A Village Called Temper
© 2005 Sonia C. Jensen

Once upon a time, there was a lovely little fairy village called Hope. The village was nestled at the bottom of Big Garden on the shore of a small pond. The pond was filled with fish, frogs and beautiful water-plants There were many different types of houses in Hope. Some fairies lived in little white mushrooms, some lived in hollow trees and others lived in abandoned cups and teapots.

The fairies who lived in Hope were very friendly. They would stop and talk with each other, laugh at jokes and take the time to flutter and play in the garden.

But, Hope had not always been very nice and friendly. Just a few years before, the villagers were very grumpy and they were always fighting with each other. There was never a kind word to anyone. At that time the town was called Temper because that is what the little fairies were always losing.

The fairies lived in dirty little homes, and the pond was filthy. It was so smelly that no animals or fish could live in it. Weeds had overtaken the garden and the people in the Big House who owned the land did not even care to look after it.

One bright Spring day, an old and wrinkly fairy named Silas arrived at the village in a little cart pulled by two tiny field mice. He stopped at a weather-beaten and cracked teapot house at the edge of the town where he started to unload his cart. Now, there was nothing unusual in that at all. Fairies came and went every day in the village. But when the villagers saw Silas a few days later pulling garbage from the pond and piling it into his cart, they thought he was crazy!

Early each morning, Silas rode down to the pond on his cart and filled it with things that he found in the water. There were old newspapers, discarded toys and pop cans from the Big House. With a little nod of his head, the items floated out of the water and into the cart. The old fairy then drove the cart to the top of the garden where the rubbish bins were and tossed all the stuff inside them for the garbage men to pick up.

After lunch each day, the old fairy fixed up his teapot house. He fixed the cracks with clay and allowed it to harden in the sun. Then he painted the teapot leaf green and added some lovely pink and purple flowers. He washed the windows until they glistened in the warm Spring sun. In his yard, he cut down the old dead twigs and weeds and planted tiny seeds that would grow to become beautiful flowers of all different sizes and colours.

It didn't take long for the villagers to start following him around to see what he was up to. Some of them were very mean to the old fairy and began to tease him.

"Whatcha' doing old man?" called out a very dirty little boy fairy.

"Are you a garbage picker?" yelled an old crone. "Leave it in the pond where it belongs!"

Silas said nothing and kept on working. The other fairies soon got tired of the old man not fighting back and they left him alone. Except for one little girl fairy named Sage.

"Mister, your house is so pretty. Just like in a picture book. Why don't our houses look like that?" Sage asked him one day when she saw him out working.

Silas turned to Sage and looked at her sadly. "Well little one, I think everyone here just kind of gave up hope. I like to think of my house as a home where I can be comfortable and feel happy. That's why my place looks pleasant, and why I am cleaning up the pond. I would like to see the fish swimming in the pond and watch the little birds come for a drink."

"Gee, I've never seen a real fish or a bird. Only in my picture books," said Sage. "What are they like?"

"Well," Silas smiled. "You help me out with this garbage, and I'll tell you all about the wonderful animals, fish and birds that would live around here, if the place was clean."

And so, side by side, Silas and Sage worked together until supper time.

"Silas, I have to go home now. I'll come back and help you tomorrow."

The old fairy smiled down at the little fairy, and for the first time in her life - she smiled! A big beautiful smile.

That night during supper, Sage told her parents about the fairy and what he was doing. When she finished her story she passed on the beautiful smile to her parents.

The next morning the whole village had turned out at the pond, but this time they weren't teasing Silas. They were helping him! The little fairy and her parents had visited all the villagers the night before and told them the story of the old man. At each house they had been to, they left behind a beautiful smile.

For two days, Silas and the other villagers worked very happily together, singing songs and laughing as they worked.

Finally the pond was finished, and Silas was very pleased. Everyone said how beautiful it was, and that they had never seen it that way before. The old fairy smiled and invited everyone to his home for some well-deserved milk and cookies.

When the fairies saw his neat and tidy little home, they gasped in pleasure. Everyone felt so good in his teapot house that when they got home, they started to clean and fix up their own houses. Everyone helped each other out, and they were laughing and having a good time, which made everyone look nice and pretty.

After a couple of weeks had passed by, the village was beautiful. When the man and lady who lived in the Big House happened to walk through the weeds one day, they saw the pretty pond and were quite surprised. They looked at each other and agreed that it must be the work of the "wee folk" and decided to clean up the rest of the garden.

The wee folk watched them work from the branches of a big oak tree and laughed with happiness.

When Summer arrived, the garden and pond were finished. The people who lived in the Big House had stocked the pond with goldfish, and frogs and other water creatures had come to stay in it. The birds saw how nice and tidy the garden was and they sang their cheerful songs from the branches of the trees. Some of them splashed merrily in the birdbaths that the people in the Big House had put out for them. Butterflies and bumblebees fluttered lazily in and out of the lovely flowers that had been planted by the lady of the house and the wee folk.

One day the sound of laughter was heard by the fairy villagers and they all peeked out from behind flowers, trees and rocks to see what was going on. The were quite surprised to see a little boy and girl skipping down the garden path. The fairies were very happy to see children in the garden. They had not known that there were children living in the Big House. The garden had been too dangerous for them to play in, so their parents did not let them go there. Now that it was clean and tidy, they could play there all they wanted. This made the fairies very happy for they all loved children.

On a cool Autumn day, Silas looked around and decided that his work was done. It was time for him to move on to another village that needed his help.

That night the fairies had a big party and danced around a fairy ring. It was a party for all the wee folk to say goodbye to their friend.

After the party, Silas climbed into his cart pulled by the two field mice. He looked down at the fairies and smiled. "You see," he said, "With a big smile, a little hard work, and a lot of love and hope, you can be happy most of the time."

After Silas had left, the fairies got together and decided to rename their town. They called it Hope, after the old fairy's lesson, and they spread their cheer through all of the Big Garden.

Every year on this day, the fairies of the Big Garden get together and celebrate the day that Silas brought a new beginning to their lives. If you look closely in your yard, perhaps you will find a fairy ring and you will know that the fairies have been celebrating in your garden.

The End

All graphics, content and web design were created and copyright © 2000-20012 by Sonia C. Jensen.