Butterfly.

I saw a lovely butterfly,
dancing an age-old dance.
Fluttering from flower to flower,
as if in permanent trance.
From buttercup to daisy on to sweet smelling rose,
I in my humility watching your each ecstatic pose.
Rising on high sinking so low,
Each nuance of colour a friendly glow.
You are not miserly your brilliance to show,
seeking sweet nectar from heavenly blooms.
Lifting me up high from out of my glooms,
Were you sent from heaven on high?
Descending through a warm summer sky.
Dainty but tireless in your earthly flight,
Where do you retire in the darkness of night?
At the break of dawn I will see you again,
Performing your dance of perpetual fame.
Delightful to see a treat for my eyes,
You heavenly visitor from out of the skies.

Country Rubbish.

Walking through the woods on Dartford Heath on my way to Fairyland I came across an old motor van. Some one had tried to hide it with branches pulled from the young trees. The trees were looking sorry for themselves and I became very angry. Why did the young trees have to suffer? Some vandal wanted to get rid of an old van that was very rusty as I saw when I pulled the branches away from it?

The number plates had been taken off of the vehicle and some person had dumped the van here instead of taking it to a brokers yard. The van could have been used for salvage not to disturb the beauty of the woods. What made matters worse the culprit had let the old motor oil run onto the floor of the woods. Nothing would grow here for a very long time. On inspection I saw that the battery had been taken out of the van. Probably this was to sell, as lead that is used in batteries is very expensive.

I marked the spot and went on to see the Fairy Queen, Feeana, Queen of all the Fairies. I did not have to wait long as Her Majesty was expecting my visit. We spoke about the old van that was in the woods of Fairyland and how to punish the person that had dumped it there. I asked Her Majesty to wait until it was dark and then to magic the van to the Police Station where we would leave it for the Police to find.

In the morning of the next day I walked along the road to the Police Station. The Police were checking the van over. They took fingerprints from the steering wheel and the hand brake also the gear lever. Another Policeman looked and found the vehicle number that is printed on the chassis and also a number is to be found on the motor block. On seeing this I went back home and on the following days I read the newspapers to see whether the owner of the van had been found.

The following Saturday there was a small article saying that a man had been arrested for dumping a vehicle outside of the Police Station. A month later there was to be a court case. I decided that I would attend the hearing and see what kind of sentence the man would get from the local Magistrate.

The day of the hearing arrived and I was one of the first to go into the building as it was opened. Other people joined me and soon there were a small number of people attending. The Police led in a man that was well dressed. Then the Magistrate and the clerk of the court appeared and the case was opened.

The first question to the arrested man was, do you own the vehicle? He said yes it was one of his vehicles that he had sent to be scrapped at the local breakers yard. He had no idea of how it came to be parked outside the Police Station. The case dragged on and in the end the Magistrate fined the man one hundred pounds and threatened that if such a case was to come before the courts again it would not be a fine but a term of imprisonment. I left the courtroom and went to the woods to tell Her Majesty of the man’s punishment. We agreed that in future the Fairies would take over the punishment of any person or persons dumping rubbish on the Dartford Heath.

I went then with Her Majesty to the woods where the man had let the oil on to the ground. With her magic wand Her Majesty removed all traces of the oil and then with another wave of her wand the young trees were given back all of the branches that the man had used to hide the van. Now in this part of the Heath all is as it should be and no one uses it as a rubbish dump any more.

Later I heard that the man had gone broke it seemed that he had no luck with his business. As I say it does not pay to meddle with the Fairies and Fairyland. I should think that he still wonders how the old van came to be outside the Police Station.

Child’s Play.

I see the children as they play,
the games I know so well.
I watch with delight every day,
as I listen to voices sweet as a bell.

The cheerful cries fill me with joy;
smiling faces tell all is good.
My heart goes out to every girl and boy,
and I would play with him or her if I could.

From my armchair I watch in leisure,
happy faces out side my window frames,
Yes I am content to see such pleasure
and wish that I could join in their games.

The children take me back to the old days,
when I was young and filled with esprit.
Now I can only sit here and gaze,
thanking Heaven that I can still hear and see.

Empty Box.

An empty box was delivered to my front door the other day. I signed for the box and after taking it indoors I opened the brown paper that it was wrapped in and saw this large box. The box is stained deep brown and is polished and not unpleasant to look at. The top of the box is inlaid with some wooden shapes that form a very intricate pattern. Inside the box a deep green colour is to be seen. The brown paper had no address on it apart from my address. I did not think this odd because I sometimes get the odd present from my friend Shamus who knows that I love anything that is unusual. I placed the box in the living room it fitted in one corner and looked as if it had stood there for a very long time. I did not give the box another glance and went about my household duties of cleaning and polishing. I love a nice clean house and am proud that my windows and house are always looking clean.

