A pair of paper wings

Once upon a time a little girl, called Icarina, lost both her parents  and she had to live with her cruel aunt, a witch named Margella, and her three black cats who she treated just like her daughters while she made poor Icarina sleep upon her kitchen floor and eat scraps and dress in rags but Icarina always believed that her parents had gone to angel land above and, secretly, taking a piece of paper that her aunt had thrown out with the trash, the little girl cut out a pair of paper wings.

“With these wings”, she said, “I will fly up to the stars and join my mother and father in heaven”.

And, then, tucking them away under her clothes for fear that her aunt might find them she said a prayer, as she said every night, praying for the angels to help her and then fell asleep, dreaming of her parents in a home up in the clouds.

But then, sitting upon a cloud that was drifting over Icarinas house, two little angels floated by and one of the angels who had very good hearing, in fact who could hear a pin drop a hundred miles away, said to the other angel.

“Do you hear that? A little girl called Icarina is praying to the angels for help”.

And then, hearing this, the other little angel who had very good eyesight, in fact who could see a spot upon a ladybird a hundred miles away, looking down, said,

“Yes, I can see her. She is lying asleep in the kitchen of her cruel aunts house”.

And so then the two little angels; each only as tall as a little girls thumb; one dressed in pink and one in blue but both with a little crown of gold upon their head and two wings of perfect white flew down and then, while Icarina slept they pulled the paper wings out from where she had hid them and then one sprinkled dust of heaven upon them while the other, carrying the paper wings, climbed up onto her back and fixed them in place.

Then one of them, the one dressed in blue, standing upon her shoulder, whispered into the little girls ear, “Wake up Icarina”

Now, waking up, Icarina saw that the two paper wings she had made were not lying underneath her where she had hid them but sticking out of her back just like real wings and then, to her further wonder, the two wings started to flutter.

“We’ve come to take you flying Icarina”, said one of the angels, “To take you away from this terrible place”.

Then each of the angels took one of Icarinas hands and, her two paper wings beginning to flap, they all took off, flying through the kitchen window and up into the moonlit night.

Just as she was flying away however, Margellas three little cats, hearing the rustle of the flapping paper wings woke up and, jumping out of their three little beds in their three little night gowns they ran to the kitchen to see what was happening and when they saw Icarina flying out of the window with the two angels they ran to the bed of Margella and, leaping onto the bed and licking the old woman s face said, “Miaow! Wake up, wake up mother. That wicked girl Icarina is escaping”.

And running into the kitchen and seeing for herself, Margella shook her fist and shouted angrilly, “Run away from me will you, you ungrateful little wretch. Well I’ll find you wherever you go, don’t think I won’t”.

But then, the angels flapped their wings harder and they and Icarina flew fast through the night, over a wide shining ocean and under a glittering sea of stars and, feeling the wind blowing through her long dark curls, Icarina laughed but then she asked,

“Where are we going? Are we going up to heaven to see my mother and father?”.

“ I’m afraid we cannot. It is not your time”, said the angel in pink, “But you will always be able to see them in your heart. They live on cloud number 149 just west of the sun”.

But then however, the angels arrived in a faraway land and a royal palace and flying in through a palace window with Icarina they presented her to the king and queen of that country.

“Your majesties”, said the angels, “We know that you have been praying for a daughter. This little girl is called Icarina and she is a very good and loving little girl. We hope you will take good care of her”.

And, smiling, joyously the king and queen put their arms around Icarina and hugged her tightly,

then the two angels gave Icarina a tiny trumpet, as small as a whistle, hanging it around her neck and saying, “This is in case you ever need the help of the angels again, Icarina”, before, waving goodbye to her they flew away again, out of a palace window and into the night sky.

Now, many months passed and Icarina lived happily in the palace with her new foster parents and they bought her lots of wonderful toys; three teddy bears just like the bears in goldilocks, a large one, a medium sized one and a baby one; and a whole troop of tiny clockwork fairy ballerinas aswell as a regiment of toy palace guards.

Unfortunately, Margella had neither forgotten nor forgiven Icarina for running away and making wings grow upon the backs of her three cat daughters, she tied them up to a sled and, flying, the pulled the sled over the clouds until they reached the palace where Icarina lived and then blowing magic sleeping dust into the eyes of the guards who were guarding the palace gates she put them both to sleep before entering the palace and doing the same to all the servants inside.

In fact, from just a hand full of her magical dust, she blew a gigantic cloud that swept through the entire palace putting everyone in the palace, including the king and queen,to sleep.

Then with her three cat daughters she entered the bedroom where Icarina was sitting on her bed.

“I told you that I would find you, Icarina”, said her wicked Aunt, “Did you really think you would get away from me”.

Now, at first, Icarina was terrified but then she remembered the little trumpet that the angels had hung around her neck and, she blew into it.

And far up in heaven, floating upon a cloud, the angel in pink, the angel who could hear things from very far away said, “I hear Icarina blowing upon her trumpet”.

And the angel in blue, the angel who could see things from very far away looked down and said,

“I can see her. She is in her bedroom in the palace and that evil witch Margella is there too. She has put everyone in the palace to sleep and now she is trying to take Icarina with her”.

“What shall we do?”, asked the angel in pink, “Is there no one down there who can help her?”.

“No”, said the other angel, “They are all fast asleep”.

Just then, however, the angel in blue saw the toys on Icarina’s bedroom floor; the three teddy bears and the clockwork ballerinas and the regiment of palace guards and then, the two angels, bowing their heads and touching their golden crowns together, brought the toys in Icarinas room to life.

First the three bears came to life, turning into three real brown bears, who fought with the witch’s three cat daughters then the regiment of toy palace guards surrounded the witch climbing up her long gown and waving tiny swords and pole axes while, then, winding up their fluttering, clattering butterfly wings, the troop of mechanical fairy ballerinas flew around the palace waking everyone up by waving their tiny fairy wands under their noses and, once they had woken up, telling them, “Hurry! Hurry! Please. Icarina is in great danger”.

Then, suddenly, pouring into Icarinas bedroom came all the palace servants and guards as well as the king and queen and the witch and her three cat daughters were forced to leap out of Icarinas bedroom window to escape, plunging into the moat far below where they were snapped up by greedy crocodiles.

Now the king and queen hugged Icarina glad that she was safe and the next day, in honour of Icarinas lucky escape they held a magnificent party but then, in the middle of the party, two mysterious masked guests arrived in a golden coach drawn by winged horses and, when they removed their golden masks Icarina saw that they were her mother and father.

“We can only stay with you a short time, Icarina”, they told her, “But we wanted to show you that we still love you and will always be watching over you and that one day, when it is your time, we will all be together again”.

Then the party continued; everyone, Icarina, her parents, the king and queen, the servants and palace guards, even the toys dancing merrily and after that Icarina lived happily ever after.