Generous Gemmalina

Once there was a poor girl called Gemmalina who lived with her old sick Grandmother and her little brother and sister in a run down cottage and, one day, her grandmother sent Gemmelina to the marketplace to buy some food but on her way back home Gemmelina met a fairy sitting on a toadstool.

“Ah, atlast Gemmelina”, said the fairy, “I have been sitting waiting for you to come by”.

“Me”, asked Gemmelina, surprised, "Why ever for?”.

“Why, because I am your guardian fairy and I am here to give you everything you’ve ever wanted. Make you rich beyond your wildest dreams”, said the fairy.

Gemmelina leapt up and down with joy when she heard this,

“Oh that’s wonderful”, she said, “I can’t wait to tell my Grandmother, my little brother and sister”.

“Oh, you’ll have to forget about them”, said the fairy, “For I will only grant all your wishes if you leave them behind and come with me”.

Gemmelina was shocked,

“Leave my poor Grandmother and my little brother and sister behind?”, she said, shaking her head, “But I couldn’t do that. Who would look after them? My grandmother is so frail and she could never look after herself and my little brother and sister are far too young to cope by themselves”.

“But don’t you want to be rich?”, asked the fairy, waving her wand and transporting them to a glittering mansion full of servants dressed in golden uniforms, “Look at where you would live. In this beautiful mansion. You would be the lady of the mansion and you would have servants to wait upon you hand and foot. You would never have to work again. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”.

“No”, replied Gemmelina, “It would not be wonderful because my poor old Grandmother and my little brother and sister would still have to work and would find it very difficult because my grandmother is too weak to work and my brother and sister too little”.

But then the fairy waved her wand again and now Gemmelina saw that, instead of a ragged dress, she was dressed in a beautiful gown suitable for a princess and she was seated at the head of a large table that was laden with a ginormous and delicious looking banquet.

“Just look at the fine, fancy clothes you would wear, Gemmelina”, she said, “And all the sumptuous food you would eat”.

Gemmelina took off her fancy gown and threw it on the ground,

“But I can’t enjoy those things”, she said, “Knowing that my old Grandmother and my little brother and sister will still be dressed in rags and that their bellies will ache with hunger because they are too poor to afford clothes and food”.

The fairy sighed but she was not ready to give up and so this time she waved her wand and transported them to a glittering gold coach that was driven by a coachman dressed in gold and pulled by a team of six white horses and before long it arrived outside of the kings high walled palace and the large golden gates were opened for them by palace guards and entering within the grounds of the palace they were greeted by royal footmen who bowed to them and ushered out of the coach and into the palace where Gemmelina saw a gigantic ballroom in which the Prince was holding a royal ball and she saw lots of elegantly dressed ladies and smartly dressed gentlemen dancing around the ball room as an orchestra played and then another servant, welcoming them both into the ball room with a bow announced to everyone within the ballroom, “Lady Gemmelina and her Guardian Fairy”.

And then, when they had entered into the ballroom, two handsome princes bowed before them and each of them asked Gemmelina and the fairy, “Please would you honour me by dancing with me”.

And soon they were both  waltzing round about the ballroom to the music of the orchestra and, as they waltzed, the guardian fairy said to Gemmelina,

“Now. Isn’t this a wonderful life; riding in golden coaches and going to parties and dancing with handsome princes and having people bow to you and treat you with respect?”.

“No it is not a wonderful life”, replied the Girl, “Not if I know that my old Grandmother and my little brother and sister are still living a miserable life of poverty and hardship. That is not wonderful at all”.

And, breaking free of the Princes embrace, Gemmelina ran out of the ballroom; out of the palace and, ignoring the coachman who, seeing her, bowed and opened the door of her coach for her, out of the palace gates.

However, before she could run any further, the fairy waved her wand again and Gemmelina saw herself transported to the yard of her Grandmothers old cottage and, relieved, she ran into the cottage and hugged her grandmother and her little brother and sister tightly and said to them,

“Oh, how much I love you all. More than all the mansions, fancy clothes and golden coaches of fine ladies; more than all the wealth in all the world”.

“And we love you too, Gemmelina”, said her Grandmother, “But why did you rush into the cottage in such a hurry. What were you running from?”.

“From temptation, dear lady”, said the Guardian fairy to Gemmelina’s very astonished Grandmother, suddenly appearing in a big bright flash of gold and a twinkling of silver, “Because your granddaughter is a very loving; very kind and very faithful girl indeed”.

“She is”, agreed Gemmelinas grandmother, hugging her, “She’s a treasure to me and her brother and sister”.

“Indeed”, replied the fairy, “More than even you know because I have tried my very hardest to tempt her away from her hard life with you and her unfortunate siblings. Only those of good heart may receive my help you see and, in resisting all those temptations, she has proven herself to be a girl with a most exceptional heart indeed; a girl truly worthy of my magical assistance”.

And then, waving her wand once more, the fairy transformed the old cottage belonging to Gemmelinas Grandmother into an enormous mansion and, not only Gemelina but her Grandmother and her little brother and sister were wearing fine clothes and even the old rocking chair that Gemmelina’s grandmother sat in was transformed into one of gold.

“You may have all that you desire, Gemmelina”, said the fairy, “And that includes living with and helping the people that you love; for love, to a fairy, is the greatest treasure and most important thing in the whole world”.

Now Gemmelina, jumped with joy and hugged her Guardian fairy tightly too,

“Oh this is truly wonderful”, she said excitedly, “And there are so many other people that I want to help; all the people who are poor and have sick elderly grandmothers or little brothers and sisters to take care of”.

“As you wish”, said the fairy, smiling and bowing; honoured to meet such a truly noble heart.

And so Gemmelina, her old Grandmother and her little brother and sister lived happily ever after and, not only that, they helped thousands of other poor people to live happily ever after too.