The box stayed in the corner for about six months and I had some wooden statues that I wanted to store away. To tell the truth the statues are not very nice to look at and I carefully placed them in the wooden box. I gave the statues and the box no more attention and must say I was rather surprised when my old friend Shamus came on one of his flying visits. Over a cup of sweet hot tea and a plateful of ginger biscuits he told me all of his news. Many things had happened to him since he last visited me and I listened to all he had to say. After tea we went into the living room and made ourselves comfortable over a bottle of red wine. Shamus‘s eyes caught sight of the box and he asked me what I thought of it. I said that I did not really know I had opened the parcel and looked in the box there was no note with it and I had guessed that it had came from Shamus.

The box said shamus is really a wonderful present to give to anyone that is why I sent it to you; I know that you like mysteries. Have you put anything in the box he asked me with a twinkle in his eye? I opened the box to show him the wooden statues that I had placed in the box so long ago. I could not believe my eyes the wooden statues were now solid gold statues and must be worth a fortune. Smiling all over his face Shamus told me that he had done some work for a wizard who was having trouble keeping the mice from out of his corn bins. Shamus had lined all of the corn bins with metal and the mice could not get into them now. The wizard asked me how much he owed me and I said nothing. I enjoyed the work and am happy to have solved your little problem for you. Then the wizard gave me the wooden box saying this will either give you a headache or it will bring you many surprises. As I listened to the wizard a picture of you came into my mind and I sent the box off to you. I know you like surprises.

We examined the now golden statues and could find no fault with them. The original statues I had brought many years ago in a second hand shop in London, England. They were of no monetary value and I now do not know why I bought them all that time ago. The statues I placed on the mantelpiece half expecting them to turn back into wood again. No the statues on the following days were still made of solid gold. As I was making our evening meal I saw that we were running very low on butter. I asked Shamus if the box would make more butter for our breakfast in the morning or would it turn my butter to a clump of gold. Shamus smiled and said, “Try it.” So I placed the rest of the butter in the wooden box. I felt a little silly on doing so but shrugged my shoulders and we sat down to our evening meal.

The following morning as I was making our breakfast I thought about the butter and went to the box. The butter was still as I had left it when I placed it in the box the evening before. Shamus looked at me and smiled “I said that it might give you a headache,” he said. I spread the butter on the toast and as I did so the butter did not get any less it was still the amount that I had put in the box the evening before. I spread a few more slices of toast but the butter remained the same. The box is still with me but I am very careful not to put anything in the box. I do not need gold and if I want butter why the shops are only a few hundred feet away. Shamus did not want the box either so when I am under the earth and my earthly goods are given away I feel I must warn you do not use the box it may turn objects into gold but it will give you headaches especially if it is used for greed or other foul purposes.

Fairy Poet Laureate.

The fairies have taken me abroad to Elfin Land,

here I was presented with a wide golden band.

I had it seems won the very top literary prize.

I now hold my head very high in the fairy skies.

My rhyming poems have pleased the Fairy Queen,

such a prolific writer as me; she has never before seen.

Rhyming poems and short fairy stories come from my pen,

I have written about the little people every now and then.

I have also been asked to teach at their college,

fill the little fairy heads with my vast knowledge.

This is a job that would I am sure me please,

but what if the fairies are trying me to tease?

There are quite a few leprechauns as pupils you know.

and we all know how they will try to steal the show.

I have also been offered the title of Fairy Poet Laureate,

I have never owned a title like this before you can bet.

All this attention is going to my old grey head,

very soon now I will go off to my hotel bed.

The fairies have placed me in a five star hotel,

I am an honoured guest as one can surely tell.

The food and drink is really first class,

I tell myself as I drink yet another glass.

Suddenly I awoke I was in my own bed,

Nonsense was going on in my poor old head.

Upon opening my eyes I saw the wide golden band,

I had really been staying in wonderful Fairy Land.

On my table there was a certificate with Ink still wet,

I was now the only Human Fairy Poet Laureate.

Upon reading this I closed my tired old eyes,

the fairies were always good for a big surprise.

Gas Bubbles.

Everywhere where there are Fairies, strange things are happening it is as if they are under attack from some person or other. As soon as the Fairies play one of the many games they play, a huge bubble comes from the ground and as it bursts strange smells are in the air. Strange smells is perhaps a little understated it absolutely stinks. The Fairies do not know what is happening it is the same all over the country, north, south, east and west. The wise old fairies do not know what the reason is for these strange bubbles and their horrible stink. Even Her Majesty Queen Feeana is at a loss to say why these bubbles burst and give off theses horrid smells.

