Fairy Stories & Other Tales

 A little girl sat on the edge of a river bank, her legs just out of the water's reach, where she was staring intently at a small school of fish. She was about to reach out and grab one of the fish in her small hand, when a naiad, watching her from between sheaves of water grass, allowed her head to emerge slowly from the water's surface.     'I would not do such a thing, were I you,' the naiad said.     The little girl was not frightened of the naiad, only wanting to explain herself.       'But I would like to study the fish,' she said.     The naiad smiled a menacing smile, showing rows of sharp, pointed teeth, before saying, 'A noble aim, perhaps. But if you take the fish from the water, it will die. It is the same for myself, and for any creature that lives below.'     The little girl's eyes went very big. 'I didn't know,' she said.     'See that you remember this, and do not come clo...

     'Hello! Hello, I say!   Are you awake?’                    A small, ringing voice that Anna could have sworn came from somewhere around the tip of her nose sounded in her ears.   But that couldn’t be right.   She hadn’t even opened her eyes yet.   She was simply, she thought with blurry thoughts, on the edge of a vivid dream, almost, but not quite, awake. But that did not explain the tickling feeling on the end of her nose. ‘Hello!’ the voice tinkled. Anna's eyes flew open to a sight that made her blink twice and stare narrowly.   For perched just in front of where her eyes crossed sat a small creature.   A small creature with wings.   Every muscle in Anna's body froze.   She didn’t even blink. ‘Are you up?   Of course you’re up!   You have to be up.   Your eyes are open.’   As quickly and as fast as the tiny cre...

 Once upon a time a tree stood in the middle of a wood, dying. It was not only the blossoms that slipped, too pale and faded, from its branches, but the very branches themselves, which were brittle and cracked. The trunk seeped sap from deep crevasses and in the very middle of it, brown with decay, was a great split.     One day a little girl wondered the wood and came upon the tree. When she saw its circumstance, she wept, for the tree looked so very broken and it could not be long until it met its end.     'Why do you cry, child?' the tree asked the little girl.     'I am sad because you look so old and tired. And I know that you will die,' she said, her eyes bright from her tears.     'Ah, I know, too, that I will die,' said the tree, 'But I am content, for I mean to have a good death.'     'What does that mean, 'a good death'?' the little girl asked.     'For one, I have met you, and for a...

Anastasiya lived in a place where the hills rolled and were, from time to time, covered in flowers. Royal purple, pale mauve, and vibrant pink, Anastasiya would wade through them as she roamed the hills looking for a thing her grandmother told her lived amidst the shrubs and stunted trees: a unicorn.      Long ago, her grandmother had told her once, unicorns lived in great herds among the rolling hills because it held the purest water. The creatures could travel over even the soggiest, most sunken ground because of their magic, which made them light of hoof and drawn to pure hearts. But it had been a long time since anyone had seen a unicorn, let alone a herd, her grandmother had said, for it wasn't often that people had the disposition.     Anastasiya didn't know what her grandmother meant by 'disposition,' but she was determined that she would find a unicorn. And so, she searched, high and low, as often as she could.  But try as she might, she c...

 The little girl couldn't sleep, for the night was very long. It wasn't often that night felt like this, because as the darkness began her eyelids would droop and the next sight her eyes would see was the morning sunlight streaming through the window glass. But this night was longer than others. This night was the longest.     She lay in her bed and stared out at it, because of the courage she had within her. She saw the clouds that dampened the moon's light, and felt a shiver as the night seemed to grow colder. But she tipped her head at the clouds and their heavy darkness, and thought that perhaps they were off to a wheat field to grant it rain. At least, she hoped that it was so.     The moon came to full light after the clouds had passed, but its light seemed silver, sharp, and cool. It sent a chill down the little girl's spine. But still she kept vigil, thinking perhaps the moon was feeling especially distant that night. It would return to feeling...