The Wee Ones -Chapter 3

 

The Wee Ones

A novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 3

The Fairy Tree

 

The first of the new houses were being built around the Rainystown . The first few streets were being finished and some of thew homes were at lock up stage .

Wee Charlie Magee was the truck driver who was bringing some of the building materials to the site , There were some little sheds where the builders and labourers could eat their lunch and sit in out of the wind and rain .

One day the last day of the week Charlie went dropped his last load of timber to the spare beside a  very old tree that stood there alone surrounded by half built houses and dump trucks . They called it a fairy tree and no one would cut it down for fear of upsetting the lairy folk who lived within . The old tree stood in defiance of everything that was going on and nobody dared to try and move it anywhere ,

After unloading all the timber , Charlie was just about to leave the site and go home for the weekend when he noticed something up in the branches of the tree .

It looked like a little shaggy cat or a dog and he thought that he better go over to rescue it , .When he got there , there was no sign of the little animal but suddenly the tree began to shake and then it began to talk ,

“If ever they would try to put me somewhere I don’t belong , or pull up my roots or  cut me down, well then you better tell them that there’ll no luck for anyone who lives in Rainystown  .”

Charlie stood there , stunned and speechless and squinted up and down and around everywhere and then he said ,

“So tell me tree are you talking to me ?”

and the tree replied  ,

“Why shouldn’t I , sure I can talk to whoever I choose , whenever I want any time I please . ”

Then a shaggy red haired little fairy shook the leaves on the branches and he climbed down to the ground and began to walk around and around Charlie who was standing still there on the ground .

 

The Shaggy haired fairly looked at Charlie and said ,

“Well hello to you sir , standing there in front of me  . My name is Earee the fairy of the tree and keeper of the key to the door of the house where the wee ones have lived for thousands of years within and around and underneath the ground in this very spot untroubled and unseen until now “

“Why are you telling me all of this stuff?” Charlie asked .

“We don’t answer questions .” The tree replied and the shaggy haired fairy said .

“ We are the maker of dreams and the teller of tales and you’ve been invited by the wee ones who live in a place beyond this world where you live. “

Charlie said ,

“Well that’s very kind of them but I’ve been working all day and I’m hungry now so I’ll just be  heading on home for dinner “

The tree shook its branches and a golden apple fell to the ground and the tree said

“:Eat my fruit and you will see your hunger will go away “

Charlie lifted the golden apple and started to eat . Then he started to giggle .

Then the tree laughed and said,

“Well you can’t stop the giggle and soon you’ll hear a fiddle and it will be no surprise when you’ll start to shrink in size . Like a wee one you you’ll become to join in with the fun , in the fairy tree’s domain , you’ll be happy that you came“.

A fiddle began to play happily away to the sound of bluebells ringing on the ground . As Charlie shrank down until he was no bigger than a  thumbnail on the ground where the shaggy red haired fairy also had shrunk down in size . With a wink of his eye the little fairy gave a sigh as he took a key from a locket that he kept in his pocket that he placed inside a lock that was hidden in a knot on the bottom of the trunk of the fairy tree . Then a secret door opened up and Charlie and the shaggy haired fairy walked in through the door and down all the steps to the bottom where they were welcomed by a large crowd of wee ones who came running and jumping and more and more of them same thumping on drums as other wee ones flew by in wagons pulled by dragons with wings singing songs about things that no one had ever sung before . There were turtles swimming in purple pools with four leaf clover

growing all over the ground and the wee one’s whispered for some quiet .

In among the daisies dewdrops were pushing upwards to the top where they showered the surrounding in a dazzling display . Humming birds danced around like debutants in the mid flight creating a spiralling win that blew whirling petals from the Foxgloves flowers . There was movement and wind , fire and water , sounds and the presence of magic everywhere . On the ground a large crown of wee ones stood and on a raised platform the speaker called out in a strong assertive voice 

“Welcome one and all to this place for a once and for all time gathering of wee ones and our special guest from Charlie Magee the contracted truck driver with the building of Rainystown “’

The wee one and all the creatures in fairyland erupted in applause “

Charlie took a bow and said   “ Thank you , what a wonderful welcome you’ve given me . This place is just magic, look at you all . “

The wee one there replied ,

“You’re very welcome here Charlie. See the way it is , our job is to make magic happen and now we need your help to make sure that will continue when all the new

people would arrive to live in Rainystown .  

“I’m not sure how I can help , but of course I’ll do whatever I can  ”

Charlie said

“I’ll try to explain Charlie , we have already made some plans of our own  that will be approved by the developer of the Rainystown project so in the next few weeks or so  you’ll find some added deliveries that are not on your contract and we need to ask you to go ahead with those . You will be reimbursed handsomely in gold for the  extra work you do . That’s why we invited you here as our special guest to let you know what will be happening :”

Charlie laughed heartly and replied  “

“All my life I have in believed in the little people and you here you are , you know what ,  people had always said I was crazy , just goes to show , they’re the ones who are daft , not me “

Everyone present had a laugh. Then the wee one opened up Charlies mind and began to explain

“‘So listen now here’s the thing , in the next few months you will be collecting lots of materials to be delivered around the construction site , These materials will have  specific instructions for the builders on where they are to go and how they are to be  constructed and how long they have to do the job . These materials are the key to making magic happen in Rainystown ,  So we plan to install wishing wells , secret gardens , underground dreamscape tunnels , inter-dimensional fairy escape hatches and secret doors linking our world to where the humans live , All this work will commence immediately. “ .

Everyone present cheered and jumped and whistled and sand in a rapturous sound of delight  .  After the noise subdued Charlie spoke to the wee ones .

“ I’m the one now who is all the better off to have been invited here today to hear about what’s going to happen. “

Then in that instant he was returned back to where he had been standing in front of the tree near to where his truck was parked . The truck had already been loaded with a new load od materials and delivery instructions in his cabin and on the passenger seat was a bag of shinning gold coins .

Charlie went straight to work and his hunger had gone  . After the weekend was over he got up do his normal delivery run but saw that his truck had already been loaded with some materials . Once again there were instructions of where they had to go . and there was another bag of gold on the passenger seat .

He put away the bag of gold and went off to do his work for the day .

Each day the same thing would occur with his truck being mysteriously loaded and a bag of gold left on the seat . The weeks passed into months and Rainystown was starting to develop into something out of this . The developer had no idea how these new additions had been made to his plans but he loved the place so much that he never took any action to stop the progress .

People were arriving from all over the country to buy a house and land package at Rainystown . All of the homes were sold very quickly and before the end of the year  Rainystown was a huge boomtown success .

Meanwhile with all the gold Charlie had made he had bought a large property near to the fairy tree where he often seen strange events taking place but he kept quiet about what he knew .

 

 End of chapter 3 

 

The Wee Ones

Link to chaper 4

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/wee-ones-chapter-4

By Paul McCann