Samantha Bilfield
Professor Toomey
English 112
11 March 2008
The Two Fairies
The sky was a heavenly blue and multiple colors of the rainbow dashed across the heavens just as the sun began to set. All around was quiet; so quiet that the silence made noise. The winds didn’t pick up until the sun fully set, for that’s how it always worked. When the winds picked up, they swirled into a massive mess of colors. The wind seemed to sparkle and light up the sky although it was now night.
When the sky settled down and all was peaceful once more, seven fairies gathered around the sight of the windstorm. You see, fairies are made up of wind and once every thousand years, such a storm creates the winged creatures. The creatures are born in pairs of two, and every two are identical to each other, but unique from everyone else.
“We cannot let the twins lose each other! I have been depressed my whole life without my counterpart,” said the first fairy.
“I hate being a fairy, for the life is so unkind. It’s unfortunate that we fairies never die,” said the second.
“If only I had my twin with me, we could carry on into the mortal world. My only wish is to become a human, and without my twin I cannot do so,” said the third fairy. The others nodded in agreement. “We must start a search party,” she said.
“I’ll search the skies,” the first fairy said.
“The mountains are my area of expertise,” said the second.
“Cities are busy and bustling, so we will work together!” said the third fairy, pointing at the much quieter fourth fairy.
“I will search every countryside,” said the fifth.
“I love the jungle and I will search every branch for the newborn twins,” said the sixth fairy.
“I shall search the parks, for they are beautiful and surely the newborn fairies must be there,” said the seventh. And so the search began for the two young fairies.
Meanwhile, the first newborn fairy awoke on a beach with sand that covered his entire body. His wings were stuck together with the wet sand and he pulled them apart, staring out into the infinite abyss of water beyond the beach. The fairy boy searched his body, feeling from toe to head the soft skin that encompassed him. He only had a left foot, and on the bottom of his left foot read the word “Ata”, which he understood to be his name.
“Ah, you must be one of the newest twins!” said a fairy that looked exactly like fairy number one. “Come with me. My name is Mina and I shall show you the ways of the sea,” she said. And so Ata grew with the eldest fairy and six of her fairy companions. They taught him how to fish and swim. At night they told stories and his questions were infinite. Ata was always interested in the human race.
“Why don’t they have wings, Mina?”
“Because they never need to escape from hazards like we do. We are much smaller than they are, and they don’t live long enough to experience ones like we do,” she responded.
“Why do they practice religion, Mina?”
“Because they need something to ensure them that there’s life after death. They don’t live forever like we do,” she responded.
“What is love, Mina?” Ata questioned.
“That I cannot answer. Fairies do not know what love entails, but I have observed that it is the most magical thing on earth,” she responded.
“Does it last as long as us, Mina?” he asked.
“I think it lasts longer,” she responded.
In the meantime, the sixth fairy, named Imani, was searching through the jungle, soaking up all its glory and searching every inch of the jungle floor. Then, all of a sudden she heard someone screaming.
“Help!” said the voice of a boy. “Save me from this monster!”
Imani ran towards the boy’s voice and laughed at the sight she saw. The fairy boy was tangled in vines. She released him and helped him to get back up into the air.
“What are these?” the boy asked.
“Why they’re wings,” she replied. Then she grabbed him by his right foot, for it was his only foot, and said, “You’re name is Ata, eh? Come with me, kiddo. We will take care of you. Has your twin fallen anywhere close?”
Ata looked at her in confusion. “Twin?” he said. With that, Imani sighed, grabbed the boy by the hand, and flew him into the sky. She twisted the wind, signaling the others to come quickly, and retreated to the jungle.
The boy grew with the seven fairies, and they showed him the ways of the jungle. He knew which berries would be safe and which would be harmful. He could hunt animals and cook them for dinner by making fires. At night they told stories and his questions were infinite. Ata was always interested in the human race.
“Why don’t they have wings, Imani?”
“Because they never need to escape from hazards like we do. We are much smaller than they are, and they don’t live long enough to experience ones like we do,” she responded.
“Why do they practice religion, Imani?”
“Because they need something to ensure them that there’s life after death. They don’t live forever like we do,” she responded.
“What is love, Imani?” Ata questioned.
“That I cannot answer. Fairies do not know what love entails, but I have observed that it is the most magical thing on earth,” she responded.
“Does it last as long as us, Imani?” he asked.
“I think it lasts longer,” she responded.
Ata of the ocean was swimming one day at the beach when the current carried him far down the coast. He swam into a young girl whose hair was a brilliant blonde and her eyes were crystal blue. She was on vacation and too focused on the fun that the waves were creating to notice the small fairy boy. Still, he liked her from the moment he saw her, but he did not know how to love her.
