Fairies And Elves.

Fairies and Elves everywhere I look,
some are in my old picture book.
Others I see in my garden at night,
having great fun by the moon’s own light.
This is my secret not a soul will I tell,
for I have been blessed with a fairy spell.
The Fairy Queen herself gave me a charm,
to guard and keep me from all harm.
Do you too see Fairies and elves at night,
are you too filled with strange delight?
There are people I know that do not believe,
in Fairies and Elves for this I often grieve.
For years I have been privileged to view,
sweet Fairy dreams, that are seen but by a few.
I would take you to visit the Fairies if I could,
but non-believers are like blocks of wood.
I will keep my fairies and Elves all to myself,
for I consider them as part of my wealth.

Angry Birds.

There is trouble in Fairyland. The birds have complained to the Fairy Queen Feeana that their nests are being robbed. Some of the nests have been cleared of eggs altogether. This was a very serious matter and the Fairy Queen asked the Owls in Fairyland to keep a look out for the egg thieves.

Owls as we all know are very intelligent birds with very large eyes that always seem to be open both by night and by day. The Owls were highly honoured at being selected by the Fairy Queen Feeana to find the egg thieves.

 Owls can sit for long periods without moving their heads; they just move their large round eyes. They see everything that goes on in the forests and woods of Fairyland. They did not have to wait long. The young Fairy Boys were the egg thieves. They stole not because they were hungry. No one in Fairyland can go hungry food is provided for all of the fairy folk. They were very mischievous as most Fairy children are.

Too make sure that it was just the Fairy Boys that were taking the eggs the Owls waited one long week before making their report to the Fairy Queen Feeana. The Oldest and most clever of all the Owls flew quietly as only an Owl can fly direct to the Fairy Queen. He made his report to her Majesty and flew back to his favourite tree where he made himself comfortable for the rest of the day.

The Fairy Queen Feeanna called all of the birds and the Fairies to a meeting. The Fairy boys were given a short sharp telling off by the Queen who then told them that they would be punished for this most terrible of crimes. The punishment was so severe that the Fairy boys bitterly complained. They were only having some fun and did not mean to hurt the birds. The Fairy Queen Feeanna told them that for one whole year they would not be able to fly. It was a very harsh punishment but the Fairy Boys learnt a lesson. In future they would be very careful of robbing birds nests just to throw the eggs at each other.

For one whole year all the Fairy Boys had to walk everywhere that they went. No friendly bird to give them a lift through the air. Even the small jobs of work they had to do, without the use of their wings.

Fairy Ball.

I seem to have Fairies on my old brain,

They come to visit me again and again.

I have told you about the Fairy Queen,

And all the strange things I have seen.

My eyes they are always open real wide,

Why! I have even seen Fairies having a slide.

really the most amazing thing of all,

Took place at the yearly Fairy Ball.

Imps came in riding on newts,

All were dressed in bright green suits.

Even the oldest Leprechaun of all,

Came rather late to the Fairy ball.

Trolls arrived from the Scandinavian lands,

each carrying some gold South African rands.

Fire-flies lit up the green forest floor,

Dances were danced without a single flaw.

The orchestra consisted of a hundred Gnomes,

All were playing music on some weird trombones.

Conducting them all was a very young Elf,

Most of the time he was speaking to himself.

I used a video camera to record it all,

these strange goings on at the Fairy Ball.

I then played the Video on my television,

It was you know a real poor transmission.

I had only recorded one good scene,

Where a toad kissed the Fairy Queen.

Attic Secrets.

It was dusty up in the attic no one had been up there in years. Pieces of old furniture, boxes and rolls of linoleum. In one corner there were piled on top of one another four very old looking sea trunks. The bottom one was beginning to break apart from the weight of the other three chests. On one side of the attic were clothes hanging on a piece of pipe that had been fixed between two roof struts.

In the roof at some time or another a ceiling type of window had been fixed in place this let in just enough light so that one could see what was in the attic. It took a few minutes until my eyes became used to the darkness.  I had wanted to clean the attic for years but had never gotten around to doing so. I decided to go downstairs to get a hand lamp you know a lamp that one plugs into a socket with a plug then a long cable and then the lamp.

