Ian and the Fairies.

Ian’s mum and dad were awaiting their second baby, What to do with Ian, Ian’s parents decided to ask Ian’s granny if she would have him for a few days. Granny was delighted and Ian was freshly washed and dressed and taken by car to his granny who lived in the country near the New Forest. Ian was delighted, as he loved his granny very much. She always had special little treats for him.

Ian was very excited about going to his granny and kept asking his mum, are we there yet are we there? They eventually arrived at granny’s cottage that was situated right near the edge of the New Forest. Ian’s dad took the small case with Ian’s fresh clothes in to the cottage where they were all welcomed by granny. Granny quickly made them a fresh pot of tea with some chocolate biscuits; they soon freshened up after the journey and Ian was sent into the garden to play while his parents gave granny a few instructions as to what the boy ate and other details about Ian.

Ian looked around the garden and wondered much at the flowers and the fruit trees and of course the vegetable plot; it was granny’s pride the garden she tended it very lovingly and right through the summer she had fresh fruit and vegetables to eat. Flowers were picked and freshly arranged twice a week. Granny loved her flowers. Ian’s mum and dad came out of the house and said goodbye to their son Ian, telling him to be a good boy and not to cause granny any worries.

Becoming bored with the garden Ian opened the garden gate and walked slowly to the forest. At the edge of the forest Ian found a large bramble patch and started picking the sweet black berries, which were very tasty. Ian did not realise that he was getting deeper and deeper into the forest and much later he realised that he was lost. For a six-year-old boy that had never been outside of his own house on his own it was for him rather frightening.

Ian sat down under an old oak tree and as he was tired he soon dropped off into a deep sleep. When he awoke it was quite dark and Ian became frightened. All alone for the first time in his young life he did not know what to do next. Ian was not really alone there were all kinds of creatures in the woods that lived there all of the time. The shy deer gazed at him while she slowly ate the grass in the clearing where Ian was sitting. In the old oak tree an owl looked down at him. Some mice were looking at him rather curiously and then Ian saw for the very first time in his young life the Fairies.

A dozen fairies were sitting in a ring watching him, the eldest of the fairies told the others that Ian was surely lost and needed help. The fairies of course knew every nook and cranny in the forest it was their home. The light from twenty fireflies lit up the fairy ring that is how Ian managed to see the fairies, as it was now quite dark. The fairies decided that they would help Ian to find his way out of the Forest. One of the fairies blew into a small magic whistle and suddenly there were hundreds of fireflies in the ring. The fairies came over to where Ian was sitting and told him that they would take him back to his granny’s cottage. They all knew granny for she went often into the woods and picked the wild fruits and mushrooms and what is more important she never trampled on any of their fairy rings.

Telling Ian to follow them they sent the fireflies on ahead and a path was lit right up to the edge of the forest. The fairies and Ian followed the fireflies and soon came to the edge of the cottage. Granny was sitting in her garden waiting for Ian. With a knowing smile she told him to go into the house and up the stairs to the bed she had prepared for him they would talk about his adventures in the morning. Granny waved to the edge of the forest she knew that the fairy folk had helped Ian to get safely back home to his waiting bed.

In the morning Ian excitedly told his Granny all that had happened in the forest. He told her about the blackberries and all of the animals and birds that he had seen. Granny let him finish his story and listened carefully to his tale of the fairies seeing him to the edge of the forest and how the fireflies had lit the way for them. When he was finished telling her of his exciting adventure granny became serious and told him that the fairies were not always in the forest to see him safely back home and that he was never to go off in the forest again on his own. Ian promised his granny that he would never wander off on his own again.

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