Three years later, Ata of the jungle was swinging from the tree vines and saw a group of humans on a safari. The tourists always came to visit in the summer, but this time, something was different. There was a teenage girl, who had binoculars pressed right up to her face. Her hair was in beautiful blonde waves. When she removed her binoculars, they showed eyes of crystal blue. But she was too focused on the jungle animals to notice the small fairy boy. Still, he liked her from the moment he saw her, but he did not know how to love her.
The two fairy boys, though words apart, spent their days dreaming about the pretty little girl. They each became more reserved and quiet after they thought they had lost her forever.
“Mina, how do I find my counterpart?” Ata of the ocean asked.
“You must clip your wings, sell your soul, and pray that he does the same. If he does the same, you two will join and become human. If he does not, your soul will be doomed for all of eternity and you will never know of peace or happiness again,” she responded.
“What’s peace and happiness without love, Mina?” he asked.
“What’s life without your soul?” she responded.
Ata of the ocean didn’t contemplate his decision for long. He knew that being doomed for all of eternity is beyond miserable, but he could not continue to live without love. Ata took a shark from the sea and said, “please clip my wings and I will be forever grateful to you, my friend.” The shark clipped the wings with his teeth.
Then, Ata went to a clam and asked to sell his soul to him. “If I sell you my soul, you can use it to help create bigger and better pearls. My soul will be a great worker and I would be forever grateful to you, my friend.” Ata sold his soul to the clam and waited for his counterpart.
Ata of the ocean lived miserably for the next three years. He felt as if he wasn’t living, but would never die. It was an in between full of gloomy days and much misfortune. Every time he tried to swim, he sank to the bottom because he had no more drive. He no longer knew how to fish, for his luck with catching fish had also diminished. Mina and the others had abandoned him the night he returned with no soul. They were hurt and disappointed, and his wings being clipped had insulted them.
It took Ata of the jungle three years longer to figure out how to find his counterpart. He found a lion to clip his wings, and sold his soul to the monkeys. His soul would help them soar higher. At that moment, his body rose to the top of the sky, soared through mountains, fields, cities, and parks. His body stopped only when it was suspended above a large jungle. Suddenly, flying straight at him was his twin fairy-brother. The two collided into a whirl of wind and chaos. The wind surged through their bodies and carried them through the sky.
When Ata awoke, he was a man. He had no sign of wings on his back and his foot no longer read “Ata”. Even better, he had two legs and two feet with which to walk on! He was a lot larger now; about six feet to be exact. But he had forgotten about those things. He had forgotten about Mina and Imani, too. Ata was now a human being, and the only thing on his mind was the girl he had seen on vacation, twice.
When Ata was hiking through the mountains one day, exploring the world for what is was, he ran into a woman with brunette curls and emerald green eyes. The face, though aged with time, was as beautiful and radiant as it had ever been. Ata bent on his knees and asked the woman for her hand in marriage.
“I’m not that easy of a catch,” she replied. And she flipped her golden waves and began to strut away.
“I know that, miss, but let me prove to you my love.”
“Sir, you do not know what love is. And if you did, you would know that I could never love you. You’re simply not good enough for me,” she said.
Ata sat down and cried on a park bench. Everything that he had ever done was for her—for love. And now love was pushing him away. He had risked selling both halves of his soul. He had gotten both sets of wings clipped and had given up his ability to live forever. He had lost his friendships with the fairies that had become family, and in order to be turned away for love?
As Ata contemplated his miserable life on that wooden old bench, a woman not much younger than himself came and wrapped her arms around him. He looked up and saw the woman’s beautiful brown curls and emerald green eyes.
“Wipe away your tears, she’s not worth it,” said the stranger. “She’s always like that. She thinks that she can get away with being beautiful but from everything I’ve learned from her, life’s not that easy. My sister thinks that beauty buys her happiness but she’s absolutely ugly to me. Pretty is as pretty does, you know?”
Ata looked into her emerald eyes with amazement. She has so much beauty and so much soul, he thought. This is the girl I’ve been looking for.
“I think I feel my love for you bursting inside my stomach!” he exclaimed.
The girl with the brown hair laughed. Her head flew back as if looking at the heavens and she replied, “You have got a long way to love, but lets give it a shot.”
Although their bodies grew old and their hair grey, their love lived on long after they walked the earth. They proved that pretty is as pretty does, and the two beautiful souls graced the earth with their presence for all of eternity.
