started the circulation of what we call fairy tales.

to be continued...

Elizabeth Williamson Copyright © 2009