Coming back up the stairs I plugged in the lamp and shone the light around in the attic. It was as I have described but there was one exception. The walls did not seem as long as the house. This could not be. I walked the length of the attic and then realised that a wall had been built partitioning the room into two separate parts. I must admit I was intrigued my house had a secret room.

It took me nearly an hour to find the door to the second room. It had been very carefully built and I could see no cracks or crevices that would let me see its outline. Then I felt rather that saw it a small piece of brick that jutted out of the wall by about a quarter of an inch. I pressed this and a small opening appeared with a deep groaning sound it had obviously not been opened in a very long time.

I pushed my lamp through the opening and ducked my head to get through the small door. The room was not very big but there was a bed and a table with two chairs and a cupboard. The room was covered in dust but someone at some time or another very carefully made the bed. I stood and moved the lamp to lighten up each corner of the room. Then I went to the cupboard and opened it wide. Inside were a number of books that were very old.

I opened the books one after another. I was disappointed as all of the books were written in Latin. I myself am no scholar but we had a Library in town and I knew the Librarian could speak and read this language. It was as I was going to leave the cupboard that I noticed a fragment of paper. I gently pulled on the paper and a small hidden drawer opened. In the drawer were two pieces of jewellery it looked very old. I carefully placed them with the piece of paper in my pocket and left the secret room. I would look it over more thoroughly at another time.

In the open attic I looked around quickly then decided to go and make myself a cup of tea before I did anything else. The dusty attic had somehow made me thirsty and the Jewellery well I was just being nosy. I made my tea and took the piece of paper out of my pocket and the two brooches. In the daylight of my modern Kitchen I could see clearly that there was some writing on the paper. The writing was very small and looked as if it had been written by a child.

I took my magnifying glass from the drawer and looked carefully at the writing. The little note was from a Fairy child that had been held prisoner in the old house and the Jewellery was for the person or persons that would take a message to the Fairy Queen and tell her that the Fairy had been turned into a picture that was hidden in one of the trunks in the attic.

I read and reread the message a few times and decided to go into the Forest and place the whole matter in the most capable hands of Queen Feeana. I placed the scrap of paper with the childish hand writing in my pocket with the two brooches and went off to the woods. I met a Fairy and told her that I must see Her Majesty as soon as possible because I just knew that some harm had been done to a Fairy. The Fairy whispered to a sparrow that flew off immediately. Then with a flash of light and a small whiff of smoke her Majesty Feeana appeared. I showed Her Majesty the note and the two brooches. The brooches she recognised they had once belonged to her grandmother who had given them to a Fairy for her help in some matter of state.

Taking my hand the Queen spoke in the old language and we were both up in my old attic. I opened the first trunk but there were just old clothes in it. Try the bottom one. Her majesty had spoken in my mind in picture form. I pushed the other two trunks on one side then opened with a piece of iron the trunk that was falling to pieces. Inside were many interesting things to be seen but we both only had eyes for a picture.

Then we saw the picture it was a silver frame with a small Fairy posing as if for her photograph to be taken. Her Majesty waved her wand and out of the picture stepped the Fairy. She curtsied to the Queen and smiled at me. Then she told her story, while painting the flowers in the springtime of, human reckoning, eight hundred and ten she had been so engrossed in her work that she had not seen the Witch that cast a spell on her and took her home to her house.

For hundreds of years she was the captive and servant to the Witch. One day the witch fell ill and this gave the fairy the opportunity to write the small note and get into the picture. As the Witch got better she thought that the Fairy had taken advantage and run away from her. She did not even look at the picture but threw it into the old trunk. It has been taken from one house to another right down through the years. No one had opened it and no one had found the clues of the brooches and the paper in the secret drawer until I became nosy and looked through the attic.

The Fairy was taken back to the Forest and was welcomed by all of the little folk. A big feast was held and the celebrations lasted three whole days and night. The brooches are still in my possession. The attic is now a modern flat I had the builders in to renovate the house and to build a flat up in the attic.

The Witch died at the time of the pest that ran through Europe all her spells could not save her. The Fairy is happy with all of her friends the Little Folk. I did hear that she was soon to be married to her Fairy boy friend that had never forgotten her all through the years.

Fairy Children.

I was asked to look after some fairy children for a while,

On hearing this, my old face began to happily smile.

