Stories by Anne Knight
The
Fairy Queen Disappears
Mr Micks is now married and his fairy wife is named Isobel. She calls
her new husband Toby because when he was back with the earth people,
before he went to Fairyland, he became the head gardener to the Fairy
Queen. Nobody knew his name, even he was not sure what his real name
was, so Isobel said perhaps the Fairy Queen would know. Off he went to
the Fairy Palace.
When he arrived he could see nobody as the Palace doors were firm shut.
Even the fairy guards weren’t there. He looked all around. ‘This is very
strange,’ he muttered to himself. ‘I was seeing to the flowers, also the
vegetables and my grass man was cutting the lawns. Now let me think!
Yes, that’s it, have they gone on a tour of Fairyland?’ So going back to
his house he told Isobel. She was busy making fairy cakes for the next
day, as there was to be a fair on Cloud One, where they lived. After
taking her cakes out of her small oven she put them on the table on a
little wire stand. ‘Now what did you say Toby?’ Mr Micks replied: ‘The
Palace is all shut up, no guards by the big doors. I wonder if the
neighbours know anything?’
Toby left his house and went and pressed a little button on their door.
Elfie the Gnome put his head out. ‘Oh hello Toby, do you want me to cut
the grass again?’ ‘No, no, but I went to the Palace, the big doors are
shut.’ ‘Oh,’ said Elfie. Toby told him about the guards. They were not
in their sentry boxes either. ‘Do you know if our Fairy Queen has gone
on holiday?’ ‘Well, there’s Moley, he’s always digging holes in the
grass, because I’m always having to repair them. Perhaps he could help!’
So Toby and Elfie went down the road to where Moley lived in a big hole.
They shouted down the hole, then they heard a rustle of leaves and out
popped Moley. ‘What do you want?’ asked Moley, in a loud voice for a
fairy mole. ‘We need your help. The Fairy Palace is all locked up, the
doors are shut, there’s no guards. We were wondering if you knew where
they were?’ Moley twitched his whiskers. ‘I made a few holes today in
the Palace gardens but it did seem quiet.’ Toby spoke up: ‘I didn’t see
you this morning.’ ‘No,’ came the reply from Moley, ‘I went burrowing
this afternoon.’ ‘And we finished at dinner time,’ reported Toby. ‘Yes,
that’s right,’ agreed Elfie. ‘How about going through the tunnels that I
made this afternoon?’ ‘Um,’ replied Toby, thinking he’d been a long time
from Isobel. ‘Well, Moley, could you look in the tunnels you did this
afternoon and see if you can find the Queen? We’ll wait for an answer.’
Toby and Elfie sat on a log. ‘I won’t be long, I’ve only just made them
this afternoon.’
Burrowing into the tunnels Moley made his way to the Palace garden.
‘Now,’ thought Moley, ‘I must turn left then right before I come to the
Palace.’ Off he burrowed. ‘I think this is the one,’ talking to himself
in a fairy mole way. He came to soft soil. ‘Ah, that’s where I came up.’
So, pushing the soil with his snout, he broke through to what he thought
to be the Palace gardens, but he was in a field full of cows. Burrowing
again he tried once more to get to the Palace. This time he emerged in a
flower bed. He looked around but it was not the Palace, only a large
house. ‘Oh dear me, what will Toby and Elfie think of me. I keep going
the wrong way.’ He decided to go home, hoping that his friends would be
there waiting. He found where he lived and came up expecting to see Toby
and Elfie, but they were not there. It was very dark. ‘Oh, it looks as
if they’ve both gone home.’
Toby had invited Elfie to tea and they had waited for an age for Moley
to come back. ‘Well,’ said Toby, as they all sat down for tea and fairy
buns that Isobel had made, ‘do you think they’ve all gone on a tour of
Fairyland?’ ‘Maybe,’ replied Isobel. ‘That could be possible. The Queen
has to visit many people with her retinue.’ Isobel had not just made
fairy cakes, she gave them soup and a drink to warm them up after their
long wait for Moley. ‘Thank you Isobel, but now we must look for Moley.’
