A Fairy Story by James Gerard (100 books to read in a lifetime TXT) 📕

 Then, from the opposite direction, another sense of joy was felt.  But, at the same time, another feeling of hurt and pain was felt as well.  Both were calling to his heart too, but for what he did not know.

 “What is happening my Father?  What do I do?”

 The answer did not come.

 Foster, with the loving bunnies and mice, all the luscious trees and plants and flowers and grass all around him knew he had a choice to make: For his Creator made him to make that choice.

 But what he would choose, he did not know.

 In the meantime he stood there with his heart being torn in every direction.

With eyes locked onto the ground, Foster smiled sweetly and touched his hands against a heart that was overwhelmed with warmth.   “What is that feeling?” he wondered aloud.

 The sensation of joy was nothing new.  The feeling had been with him since he had born into the barren land.  The feeling had grown stronger after the new garden creation had sprouted up with the touch of a hand.  Now, nearly of third of way through the spring season, the feeling was intense.  It not only tickled his thoughts but brought an overwhelming happiness to both heart and soul.

 For the first time Foster truly, truly believed he was not alone in the world: For he suspected it could only be his fairy brothers and sisters that were tugging at his heart, calling out to join them.

 Whatever the source of the feeling, Foster was now sure of its location.

 Beautiful brown eyes stared in the direction of the rising sun.  Like the light of brilliant beams peaking over the horizon and lighting up the beautiful blue sky, a joy breaching the top of a rolling hill in the distance made its presence known.

 “Father, what do I do?”

 “What would you choose to do my child?” the voice rumbled.

 “There is joy Father,” Foster said then pointed, “there, over there.  I want to find out what the joy is.”

 “You want to find out what the joy is my child?” the voice replied.

 “Yes Father.”

 “What do you think the joy is my child?”

 “I believe it is my fairy brothers and sisters Father, but I cannot be sure.”

 “How can you know that which you have not seen my child?”

 “I do not know my Father.  I just...I just have a feeling.”

 “Then my child if you choose to, just follow your heart.  Seek out that which you find joy.”

 Foster’s wings fluttered furiously.  Feet off the ground, he hovered and looked to the rising sun.  “I will my Father.”

 Foster rocketed high into the crystal blue sky and stared down at the oak and maple and pine and cedar and mighty trees of all kinds.  The sea with sunbeams glinting off the top of swells sweeping to the shore was a majestic sight.

 Then something suddenly moved.  Foster froze in the air and focused on the spot where something mysteriously was lurking about.

 “Who is that?” Foster asked as the silhouette of a figure walking up to the top of the rolling hill was spotted.

 Excitement raced along with him as he jetted toward the figure.

 All of a sudden the mysterious figure was recognized.   Flapping his wings furiously in reverse, Foster came to a sudden stop and landed with a thud on a sturdy branch of an elm tree.  The mysterious figure was now hidden by the hill.

 “My Father, could that have been a human…a human being?” he gasped while staring at the top of the rolling hill.

 Foster was confused.  The thought of his fairy friends frolicking about the other side of the hill was a fake feeling.  And while he did not know humans, he somehow knew to use caution.

 The feeling to flee came to mind but then his Father’s advice to follow the heart came into the thoughts.

 Foster watched as the human, a woman as he could see, appeared at the top of the rolling hill.  “Oh no,” he gasped as the human fell to her knees.

 Thinking something was terribly wrong Foster went soaring toward the human woman.

 “Huh?” Foster said in surprise as the image of a little human child secured in the arms of the human mother pointed and laughed in his direction.  All of a sudden a funny feeling tickled his mind.  Without fear Foster glided to the human mother and child.

 “Oh please forgive us,” the human woman cried.

 Confused, Foster hovered in front of her face and asked, “For what?”

 “I can hear your words,” the human woman said.

 Confused again, Foster asked, “What do you think you should hear?”

 “My elders say that fairies have the voices of bells.”

 “I do not know about that.  Now please tell me why you seek forgiveness.”

 “For what we did to the fairy kingdom of course,” the woman answered.

 Foster was not sure what she was talking about.  “For what you did to the fairy kingdom?” he quizzically asked.  “What do you mean by that?”

 “Why, why what our king did to the fairy kingdom.”

 “What your king did to the fairy kingdom,” responded Foster.  “For what did he do?”

 “Well, where do I begin,” the woman said while setting her child down.  She wiped the tears from her eyes and continued.  “According to the elders we once lived peacefully and freely cooperated with the fairy kingdom.”

 “We did…I mean you did?”

 “Yes,” the woman continued, “but we were separate, each of the kingdoms having their responsibility to the other.  But then one day a man rose up amongst us.  The elders say his voice was as an innocent chick chirping a terrific tune on a soothing springtime morn.  They say his eyes were as sparkling sapphires of green and gold and his smile as bright as the brightest beam of sunlight.”

