Yellow Fairy 3

Everyone in the village really did love her, but that didn’t completely prevent the occasional personal remarks about her out of the ordinary wingless condition.

Yellow Fairy 2

But that didn’t seem to stop her one bit. Her pure exuberance and joy of life seemed to be all that was necessary for her to flit and flutter about as if she had wings.

Yellow Fairy 1

As far back as anyone in the yellow fairy village could remember, Splendid had always been a cheerful and joyful little yellow fairy, in spite of the fact that she had been born with no wings.

Introduction to the Story of Splendid, the Yellow Fairy

The first two napkin stories were spawned from a short oral story that I told to my daughter one day about Splendid, the little yellow fairy who had no wings.

This story did not get delivered to her day-by-day on lunch napkins, but we decided to go ahead and continue the blog in the same format.

Thanks for reading.

KD

~j~

2nd Napkin 82

“Don’t worry about them. They will always be bothering us somehow,” he told her. “Look! It’s Bandy and Bandit and all of our forest friends!” So the friends enjoyed a brief reunion and then headed back to the yellow fairy village. Splendor and Yelia were very weak, but they were still overjoyed at the sight of their lovely baby girl, whom they thought had perished. After several days of recovery, things were starting to get back to normal around the village. “Hedgie?” said Chester. “Yes,” said Hedgie. “I wonder where Abercrombee is,” he continued. “I do to,” said Hedgie. “But, I am certain we will meet again.”

[ Well, this is the end of the second napkin story. We hope you enjoyed reading it. Next will be the story that started it all. Thanks for reading. KD ~j~ ]

2nd Napkin 81

“Oh, don’t worry, my little mosquito, I certainly will bring it …but it will be in an hour when you least expect it, I assure you of that,” snarled Squalor. Then he turned and headed back to the black mountains with the black jacket rats in tow. It was all Mezzo could do to restrain herself from chasing after them, but then she heard Chester calling her back to join the reunion of friends.

2nd Napkin 80

“Well, isn’t that sweet,” said Squalor sarcastically. “But I already know what family is all about, don’t I, my dear brother. And I live with the mark to prove it,” he said reaching up to his left ear. “This would have been my neck if my brother had his way.” Then Abercrombee lowered his head and walked slowly to the forest. Ebonius followed him and put his arm around his shoulders. Then Mezzo darted up into the air, signaled, and a large band of hummingbirds flew out and confronted the rats. “Bring it,” she said firmly to the rats.

2nd Napkin 79

Then a large group of the yellow fairy Protection Duty, led by Yeldrick, rushed out of the forest and released Splendor and Yelia out of the cage. Yeldrick went right up to Squalor’s face and said, “If you ever touch our family again, you’ll be the lowest of worms when I’m finished with you! Yes, you are now the highest of rats, but that is all you’ll ever be – the highest and the loneliest.”

2nd Napkin 78

Then Abercrombee stood up and handed the ring to Squalor, who immediately dropped the cage and shoved the ring onto his paw. With his arms in the air, he shouted, “Exultate in summa rati!” Then, suddenly, many black jacket rats popped up out of the grass behind him. “Get them boys!” shouted Squalor. But, before they could move an inch, there was a loud rustling in the forest and many many woodland creatures marched out toward them.

2nd Napkin 77

When they were nearly back to the edge of the forest, Abercrombee stopped and knelt down by a pile of rocks. Before he rose, there was a rustling in the forest, and out came Hedgie, Chester and Mezzo. “Well, what have we here? A mighty force of bodyguards? Ha, ha, ha, ha!” scoffed Squalor. Then Mezzo darted straight at him and stopped threateningly right in front of his face. “These are my friends, Squalor, which, sadly, is something you may never have,” said Abercrombee.

2nd Napkin 76

The sun was just starting to rise when Abercrombee, Ebonius and Squalor, with Splendor and Yelia in a cage, arrived in the middle of the valley. “These blasted bumblebees were of no use to me anyway. Good riddance to them! Now, where is my ring?” demanded Squalor.

