A Call for Help.
I awoke with this call for help ringing in my ears. At first I thought that I was still muddled from a dream, the call came again this time not so strong. It was as if the call was from far away. I got up and threw some clothes on and hurried to the woods where fairyland begins. The call was getting weaker and I knew I needed help to trace it. At last I saw some Fairies deeply concentrated on painting some flowers. I asked them to listen and help me to trace the call.
There it was again, "Please help me." This time the Fairies too heard the call and we concentrated with all our craft to trace where it was coming from. It is from the north said the fairies and out came their wands and pointing them at me we just vanished and were in a spot in the south of Fairyland. Here we saw a Fairy that looked as if she had been caught in a rough storm. Her golden hair was straggled and her pretty face dirty her clothes were torn and she was caught in a large bramble bush.
I freed her from the bramble bush and with the help of the Fairies we made her comfortable and asked her why she was caught in the brambles. All Fairies had a magic wand this should have got her out of any trouble. "My name," she shyly said, is Rosefee.” I come from the far north." "I have a message for the Fairy Queen Feeana." All of the way here I have been followed by a shadow." "A black shadow." " Yesterday evening the shadow nearly caught me; with my wand I was able to get away but being frightened I did not look where I was going." "I was free from the shadow but caught in this thick bramble bush." "I dropped my magic wand, which made matters worse, and I could not free myself." "I have been sending help messages all through the night as the message for Queen Feeana is very important."
The Fairies had in the meantime found her wand that was on the floor under the bramble bush. A ring was made with the Fairy Rosafee and myself in the middle and all of the fairy’s wands were pointed at us. A bright light, a puff of smoke and we were all standing in the Royal gardens of Queen Feeana.
Her Majesty I think had been awaiting us for she showed no signs of surprise." What is your message child?" she kindly asked Rosafee. Rosafee pulled a small roll of Parchment from out of her clothes. ‘She had hidden it well.’ Giving the roll to Her Majesty she shyly curtsied and fell into a faint. Her Majesty waved her wand and Rosafee now looking as if she had been washed from head to toe and dressed in fresh clothes with her hair nicely combed stood smiling as if nothing had happened.
Her Majesty untied the silken thread from the roll of parchment and giving it one quick glance she pulled her Magic Mirror from her pocket. Looking into the Mirror she saw the black shadow that had been following poor Rosafee. It was a Witch that had been making life a misery for the northern Fairies. She had been mixing all kinds of herbs. Leaves, roots, and other things that she had found in the woods and this mixture turned all growing things into a thick green slush. Half of the northern fairyland was covered with this slime and if no one stopped her there would soon be no woods, flowers bushes or even trees in the North of England.
The Witch had known that the Fairies would ask for help and it was her plan to make herself into a black shadow and catch each messenger that the Fairies from the north sent and so stop any help from the Queen. The Witch had in her disguise caught two Fairies and she nearly caught Rosafee. It was Rosafee’s seeing the black shadow that had saved her.
Her Majesty looked very serious and I thought to myself I would not like to be in the skin of the Witch at this moment.
Queen Feeana took out her magic wand and spoke some words in the old language. The slime in the North of England disappeared and all went back to normal. The Queen freed the two Fairies that the Witch had caught. Then turning to look at us she asked what we would do if we were in her position. The Fairies did not know what to say but I said. "Your Majesty she came here as a black shadow why not let her stay a black shadow for the rest of her life. In this way she can do no more harm." "It shall be so!" said her Majesty and the black shadow is still roaming this earth. But it is harmless so do not be afraid if you should see a black shadow floating around somewhere it is only the Witch.