AN UNFORTUNATE EVENT
The sun rose gently over the late summer meadow. Most flowers were still in a deep slumber with their petals wrapped tightly around them. But in just a few hours, the meadow would be transformed from a sea of sparkling dew-drops to an ocean bursting with colour and vibrating with the buzzing of bees, the fluttering of butterflies and the crickety-crick of grasshoppers and other insects.
A ray of sun tickled Starflower’s nose. She stretched her slender arms and legs, while shaking the morning dew off her wings. Her body was a translucent shade of pale pinks and blues, flowing through her like misty clouds. Starflower had spent the night sleeping on the leaf of a foxglove. Her mother, Meliantha, and father, Trillium, were sleeping on the leaf next to her.
Starflower and her parents are Meadow Fairies. These are small and delicate creatures, no bigger than a large butterfly. They have crystalline, shimmering bodies and wings, reflecting the colour of the sky and flowers around them – ever changing and always partly invisible, like a brilliant reflection of light on rippling water. They can also become invisible at will or change only the colour of their wings, to look like butterflies, which makes them incredibly difficult to spy.
“It’s such a fine morning, Mother,” said Starflower, “can I go and play with Sundrop? Please, Mother, can I?” Meadow Fairies of all ages love to play, but especially the younger ones.
“Of course you can,” responded her mother, “but be back soon. We have to collect some nectar today. Summer is coming to an end and we need to make sure we gather enough nectar and honeydew for the colder months.”
“I will, Mother. See you later,” cried Starflower, who was already on her way to find her best friend Sundrop.
Meadow Fairy families live scattered across the entire meadow and change their sleeping places every night to avoid detection, but families that know each other well tend to stay fairly close together. Therefore, it didn’t take Starflower very long to find Sundrop and her family.
Sundrop enjoyed watching the sunrise and warming-up her wings in the sun while having a sip of fresh morning dew, unlike her friend Starflower, who was always out and about as soon as the sun stretched her first pale rays of light across the meadow.
“Good morning, Starflower,” called Sundrop. She had already seen Starflower fluttering towards her. “You are up early…as usual,” she added with a laugh that rang like crystal bells.
“Good morning!” Starflower smiled at her friend and her family. “Nothing like a refreshing flight through the morning mist! Let’s go, Sundrop. I’ve seen some wonderful spider webs on the way here.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing! Can I go, Mum, Dad?”
“Off you go,” said her father, Vervain, “but be sure to be back in time to collect nectar, you two!”
“We will.” The girls laughed in unison and fluttered away like dancing specks of light.
Now, you might wonder What’s so great about sticky spider webs? You see, for a Meadow Fairy, a spider web full of delicate drops of morning dew is a most exciting thing. If the morning sun shines on it at just the right angle, it creates a wonderful spectre of smaller and bigger rainbows, which is not only beautiful to behold, but also an amazing playground. Meadow Fairies can slide down such rainbows just like human children can on slides in the park. The really big rainbows you can see across the sky can only be used by leprechauns, of course.
Starflower and Sundrop were in luck. Even from a distance they could see the kaleidoscopic dance of the rainbows shimmering on the spider webs. Down they slid first one rainbow, then another, and another, until they were out of breath, and laughing with delight.
“Oh, be careful!” Sundrop called out to Starflower, who nearly caught her wings in the web as she was rushing to the next rainbow. Fortunately, she managed to change direction just in time. Meadow Fairies might be immortal, but they can still get injured, especially on their fragile wings.
Soon, though, there were not enough dew-drops left, and the sun had risen higher in the sky. The little fairy girls had now taken on the colour of a hazy yellow, with bright clouds of blue, violet, red and pink rushing through them as they fluttered past the colourful meadow flowers, which were slowly opening their faces to the warm morning sun.
“Let’s play Bouncy Petal,” cried Sundrop, and they flew from one flower to the next, bouncing on each blossom, shaking off the last of the dew-drops and giggling all the way. A particularly large drop landed on a grasshopper underneath. He didn’t look too pleased about this as he wiped the water off his wings.
“I’m so sorry,” called Starflower over her shoulder, but she was already too far away for the grasshopper to hear. They finally sat down on a large purple blossom of a monkshood plant and looked across the meadow.
“I guess it will be autumn soon,” said Sundrop. “Many flowers are losing their petals, and the grasses have turned more yellow than the bright, fresh green they used to be.”
“You’re right. The nights are getting colder now as well, and the days are so much shorter and don’t warm up so much anymore. I guess we better get back and help our parents with the nectar.”