What an honour for a grey haired elderly man like me,

to have fairy children sitting on his weak old knee.

I did not have to wipe away any tears,

For the fairy children know no fears.

We watched a pair of dragonflies,

Dancing an age-old dance in the skies.

Butterflies with colours so delicate so bright,

Was for us all a most beautiful sight.

We gazed at them for hours so it seemed,

Their wonderful wings in the sunlight gleamed.

Suddenly way up high in the sky,

An aeroplane went flying by,

The fairy children had never seen one before,

My feeble attempts to explain it were very poor.

How could I tell children born with wings,

That man has to fly with mechanical things.

The fairy children have made my day,

I was sorry when the fairies took them away.

Now on my old face there is quite a smile,

For the fairy children did me beguile,

I hope that I may look after them once more,

For the fairies trust me, Bernard Shaw.

Balloon Story.

Way back last summer the fairies found a small parcel of balloons. The balloons were assorted into different sizes and colours. Never having seen balloons before they waited until I went into the woods of Fairyland on Dartford Heath and excitedly showed me the packet that they had found. I spent a few minutes blowing some of the balloons up and tied some string on to them so that the fairies could carry them. Johnfee was a little smarter than the other fairies and blew up a dozen or more of the balloons and soon he was floating above the ground. On seeing this the other fairies wanted to have more balloons so that they too could float in the air.

All went well until Johnfee added another balloon to the ones he already had tied together with string. Up into the air went Johnfee and screamed with delight. At that moment a gust of wind caught his balloons and away he went. I called out to him to let the balloons go and fly back down to earth. Johnfee either did not hear my calling or he did not want to and away he went. I followed him with my eyes until he was out of sight. I did not see Johnfee for two whole weeks then he came back home and told me this little story.

The wind carried him way up high and he was afraid to let go of the strings holding the balloons together. He passed over the River Thames on into Essex. Here the balloons were attacked by a bunch of crows. The crows attacked one after the other and as each balloon was punctured by the crow’s beaks the balloons with Johnfee got lower and lower. On the last attack Johnfee let go of the last string and flew down to one of the trees that stretched out below him. In the tree he watched the crows attack the last balloon then they flew off making some very weird sounds as only crows can make. Johnfee flew down to the ground and started to look for any fairies that might live in this part of Essex.

Johnfee was out of luck the local fairies were all at Southend at the seaside they would not be back for another week. Johnfee watched a couple of birds building a nest and decided he would help them so that he too could build himself a nest high in one of the trees. The Wrens were not surprised at Johnfee’s helping them build a nest it seemed only natural for him to help. Soon the two Wrens had a comfortable nest finished and as Johnfee started to build his nest the two wrens helped him. Johnfee had only to bring them enough twigs and hay and in no time a nest big enough for Johnfee was ready. Johnfee thanked the two wrens who then flew off to their own nest.

Food was no real problem the woods were full of brambles with large ripe blackberries. Strawberries were to be had one just had to look a little harder some bees invited Johnfee to help himself to some of their honey it is a good honey year and Johnfee had no hesitation to eat of that wonderful sweet honey that the bees so generously gave him. Water was plentiful as there was a stream running through that part of the woods. Johnfee got to know all of the local animals; the deer came to him proudly showing their young. Badgers grunted friendly greetings, the stoats and weasels always perked up their heads and gave off low whistles, all in all, Johnfee had a good time in this part of Fairyland.

The birds warned Johnfee whenever there were humans in the woods or if any other dangers threatened. Back Home I talked to Her Majesty about Johnfee’s leaving us by means of the balloons. Her Majesty took out her magic mirror and saw that Johnfee was all right and decided to leave him where he was until the Essex fairies came back from their holiday. The Essex fairies came home and were quite surprised to see Johnfee but when they saw his nest high in the trees and Johnfee told them about the bees giving him some of their honey they were all in agreement that Johnfee was quite a hero. The Essex fairies held a going away party and dance in honour of Johnfee and right on the stroke of midnight Johnfee was back home in his own little bed. The Essex fairies had used magic to send him safely back to his own people. Johnfee was all the talk of our part of Fairyland for about a week then all of the fuss died down and things went on as they usually did.

next page