I love this little garden. It’s a very small bright blue bonsai garden, with the land and water feature….simple, with a fairy on a leaf, with the garden’s treasure, a hanging candle for night light, and Timothy, the Toad, is sitting on a boulder in the bonsai pond. Sweet garden! xoxo
Helene was just a young little girl…maybe around 8 or 9 years old. Her parents, Harold and Veronica could always spot their little girl from a distance; her halo of white/blonde curls seemed to radiate a wee golden cloud above her head. This is not to say they ever let her wander from them, but should they pass by her school playground, that gold cloud was always glowing like a yellow diamond dust mist. Helene, aside from being so pretty, was a very good girl who loved nature and animals; after all they’re all the same she would say. Often, her mother would find her petting a garden snail or talking to a lizard. Their gardens were full of these wonderful creatures of nature and you can be sure that Helene had given a name to every single one. She did have a favorite, Geoffrey. Actually, his full name was Geoffrey of Greenwood, since they lived in the village called Greenwood. He was a frog and a mighty handsome one! Helene and Geoffrey would spend many happy hours playing side by side, alongside the creek that ran next to the edge of the forest.
One day, Helene was lying on her back, counting all the tiny little clouds that were passing by. Today they were like little puffs of cotton, so there were many to count! Geoffrey was on his back too – counting flying bugs. “Helene, do you believe in fairies?” Helene turned her head and grinned. “Geoffrey! Everyone knows there’s no such thing as fairies. Don’t you know that?” Geoffrey looked up at the sky and continued the counting of the bugs. A minute or two went by, and Geoffrey jumped up and looked down at Helene. “Come! Follow me! I want to show you something in the forest.” “Hmmmmm”, Helene murmured. She wasn’t allowed in the forest, but she just knew if her parents knew Geoffrey, it would be OK. He was the nicest and sweetest person…uh…frog she had ever met! “Oh…OK, but only for a minute!” “Yay!” said Geoffrey. “Let’s go!”.
The woods were sort of dark, with just a little sunlight slipping through the spindly branches that had woven together. It seemed like she had walked forever, while Geoffrey jumped forever. Yet, he never jumped too far ahead of Helene, for fear she would become frightened. He knew there was nothing to be feared in this forest, for it was The Forest of Fairies and this family of fairies loved humans and nature just as much as Helene did. They just needed to guard their secret with a dark entrance to the forest because so many humans thought fairies were bad and did bad things. Well, that may be of some, but not these. Geoffrey prided himself on associating only with the best of the best; whether it be man, beast, flowers or bees!
“We’re here”, he proclaimed, as he jumped and plopped himself (Indian style) in the middle of a beautiful, yet small, enchanting meadow that appeared to have a spotlight on it, straight from the sun! Sweet little flowers of every color imaginable were everywhere! “Oh Geoffrey!” Helene squealed with delight, “It is perfect!” Helene skipped over to Geoffrey and, being the little lady she was, sat down and fluffed out her dress, like she had been taught. “What is this place?” Geoffrey leaned towards her and winked. “It’s The Forest of The Fairies.” Her eyes grew big and her mouth opened, but nothing came out; for approaching her was a beyond belief fairy, atop a pink cloud that had somehow dropped from the sky above and become a cloud something or other. Helene couldn’t speak and just stared. The fairy was in lavender, which perfectly matched the pink cloud. It was a lady fairy and she was about 4 inches tall, with flowing black hair and the bluest eyes anyone ever saw! “Whoa, ” said the fairy in a teensy tiny voice to the cloud. Stopping right at Helene’s feet, the fairy said, “I’m so happy to finally meet you after all this time.” Helene just sat there staring. She knew she should curtsy, or say something, but she couldn’t move. The fairy just smiled and said, “I know you’re a little surprised. It’s perfectly normal! You haven’t believed in fairies, but you do believe in something far more wonderful.” Helene finally found her voice. “What’s that?” Stepping a little closer, the fairy said, “You believe in and care about animals…all of nature!” Gently placing her hand on Helene’s cheek (it was so tiny it felt like a little feather), the fairy said, “I am the Queen of The Forest of Fairies. Ever since Geoffrey was barely still a tadpole, he would swim back to us and tell about you and your friends of the Earth. If Geoffrey approved of you, we knew you were special indeed.” Then she flitted down onto Helene’s knee and curtsied. “I am Queen Lavender Lily”. Helene giggled, “I’m Helene.” Queen Lavender smiled and said, “Helene, from this day forward you shall be known as Helene of The Clouds.” Stepping aside, Queen Lavender introduced Helene to the pink cloud. She said, “This is Pink of The Sky and he shall be your companion from this day forward. Should you ever need to move quickly from one place to another, all you have to do is clap your hands three times and he will be at your side.”
Helene was just so excited! Geoffrey was very touched by the Queen’s gestures and words extended to Helene. In a distance, Helene heard her mother calling for her. “Oh, I have to go! I am so pleased to have met you, Queen Lavender!” “I am as well, my dear. Please take Pink of The Sky with you and he’ll see you get to your mother quickly.” “TaTa my dear Helene – we will see each other again.” With those words, the Queen floated upwards and disappeared.
“Oh my”, exclaimed Helene as she found herself walking up to her mother in the kitchen of their house! (Gosh, Pink of The Sky is fast!) She ran to the window just in time to see Pink disappear. (Pink for short).
“Did you have a good day, Helene? I was worried when I didn’t see you in the back yard. But I’m happy to see you. Where did you go for those five minutes?” “Five minutes?” Helene looked at her mother. She thought to herself it had to be more than five minutes. “Yes, Honey. It was 4:00 when you went out and it’s 4:05 now”. Helene looked at her mother and said, “Dear Mother, I was thinking about how wonderful this world really is.” Helene’s mother looked at her and said, “Yes, darling it is.” Then they both looked through the window at the sky.
A few years back, I traveled to western Massachusetts with a friend and we stayed with a family member, who has a lovely little house on the top of a mountain. It was a small mountain, yet had the same twists and roller coaster curves that the largest of mountains have. We actually visited numerous times over the next three years and every time I was there, I felt at peace, almost like I belonged there. Of course, I always feel that way when I’m in mountains and forests. Perhaps in a past lifetime? Who knows.
The point of this is that this mountain brought out the dreamer in me…the dreamer that had been gone for so long. What happened is that our host had two nieces who were very much like little wood nymphs. One was three and the other four. The back of the property was raised so that if you threw a ball to the back, it would roll back down toward you. It had rained for several days; so much that water had accumulated in the back and was running down into the yard through a tiny little groove in the grass. It was maybe two inches wide. The girls and I would sit by the stream and I taught them all they needed to know about fairies (at least for that day). We made little rafts out of large oak leaves and launched them at the top of the hilly back yard and laugh with delight as they made their way down the stream. We talked about how this was a major source of transportation for the mountain and meadow fairies who came out at night to dance and play. Oh, these girls were hanging on to every word. I felt such joy sharing these fairy secrets with them and watching their eyes grow large with wonder!
Every time we returned to the mountain, the girls were there waiting to grab my hand and drag me into the back yard to see the stream and fairies in the meadow. I suppose the point of this is to say try to remember and share those secrets and memories with little ones as often as you can.
Please and thank you! ♥
Fairies of The Earth 