The Fairy Child

Once, a long time ago, a baby girl was abandoned in the forest and would probably have been eaten by wolves if Bahoo, the King of all Fairyland had not seen her and decided to adopt her as his daughter.

 

From the age of one until she was a fully grown woman, the girl, who the fairies named Evergren, grew up as one of the fairies, living their pleasurable, carefree life and learning all their magic, wearing a dress made of green leaves and skipping about the forest barefoot.

 

But then when she became 18 years old, Evergren grew curious about life outside the forest in the world of mortal men and, going to her father, the great Bahoo, as he was seated upon his mushroom throne, she pleaded with him,

 

“Oh, please father. Please may I go and see the world of mortal men and women”.

 

Bahoo was reluctant at first, for he didn’t like or trust the race of men but, after hours of pleading, he relented,

 

“On one condition”, he said, “That you wear a cloak of invisibility and keep it on at all times whilst you are among the mortals”.

 

Happily, Evergren agreed to her father’s condition and put on a cloak of invisibility that covered her from head to foot before running and skipping merrily out of the forest.

 

And she had not gone far from the forest before she came to a little cottage and, seeing that the door to the cottage was unlocked, crept inside.

 

It was the cottage of a young man and, creeping into his bedroom she saw that he was sleeping and, gazing down at his face in the moonlight thought him so handsome that she immediately fell in love with him.

 

So enamoured was she, in fact, that, uncovering her head, she leant forward to kiss his cheek but just as she did so, the young man awoke and, seeing only a floating head above him, cried out in fear

thinking her a ghost.

 

And when he cried out Evergren too became afraid and turning round she ran to escape his bedroom but, as she did so, her cloak of invisibility got caught and was pulled completely from her head and shoulders revealing her to the man.

 

Now, seeing the young and beautiful woman standing in front of him, bathed from head to toe in moonlight, he too fell deeply in love with her.

 

“Am I dreaming?”, he asked, not sure if she was real or not.

 

“Dreaming?”, said Evergren, then, thinking that pretending to be a dream might be her best means of escaping, said, “Yes, yes. That’s what I am. A dream”.

 

But then the young man wanted to know if it was a happy dream or a bad dream.

 

“Oh? Well a happy dream, of course”, replied Evergren, smiling.

 

“Well then”, said the young man, “If it is a happy dream then shouldn’t I have the thing that I wish for most?”.

 

“Yes”, replied Evergren, nodding, “That makes sense. What is it that you wish for?”.

 

“A kiss”, said the man, “Just one kiss so that when I wake up and this dream is gone I may treasure it always”.

 

And so, not unhappily, Evergren agreed to kiss the young man and, when their lips met, a magic far greater than all that in Fairyland took hold of their hearts and bound them together.

 

And only a few days later they were married in a little church nearby.

 

However, when Evergrens father, the great Bahoo learned what had happened he became very angry.

 

“My daughter has betrayed me”, he said, stamping tiny fairy feet; his face growing so red with anger that it looked like a strawberry.

 

And, determined that he would spoil his daughters new found happiness, he decided that he would find some way to kill her husband.

 

And the next day, while Evergrens husband was chopping firewood, he saw a snow white horse wander towards him.

 

“My what a beautiful horse” he said, “And it has no saddle or bridal so it can’t have an owner. It would be the perfect horse for I and my love to go riding upon”.

 

Then, moving close to the horse he patted its long mane and when he was sure it was safe to, he leapt up upon its back.

 

However, the moment he did so, the horse took off, galloping towards a nearby lake and, entering the lake, looked determined to drown him.

 

Frantically, Evergren’s husband struggled to escape but when he did, to his horror, he discovered that he was completely stuck to the horses back.

 

Desperately, he called out to his wife hoping she would hear and when she did she came running as fast as she could, even whispering a little fairy spell that made her run as fast as the wind.

 

But when she arrived, though she struggled with all her might and used all the fairy magic she knew, she could not remove her husband from the horses back and so, leaping onto it and throwing her arms around his waist, she said, “If you drown then I will drown with you for I would rather die than live without you”.

 

And the moment that she said this, suddenly, the horse reared up and threw off both her and her husband.

 

“Your love is powerful indeed”, said the fairy horse, looking down at the couple who had fallen with a splash into the lake, “For it has broken the spell that binds riders to my back”.

And then, leaping up into the air, the horse turned itself into a fish and dove deep under the lake and, very wet, but happy to be alive, Evergren and her husband went back to their cottage.

 

However, the Great Bahoo was still determined to kill Evergren’s husband and when he saw that his fairy horse had failed to do the job, he unleashed a fearsome Fairy dog with green fur and blazing eyes of orange flame and told it, “Go to the house of Evergren and kill her husband”.

 

And racing off as fast as a team of horses, the fairy dog went out of the forest and, using its powerful sense of smell, found Evergrens husband outside their cottage and roared and growled at him, spitting out flame.

 

Unarmed, Evergrens husband cowered against the wall of his cottage believing that he was soon to die but then Evergren came out of the cottage and seeing her husband in peril threw her arms around him, declaring, “If you die then I will die with you because I would rather die than live without you”.

 

And, no sooner had she spoken these words when the fearsome green fairy dog turned into a tiny green fairy mouse and, squeaking, said, “Your love is powerful indeed, for while you hold your husband in your arms I cannot touch him”.

 

And then, scampering off, as fast as a team of horses the fairy mouse returned to the forest and the court of King Bahoo.

 

But though Evergren’s love had defeated him twice, the fairy king was still determined that he would spoil his daughters happiness by killing her husband and, turning himself into a terrible, howling storm he blew all the way to the cottage of Evergren and her husband and, bellowing loudly, told her husband,

 

“Come out and face me or I will blow so hard that I will smash your little cottage into sticks and rubble”.

 

Hearing this, Evergrens husband was more than happy to go out and face the wind rather than risk his beloved wife being hurt but Evergren refused to let him go out and, instead, she poked her head out of the door and shouted to the wind,

 

“If my husband is to die then I will die with him for I would rather die than live without him”.

 

“Very well”, said the great Bahoo, “Then you shall die together”.

 

And then, mustering up all his power, the storm blew as hard as he could; so hard that trees and boulders on either side of the house blew away but, no matter how hard he blew, the little cottage stayed firmly rooted to the spot and not one single brick of it was damaged.

 

Now, puffing and panting and totally exhausted, King Bahoo had to admit defeat.

 

“Your love is powerful indeed”, he said, “Far too powerful for even me, the great Bahoo and so I will let you have your love, Evergren”.

 

And, saying this, the king of the fairies blew away and, after that, he never bothered Evergren or her husband ever again and they lived happily ever after.