How the fairies began

A very long time ago before you were even born, lived a very old man; he was always looking for something that nobody could see. 

He would spend his time looking under rocks; he would search through all the woods and forests and even look under the things that might hide things that should not be there.

Something the things that were not supposed to be there stood out waiting to be taken, but if he tried to take them, they would just disappear into the magic land somewhere in the sky or world that he believed in.

 This had happened many times in the woods and forests and he had never known why this was happening and had never been able to collect anything.

Then one day he came upon a small coloured stone, this time he managed to be able to pick it up and as soon as he touched it, all different colours came from the stone; he was unsure as to why this was happening but was pleased that he managed to hold onto the stone.

The old man took the stone back to his small house and placed it on an egg cup that was sitting on one of his shelves.  He was pleased that he had found such a beautiful stone that changed colours each time you touched it.

Then one day he decided to take the stone with him, as he thought that it might be a lucky stone and it could help him to find the things that nobody else could see. 

He had travelled through villages across the land and over the vast seas, but nothing spectacular ever happened, everything he saw was what everyone else saw and knew about.

Then one day just as it was starting to get dark, he was walking through the forest in a country that he had never been to or heard about before, he was making his way back to a nearby village where he was spending some time at a lodge to hopefully find a secret that nobody had ever seen. 

Soon along the pathway that was not too far ahead he could see a light that seemed to be dancing and changing colour as it jumped across the pathway from tree to tree.

As he got nearer and nearer to the light, he saw what looked like small flies jumping towards and into the light and then disappearing as if they never existed and as each fly entered the light the light changed colour.

Well the old man sat down at the edge of the pathway watching something that he had never seen or dreamed about before, why was this happening he said to himself and then he felt something move inside his pocket.

He put his hand inside his pocket and felt his hand start to vibrate, he then realised that he was touching his stone.  The old man carefully took the stone from his pocket, but the colours that normally jumped around changing colours all the while stayed white. 

This had never happened before and this puzzled the old man, as he thought that white was not a colour as it was just plain and had no real brightness that stood out, but just something that looked like the snow that fell every year in the winter and that was cold.

Why now? He said again to himself as the stone started to vibrate in his hand

He raised his hand and held the stone close towards the light and as he did the stone shone once again and started to change colours as it had before and out of the light came the flies, but this time each they did not look like a fly, they had colourful wings that looked like silk and each one was dressed in beautiful coloured clothing.

Well the old man could not believe what he was seeing and put his hands up to his eyes and gave them both a rub, but still the flies that had entered the light were now coming out as something else.

The old man sat on a stump of an old tree and watched in amazement as these things that he had never seen before kept coming out from the coloured light, and as each new thing came out of the light, the light became dimmer and dimmer until the last one flew out and this one was the most beautiful of them all, as she left the light the stone and the light that was before him had disappeared.

The old man could not believe what he had just seen happen, he had travelled all over the world and had seen many things that could not be explained, but this was something that he was sure would never be seen again, or was this all a dream that would fade away like the stone and light when he woke up?

Then as he sat looking now into the dark sky as the brightly lit moon danced in and out of the clouds that passed overhead, something caught his eye as he started to get up of off the tree stump.

Hovering to his left was the last thing that had come from the light and as the moons rays shone on her she looked more beautiful than when he had first seen her.

Her wings now shone brighter with all the colours of the rainbows sparkling as the thing came down and rested on the old man’s hand. 

Looking up to the old man she said. “Thank you for releasing us all from a spell that had kept us captive for thousands of years, we all lived here deep in this forest where we are now, but one day a wizard who wanted the land for himself cast a spell on us all and turned us into a sort of fly saying that we would never become a human again”.

“What we have managed to do while we were under the spell is to travel around the world; here we learned things that we never knew existed.

We managed to learn magic spells and make potions that have been discovered and made in all of the world’s countries; we have also managed to build a secret kingdom where we now live here in the forest,

“So what are you called now” the old man asked? “Well before you came and saved us we never called ourselves anything, but I suppose that we must be called something now”.

They talked to each other trying to find a name that they could now be called, but no name seemed to be the one that seemed right and then as the old man looked at her and could see the sparkle in her eyes and said “how about Sparkeys”?  The queen of the flying things laughed and said “I don’t think they will all like to be called that.” 

