A very small fairy named Labelle lived in the middle of a large forest called Maple acres, there were thousands of Maple trees there and the fairy folk would work very hard to collect all of the maple syrup each year and store it away so that everyone had enough syrup for their cakes and pancakes. Labelle would spend hours and hours walking through the forest making new friends and revisiting old ones, yes Labelle really loved his forest home, and the forest loved Labelle.
Now Fairys are very clever and very helpful, little Labelle was no different, he would always be the first fairy to offer his help to a forest friend, and he was always happy to oblige.
One day as Labelle was laying down having a well earned rest in the buttercup field next to the forest, he heard a terrible wailing noise coming from just inside the forest, the noise was so bad he knew at once someone must be hurt and in terrible pain.
Quickly Labelle jumped to his feet and started off in the direction of the noise. He soon came across a large black crow that had been caught up in a rabbit snare that had been left by some humans. His wing was very badly damaged and he was crying out in pain and flapping frantically, and the more he flapped the tighter the snare grew and the more it hurt and the more he cried out, “Oh this is terrible” cried Labelle “please stop moving or I wont be able to help you out of this terrible mess” “Ouch! Ow! It hurts” cried the crow who by now was in a terrible state, “sit still please” said Labelle firmly, and the crow did as he was told and sat very still indeed as Labelle untied the snare and the crow was free once more.
“Oh thank you so much” said the crow “how can I ever thank you for helping me” “think nothing of it Mr. crow, I am more than happy to have helped, but now you must take care of your poorly wing or you will not be able to fly away when the winter comes” said Labelle as he helped the crow to his feet, “oh thank you thank you! But I don’t have a nest here” replied the crow “oh that’s not a problem” replied Labelle cheerfully “I have a very large home here in the forest, and it is more than big enough for us both!” he exclaimed excitedly “and you can come and stay with me until you are better and well enough to travel, besides it will be nice for me to have a guest to look after in my home. “Allow me introduce myself. My name is Labelle and I belong to the Maple acres fairy ring” said Labelle very proudly “very pleased to make your acquaintance Labelle! My name is Ormorod” the crow replied nodding his head with respect for the little Samaritan, “and I would be more than happy to spend some time with you in your home” and the two new friends slowly but carefully, so as not to hurt Ormorod’s wing anymore set off into Maple acres and to Labelles home.
“Here we are! “Exclaimed Labelle as they arrived at what can only be described as the most humongous, gigantic tree in the whole forest, reaching up high into the clouds so that you just could not see the top, and so far around that you would probably need to take sandwiches for the journey if you decided to go for a walk. Well maybe not sandwiches, but it was very big indeed. “Caw” replied Ormorod as his beak dropped wide open in amazement “Caw its massive” he said as Labelle opened the little door and they both stepped inside onto the nice plush green moss carpet. “I really like your house Labelle, its wonderful” Ormorod said as he looked around at the beautiful furniture and lovely ornaments, “Why thank you Ormorod” replied Labelle blushing a little “It’s nothing special but a fairy always tries his best” he added proudly, “You can sleep on my nice big sofa Ormorod, and I will be in the room next door”.
Ormorod was exhausted from his ordeal and was aching terribly, Labelle fetched some hot water and some nasty smelly stuff in a little brown bottle, then he cleaned up Ormorod’s poorly wing, He made a sling from an old white pillow case and strapped poor Ormorod’s wing up nicely.
“There you are Ormorod, nice and neat and tidy, you should be as right as rain in a couple of weeks” said Labelle smiling and very pleased with his handiwork. Ormorod didn’t reply, he was so tired from the day’s events he had fallen fast asleep.
“Poor dear” said Labelle as he quietly and as gentle as a fairy placed a nice warm blanket over his sleeping friend. Labelle then had a nice cup of tea and went to bed too.
The morning soon came, and with it the dawn chorus of little chirping dickey birds and the warm spring sun, the early morning mist that covered the forest floor began to fade away, uncovering a beautiful rainbow display of natural wild forest flowers, lovely bluebells seemed to edge every forest path, it was wonderful unspoiled nature in its most finest. The warm sun shone through the little window into Labelles tree home and slowly made its way across his bed and warmed his little rosy cheeks, Labelle woke with a big smile on his face and a new day in Maple acres had begun.
“Good morning Ormorod” said Labelle as he passed his guest a nice hot cup of Cranberry Tea “This will wake you up nicely” added Labelle, “What is it?” asked Ormorod as he gave a little sniff and “hmmm! Smells so good” he added in approval, “Oh this is a very special recipe of Cranberry Tea, made from the finest cranberries that are only found at a place called Cranberry flats” replied Labelle as he sat down and began to drink his cup.