So Toby and Elfie went back to the log looking for Moley, the fairy
mole. They found him fast asleep. Elfie gently shook him. ‘Moley, it’s
me and Toby,’ but he seemed in a deep sleep. Toby tried and Moley opened
his little eyes. ‘Oh Toby, I got lost. I came up in a field where cows
were eating, so I burrowed again and this time I came up in a flower
patch. Lovely flowers! I looked around hoping it would be the Palace,
but it was a large house, that too was quiet so I made my way home, came
to the log but you and Elfie were not there.’ ‘No, we waited ‘til dark,
which it still is, the stars are all out. Shall we search in the
morning? So Moley you can go back home, see you tomorrow.’ Toby and
Elfie also made their way home.
Next day they all went to the Palace to see if the Fairy Queen and her
retinue had returned, but the Palace still had its big doors shut and no
guards. All the people that lived near Toby and his friends came to see
if they could help. Even Isobel came to help. Then everyone started to
sneeze, ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo. As they sneezed they found themselves
starting to get bigger. Isobel, who had come along with the small crowd,
also got bigger. ‘Oh great, what’s happening?’ A huge cloud picked them
all up and they landed where the Earth people live. ‘I know this place,’
said Toby, who used to be called Mr Micks. ‘A long time ago I had a
house where I grew flowers, also vegetables.’ ‘Did you, dear,’ asked
Isobel, ‘it’s so strange, where are we?’ ‘Well,’ said a tall doll called
Victoria, ‘you have visited the doll’s room.’ Toby, his wife Isobel,
plus the people that came said in chorus: ‘A large cloud blew us all
here from Fairyland.’ ‘Well,’ said Victoria, ‘can we help you?’
‘Please,’ said Mr Micks, ‘I’m now called Toby, this is my wife Isobel
and these people live on Cloud One.’ ‘You see,’ said Elfie, ‘me and Toby
work at the Fairy Palace. Toby is head gardener and I am,’ straightening
himself up, ‘I’m his head grass cutter. I see to all the lawns.’ ‘And
I’m Moley, I go making holes.’ The dolls all listened. Toby spoke again:
‘You see we have lost our Fairy Queen and we must find her.’ ‘Oh,’ said
the dolls together, in harmony. ‘You see,’ said Toby, ‘At home, in
Fairyland, the Palace guards have gone too. We stayed out all night
trying to find her but we must go back to Fairyland, where we live, to
see if the Queen has returned.’ Before the dolls eyes they were gone.
‘Oh, how strange, was I dreaming,’ said one doll, a very small fairy
doll made of plastic.
Mr Micks, called Toby, plus friends found themselves swirling around, a
pink cloud passed the same way. ‘Why, little people would you like a
ride?’ ‘Yes please,’ said Toby, ‘are you passing Fairyland?’ ‘Why yes,’
came the reply. ‘Thank you,’ said Isobel. Toby and all the others
thanked the pink cloud. Plop, down they came in the place where they’d
sneezed. ‘Can you hear that?’ ‘Yes, the Palace is open, I can hear the
guards.’ ‘Me too,’ said Elfie.
The small crowd went up to the Palace Gates, seeing the two guards
there, Mr Micks, called Toby, asked if he could have an audience with
Her Majesty. The guards knew Mr Micks and rang a special number. The
guards on the other side picked up the fairy phone and pressed a few
buttons. The gates were opened. Toby went to the Palace to have an
audience with the Queen, as he entered he gave a low bow. The Queen
looked at Toby. ‘Oh, I was called away in rather a hurry.’ ‘Was it in
the afternoon, Ma’am?’ ‘I hoped not to be long. I took my whole retinue
with me, plus my guards. My aging aunt had her 90th birthday. So sorry
you could not get into the garden.’
Mr Micks bowed and left, did some gardening and tidying up, then went
home for tea.