Tiermann, tahra, and leefert: you are such suspicious people!! Cuddles and Pixie are
nice dragons, and Blackcurrant is a
nice fairy!
Macruran: I cheated. The bottom layer consists of cabbages and carrots. The apples are only on the top...
Part Three - Exploring Fairyland'Here we are!' said Blackcurrant, 'And there is Willow in the Medicine House.'
Lady Willow came down the steps to meet the children.
'And so we have visitors,' she said, 'What are your names and how did you enter the Fairyland of my forest?'
'I'm Toby,' said Toby.
'And I'm Jessica,' said Jessica.
'And how did you come into my Fairyland,' asked the Lady.
'We ran from one of Red's wolves, and then we met the Guardian of the Unicorns and he said we had to present ourselves to you to get permission to enter Fairyland,' said Jessica.
'The Guardian of the Unicorns thought you'd be at Red's Outpost,' added Toby, 'But you weren't, so he sent Greenleaf to show us how to get here.'
'And you came through Dragon Pass?' asked the Lady.
'Yes,' said Toby.
'Did you see Bluebell?' asked the Lady Willow.
'I did,' said Jessica, 'But only for the tiniest time. Then he disappeared.'
'I'm not surprised,' said Lady Willow, 'Bluebell is very shy.'
But now: you wish to see my land?' continued the Lady, 'Then I grant you permission to travel here. But where will you like to go? To meet the fairy children, perhaps? They are at school at the moment, and I'm sure that your poor little feet cannot walk all that way. Blackcurrant, may they take the unicorns? You can fly back to Raspberry and her parents, and I will fly ahead and tell Seaspray that the human children are coming. It will be very exciting for our children to meet humans, I think.'
'You can take a carriage each,' said Blackcurrant to Toby and Jessica, 'Just tell the unicorns, "To the school", and they will take you there. And when you get there, tell them, '"Go home", and they will return to me.'
'To the school!' cried Jessica and Toby to the unicorns, and the unicorns pulled their carriages all the way to the fairy children's school. The Lady Willow had already arrived, and all the fairy children were waiting to greet the human children.
The fairy children all gathered around Toby and Jessica.
'I will depart now,' said the Lady Willow, 'The children's teacher, Seaspray, will welcome you to talk with the children. Enjoy your stay in my land.'
'Thank you, Lady Willow,' said Toby.
'Come and see our school,' said one of the fairy children, 'We've just put our wands to charge, ready for tomorrow's magic lesson. When we are adults, we will be able to charge our wands with just our minds, but while we are schoolchildren, we have to use the charger.'
'Let's all gather in a circle,' said Seaspray, 'And then we can ask the human children our many questions.'
Toby and Jessica were surprised that the fairy children felt sorry for them because they did not have wings. There were many references to their 'poor little feet'.
After much talking, one of the fairy children, who had said that she was called Rosebud, said, 'I know! Let's make the humans honorary fairies!'
'We can't give them wings,' said Rosebud, 'But we can give them flowers to wear. Toby can have my flower.'
'And Jessica can have mine,' said another fairy, 'Yellow flowers look so good on red hair.'
'Perhaps Jessica and Toby would like to see some other places,' said Seaspray, 'We'll harness our unicorns for them, though; we don't want to let the humans get their poor little feet sore with too much walking.'
'Oh, look at the unicorns,' said Toby, 'It looks as if they have swapped tails!'
'They have been friends since they were foals,' said Rosebud, 'So I expect that is why they choose that. Some animals are quite amusing with their choices. You should see the puppies at the ocean - they really had
no imagination!'
'Ocean?' repeated Jessica, 'But we are nowhere near the ocean.'
'It's a magic ocean, silly!' said Rosebud, 'Go and get in the carriages, and then you can see our ocean, and see the puppies there.'
'Jessica and Toby are going to the ocean,' the fairy children told Seaspray.
'We can all go with them,' said Seaspray, 'I can't expect you to settle down to Mathematics after all this excitement. The carriages will have to go by the paths, but we can fly across the trees and be waiting for them to arrive.'
The unicorns were directed to 'Go to the ocean' and made their way there without any further instructions. Seaspray and the fairy children were already there, as well as two more adult fairies.
Rosebud led Toby and Jessica to the puppies.
'How do so many animals get to be brightly coloured?' wondered Jessica, 'Is it magic?'
'Well yes,' replied a fairy called Sunflower, 'They go to the Colour Changers.'
'This is an amazing place,' said Toby.
Then he turned to Rosebud, and asked, 'Is the Colour Changers a place? Or are they people - fairies, I mean?'
'Both,' replied Rosebud, 'We can go there if you like. Though we'll need to ask Seaspray first.'
'Yes, you can go to the Colour Changers,' said Seaspray, 'But only yourself, Rosebud, and Jessica and Toby. They won't want a whole crowd of you there. Everyone else can go home to the Gathering Place.'
'Jessica and Toby had better go in the carriages,' said Rosebud, 'Because of their poor little feet. I can fly alongside them.'
'Come on, hop out,' said Rosebud when they arrived, 'Come and meet Cherry.'
'Hello Cherry,' said Rosebud, 'This is Jessica and Toby, human children who visited our school today. They wanted to know about Colour Changing, and Seaspray said that I could bring them here.'
'Colour Changing is quite simple,' said Cherry, 'When anyone drinks the Colour Changing Potion, they become the colours they imagined themselves to be. Some imagine quite simple changes, of course.'
'And others,' she continued, 'Imagine quite complex designs.'
'And what about you, little boy?' said another fairy, emerging from the Colour Changing Area, 'Would you like to change your skin colour or hair colour? Purple hair and purple-and-pink-striped legs, perhaps?'
'Does the change last forever?' asked Toby.
'Oh yes,' answered the fairy, 'You can't change back. Though you can add further designs later, if you wish.'
'I'd better not, then,' said Toby, 'I don't think my mummy and daddy would like me to be purple and pink.'
'Mine neither,' said Jessica, quickly, 'But thank you for the offer, all the same.'
'Let's go to the Gathering Place,' said Rosebud, 'Everyone else will be there by now. It's very near here, but I'll have to walk you there through the Dark Woods, because the unicorns can't pull carriages that way. We can leave them here. It's not a long walk at all, but I hope it won't hurt your poor little feet.'
'We are really used to walking,' said Toby.
''I'll fly up and get some apples for us to eat on the way,' Rosebud continued, 'My teeth are a bit bored, are yours? I'll pick you some golden apples because they are healing, and I expect that humans have all sorts of diseases that need healing, isn't that right?'
'We don't have diseases,' said Jessica.
'I'll get you golden ones, anyway,' said Rosebud, 'Just to be on the safe side.'
'Let me know if your poor little feet hurt, and we can stop and rest for a while,' said Rosebud, as they walked through the Dark Woods.
Tomorrow: Final Part - The Evening of the Day
