| Aug
11th 1899.
A
great many faeries came bzzing round me todday. They seemed quite
exciteed and kept glaring at me and flying right up my nose. But
I still caught one. I am going to call her FLORIZAL. She
is an young fairy who was a little bit more daring than the rest.
I wonder what she did in Fairy Land, and how old she was? Perhaps
she was ten years old- perhaps thirty- perhaps thirty thousand.
It's hard to know what is old with fairies.
Here is the Story of
FLORIZAL The Nosey Fairy...
|
© Brian Froud |
| There is nothing she would
not stick her nose into. If you left the milk out at nigth- as like
as not, you'd find FLORIZAL floating in it in the morning.
"Help me out," she would say, "for the sides of this jug are too steep
and slippery and my wings are all soggy with milk." |
"Will you grant me three
wishes if I do?" said the little girl. "I can't do three wishes,"
replied FLORIZAL, "because I left my wand behind, but I can grant
one."
"That will do," said the little girl, and she put a straw into the milk
and the fairy climbed up it. Then the little girl gave FLORIZAL
a wash in her own wash basin. She made a shower with a tea strainer
and FLORIZAL washed all the milk out of her wings and rule-book.
(Fairies always carry a rule book with them- especially if they
are only apprentice fairies like FLORIZAL.) Then the little girl
sat the fairy in front of the fire and dried her off. And all the
time FLORIZAL kept asking: "What's that burning in the grate?
Where do you keep your magic powder? How do you fly anywhere?
What's the name of your king? Who do you look like? Why do
you go to bed at night?" and so on and so forth. And the little
girl tried to answer her as best she could. Then when she had quite
dried the fairy and her wings were all shimmering a ready to fly, the
little girl said to FLORIZAL:
"Now can I have my wish?"
"Oh!" said FLORIZAL, "I said I could grant one wish, but never
said it was your wish! It's my wish! And I
wish I was out of here!" And she disappeared- like a bubble bursts-
and all that was left was left of FLORIZAL The Nosey Fairy was
a little wet patch on the rug. For I forgot to tell you- FLORIZAL
was not only a nosey fairy she was also a very tricksy one as well.
The End
~Angelica
Cottington at age 11
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