 “Was the man a good man?” asked Foster.

 “Oh no,” the human woman gasped.  “On the contrary, he was very, very bad.  The elders say he charmed his way into the hearts of our human ancestors.  He told them of a better future, a future by which the human and fairy kingdoms would come and live together in peaceful harmony.  Humans and fairies would plan together the sowing of such delicious new foods.  We would work together to harvest bounty of fruits and vegetable and cotton and wool.  Together we would work the mighty nets and bring in the fish of the sea.  The elders say that this man, a man who would take the place of a king that the man said was old and feeble, would create a better future where happiness and joy would abound.”

 The woman suddenly jumped up and ran towards her daughter who had scampered down the hill.

 Foster looked at the young child and asked, “Why is she laughing?”

 “The elders say it is because the Creator has come back into our lives.”

 “Do you mean our Father?”

 “Yes.  You see Lillian—”

 “Lillian?  Iis that her name?”

 “It is, but my husband and I call her Lilly.”

 Foster looked at her and smiled: “Ah!  She is the joy that I am seeking.”

 “Joy!” the mother said.

 “Yes.  I felt a tremendous joy and it is your daughter Lilly.  She is the one that brought me here today.”

 “Strange,” the woman said.  “The elders said that her joy would bring about a change.”

 “I do not understand.”

 “The elders say that after the new king had come back to our land and had us grow and eat the new and strange food, everyone became very fat.  They could not get enough to eat.  They then became very—”

 “Sickly,” Foster piped in.

 “Yes.  My ancestors became very angry; for they knew the blame for this fell on our new king.  They went to dethrone him, but without a clue of where he went he abandoned us.  Then, soon after, our ancestral lands,” the woman pointed to the new garden creation, “became barren for all the filth our new human king had brought to us.  Most of my ancestors perished despite doing all they could do to survive.”

 “How have you survived all these years?” asked Foster.

 “We became a people who fished the seas: For all we could do on the land near the shore of the sea is grow meager amounts of fruits and vegetables, but it is the sea that provides our meat.”

 Foster heard the sadness in the young human mother’s voice and could see how they must have suffered.  Then he looked at Lilly and asked, “But what about the child?  How can joy live in a heart where joy has never been known?”

 “Ah,” laughed the human mother, “that is a good question.  I tell you that when Lilly was born she was like all other children born into the world.  She had no joy.  She often cried.  Then, when she began to crawl she would crawl away crying towards the top of this rolling hill and—”

 “But where did the joy come from?” Foster asked excitedly.

 “Well,” the human mother continued, “one day, after she learned to walk, she went walking up towards the top of this rolling hill.  I went running after her but before I reached her my Lilly looked up in the sky and laughed.”

 “What did she see in the sky?”

 “I do not know.  All I know is that I went running to the elders to ask what the laughter meant.  The elders say that it is the first time laughter had been heard for thousands and thousands of seasons.  They say it was a sign, a sign that our Creator, our Father had heard our petitions and returned to us. Soon after my Lilly laughed our lands were clear of the foul smells, the water tainted by the cruel hands of the once evil king refreshed.  And now look,” the woman laughed, “our ancestral lands have been restored.”

 “Yes,” Foster gasped while holding back a tear.  “It is because of Lilly that I was born.  Somehow she saw something that none other could see; a sight that only could have been created by our Father.  It has been through her that our Father has returned.”

 “Yes,” the human woman sobbed.  “Our elders say ‘that through the hearts of the innocent our Creator hears the pleas of the suffering.’”

 All of a sudden Lilly broke away from her mother and started running down the hill.

 “Wait!” shouted Foster and went flying after her.  “Let her run to where she is running too.  I have a feeling that she too is searching for something.”

 Lilly went giggling into the garden creation, the land that once was the humans' ancestral home.

 Lilly’s mother followed close behind while Foster flew backwards taking in the utter joy of Lilly’s lovely eyes and soft smile.  Unexpectedly she stopped and began to cry.

 “What is wrong my darling?” the human mother asked.

 Lilly fell and clawed at the soil.

 “She must be looking for something, but what?” the human mother asked.

 “What has been lost has been found,” a voice whispered in Foster’s ear.

 As he watched mother and daughter dig up the soggy soil Foster began to weep.   Deep pain and hurt began to ache in his heart.  Foster looked up to the bright blue crystal sky and said, “Yes my Father.  I now know.”

 As Lilly and her mother continued to dig Foster floated down and hovered before them.  “I cannot explain, but I must go.”

 “Where to?” the human mother asked.

 Foster looked to the land