Meadow Fairies don’t store any food or drink over the spring and summer. There are plenty of flowers for everyone to drink from, and all of them taste differently. Some are really sweet and others have a sour or bitter aftertaste, and some even sting a little bit on the tongue. The fairies also drink the fresh morning dew from the petals and leaves. For a special treat, they ask the bees for some meadow honey or they make spicy mead from the tiny seeds of meadow grasses. Towards the end of summer, however, Meadow Fairies start to store nectar for the cooler months, when the flowers have lost their blossoms and the meadow is slowly dying, just to return with renewed strength and colour the next year. During this time, they go into hibernation until spring, as they don’t care for the cold and wet weather. As soon as the last meadow flowers have died off, they join the Stone Fairies, who live in dry stone walls alongside fields and forests. They spend a few weeks in each other’s company, exchanging stories and wisdom from the elders, and celebrating their short union, until November Eve, when the Meadow Fairies withdraw to the most concealed and protected holes in the wall to hibernate. The Stone Fairies watch over them and enjoy the nectar and honeydew the Meadow Fairies have brought with them, always keeping some in spare for the Meadow Fairies to drink when they wake up again. It gives them strength for their journey back to their meadows.
Starflower and Sundrop found their parents, who were already busy collecting nectar from the flowers that were still in bloom.
“There you are!” called Meliantha. “We thought you had forgotten all about your chores today.”
There was a twinkling in her eyes and a smile on her lips. She had never been able to seriously be cross with her daughter. Who didn’t enjoy a bit of fun and play?
“We have already filled these corncockle blossoms,” said Sundrop’s mother, Merrybell, pointing at a number of funnel-shaped blossoms, neatly tied up with blades of meadow grass. “Can you take them to the burrow, please? But do be careful not to drop them!”
“Don’t worry, Mother, we will be careful,” said Sundrop, and both girls picked up a blossom and fluttered off to the burrow.
Meadow Fairies find an empty rabbit burrow or tunnel left behind by moles, rats or mice to gather together their food for the winter.
The closer the fairy girls got to the burrow, the busier the meadow got. Fairies fluttered towards it from all directions of the meadow, all now shimmering brightly in the midday sun. Everyone was so busy, Starflower and Sundrop had to wait a good while just to drop their blossoms off. Once they had entered the burrow, they were awestruck by the amount of nectar-filled blossoms around them.
“Look!” exclaimed Starflower. “The blossoms are stacked right up to the ceiling. And it smells so good…yummy! It’s making me really hungry. Let’s go and find some nectar for ourselves.”
“But we have to make at least two more trips just to drop off the blossoms our parents have already filled. We can’t just let them lie there.”
“Alright, alright. Let’s go then, but after that we eat and play Seek the Fairy.”
“Alright,” giggled Sundrop.
But there were so many blossoms to take to the burrow now that the girls didn’t have any time to play that day, nor the next one, or the day after that. The days were quickly getting shorter, colder and windier, and the fairies were all busy with the final preparations before they would join the Stone Fairies.
This is no fun at all, thought Starflower to herself one morning. I don’t want to spend the last days of summer carrying nectar to the burrow. Surely it won’t hurt if I go out to play for a bit? Just a couple of hours?
The morning was cool, and dark clouds were massing in the sky. It would be raining soon, but that didn’t stop Starflower. Off she fluttered across the meadow looking for a little adventure.
I’ll go and find Sundrop first, she thought. I’m sure she’d love to come as well.
She soon found Sundrop busy at work helping her parents. Sundrop was just about to set off with another petal filled with delicious nectar. Starflower followed her at a distance until they were out of her parent’s sight, then quickly caught up with her.
“Hallo, Sundrop! Let’s have a race.”
“Huh? Oh, it’s you!” said Sundrop. “Shouldn’t you be helping your parents?”
“Yes, I know, but the last few days have been so dull, and this will probably be our last chance before we go into hibernation.”
“I know, Starflower, but I really have to bring this blossom to the burrow,” said Sundrop, although she was as keen as Starflower to have a bit of fun.
“You can hide it here and we’ll take it to the burrow together later. We’ll only be gone for a little while. Please, Sundrop,” pleaded Starflower.
“Alright then, but only for a little bit.”
They hid the blossom and fluttered away. Both fairy girls loved to race across the meadow, brushing past the flowers and grasses that were now bent down by the wind. Soon, it also started to rain, but still they flew faster and faster until…
“Oh, help!”
A strong gush of wind had picked Sundrop up and blown her sideways into the hooked burs of a burdock plant! Her wings got pinned to the plant as the spiky burs tore into them.
“Sundrop!” gasped Starflower. She turned around and flew back to help her friend.
