"Fairies at the Bottom of our Garden"

Stories for my Grandchildren - Story 3

by P Powrie

You don't believe in fairies do you? No, of course not - neither did I when I was your age! I had discovered that they were just another thing - like Father Christmas - that grown-ups invented for the amusement of children, and to keep them quiet! So imagine how surprised I was to discover that there really were fairies "At the bottom of our garden!"

First let me tell you a little about our family of animals because it was because of them that I discovered the fairies.

We have a special-mixture kind of small hairy dog called "Tinkles" (short for Tinkerbell and don't ask me why - she was named before she came to live with us.) Tinkles' father was small and black and her mother was a brown Irish terrier type and although Tinkles is only about the height of a cat she honestly has the porky build of a pig, including short curly tail and the face of an American buffalo! She is fat, short-legged and a mixture of long black and brown fur. A really scruffy looking dog - but with several great virtues. First, she has a tracker's nose and whenever I disappear she follows my scent along the ground and soon locates me.

Secondly, perhaps her greatest virtue, is that she has acute hearing and often I just don't hear the front door bell so I always go at once to see why Tinkles is barking. (We call her our "Mobile burglar alarum" because she always warns us when anyone is about the house. Thirdly, she is a very sweet-natured loving little animal with the sweetest real smile and these virtues are far more important than her looks! (Virtues always are more important.)

Then there is Sheena, "Ah, another girl" you may say, but no, actually when Sheena was brought home by my daughter Jane he was just a very tiny four-week-old scrap of terrified, grey-striped fur. The people who gave him to Jane said that the kitten was a girl and so Jane called "her" Sheena. He couldn't even drink milk properly and I had to dip a piece of cotton wool in his milk and then let him suck the milk out from the wool. It was a while later, when we were used to the name Sheena that I discovered that Sheena was a boy. I tried to change his name to Shinka or something more masculine but it did not work and Sheena he still is!

Now he is a really savage grey beast and only shows love when he feels like doing so - and scratches us if he doesn't feel like being loved and petted and stroked - but this is probably because his tail has got caught in a slamming door a couple of times and was broken, right close up to his body and so is very tender. He is usually especially loving when he has just run in out of the rain! Then he likes to come and rub the water off on our legs or climb up and snuggle on my legs or jump up onto my bed at night, leaving muddy paw marks everywhere! That's Sheena. He also likes to fight with Minkie and this makes me cross!

Then there is our darling Minkie. Now she is an interesting looking cat! Perhaps the Lord took a handful of each of the colours of the cat-rainbow - black, grey, white, brown, ginger, and blond, just half mixed them and then threw them at Minkie - adding a pretty pink nose and really beautiful clear jade-green eyes an a deep Siamese "Meow" which seems so out of place from our Slinky Minkie. She starts purring when you speak to her, doesn't even wait for you to touch or stroke her!

But quite the nicest part about Minkie - apart from her exceptionally sweet and gently character - is that she has slightly bandy back legs and when she walks or runs along in front of me, with her tail hight, like a banner, I just delight in watching those speckled, all-colour, bandy back legs () sort of swaying from side to side, in front of me.

Minkie is a darling. The sweetest-natured, "purringest cat I have ever known, with sleepy, almost closed green eyes which only open wide and interested when she sees some interesting movement - of a bird, perhaps, or a grasshopper. She sits and sort of peeps at you out of almost closed eyes which open and stare intently when necessary.

She is also the "talkingest cat I ever knew and will carry on a long conversation of "Meows" in answer to being spoken to or when she wishes to call attention to herself - perhaps when I walk near her hiding place in the garden, not knowing that she is there, because her colouring makes her virtually invisible when she is curled up amongst the shrubs or plants in the garden - she just says "hello" but our cats never meow and meow for food, thank goodness. Perhaps that is because we do not eat meat and so there never is a smell of raw meat or fish in our kitchen.

As I said, when she lies down in the garden you simply cannot see her unless she moves and often I am startled, especially when I am watering the garden and she suddenly gets up and runs from the water.

I have told you all this because it was one day when I was taking a moment or two to wander around our garden that I saw Minkie sitting, still as a statue, gazing intently at something. I moved slowly nearer, following her line of vision to see what she could see - and do you know I saw a fairy!

