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Blackberries.

Sun is shining down and a warm wind is blowing through the woods at Dartford Heath. Walking through the woods, as I do nearly every day I appreciated such warm weather. The blackberries are ripening, every day they grow bigger and from red to black the ripening stage will be in a few days. I collect the blackberries to make jam for the winter months also for the tasty pies and tarts that I enjoy so much. I was not surprised when I saw a couple of boys picking the fruit although the berries are not quite ripe. I smiled outright when one of the lads offered to sell me a jar of half ripe blackberries. Later I saw the two boys leaving the woods I think that they had eaten too many blackberries that were half ripe and wondered whether they would suffer with a tummy ache.

A few days later I walking through the woods I saw an elderly woman picking the now ripe berries. She had obviously been picking the berries for a couple of hours as she had two baskets full of the ripe fruit. Something about the woman seemed out of place and I decided to keep an eye on her. Then I saw the spiders, she had a dozen or more spiders on silken leashes. These spiders were picking the blackberries for her. Spiders sometimes spin their webs among the blackberry bushes but I have never seen a spider that picked blackberries. Keeping my distance from the woman I watched her for the rest of the day. It is now fairly dark in the woods and the woman had five baskets full of berries. Then taking from one of her large deep pockets some yellow powder she threw the powder over the spiders they immediately turned into fairies. The fairies looked as if they were trying to puzzle out what has been happening to them. I called to the fairies; the woman was now out of site. “What have you been doing all day,” “We have been playing all day long we have no work to do at the moment and the wise old fairies told us to go off to play.” I then asked them if they had seen an elderly woman while they were playing. “Oh yes we saw her she was picking blackberries,” came the answer from the fairies. “Are you working on the morrow,” I then asked. “No tomorrow we may play again,” came the answer. I wished them a good night and went off back to my home.

The following day I was up very early and went into the woods, I know where the fairies love to play the most and it was there that I waited. Soon the excited cries of the fairies reached my ears and I kept a good look out while hiding up in a convenient tree. The elderly woman came along in one hand she held the baskets. When she saw the fairies she crept from bush to bush and from tree to tree until she was in throwing reach of the fairies. From one of her pockets she took some brown powder. This was my chance before she could throw the powder over the fairies; I up in the tree threw my own magic powder on to the woman. The woman dropped her baskets and shrank slowly until she turned into a large black crow. I told the fairies what had happened to them on the yesterday and they were very surprised that the woman could have thrown magic dust over them and turned them into spiders that picked all of the woman’s blackberries for her. The fairies played most of the rest of the day and I watched over them making sure that nothing could happen to them.

I reported the incident to Her Majesty Queen Feeanna, telling her of the elderly woman and the steps I had taken to protect the fairies. Her Majesty thanked me and I made my way home. On my arrival in my Kitchen were five baskets of blackberries waiting for me. I spent the rest of the evening and the following day making jam and baking some blackberry tarts. I took a basket of the tarts with me to Fairyland for the fairies who were delighted at my little treat for them.