by Holly Stacey –
The bluebells waved in the wind, and Jenny sighed. It was such a beautiful summer day but she couldn’t enjoy it. Not while her brother bashed around town with his new horse and riding gear. He’d just been chosen to go to knight training because he’d slain a giant.
The bluebells kept swishing in the gusts of wind, and Jenny was envious they had nothing to worry about like older brothers. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the clouds. If it was night, she would have made a wish on a star, but as it was bright daylight, she’d have to make do with a cloud.
The largest one floating over her had huge billows of what looked like a large woman’s skirt. If she was going to make a wish, that would be the cloud to do it on.
“Dear Cloud,” she started, “I wish I could be an adventurer and have people ooh and aaah when I came home. And I wish they would give me a parade like I was really important.” She hadn’t really thought out the details of her wish, just opened her mouth and it jumped out.
But then, the oddest thing happened. Instead of floating away like a normal cloud would, it got bigger… and lower. Then, she couldn’t believe how it was possible, but it began to turn pink and sparkly. The cloud changed its shape as it got lower, first puffing out its lower end so it looked even more like a billowy skirt, and then narrowing three upper bits to form arms and a round head.
Lower and lower it drifted, until Jenny was sure it would land on top of her. Then, in an explosion of pink smoke and sparkles, it disappeared and was replaced with a very large, very pink fairy.
The fairy coughed and brushed sparkles off her dress. “Oh, I DO beg your pardon,” she said to Jenny in a high voice, “I’m still getting used to my cloud entry.” She looked hard at Jenny. “It was YOU, was it not, who just wished on my cloud?”
Jenny found it hard to close her mouth, which had been gaping open like a carp. She nodded.
“Well then,” said the fairy, “I’m your assigned fairy godmother. I’m here to grant your wish!” She pulled out a scroll of parchment from the folds of pink fabric of her skirt. “Here’s the list of requirements…Adventurer. Easy. You want adventure, then you can tick this as your first one—meeting a fairy is pretty adventurous.”
“It is?” squeaked Jenny. She was only now finding her voice again.
“Yes. It is. But I can send you on a quest if it would make it more authentic for you.” She eyed Jenny closely again. “It was YOU, was it not, who made a wish? Ah, never mind, you’re here now and I’m here now, so it might as well have been you.”
Jenny wasn’t sure what the fairy was talking about. It was hard to take something so pink and fluffy seriously, but the fairy had a look in her eye that said ‘don’t mess with me,’ so Jenny decided not to push it.
“Requirement two,” the fairy continued, “is simple—you want people to oooh and aaah at you. Any fool can have that happen, look at your brother for example. All HE did was camp outside the city in the tin can he called armour and made up a story about defeating a giant.”
Suddenly, Jenny’s ears perked up. So, her brother hadn’t really done anything special at all!
“But let’s make your adventure be a good one and people can ooh and ahhh with gusto. Requirement three…a parade in your honor. It’s all just one wish isn’t it? With the right adventure we can have the parade and have people ooh and aaah at the same time.”
The fairy snapped her fingers and the list disappeared in a whiff of smoke. “What sort of adventure would you like?”
It hadn’t occurred to Jenny what she’d do to earn the title of ‘adventurer,’ she’d just wanted the fame. But then a small voice inside her head chirruped and she found herself saying, “I’d really like to discover something.” She didn’t want to kill anything—especially a dragon or a giant. She just didn’t think it was very fair to them.
The big pink fairy nodded. “Yes, discoveries are nice—not too messy.” She wrinkled up her nose as if she was imagining a messy slain monster. “Something useful… how about something that tastes nice?”
Jenny nodded her head vigorously.
“Well then,” the fairy said as she waved a wand that had suddenly appeared in her hand, and Jenny was instantly dressed in a tunic and leather trousers. “You can start out on foot. I’m no good with horses.” She waved her hand again and a travel bag appeared, slung over Jenny’s shoulder. It was heavy and filled with supplies.
“Off you go.” With a bang and a flash, the fairy disappeared in a puff of smoke and sparkle.
Jenny’s mouth dropped open again. The fairy may have dressed her for adventure and given her supplies, but it seemed that Jenny would have to do the hard part. And she didn’t even know what she was supposed to be looking for.
It was getting dark, but Jenny didn’t go home. Her parents wouldn’t notice she was gone now that her brother was home from his adventures. She snorted—his ‘so-called adventures.’ Now that Jenny knew the truth about him, she felt a bit braver herself. She could do this. Just a few days into the wild and then find something exciting to bring home. Without a backward glance, she headed away from her home and into adventure.
Jenny walked over rough terrain and into the forest, and although the sun had dipped, she could just see enough to not trip. But when it started getting cold, she knew she’d have to stop and make camp. Finding a clearing, she put her bag down and rummaged through it. There was a candle and some flint and steel bits, which she knew she could use to make a fire. It didn’t take her long to gather enough old wood on the forest floor, and with a few strikes of the flint, she made sparks! With a few more sparks and some kindling, she made a good fire.
There was food in the bag—cakes and sausage rolls, water, and a hunk of cheese. It wasn’t a grand meal, but it was good, and before long, Jenny had fallen asleep.
The next morning, she ate, cleaned up her fire, and headed farther out and away. She’d decided it would be a good idea to make a map of where she went and what she saw in each place. Looking into her bag for any writing tools, she saw a large, blank folded bit of paper and ink and an inkwell. It seemed her fairy godmother had been thinking ahead!