Oh yes, Absolutely that traditional fairy! Tiny, only about three inches (about 7 1/2cm) tall. Slender, with a dress like a Fuschia flower, frilly pink skirt with darker pink bodice and over-skirt. A little green cap on her curly blond hair. Long slender legs in red stockings and wings as gauzy as those of any dragon-fly. She also had a tiny wee wand in her hand and was dancing, just like a ballerina! She spun on her little toes and swayed to and fro in the most fairy-like fashion!

I stood still, entranced and gradually my ears began to hear the music to which she was dancing. A sweet fairy-like tune, with violins and pipes and an occasional extra little accent from a drum. Minkie and I watched, not daring to move and I hardly dared breathe!

So there really are fairies, just like the stories say!

Suddenly the music changed to a livelier skipping sort of rhythm and out onto the moss-carpet skipped several more fairies, dressed in pale mauve skirts with purple bodices and they came from the two sides of the baby "moss-lawn" out of the shadow of the plants that grew there, and danced a beautiful pattern around her, weaving in and out of each other, twirling around, moving towards her and then out into a larger ring - a constantly changing pattern to lively music and movement.

Just then, Tinkles, seeing Minkie, came bounding up to play with her - they always show love for each other, Tinkles wagging her tail and sniffing and Minkie rubbing her head against Tinkles - and the fairies vanished! Yes, just vanished before my eyes. Oh, how cross I was with Tinkles!

Now you know there are fairies - who always seem to be girls - and elves - who always seem to be mischievous boys, but often are said to be helpful to people - gnomes, that are like very small men, supposed to live under the earth, and also sprites etc. and so I wondered what other fairy personages we have living in our garden?

I set out to see if I could find out so I decided to see if I could attract them by making tiny tables and chairs - oh, very tiny - and even a little swing for them to play on - one chair grander than the others in case there was a Fairy Queen! - these I placed around the moss-lawn, but I could not put any cups or glasses there because I did not know how to get ones small enough for them to use when they drank their nectar!

Now, I am a busy house-wife and mother, with very little time to sit and watch for fairies, but I tried, at first, several times a day, to creep up and see if the furniture had been used. I even took a magnifying glass to see if there were any crumbs left from their fairy cakes.

For a while nothing happened except that I found that the chairs and tables had been moved a bit and then one day I saw that the swing was still swinging by itself, so I expect that a fairy had just jumped off when she - or he - saw me coming, because there was no wind.

Then I thought of the idea of putting some fine brown face powder sprinkled on the smooth paved area around the swing to see if there would be any footprints left in it and sure enough, the next time I went I could see the marks of the shuffling of feet and a couple of clear fairy foot-prints. Now I was convinced against all reason!

Time passed and I still never caught a glimpse of them again and then I got ill. It was not a very serious illness, just something I should not have eaten, but I felt very weak and helpless the next day, so I decided to rest quietly and because it was a lovely mild to warm day, with very little wind, I took a book and my comfortable reading stretcher - a Christmas present from my husband - and went andd settled down very near and in good sight of the fairy carpet and swing.
For a while I sat quietly reading and then, feeling sleepy, I relaxed and closed my eyes, drifting off into a sort of half sleep.

Suddenly a burst of fairy laughter, added to the sound of tinkling music aroused me although I still lay with my eyes closed as if asleep, and I listened to every sound. Slowly, slowly I opened my eyes just a little bit so that they looked as if they were still closed and there, sure enough, was a happy fairy party! The Queen was sitting in the best chair and she looked so beautiful. There were her courtiers around her and they were all watching a game of fairy "Blind Man's Buff" and laughing at the antics of a couple of elves who seemed to be chasing each other around the place amongst those who were really playing the game properly.

What should I do? I lay there watching, scarcely daring to breathe! Then the "Blind man", a playful elf, managed to catch one of the two elves who had been playing "catch" amongst the others and all the company laughed and clapped their hands in applause - and this sound reached the ears of Tinkles, who lay sleeping quite near me (she is seldom far from me) and she woke with a start and gave a sharp little sort of warning pant.

Instantly the fairies vanished before my eyes, as they had done before and all that was left was my memory of the laughter, clapping and other happy sounds I had heard and witnessed.

Don't you believe in fairies? I do!