FAIRY TALES Part 2

"My wand is missing," said Nijir. "We searched everywhere for the thief. They don't seem to be on this world."

The seven Dwarves exchanged looks. "This is bad." They seemed to say to one another.

"Could the wand take them to another world?" asked Jara, the only female Dwarf in the group, and the older sister of the other six.

Nijir nodded. "Mijorn of the Mountain Fairies tested it with his wand."

"Was there just one thief?" asked Jara.

"We don't know," said Nijir.

The Dwarves spoke quietly amongst themselves, and reached a decision. "Find out who's missing, and we will bring them back to you," said Jara.

Nijir spread his black wings and flew off to find the missing fairies. He spoke to the other Fairy Leaders, and they all combined their efforts to account for every fairy under their command. It was eventually found who was missing.

Adera a Night Fairy.

Harria a Cloud Fairy.

Jorie a Desert Fairy.

Kor a Mountain Fairy.

Eria a Prairie Fairy.

Perto a Forest Fairy.

Gewq a Swamp Fairy.

Irua a Water Fairy.

Jara and her brothers looked over the list. "Three men and five women. Right. We'll find them."

The Dwarves opened a hole that took them back to their home world, Orean. There they spoke with many other traveling Dwarves and discovered the fairies were on a world called Earth. A world with no magic.

*****

Adera was having fun. She liked giving gifts to these humans. They were nice. They gave the fairies all sorts of stuff. Adera was free to do whatever she liked and go wherever she pleased.

The other fairies were enjoying themselves too. Irua started visiting babies and giving them lifelong gifts like beauty, wisdom, singing voices, kindness, etc. Jorie said they couldn't visit every baby. There were too many of them. Gewq said why not the babies of leaders, to help be better leaders when they grew up. The other fairies agreed this was a good idea.

The problem was they got tired of giving the same gifts all the time. and sometimes their gifts were interrupted and never finished. One princess got the gift of an early death, because Harria had meant to say she would at a young age be able to make many dyes of vibrant colors to bring more color in the kingdom, but she was distracted at the time and all she said was, "At an early age.... dye...." Then she went into an argument with Eria about the usefulness of such an odd gift.

Perto visited another princess after not having slept for two days, and now that princess was hardly ever awake.

Eria had had an argument with Perto about loosing her hair from all the stress of granting so many wishes that she gave the daughter of a duke luxuriant hair that would never fall out and could never be cut.

Gewq thought it would be fun to make a prince kiss a princess that was dead and have her revive to complete health. Irua reprimanded her cousin harshly for that one.

And so it went. The gifts that had been so greedily welcomed by humans when the fairies arrived became dreaded and the commoners often reassured the fairies they were exceedingly happy and their gifts should be spent on the more deserving nobility. The nobility never turned the fairies away. It had become a symbol of status to have a fairy visit. The fairies didn't mind. There were far less nobility than commoners, and they found themselves not quite so busy as they had been before.

Time passed. The Dwarves did their best to catch the fairies, but they often eluded them. Although, when they caught and returned Perto to the fairy world, Eria sought out the Dwarves and volunteered to go back so she could be with her husband. Later they also caught Jorie, and Kor, who wanted to go back to be married properly and not just because some human priest said they were.

There were only four left. It had been nearly three decades since the fairies came to Earth, and Dwarves were getting frustrated. They didn't dare ask the humans for help. The humans liked the fairies better than they liked the Dwarves. The Dwarves figured this was because the fairies shared their magic. The Dwarves didn't.

One day after a long day when Irua had escaped them once more, the Dwarves came home to find a human sleeping on their doorstep. It turned out to be the king's oldest daughter, heiress to the throne. She had run away from marrying a prince she couldn't stand. She was also a receiver of one of the fairies' gifts. She was the one doomed to die an early death.

The Dwarves were delighted to learn Princess Esther's hatred of the fairies, and, when she learned what they were doing, she was more than willing to help the Dwarves get rid of the fairies.

Esther told them the elusive hiding spot of Gewq, who had taken up residence in mirrors. He gave advice on beauty, government, menus and all sorts of things. All a human had to do was ask the mirror and he'd appear do his thing without leaving the comforts of his home.

Kurgh, one of the Dwarf brothers, entered the mirror and grabbed Gewq by his iridescent wings and tossed him through the hole to the fairy world made by Jara.

Esther's friend, Prince David, not the prince she ran away from, and whom, incidentally, was supposed to kiss a dead princess which thoroughly disgusted him, knew where to find Irua. Irua had set up her own castle and was living on an island not far from Prince David's father.

She was challenging. Being a Water Fairy, Irua could swim through the water as easily as she could fly through the air. The Dwarves were stuck on the shore, until Lerso suggested opening a hole underwater. This was tricky because the hole always opened in the same cavern in Orean, and when a hole opened everything went through. They ran a few tests and together several of the Dwarf brothers were able to make a hole that let through everything but the water. Needless to say Irua landed in the Orean cavern on a pile of fish. The dwarves on Orean thought this was quite amusing and referred to her as the Fish Queen until they returned her to her own world and the leader of the Water Fairies.

