Story : The Fairyland (Concluded)

FAIRYLAND

Author: Aranya Ghosal

One day, while coming back from school in a most alarming run, I accidentally tripped on something and fell on the rough pavement. Luckily, all I had were a few scratches and a tiny cut on my knee. The “thing” I had tripped on was wedged tight under a chunk of rock. I pulled hard, and the thing came into my hand, but all the pulling threw me onto the pavement again. I stood up and brushed all the dust and dirt off me. My “thing” was just a piece of plastic from any old ordinary tub, but it had a magical touch in it. I wanted to examine the plastic piece closely, so I rushed home.

I pushed the front door so hard after reaching home that my pet dog, Rover, got quite scared. I announced my arrival to mother, who was   cooking lunch. Then, I quickly went upstairs to my room and put my school bag down heavily. Rover followed me. I changed into my regular dress so hurriedly, going here and there, that Rover got quite giddy looking at me. Just as I was going to open my bag to take the plastic piece out, I heard mother coming up the stairs. I quickly and deftly tossed the plastic back into my bag, afraid that she would ask me lots and lots of questions about that plastic. AND she didn’t at all like the idea that I would be carrying a dirty piece of plastic in my bag all over the place!

Mother entered my room carrying my lunch on a tray. I helpfully took the tray from her and carefully set it on the table. Then, I pushed her out of my room saying that I had an important assignment to finish by tomorrow, and  heaved  sigh of relief as she retired to the kitchen. Actually, I didn’t want her to hinder my research.

Rover was still in the room, but I didn’t mind him! I quickly gobbled up my rice with butter chicken, drank all the water and locked the door.

After that, I carefully took the plastic out again, polished it with a piece of cloth, and set it very gently on my study table. I turned my room upside down for a magnifying glass. At last, just as I was about to lose my patience, I found one, hidden in some books in a corner of the room. On finding it, I got very excited. AT LAST! Seeing that, Rover got very excited too, and started jumping around the room like mad. I had to scold him to quieten him. He started whining like anything. I took no notice of him and started on my experiments. For a long time, I eagerly waited for something, anything, to happen. But, nothing happened. I even examined and looked at the plastic from all the different angles I knew of!

Just when I was struggling to keep myself from falling asleep, there was a blinding flash! 

When I opened my eyes, I found that I was no longer in my room, in which the walls were red and the furniture were at different places. Instead, this was a rainbow-coloured room. Where my study table used to be; there were three different beds, a small one, a medium one, and a big one. In the place of my cosy bed, there were three tables, a big one, a medium-sized one, and a small one. Instead of my bookcase, there was an even larger bookshelf, arranged neatly with books.

Then, suddenly, the place started looking very familiar. Wait-now come to think about it, it was the same room I had seen in the book, “GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS”! And this was the Three Bears’ room!

I was astounded! I mean-how could it be? There was no explanation! Then   I suddenly remembered. Oh yes- that magical piece of plastic, and that blinding flash of light. I figured out that the plastic had transported me to a land of fairy tales. Then, I heard someone coming UP THE STAIRS!

I was terrified! I didn’t know what to do and who was coming up. Perhaps it was the three bears, and they would scold me for getting into the house without their permission. Just then, the door opened. I was so scared that I couldn’t even look! Then I opened my eyes and saw- GOLDILOCKS!

                                           

“Goldilocks!” I exclaimed. “Boy, am I glad to see you!” But Goldilocks did not know me. Then I remembered-of course! None of the creatures or people here knew me. I introduced myself as Peter. Goldilocks told me that she wanted a nap after eating Little Bear’s famous Just-Right porridge. But I was neither hungry nor sleepy. I wanted to explore.

So, saying my goodbyes to Goldilocks, I went out of the house like a whirlwind. Let’s explore this new place!

Usually, the people came lazing into Fairyland, never said “Hi” or even “Goodbye”, and went away. But now they saw this little boy who was an interesting one! He ran about on the streets, met and talked to this person and that creature, and was overall a very nice character.

I liked this new place a lot. It was much better than the boring old world we all lived in. I continued walking.

Eventually, I came to a forest. There, I was able to hear the sound of excited laughter. I was scared! And, suddenly, I could see a figure shadowed in the darkness. I gave a yell. But as the figure stepped out into the light, I recognised it immediately. It was Little Red Riding Hood! I even saw The Big Bad Wolf behind her, hidden in some bushes. I introduced myself to Riding Hood. She offered to take me to her Granny’s    house and treat me to cream cakes and freshly baked bread. I immediately agreed.

So we linked arms and went to Granny’s house.

At Granny’s, there were so many delicacies! My mouth started watering. I introduced myself to Granny and asked her if I could have something to eat. Fortunately, she was a very kind person, so she immediately gave me some fresh bread with home made jam. After eating it, I felt I had reached heaven. Heaven of Food, that is. Then, we (Riding Hood, Granny and me) chatted for a long time.

When it was time for me to go, Granny gave me a big basket full of wonderful stuff from Granny’s larder. Ah, anybody could start to daydream    after smelling the things in that basket!

I thanked Riding Hood and Granny for the wonderful time at their house and continued my way through the forest, swinging my basket. But I got lost in a deep, dark part of the forest. And, to my surprise, someone was giggling somewhere around me, even in such a dark part of the forest!

I tried to guess who it was. But I just couldn’t understand who was giggling! Then, I saw two children coming towards me. THEY were giggling! As they stepped in front of me, I recognised them immediately. Hansel and Gretel!

They laughed at my amazed face. I didn’t see what was so funny. After all, I had never been in a forest before! I introduced myself to them. They asked me to play with them. This would be a new experience, I thought. I had never played with fairy-tale characters before! So, I agreed.

They took me to a vast clearing in the forest, and suddenly a ball appeared in front of my eyes. As I loved playing football, I kicked the ball high into the air. Hansel caught it, and soon we were having an enjoyable game of football. I soon found out that Hansel was an amazing player! After he beat me three times, Gretel suggested that we visit the grand fair in town. I was eager to see the fair and urged them to take me there.

We soon reached the fair in the town which was quite close, and I saw many kinds of things there which were very interesting. I saw toy dolls which looked like fairies, but I soon realised that they weren’t dolls at all!

They were real fairies who were the guards of this place!

I laughed to myself how the things here were so different from our own world. There, I met Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy, Pete and Goofy as well. I even met Humpty Dumpty, who was sitting on a high wall with all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, Cinderella, The Little Prince, Aladdin, The Snow Queen, and The Selfish Giant.

Hansel and Gretel introduced me to them, and they welcomed me warmly. I enjoyed the fair with them thoroughly, and even saw a puppet show!

After chatting with them for a long time, I glanced at my watch and immediately got up, saying if I delayed any more, then my mother would scold me. They felt sorry that I had to go, but they gave me a shiny gold key to remember them by. They also said that if I ever wanted to come back to Fairyland, I would just have to shine a light at that piece of plastic I had found, and I would be back here.

I waved goodbye, and somehow, I came back to my room.  Just in time too! It was almost my study time!

Anyway, I will never forget this lovely experience with fairy tale creatures.

                     

THE END