Fearne Builds a Fairy House

Written by Catherine McMahon, illustrated by Petta Musolino.

“It is so hot today” Fearne grumbled

“It’s too hot to play outside mum, can I have an ice pop please” she asked

“Of course you can, help yourself” her mum replied.

Fearne looked at herself in the mirror her face was red and her hair was stuck to the sides of her face from sweat.

“I think I will need more than an ice pop to cool me down” she said.

“You know it will be cooler in the forest “ her mum told her “maybe if it’s hot again tomorrow you can go there.”

“Good idea mum” replied Fearne

“Let’s go to the duck pond and feed the ducks later” mum suggested at dinner time. “It’s a bit cooler now and it will be nice to get some fresh air.”

The duck pond was really busy. There were lots of families out enjoying the lovely summer evening.

Fearne’s dad got chatting to a man who was sitting beside him on the bench. He was telling Fearne’s dad about a fire that burnt down a small part of the forest earlier that day. Fearne’s dad said he had heard the sirens earlier and wondered what was happening.

The man told Fearne’s dad that the fire was caused by a broken bottle, when the sun shone through it, it heated up and set some dry leaves on fire. The fire brigade had managed to put it out before there was much damage. “Still it’s upsetting though”, Fearne’s dad told them in the car on the way home.

Fearne was really worried about her fairy and elf friends that lived in the forest at the end of her garden.

It was too late to go and visit them when they got home but as soon as morning came Fearne got
dressed, had her breakfast and went down to see if her friends were ok.

As Fearne entered the forest she was greeted by a group of elves and fairies.

Elvira the elf queen was there. She came over to Fearne and told her that she had sent out some of the elves and fairies to make sure that everyone was accounted for. She asked the rabbits and the mice to check with all the animals to make sure no one was hurt.

She said that there were a family of fairies living in one of the trees that was burnt. They were ok but very sad to have lost their home.

Fearne felt very sad for them, she asked if there was anything she could do to help them.
“We are going to build them a new house” Elvira told her.

“Would you like to help us?”

“It would be my pleasure” Fearne told them.

“Firstly let’s ask Burbank and Juniper where they would like to live. They have two little girls, Yarrow and Saffron so they will need lots of space.

Burbank and Juniper knew exactly where in the forest they wanted to live. They lead the group of helpers to a beautiful sunny spot close to the oak trees.

“This is a beautiful spot” Fearne exclaimed.

“Thank you Fearne, it’s close to our friends and there are some lovely blackberries nearby, Burbank can’t resist them” laughed his wife.

“What materials do we need to build your house?” Fearne asked

“We need bark, moss, pine needles that have fallen off the tree and gone soft, any fur that’s fallen off animals, twigs and some soft mud” the fairies told her.

Fearne set off with Sorrel her best fairy friend to find the building materials. She was very excited, she had never built a fairy house before.

Before long they had collected the most wonderful array of suitable items from within the forest.

Everyone placed the items they had collected together and they were sorted into categories.

“The larger pieces of bark will work for the roof and the sides of the house” the fairies told her.

“The soft pine needles can go on the floor and the moss can cover it so it makes a soft cushion underneath.”

Soon all the materials were laid out in neat piles and the fairies made a plan of what materials were being used for the different parts of the house.

It was now time for the fairies to begin to build the house. Fearne handed them the larger pieces of bark and helped them to glue them together with the mud. In no time at all it began to take shape and resemble a little house. They covered it with thick moss to ensure the rain didn’t leak in. They put the pine needles and more moss inside to make the floor. The rabbits offered some of their winter fur that had fallen out for the summer. Juniper made it into a blanket for her girls. It really was a splendid house.

Burbank, Juniper Saffron and Yarrow were thrilled.

“Oh thank you they cried”, this is amazing, “thank you all of you”

Just at that very moment the search party of elves, fairies, rabbits and mice arrived back to say that everyone was accounted for, luckily no one was harmed in the fire.

“This has turned out to be a wonderful day” Fearne exclaimed,

“Yes it has” they all agreed.

“There’s one more thing to do” the fairy queen said and She waved her hand and chanted over the fairy house. Suddenly the new fairy house disappeared and a circle of toadstools appeared in its place.

Fearne looked puzzled.

“It’s a protection charm” The fairy queen said, “only fairies and other elementals can see it.”

“Now we are all set” she said

“Well not quite” said Elvira

Everyone looked at her, wondering what she meant.

She waved her hand in a circle and the biggest table filled with the most delicious food appeared.

“Hurrah” they shouted

“Yes it definitely has tuned out to be a wonderful day” Burbank said as he rubbed his hungry tummy.