These, and the last couple of fairy tales I've been posting, are for a comilation entitled, "Ordinary Tales of Extraordinary Nature." Of late, I have been annoyed at the lack of good fantasy in the writing sphere of today (excluding AP, of course!), so these little stories are my response to the listless and dark fantasies you find in a bookstore. My tales, like E. Nesbit's short fairy stories, may or may not have a moral; however, I wouldn't wish my morals to be apparent, for when I was a child, I hated when someone was trying to teach me something. (All I wanted was a good story!) So I coined the phrase: 'unconcious morals', which are morals that are almost completely hidden, and yet effect the entire story as well as the reader. This one, by the way, is just about believing in things that may not be true, like fairies, but will make life so much sweeter and adventurous.

~~~~

  So you’d like to hear a story, little one? All right, all right now. Let’s see what I can think of… well, when I was younger, I had a hankering to read fairy tales and such. All of the books about the wee folk I got from the library, I had just about read three times each! I never seemed to get tired of them- but faith! I never believed in them fair folk while I was reading those books; it was all just a happy lark to me- but then, there was that night. Oh dear, am I getting ahead of myself in my story! Anyway, my sister Ally always told that they were real. She would go on and tell all kinds of tales of how she had seen fairies and their little horsies. You know little sisters. Even though I loved to listen, I never failed to tell her that there was no such thing as fairies. You can’t lose your touch with your sister, because if you do, she’ll take advantage of you.

  Every year, Ally and I would go to my Uncle’s house in Northern Canada for the summer break. But this summer was very different from all the others. I was fourteen, and what a tall and handsome lad I thought myself! That year, I had this notion that I was Natty Bumpo from The Deerslayer, so I was constantly going into the woods alone.
I was trying to go out and ‘survive’  in the forest- using survival techniques that I had read in books and magazines. Somehow, I thought that this proved I was a manly sort of fellow. I made a sort of Indian costume that was a strange assortment of old leather objects. Personally, I thought it looked quite good on me, but as I look back, it probably made me look like a madman. I even made myself a long rifle out of a bunch of sticks!

  One particularly sunny morning, I set out nice and early. I had with me my trusty gun, a dull knife, and my leather coat. Generally, I had found my own way using old trails on previous mornings, but this morning, I had an urge to blaze a new trail. Before this, I had often hatched stupid plans, but this one was the most absurd by far. Each time my Uncle had taken me into the forest, he always told me to stick to the trails. Picking a spot that looked favorable, I pulled out my knife and marked a tree as my starting point. Full of courage, I stepped off the path and ventured along my new trail. As I went, I cut little cuts in every few trees so that I would be able to find my way back.
  It was around lunchtime that I stopped and took a bit to eat from my knapsack. Usually, when I had my lunch, the wild creatures that lived in the woods left me alone. But this time, a strange type of cat that I had never seen before wandered around the clearing in which I was resting. I should have tried to scare it away, but its appearance was so fascinating that I just sat there and stared at it in amazement. It was the size of a lynx, but its coat was a strange color, a very muted green. It showed no signs of aggression, so I assumed I had nothing to fear from it. When the cat began to purr, I was astonished to find that it sounded very much like the ringing of bells! This unusual cat stayed on the borders of the clearing before me, sometimes sitting down to watch me, but mostly pacing back and forth, purring amiably and not bothering me in the least. However, I was alarmed to see that several other creatures came up behind the cat and began to fill the clearing with their numbers.

  I took a few short moments to look at those bizarre creatures of innumerable descriptions, then took off in the opposite direction without stopping to gather my things. I don’t know how long I was running, but suddenly I found myself in another clearing. The sun was going down, even though it wasn’t even two in the afternoon. I watched the sun set so fast and as night fell. Soon the glade I was standing in was bathed in moonlight. I tried to locate the North star so that I could get my bearings, but found that the stars were in entirely different order! There were no constellations, only evenly spaced stars that twinkled as never before. Even the moon looked strangely different. Then, a strange green, blue and purple light swept through the glade. All was silent- I didn’t even hear a cricket!
  Several gold and silver lights appeared around me and began to swirl and dance about. I was terrified. Suddenly, all of those lights started to grow and grow. Those swelling lights landed on the ground and turned into wee little folks. The golden lights were now little girls with yellow curly and bells on their shoes. The silver lights were boys with silver suits crafted out of leaves.

  One boy stopped and looked up at me.
  “Can’t ye dance, day child?”
  I couldn’t say anything because I was so surprised at this. I looked down at that fairy boy, and tried to think of something to say. It was then that I first that fairy music… oh, how sweet it was! It was unlike any other I had ever heard before, and I don’t believe I will ever hear any quite like it again. This music had a way of making your toes tap; it made you sway to and fro like a tree in a storm. Before I could say anything back to the boy, I was dancing like I never imagined I could! My feet, they went so fast! Those fairy children followed me as I began to spin and twirl about the glade. Every move I made seemed to be perfectly conformed to the rhythm of the music- I made no mistakes!
  As I danced, the glade filled with those creatures that I had run from earlier, and many more besides. There were unicorns, gryphons, elves, and even dragon. All moved with the music, all danced with me. The little golden and silver children began to sing, and all of us followed. I had never heard the songs before, but I sang all the words and never missed a note! There was I, one who had never believed in fairies, in the midst of a throng of mythical creatures, dancing and singing under a strange night sky!

  How long I danced, I don’t know. But when I awoke, I was sitting on the old trader’s trail on which I had begun. I leapt up and tried to search for that tree I had marked as the beginning of my trail, but I couldn’t find it for the life of me! I had with me all the things that I left behind, and it would have been as if I had never set foot on my trail except for the strange fact that it was morning. My Uncle and several men found me on the trader’s trail a few minutes after I woke up. When I got back home, I found that a whole day had passed since I had left it last.
  For days afterwards, I tried to dance as I had in that enchanted glade. My attempts sadly ended with me stumbling over my own feet. Likewise, I endeavored to remember the words to the fairy songs. This too ended in failure. Was it all just a dream? I don’t think so, because I found a small flute in my pocket the day I returned. It was silver, and had this carved on it:

To the day-child, who could dance after all.

  You don’t believe me? Ask me to show it to you someday- it is the only instrument I can play without skipping a note.