“Don’t come too close, Starflower, or the same might happen to you.”
“Can you free your wings?”
Sundrop wriggled around trying to release her wings from the hooks, but that only made it worse.
“I’m stuck! You have to get help, Starflower.”
“This is all my fault. I should never have convinced you to come with me!” cried Starflower.
“It was my own choice, but you have to get my parents. Be quick! Every gush of wind is pushing the burs deeper into my wings.”
“I’ll be as quick as I can!” Starflower rushed back to get help, while poor Sundrop was pinned to the burs swaying in the wind. Luckily, fairies don’t experience pain the same way as humans do, otherwise this would have been a very excruciating experience for little Sundrop.
In the meantime, both their parents were getting uneasy. They had suspected that their daughters had snuck off to enjoy a few moments of freedom before winter, but the children had been gone a while now, and it was not like them to neglect their duties for so long.
“I’m worried something might have happened to our dear child,” Meliantha said to Trillium.
“You worry too much, Meliantha. Starflower is a bright little fairy, she can look after herself.”
“I know, but still. I’d rather we went looking for her. Let’s find Merrybell and Vervain. Maybe she’s flown over there to play with Sundrop.”
They soon found them collecting nectar from some columbines nearby.
“Hello, Merrybell. Have you seen Starflower?”
“No, I’m afraid I haven’t,” said Merrybell. “But Sundrop also hasn’t returned from her trip to the burrow yet. They have probably gone to play a bit. Though it has been a while now, I have to say, and the weather is turning nasty.”
“We should go looking for them. I’m worried something might have happened,” said Meliantha.
“But where shall we start?” asked Trillium. “The meadow is huge, and what if they come back in the meantime?”
Just as Meliantha was about to respond, she saw her daughter rushing towards them in great haste. She was completely out of breath as she landed on the leaf next to her mother.
“Where is Sundrop?” cried Merrybell.
“Wind…hooks…burs…can’t…free herself,” panted Starflower.
“Catch your breath, child, and then tell us what happened,” said Meliantha, trying to soothe her daughter.
Collecting herself, Starflower explained what had happened a little more slowly.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.
“Come, Starflower, can you show us the way? We have to free Sundrop as soon as we can,” said Vervain.
They all set off together. The weather was getting worse. Black clouds were coming in and the wind whistled across the meadow.
And how had poor Sundrop fared during all this time? She had been desperately trying to free herself,but only damaged her wings even more. The strong wind kept pressing her into the hooks of the bur. She was now trying to stay as still as possible, hoping that Starflower would soon return with her parents, but it was getting dark quickly. Suddenly, she saw a group of sparkling lights in the last light of the day, coming straight towards her.
“I’m over here!” Sundrop shouted as loudly as she could. They had found her.
“Oh my dear, poor child. We’ll get you out of there.”
“We can’t get too close, otherwise we’ll get blown into the burs as well,” said Vervain. “We have to find a flower stem or stick that we can use to free Sundrop’s wings.”
He and Trillium returned in just a few minutes. In the meantime, Meliantha had taken a better look at the damage to Sundrop’s wings, while Merrybell tried to comfort her daughter.
“I’m afraid she won’t be able to fly once her wings are free, they are too badly injured,” said Meliantha.
“We will have to catch her when she falls, then,” Vervain responded. “Trillium and I will free up her wings with the flower stems and you two catch her,” said Vervain. They cautiously set to work while Merrybell and Meliantha hovered underneath Sundrop, cautious not to be blown into the burs themselves.
“Not long now, my darling. Don’t worry, we will catch you,” said Merrybell.
It was very precarious work, but eventually they succeeded in levering Sundrop’s wings from the hooks, and she dropped safely into the arms of her mother and Meliantha, who then flew her off to a plant nearby. Merrybell hugged her daughter tightly and Vervain joined the embrace.
Starflower was riddled with guilt.
“She’ll be okay,” she heard her mother’s whisper in her ear, who had landed beside her, giving her hand a squeeze.
“We have to find a safe place to spend the night. It’s too dangerous to carry Sundrop in this wind, and it’s too dark to see now anyway,” said Trillium after a few minutes.
They all passed the night together on the leaves of a coneflower without any further incidents. Luckily, the next morning dawned brightly and they sat down together over a rich breakfast of sweet nectar that soon revived their energy and spirit. But what was there to be done about Sundrop’s torn wings? Meadow Fairies have great self-healing powers, but her wings were too damaged even for that.
“You should consult the queen,” said Meliantha. “She’ll know what to do.”
“Then we better summon her quickly,” said Merrybell.