So I've decided to offer to the world wide web, free of charge, one of the stories that I'll have illustrated and published later. There are four chapters, here is chapter one. I haven't yet decided if the four chapters are "it" or if I will continue on with these characters. Feedback is much appreciated. My daughters love this story. Let's see if others do as well.
The Fairy, the Mushroom and the Medicine Woman
by Marc Archambault
Copyright. All rights reserved. No copying without permission, etc. etc.
Celia was a young fairy. She had just finished fairy school and was heading out to find her first home away from her family. Her pink and purple butterfly-like gossamer wings flapped gently as she drifted through the forest, looking for the perfect home. Every once in a while, she would stop and take a deep breath, enjoying the fresh smell of trees and streams and the beautiful glow of evening light filtering through leaves and evergreen needles. After a few hours, as the sun's last rays dimmed and the moon cast her shadows through the forest, Celia spotted a mushroom. It was a very large mushroom, nestled between some fallen moss covered branches near a babbling brook. Overhead, a large evergreen tree reached into the sky, seeming to touch the moon. The mushroom's cap was bright red with white spots and it glistened cheerily in the moonlight. "Home!" Exclaimed Celia. "This is it, I know it. This is the perfect place for me to make my home!" The young fairy wasted no time in turning the scarlet mushroom into a suitable dwelling. She tied her silver hair in a ponytail with a piece of spider's silk, and took her hawk-talon knife from her belt. With a deep breath of excitement, she set to work carving out the inside of the large fungus.
Gwen was a young woman who had just finished her medicine woman training with an old healer in a town far away. She was about to arrive back in her home village. She was expecting a warm welcome, maybe a party, and some time to relax after all her hard work and training. Instead, when she arrived, her friend George came running and shouted "Gwen! Gwen, thank goodness you're here. My mother is very sick and she needs your help." George's mother was the wife of the village chief, a very important lady. She had also been very good to Gwen over the years. Gwen cast aside all thoughts of welcome and relaxation, and focused on what she had learned. She ran alongside George towards the Chief’s cottage. Along the way, she asked George questions about his mother’s illness. By the time she arrived, Gwen had a pretty good idea of what was ailing her friend’s mother and what needed to be done. She spent a few minutes with her patient before deciding what to do. "I have to head into the woods to collect ingredients for the medicine I will have to make to help her," she told George. "While I'm gone, keep a cool cloth on her forehead to keep the fever down and make sure she drinks as much water as she can." George thanked her, and Gwen headed off into the woods, consulting her medicine book. She hadn't even had time to say hello to her parents.
"There!" exclaimed Celia triumphantly, hovering in front of her newly created abode. "It's a job well done, if I do say so myself! I just need to gather a few more things for decoration and then it will be just perfect." With that, she flew off, quick as a sparrow, into the dark woods.
Gwen read her medicine recipe aloud to herself as she walked along the forest path. "When you hear the wind through the willow tree sigh, its bark is what you desire. Where the brook babbles and sings, find the salamander and touch an oak leaf to it's skin. By the light of a bright fairy moon, you must choose the brightest red mushroom. When these things you have found, with a mortar and pestle they must be ground. With the paste and hot water, make a bitter, astringent tea for the patient to aid their body to heal." First, she found an old oak growing along the path, and picked a leaf from a low hanging branch. When she came to a grove of willow trees, she waited a while, until a breeze passed and she could hear the sighing of the trees. Gently, she peeled off a piece of bark the size of her palm. After a few more minutes of searching, she heard the babbling of a brook, and followed the sound. She found a spot where the brook ran near a large evergreen tree and there was a pile of fallen moss covered branches. Kneeling by the water, she turned over a few rocks until she saw a small salamander scoot out. Quickly, she caught the squirming creature, gently brushed the oak leaf against it's skin, and then let it go. As she turned to go, she stepped over the fallen branches and noticed the moon's light glinting off the bright red cap of a large mushroom nestled between the branches. "Ah, this is exactly what I need. Now I have all the ingredients for the medicine," Gwen said as she bent and plucked the mushroom from its place and added it to her medicine pouch before heading back to the village.
Celia flew above the brook, humming to herself pleasantly. Her arms were laden with small knick-knacks from the forest: flowers, feathers, moss, and shiny pebbles. When she spotted the great evergreen she turned to the pile of fallen branches, then stopped suddenly. Her moth opened, but made no sound. Her arms fell limp at her sides, dropping all the treasures she had gathered. Her wings slowed until she fell lightly to the ground beside the broken stump of the mushroom that was supposed to be her new home. Small tears formed in her tiny fairy eyes and she cried, and cried.
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