The queen and the old man sat quietly listening to the forest and the animals that lived there together, coming up with different names but none of them seemed to be the right one.

Just as they were giving up for the night they heard a young boy who was walking out with his new girlfriend, they both seemed very happy as they passed by.

Then they heard the boy say to his girlfriend “I thought of a new name we could all be called now. “What asked the girl”? How about Ferries”.  The girl laughed and said “Why should we now be called Ferries, I have never heard of any such thing, unless it’s a new magic word that moves us across the water like the boats”.  The boy laughed along with the girl as they disappeared into the forest.

“That’s it but not quite the right word, you are not a ship or a boat but you have travelled across great seas and oceans, how about being called Fairies”?

The queen said nothing for a while just looking up at the evening sky as the stars and moon came out to shine and light up the clearing.  She then looked at the old man and said “Yes that sounds like the right name for us all, but we must all decide if this is what we all want to be called”.

The queen and the old man then said goodnight and made his way back to the lodge telling the Queen that they should meet here again in the morning at 10 O’clock to talk some more and find out if Fairies is what they should now be called?

The night soon passed and the old man woke as the cockerel that lived at the back of the lodge started his morning wake up call.  The old man slowly made his way into the kitchen to make himself a drink and start making his breakfast.

But today his body ached and he found it hard to move around very quickly, he made his drink and sat in his chair, deciding to leave the breakfast for later.

The old man managed to get dressed and then remembered that he was to meet with the queen at the clearing in the forest, he did not know if he could walk that far but he had never broken a promise, so he picked up his walking stick and slowly made his way towards the clearing in the forest.

The queen was already at the clearing waiting for the old man to tell him that everyone thought that being called a fairy would be good, but she could not understand why he was not already here, as it was well past the time that they were to meet.

The queen decided to go and look for the old man and started to make her way towards the lodge that he had told her he was living at, as she could fly it did not take her long to get to the lodge as she flew over the trees, but there was no sign of the old man.

The queen was worried and made her way back to the clearing, but this time flying in and out of the trees and keeping to the pathway where the old man would come.

As she flew she looked around, even diving into the long grasses that covered each side of the path looking for the old man, then she saw something move just inside the long grass at the edge of the path, she flew down and entered the long grass and here she saw the old man lying on the ground. 

The queen quickly flew down and landed next to the old man, “what is the matter with you she asked”? 

The old man opened his eyes and looked towards the queen, “I think that my time here is coming to an end, I am very old as you can see and I’m afraid that my body can’t carry on, but I have lived for a long time and seen many wonderful things in my life and that will be something that I can take with me when I go”.

“You can’t leave us now after all you have done for us and we are now known as Fairies” said the queen.  “There is not much that I can do or anyone else to stop it”, said the old man “.  “We will see about that I will go and get help” said the queen and off she flew back to the kingdom where she lived.

Soon the Queen and other fairies were back beside the old man, “As you say we cannot stop what is happening as we were once human, but because of the spell that was put on us a fairy can never die, all we need to do is give you this potion which will change you into one of us, if that is what you would like”?

The old man smiled at the queen and said “So you are now called Fairies, I am glad that you now have a real name to be called, but do you really want an old man around you all the time” said the old man and managed to laugh a little.

“You will never be an old man or be known as the old man, but like us we would like to know what to call you” said the queen.  “Well when I was born people called me David and that is what I have been called up till now and you have never told me what you are called.” said the old man.

The queen lifted the old man’s head put the potion to his mouth and said “Here old man, sorry David drink this and join me Buttercup and all of us forever”. 

David drank the potion and as he did his body shrunk and changed, then the brightest wings you could ever see grew out from his back as the queen held him close to her.

Soon David was ready to fly back with Buttercup and the other fairies to the fairy kingdom where all of the fairies cheered as they arrived. 

Buttercup the queen and now king David were married and the very next week a great party was held for everyone, all the animals that lived in the forest were invited and they all came, they enjoyed the food and dancing that carried on for days, as fairies only get tired if there is nothing to do, they all lived happily together and still hold a big party on the same day every year.

So if you live nearby or are having a holiday when the party is happening I know that Buttercup and David will greet you and tell you a lot more about Fairies.

 

THE END

© David Gore 2018