THE FAIRY GARDEN By Sharonlee Goodhand
THE FAIRY GARDEN
Many years ago in a little house on a dirt lane there lived two small sisters who loved to play in the garden. Their names were Serenity and Sherridan and with mothers help they made a fairy garden under the jasmine vine.
Serenity hung decorations on the jasmine vine while Sherridan picked buttercups to decorate the little garden for the fairies. The girls set up doll’s furniture so the fairies could have a party and mother made tiny pieces of fairy bread with coloured sprinkles.
They tied ribbons onto the jasmine vine and left little beads from mummy’s broken necklace as presents. When they had finished Serenity and Sherridan sat in the shade with a picnic and waited. “When will the fairy’s come and see their new garden,” asked Serenity. “ Fairy’s don’t come out when it’s hot and bright like this,” mother said, “ They like to play in the shadows of the garden and under the stars in the moonlight.” “Wont we ever get to see them?” asked Sherridan. “No, we probably wont.” Mother said. “Then how will we know if they’ve been?” Serenity wanted to know. “If the food and presents have gone in the morning then we’ll know the fairies have been,” Mother told them, “and if the fairies had a good time they may leave a little present for two small girls.”
That night as mother tucked the girls up in their beds with their favourite dolls Serenity looked out of the window at the rising moon. “Do you think the fairies are out there yet,” she asked. “Not yet,” mother told her. “Do you think the fairies will give us a present?” asked Sherridan. “I think they might,” mother said, "after all you made them a lovely garden to play in and left them lots of nice things. Now go to sleep. We’ll have a look in the morning.” Mother read Serenity and Sherridan a bedtime story about a spring garden filled with flowers, butterflies and fairies. As the girls listened their eyes grew heavy and they fell asleep with happy smiles on their faces.
The next morning as soon as the sun peeped in through the bedroom window Sherridan and Serenity woke up. They rushed into the kitchen where mother was drinking a cup of tea. “Can we see the fairy garden?” they pleaded hopping around the kitchen. Mother smiled at her girls, “put your slippers on first, the grass is still wet.” The girls tiptoed over to the fairy garden under the jasmine vine. The sweet smell of flowers filled the yard and morning birds sang in the trees. “Oh look,” cried Serenity excitedly. “Let me see,” squealed Sherridan.
The fairy food was gone and the ribbons were now covered in glitter. “They took the beads,” whispered Serenity as if she thought perhaps the fairies might still be nearby. “ And look,” said Sherridan in a hushed voice, “they left us little rings!” “Mum!” they both exclaimed excitedly, “the fairies like our garden! We have rings that sparkle!”
The girls took a long time to eat their breakfast that morning because they were so happy the fairies had visited. All that day they kept holding their hands out in the
sunshine so their rings could sparkle in the light. They showed every visitor, even the postman and the lady at the corner store. That afternoon as the sun was slowly setting the girls put more food out for the fairies. They left more beads and some tiny doll’s shoes. Mother made a little swing with an iceblock stick and string. Finally as the sun disappeared the girls finished tidying up the fairy garden and were happy to come inside.
In the morning Serenity and Sherridan hurried down the hall to the kitchen in their rush to see the fairy garden. They squabbled at the back door to see who would open it and get out first. ‘Now girls’ mother said gently, ‘the fairies will not like it if you fight. Fairies never ever fight,’ ‘Not even when their sister rushes past and pushes them into the wall?’ asked Sherridan. ‘Not even then’ mother told her. ‘What about when their sister eats the last biscuit?’ asked Serenity.
‘Not then either’ mother assured the two girls. ‘ I know something else about fairies that you might not know’ mother added. ‘What!’ the girls squeaked excitedly. ‘They never ever walk on wet grass without their slippers’ mother said with a smile.
Both Serenity and Sherridan looked down at their bare feet and wiggled their toes. Then they marched back to the bedroom to put on their slippers. When they were ready the two girls held hands as they tip toed across the wet grass and bent down to look under the jasmine vine. Once again the food was gone and so were the beads and dolls clothes. This time the girls found hair ties hanging from a little branch and cried out with joy. ‘Look, look,’ they both shouted ‘ hair ties from the fairies’ ‘And look at this’ mother said, ‘ it’s a note!’ ‘A note from the fairies’ exclaimed Serenity. ‘What does it say? asked Sherridan. ‘Well let me see’ mother said ‘ the writings very small, but I can just read it. It says, thank you for the lovely gifts, you are very special girls. We will not be able to play for a while, as we have to collect teeth that other children have left under their pillows.’ ‘Wow!’ said Sherridan. ‘Their all tooth fairies!’ said Serenity. ‘Wait a minute there is some I haven’t read yet’ mother told them. ‘What does it say’ the girls asked. ‘It says’ mother read ‘We really liked our holiday in your garden and would like to come back some time.’
‘Does that mean the fairies are going away’ asked Serenity sadly. ‘Yes it does’ mother said, ‘but that is because they have a job to do’. ‘Will they really come back’ Sherridan asked. ‘They said they would’ mother assured her, holding up the fairies letter. ‘I’m glad they liked our garden’ Serenity said. ‘We can make it better’ said Sherridan. And that is what the two girls did. They spent a lot of time making pretty things to go in the garden and made more swings for the fairies to play on. At night when Serenity and Sherridan were tucked up in bed mother would tell them stories about all the adventures the fairies were having and the girls would always fall asleep with happy smiles on their faces.
Sharonlee©