The Box Of Song

Once, in a far away place and a long ago time, a little girl named Sonitha was given a glowing music box by her old grandmother
"Just hold it to your ear, my dear", she said, "And it will glow and you'll hear it singing".
And when Sonitha held the box to her ear it did indeed glow and then she heard a singing; lots of tiny voices like tinkling bells that sang,
"We are fairies; all day long, we sing out our fairy song".
"How does it work grandma?", asked Sonitha, trying to peer inside, "Is it electric?".
"Well", said her grandmother, "Its a kind of electricity, certainly".
And the box soon became Sonithas favourite thing of all.
Infact she liked it so much that she took it with her, in the pocket of her pinafore dress, wherever she went.
One day however, while she was playing in the garden of her house, she met a woman dressed in colourful and shiny clothing, a large sun hat and wearing a smiling mask upon her face.
"Hello, little girl", said the woman, "Would you like to come with me and see unicorns and elves?"
"Unicorns and elves", thought Sonitha, "Yes I would like to see that".
But then Sonitha heard the box in her pocket make a loud tinkling sound and start to glow and, putting it to her ear, she heard it sing,
"We are fairies; we are wise. Listen please to our advice. Do not trust the stranger, child for danger lurks behind their smile".
And because Sonitha trusted the box she shook her head and said to the woman behind the mask,
"No, I'm sorry. My mother and father say I shouldn't go anywhere with strangers".
And so the woman, turning away from Sonitha, put on a different mask and then, turning back to face her, Sonitha saw that this one was frowning and had tears painted upon it.
"Oh dear", she said, "What a shame. The unicorns and elves were so looking forward to seeing you and now I'll have to tell them all you can't come; they'll be very sad".
And, seeing the crying mask, Sonitha felt sorry for the woman and didn't want to disappoint the unicorns and elves.
"Maybe I should go with the woman", she thought
But the box started to glow again and make a tinkling sound and when Sonitha put the box to her ear she heard it sing,
"We are fairies, do you hear. Don't be fooled by sobs and tears. Tears too sometimes can be lies hiding evil in someones eyes".
And because Sonitha trusted the box, she shook her head again and said,
"No. I'm sorry, miss but I can't go with you".
So then the woman turned away from Sonitha again and put on a third mask and this mask was one with an angry, glaring face on it.
"Well then", she said, grabbing hold of Sonithas arm, "If you won't come with me willingly, I'll have to make you come with me".
And then she started trying to drag Sonitha away.
"Let go!", cried Sonitha, "Stop! Help!".
And hearing her daughter crying, Sonithas mother came out to see what was happening.
But then the woman in the mask put a small mask over Sonithas face; a smiling mask and though Sonitha struggled to pull it off her face she couldn't.
"Are you alright, Sonitha", asked her Mother.
Sonitha tried to say, "No"; tried to cry out, "Help!" but the mask on her face wouldn't let her speak and, its lips moving, it said with her voice, "Yes, Mummy. I'm okay. I'm just talking to this nice lady".
And, looking at the masked woman, because she had put a smiling mask back on her face, Sonithas mother didn't think there was any reason not to trust her.
"She does look like a nice woman", said her mother, smiling and going back into her house.
And, seeing her mother abandon her, Sonitha started to cry and a tear rolled out of the eyehole of the smiling mask on her face, running down its cheek.
But then the masked woman, cackling, said, "There. Now theres no one who can help you".
And she started to drag Sonitha away by the arm.
The moment she did however, Sonitha accidentally dropped her grandmothers music box and, landing on the ground, it broke and, out of a crack in it, came flying a whole swarm of glittering, golden fairies, whirling and twirling like ballerinas and they were singing,
"We are fairies, have no fear. To protect you, we are here".
And, as they sang this, the fairies all converged upon the masked woman, pulling off her sun hat, her mask and dress and, undearneath, Sonitha saw that she was a strange monster.
"Not the sunlight", shrieked the monster, covering her face and running away down the street, "I can't stand the sun".
After that, just like magic, Sonitha was able to remove the mask from her own face and she learned a valuable lesson too, that people are not always as they appear so we should always be very careful who we trust.