It turned out she was very good at making maps. She liked drawing all the different bushes and trees she passed, especially if they had edible fruit. She marked it all up on the map—fruit, streams, ponds, herbs. Most of them she knew, but there were some she had never seen. When she came across something new, she’d sketch it in her notebook, mark it on the map, and flatten the sample between two sheets of paper to take home.
By the end of the third day, she was feeling a bit deflated; all she had was a huge filled notebook and nothing really, really exciting. But just as she was packing up her things and pouring water over the campfire coals, she heard a deep growling noise. Part of her was excited; she now might have something really adventurous to do! But another part of her quaked. What if the thing that roared ended up eating her?
“Rooooaaaarrrr!”
Jenny’s stomach tumbled on the inside. Still, she was an adventurer now and something that made a noise like that was sure to be worthy of fanfare.
“Rooooooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrr!” Whatever was making the noise was getting closer.
Jenny rushed to her bag and dug around for something to fight with. There was nothing; just her book filled with interesting plants. She dropped the bag and picked up a long stick with a pointed end.
Whump! Something with very heavy footfalls moved toward her. Whump, whump! Something with three legs! Whump, whump, whump!
In moments, a long, scaly neck emerged from the trees, followed by an enormous set of feet. Lastly, and what Jenny had thought was a third foot, came a heavy tail, whumping every tree as it swung back and forth.
Jenny stood her ground. “Beware! I have a sharp, pointy stick to poke out your eyes, and I have dangerous herbs to make them sting. Stay back!” She sounded brave to her ears, but inside she was a ball of nerves. It took every ounce of inner strength to not run for it.
The creature started to whimper. “Don’t hurt me with your pointy stick, I was just looking. Nobody ever comes out this way.”
Jenny didn’t lower her stick; she knew it could be a trap. But she did take the time to really examine the creature as he spoke. He wasn’t a dragon, he had no wings. He also didn’t look like he could breathe fire; his teeth had rotten vegetables staining them—they’d be charred if he could belt fire out. He also had a mop of frizzy blue hair, which looked incredibly silly against the pearly green scales.
“What are you?” asked Jenny, trying hard to look threatening.
“I don’t know!” said the creature. “Nobody ever told me. I hatched on my own and haven’t found any others like me.” He leaned back on his tail, putting his huge feet up in the air, “but I’ve seen some dragons and they just laugh at me.”
It seemed that Jenny’s new role in life was to discover things. “Well creature, I will strike up a deal with you. If you can help me discover an amazing plant, I’ll travel the land, looking for other creatures like you.” It seemed like a good thing to say at the time, but suddenly Jenny wondered how long it would take to find another creature like this.
“Ooooh, would you? That would solve so many of my problems. I’m so alone you see.” He bent back on his tail and then whipped forward so he landed on his feet again. “All I do is collect yummy things. Follow me!”
Curious, Jenny picked up her bag and followed the creature, which she had decided to call a Wyverhoppasauras, subspecies Great Blue Frizz. She held onto her stick though, just in case.
Wyverhoppasauras’s cave was filled with interesting plants, and they were all alive too. After talking more with him, Jenny finally put down her stick and listened attentively. The most beautiful of plants was a tall, tall tree that had huge brown pods growing on it and smelled delicious.
“It’s a cocoa tree,” said the Wyverhoppasauras. “You can make a powder out of it and make cakes!”
Jenny thought that this was certainly a plant worth taking back to the village. She thanked the Wyverhoppasauras and promised she’d return very soon to help him. Then, with a smile on her face, she headed back home.
All the way back she thought of her adventure. It had not been anything like what she’d expected, but she found that she’d really loved mapping and looking for new plants. She’d also become very good at making camp fires and watching the stars. Meeting a new friend was an added bonus!
When she finally got back to her village, there was trumpeting and a huge fanfare of people lining the street. Jenny was sure she’d better get out of the way as quickly as possible, but just as she was about to jump aside, the crowd broke into song: “Three cheers for Jenny, adventurer and discoverer! Hip, hip, hoorah!”
Jenny blushed deeply. She didn’t think she deserved to be cheered, but she did make a wish, and this surely was the work of the pink fairy. Several people oohed and aaahed as she passed quickly. She waved awkwardly and ducked out toward home as soon as it was polite to do so.
The pink fairy was waiting for her in her room.
“All I did was bring back a plant seed that makes good cakes. I don’t really deserve THAT much cheering.” Jenny was embarrassed. She loved the adventure, but the fuss when she got home wasn’t worth it after all.
The pink fairy only laughed. “Of course you do! You also discovered and named a new animal and found many previously undiscovered plants. And you discovered one of the most useful plants this kingdom has ever seen. It cures the Purple Fungus Vomiting Sickness!” The fairy rummaged through Jenny’s bag and pulled out one of the weeds Jenny had brought back for identification.
Jenny shook her head. “I’m pleased to have found medicine, but I didn’t like the fanfare at all.”
“I’ll tell you a secret,” said the fairy, “nobody ever does.” And with that, she disappeared again in a puff of smoke and explosion of sparkles and left Jenny alone in the room.
Jenny wondered how she would tell her parents that she planned to be a botanist and also find other Wyvernhoppasauri. But more than that, she wondered how on earth she’d get all those sparkles up off the floor!
the end.
Question Time:
- What was Jenny’s wish?
- What did she find on her adventure?
- What happened when she got back to her village?
- What did Jenny learn?