There were only two fairies left; Adera and Harria. They were worried. They did not want to go back. They were afraid of what would happen to them. They knew they would be punished. They did not like to think of it. Harria figured they would be put to death or chained up. Adera didn't like to think about it. Whatever happened would not be good. They had to do something. It was Esther's fault. She was doomed to die anyway, why not speed up the process?

After a long discussion, the two fairies decided to trick her by giving her a poisoned apple. Then no one would know it was they who did it. They prepared the apple with Nijir's wand, which Adera kept with her at all times, then they dropped it next to the stream where Esther fetched water for the Dwarves.

They hid in the trees and watched Esther get the water. She must have seen the apple! Why didn't she take it? It was perfect in every way! Esther returned to the house. A Dwarf came out, washed his feet in the stream, glanced at the apple and went back inside.

Adera and Harria were getting annoyed. Whet was wrong with these people? Didn't they recognize a good apple when they saw one? Esther and the seven Dwarves came out again. She waved goodbye to them and they left. Esther went to the stream and seemed to see the apple for the first time. She picked it up, glanced around, took a bite and fell to the ground.

Adera and Harria laughed. Aha! The princess fell for it! They could get rid of all their enemies this way! Why not make a whole basket of apples for the Dwarves? They flew down to gloat over Esther. They congratulated each other and rejoiced over their success, until they realized they couldn't fly away. Adera's black shimmery wings and Harria's white feathery ones were in the hands of Dwarves.

They knew the apple was poisoned. That was what the Dwarf brother had been looking for when he had come out to wash his feet. They had asked Esther to eat the apple in the hope that the fairies would show themselves.

Jara opened the hole to Orean. Adera and Harria were handed over to the Dwarves there who delivered them to Nijir. The seven Dwarves took care of Esther, who was kissed by David and they lived happily ever after.

Adera and Harria on the other hand, with their six friends, stood before the Fairy Counsel. The Mountain King and the Golden Queen of Summer sat at the head of the semi-circle table flanked by the Prince of Night and the Purple Princess of Autumn. Seated on either side of them were the Swamp Lord, the White Lady of Winter, the Ocean Rider and the Flower Fairy of Spring.

Their friends had been held captive by the Dwarves until all eight were retured to their world. Their wands had been taken and handed to their leaders. Prince Nijir was happy to have his wand back.

The Golden Queen of Summer stood and said, "You have committed a great crime. You have stolen the wand of a Great Fairy and used it. Used it to leave this world, to grant wishes of people of another world, to curse people on that that world. We have no law for such actions, because these things have never happened before. Your punishment will be severe, because we do not wish for this to happen again."

"The Dwarves have given us a detailed report of what you have done, and we are disgusted at what we have learned," said the Mountain King. "You have shamed us."

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" asked the Golden Queen.

The eight fairies exchanged looks. Perto and Eria looked old and haggard. The stain of living among the humans and the following capture of the Dwarves had been hard on them. Jorie and Kor no longer glowed like newlyweds. They were tired and Jorie was large with baby. Gewq and Irua were relieved to be back home. Humans were fun for a while, but soon became demanding. Harria was wide-eyed with fear.

Adera raised her head and said, "I am guilty, and will pay for my crimes as well as those of my friends. I was the one who wanted to travel to other worlds. I was the one who My Prince's wand. I was the one who asked them to come with me. It was all my doing. Please, let my friends return to their homes and their families."

The other seven were shocked. They did not expect Adera to confess so readily, and they did not want her to take their punishments for them. They protested. They would accept the consequences.

The Fairy Counsel whispered to each other. and came to a conclusion.

"Jorie and Kor, since you returned voluntarily, you shall give community service to the Desert and Mountain Fairies," said the Mountain King.

"Perto and Eria, you shall teach the children of the Forest and Prairie Fairies what you have learned. The importance of laws, respect for your leaders and about the humans and Earth," said the Purple Princess of Autumn.

"Irua, you shall be restricted to the oceans. No lake parties or river runs. You are also to give service, and report daily to me of your activities," said the Ocean Rider.

"Gewq, you will likewise be restricted to the swamps, give service, and report to me," said the Swamp Lord.

"Harria, you will be restricted to the Clouds. No trips to see friends or family. Service is also expected of you," said the White Lady of Winter.

"Adera," said Nijir, "you will serve in my house. You will not be permitted to leave without my permission. I will not make service easy for you. You have claimed full responsibility for what has happened and you will pay accordingly." He paused as he waited for her to meet his gaze. When she finally looked at him, he continued, "I hope, in time, that I will once again be able to trust you."


Elizabeth Williamson Copyright © 2009