“This is really nice tea” said Ormorod as he drank the last drop in his cup and wiped his beak with a napkin. “It really was very kind of you to let me stay with you Labelle and to free me from that awful snare yesterday” he said looking rather sad “I will not be able to get far enough south now to meet my friends” he added “You should spend some time resting Ormorod, and not worrying about traveling at the moment, as you see I have plenty of space here and you are very welcome to stay for as long as you need to” Labelle said trying to cheer up Ormorod who was still very sore from his accident.
“Now you just have a rest here while I go out to the Fairy ring, I have a very important meeting today and I can’t be late, I will be back as soon as I can” Labelle said as he put on a bright pink shirt with a white dickey bow and the loveliest little red suit with bright silver buttons, he tucked a little white silk handkerchief into his top pocket and put on a teensy weensy pair of little black and white shoes, he really did look very dapper indeed.
“Wow you look really nice” said Ormorod as he nodded his head in approval, “Why thank you very much Ormorod! I do like to look nice for these Fairy gathering’s, you just never know who you will meet” Labelle took one last look into the mirror by his door, puckered his lips as though he was giving himself a big kiss and said “such a handsome chappie” and bade Ormorod farewell and was gone.
Now, Fairy ring meetings are very serious matters indeed, and only the most important fairies are elected to the Fairy ring council, The last such meeting was more than twenty five years ago, and only a very few could remember it, so it was not an occasion to be taken very lightly.
“Order! Order quiet please in the ring” shouted Hazeldine the Hedgehog as Ratty McGowan and the Derry Rat’s arrived and made a lot of noise and commotion next to the buffet tables that had been laid out for this very important occasion.
Ratty McGowan very carefully, so as not to be seen helped himself to a big mouthful of mushroom bon bon’s, and slipped quietly to the back of the crowd that had now gathered in the ring.
“Quiet please” shouted Hazeldine “The Council of Fairy’s will now begin” she added and made a loud bonging noise by hitting a big brass gong with a large wooden mace: “Ooh my poor head” Ratty mumbled as the gong was right next to where he was sitting, and he was feeling poorly from drinking too much corn hooch the night before.
Labelle sat himself down on a very large bright red toadstool and waited patiently for the ceremony to begin, everything went very quiet and all the forest folk stood silently as they heard the tingling of little bells that signaled the start of the meeting.
Then as if by magic or so it appeared, from between two very old and very big maple trees the royal cortege approached, four of the most splendid white mice wearing bright red jackets and matching pointy hats lead the procession, behind them was a beautiful gilded coach that was being pulled by six of the biggest snails you have ever seen, and behind them the bumble bee guards in their bright black and yellow uniforms.
The coach came closer and stopped silently at the side of the fairy ring; one of the white mice very quickly unrolled a dark green moss carpet next to the coach door.
As he opened the door everyone gasped with amazement as Okanaga, the most beautiful fairy princess that ever was appeared and stepped very gracefully and silently from the coach, the mouse took her hand and lead her to a beautifully carved and very ornate maple throne that had been placed at the head of the ring, she sat down slowly and then with her right hand she waved the golden magic wand of wisdom in the air and said “I declare this council of the fairies now open, will the speaker please proceed!” then Hazeldine the hedgehog very quickly bowed very low “your highness” she said, and then turned to the forest friends and fairy folk that had now gathered.
“Your most gracious majesty, keeper of the wand of wisdom, princess Okanaga, members of the fairy high council, and all forest friends” she bellowed loudly “this council has been called today because of a very serious threat to our forest, our homes and our families. At the edge of the forest many giant metal monsters have assembled and have started to destroy our forest trees and plants, it is very dangerous for us to stay as they are getting closer and closer as I speak”.
All of a sudden there was a great commotion amongst the forest folk “order order” shouted Hazeldine “we must return to our homes after the meeting and gather up all of our possessions and our children and leave the forest as soon as we can” she was interrupted by a loud “bbrrroooommm bbrrroooommm” noise that was not very far away, then a loud “CRACK!” sound that was followed by a very very loud “THUD-DUMP!” that made the ground shake. All of a sudden there was dirt and dust everywhere. It showered the gathering and a very large conker came whizzing very fast past Labelles ear like a rocket and smacked Ratty McGowan across his head causing him to let out a very loud squeak and fall over, the Derry rats quickly picked him up and ran as fast as they could back to the buffet table’s where they started to stuff their mouths and pockets with as much food as they could carry.
“They’re coming they’re coming” squawked jay Bird as he flapped about excitedly high up in a maple tree “I can see the monsters” he screeched loudly.
All of the fairy folk and forest friends started to run in all directions as yet another loud “CRACK” filled the air then “THUD-DUMP” came again as another tree fell down right next to the fairy ring sending even more dirt and dust everywhere.