I myself had no explanations as to where these bubbles came from or why they stank so terribly putting the Fairies off their play. Her Majesty called a meeting of all the wise old Fairies. I too was invited to see whether I could be of help or not. The meeting took place on Friday the fifteenth of may it was a sunny day and as soon as Her Majesty opened the meeting the bubbles came one after the other and burst, the smell was horrible. I spoke quietly to her Majesty and told her about Gas masks that the humans used in world war two. Her Majesty waved her magic wand and each of the wise old fairies had now a gas mask. The meeting now took place and each Fairy that spoke had to speak clearly as it was difficult to understand under the gas masks.

All of the wise old Fairies had their say and nothing of any use came up at the meeting and Her Majesty closed the meeting thanking them all for their coming. Her Majesty pointed her magic wand at me and I once more felt the familiar feeling of rushing through a quiet space of time. I landed next to her Majesty in her most beautiful garden. We were still both of us wearing our masks. I did not see any of the bubbles and took my mask off. Her Majesty did the same and we sat under one of the old apple trees and discussed what was causing the bubbles to appear all over Fairyland. I suggested to her Majesty that all of the Fairies should be sent to the winter quarters under the Himalayan Mountains for safety there were so many safety precautions there that it would be impossible for them to come to any harm.

Her Majesty waved her magic wand once more and I knew that all of the Fairies were now safe in their winter retreat. Her Majesty used her magic mirror to see whether a Sorcerer or Witch was behind the attacks. The mirror remained dull no picture appeared so it was not any magic that Her Majesty Queen Feeana knew of. Her Majesty then asked Mother Nature if she had any explanation as to where the bubbles with their stinking mixture was coming from. Mother Nature also had no idea they are not natural she told the Queen. We then parted her Majesty sent me back home so that I could go to the big museums in London to see whether such bubbles had appeared before. Her Majesty went to the Fairy Library to look up in the old parchments to see if there was any trace of such bubbles before in Fairyland.

I looked up all the reference books in the British Library and also in the science museum but I could only find articles written about marsh gas appearing in this way. While I was in London I went to a street in Soho to a shop that sold all kinds of things magical. The shopkeeper then told me about a new most powerful Wizard who had settled in London. This Wizard had come from abroad and asked the shopkeeper where he could buy sheet lead. It seemed that he wanted to build himself a shelter and lead would keep all penetrating rays from his person. There are not many places now in London where sheet lead was sold and I soon found the factory where he had bought his lead. I hurried back to Dartford and went into the woods along the Dartford Heath. There were no bubbles to be seen, as all the Fairies were safe in their winter retreat under the Himalayan Mountains. A friendly Robin took a message for me to Her Majesty and once more I was transported to Her Majesties garden.

I told Her Majesty of the new Wizard and of his buying lead that did not allow the magic rays to pass through his walls. This is why Her Majesty had not discovered him with her magic mirror. Her Majesty took out her magic mirror and waved her wand over it. Looking again in the mirror Her Majesty now saw the Wizard her magic penetrated through the walls of lead and she saw a tall man with a long pointed black hat on his head. He was dressed in a long black robe that had a new moon and many gold stars on it. He was looking through a very old book. In one corner of the room was a cage and in the cage was a fairy. The Wizard had somehow managed to catch a fairy and held her prisoner in his house. The Fairy Looked very miserable and I could see why. In a large crystal ball she saw one of the wise old Fairies wearing her gas mask. She was looking for herbs and took no notice of the large bubbles that burst near her.

The Queen Feeanna then took me to her cellar I had never been in this room before here she took from a wall cupboard a large black book similar to the one the Wizard was using. Turning the pages she stopped and a smile appeared on her face. “This is just the thing I want.” she said. Speaking in the old language she cast a spell. I myself was looking in the magic mirror and saw first the Fairy disappear and then the Wizard turned into a large bubble. This bubble Her Majesty took with magic and cast it out into the North Sea. If you are any where on the coast and a horrible smell comes onto the land you will know that it is the Wizard. At the same time the Fairy that had been imprisoned in the Wizards house, appeared in front of Her Majesty Queen Feeanna. She curtsied first to the Queen and then to me. Speaking in the old tongue she explained to Her Majesty that the Wizard had caught her in one such bubble and that she fell asleep when she awoke she was in a cage in the Wizards home. Her Majesty thanked me for my help and after the familiar way of Fairy travel I found myself back in my home where I made myself a large cup of sweet hot tea and thought about all I had seen and done on that day of the bubbles.

There are no more bubbles now and the Fairies are back doing what they like to do most, painting flowers and dancing and singing. This is a true story that I have with Her Majesties Permission written down for you all to read.

Page sixteen.