Labelle quickly took princess Okanaga by the hand and lead her safely to her coach. The coach disappeared very quickly into the forest, Labelle was just about to run himself when he noticed something shining beneath the broken branches of the tree that had just fallen, he pulled one of the branches to one side and there in the dust was the beautiful wand of wisdom, he picked it up quickly and left.
It was terrible, the once beautiful forest had now been invaded by the monsters, destroying everything in their paths, and the once tranquil unspoilt paradise was now filled with dirt, dust and confusion.
Forest friends were running and screaming, looking for safety, except that is for the Derry rats, they were still busy scoffing as much food as they could, “Ouch my poor head” whined Ratty McGowan as he rubbed the very big bump that had been left by the large conker on top of his head, as he stuffed a very large maple biscuit sideways into his already full mouth.
Labelle shouted to the rats “quickly run, and save yourselves” Ratty turned and looked at Labelle “eh we are from the north of the forest, there are no monsters there, and I don’t like fairies” he said as he gave Labelle a nasty grin, he picked up a very big stone and threw it towards Labelle almost hitting him “go away” ratty added as he picked up yet another even bigger maple biscuit and continued to eat.
Labelle gave up and started to run as fast as he could to his home. As he ran he heard another crack and he turned round just in time to see a very big branch falling through the air and landing almost on top of Ratty, Ratty squealed with pain as the branch cut off his tail, the Derry rats now realized that it would be a very good idea indeed to run away too, Ratty picked up his tail and fled off as quickly as he could back to the north complaining as he went.
Labelle arrived safely home at last and almost sent poor Ormorod flying across the room as he tripped over the doorstep and burst through the door.
Ormorod listened very carefully as Labelle told him of the days events at the fairy meeting,” I really don’t know what to do” exclaimed Labelle as he brushed the dirt and dust from his clothes, “I don’t have anywhere to go Ormorod” he added, “well it’s not safe to stay here for much longer than a couple of day’s” Ormorod said shaking his head. “Have a nice cup of tea and rest for a while” he added. “What a good Idea” agreed Labelle, and the two friends had a nice hot cup of fresh cranberry tea and settled themselves down.
“I’ve got it!” exclaimed Ormorod as he jumped up flapping excitedly “got what?” replied Labelle looking very worried, and half expecting the big crow to pull out a slimy worm or some other kind of creepy crawly thing “The enchanted forest my dear friend” Ormorod replied “my wing should be better in a day or so and I can take you there on my back, we can find you a new home there”.
Labelle listened very carefully as Ormorod told Labelle all about the enchanted forest, and of Doctor Bob the big wise Owl. “Doctor Bob can take a look at my wing and give me a check up too” Ormorod added as he settled himself down again.
So it was agreed that the two friends would journey eastwards together to the enchanted forest, they planned their journey very carefully, making sure that they only packed the things that couldn’t be replaced.
Two day’s soon passed and the giant metal monsters could be heard in the distance getting closer and closer by the hour. The two friends woke up very early and ate breakfast; they then washed up Labelle’s beautiful tea pot and cups before packing them very carefully into Labelle’s bag. Then they both went outside into the forest, Labelle unwrapped Ormorod’s wing very carefully and pulled it very gently open and spread all of the feathers with care, Ormorod started to flap it slowly and then the other wing, “it’s a little stiff Labelle but I am sure it will be fine, I will go for a test flight first” he added as he ran across the floor and quickly took off into the air, he flew around for a little while and then landed gently next to Labelle,” All aboard for the enchanted forest” he squawked happily.
The big black crow bent down so that Labelle could climb onto his back, then with his beak he carefully picked up Labelle’s bag and passed it to him. “hold tight” he squawked as he started to run once more, Labelle sunk his hands into the soft black feathers on Ormorod’s back and gripped them very tightly as they started to rise up into the air, higher and higher they went until they were so high that they were higher than the trees below.
Labelle looked down sadly as little tears rolled down his tiny rosy cheek’s, he could still see his beautiful little home below and the metal giants were almost on top of it, he could see the ugly brown scar on the ground that was once a beautiful green forest called maple acres.
Ormorod turned his head and said “never look back my little friend, look forward to tomorrow and the new adventure it brings”. But he knew that Labelle was sad to leave his home and his friend’s.
Eventually they could see the forest no more; they rose higher and higher through the clouds and into what seemed another world indeed. Labelle looked down but could only see the beautiful fluffy white candy floss clouds below him and the sun shining brightly above, it was warm on his face and he knew in his little heart that tomorrow would be a bright new day, he gave Ormorod a big hug and thanked him for being a good Samaritan, Labelle then laid his head down on the big soft feathers and drifted gently to sleep.
Ormorod flew quietly and steadily on towards the enchanted forest.