2nd Napkin 75

Then Squalor lifted his arm in the air and shouted, “Grab them boys! And get me my ring!” All of the black jacket rats shrieked and rushed toward Abercrombee and Ebonius. Then Abercrombee raised the staff and there was a flash of light and a thunderclap. The rats immediately backed off. “I may look different, but I have not lost my senses, Squalor,” said Abercrombee. “Of course we do not have your precious trinket with us. We will take you to it and make the exchange there. You, and you alone.”

2nd Napkin 74

At that, Squalor said, somewhat surprised, “You have my ring!” Then he put out his paw and demanded, “Give it to me, NOW!” “Yes, yes, your precious ring,” said Abercrombee coolly. “To think that after all of this time that I have wanted it so strongly …then, when I finally held it in my hand …it meant absolutely nothing to me.” Squalor clenched his paw and put it in Abercrombee’s face and said, sarcastically, “Well …isn’t that poetic …now, like I said, give it to me, NOW!” Then Ebonius stepped in between them and looked sharply into Squalor’s face and said, “And like I said, you have something we want, so give them to us, NOW!”

2nd Napkin 73

“We are here to take the two yellow fairies back to their village,” demanded Abercrombee firmly. Squalor stood up quickly and said, “Don’t you take that tone of voice with me, little brother! As you very well know, I am not known for my patience!” “Patience is not exactly something I have had a lot of time to develop either …” Then Ebonius stepped forward and interrupted, “When will you two ever stop your positioning!? Enough is enough!” Then he said to Squalor, “Look Uncle, here’s the deal – we have something of value to you and you have something of value to us. We’re here to make a simple trade. ‘Exultate in summa rati.’”

[ It was getting toward the end of the school year at this point in the story and I had more story to tell than days to tell it in, so you'll notice more content and writing on both sides of the napkins. KD ~j~ ]

2nd Napkin 72

“Well well, that sounds like a voice that I recognize,” came a voice from further back into the cave. “Bring them to me.” Abercrombee and Ebonius were guided further into the cave where a fire was blazing and a large black jacket rat was sitting on a throne. “The voice is the same, but the body is not, so I must conclude that the rumors are true. We must indeed have a Changeling in our midst. Tell me, how does it fare with you, my dear brother? …if I may still refer to you as my brother.”

2nd Napkin 71

That night, after all the friends were asleep, Abercrombee woke up Ebonius and said, “Come with me.” Sage sleepily curled up next to Chester as the two left. “Like I said, I’m ready,” said Ebonius as they walked across the valley. As they walked into the entrance of the dark cave in the side of the mountain, they were immediately confronted and grabbed by several black jacket rat guards. “If you know what is good for you, you will release us now,” said Abercrombee sternly.

2nd Napkin 70

“That is not a good village. No,” said Chester. “Why should yellow fairies be up there?” “That is what I would like to know,” said Abercrombee. “Let me examine that gold ring that you found in the river.” Abercrombee turned it over a few times and the staff began to tremble under his arm. “It’s late,” he said. “We will explore the mountain tomorrow. Let us camp here tonight.”

Global Friends

Like the friendships that developed in these adventures, say between Hedgie and Chester and Mezzo, we seem to have friends all over the globe reading these napkin stories. According to our Blogger stats we have readership in Russia, Iran, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, etc. And we live in Southern California. Amazing.

Thanks for reading.

KD
~j~

2nd Napkin 69

Over the next few days, the friends traveled through many parts of the forest, and, as they walked, they talked and shared their life experiences with each other and developed an even stronger bond of friendship. Hedgie explained that the staff was leading them, so no one questioned their path. Finally, they came to an open valley with an ominous looking mountain on the other side.

2nd Napkin 68

As the friends were making their way to the top of the ridge, Ebonius walked up beside Abercrombee and said, “I heard what you said down there by the river, so I know what we may be getting ourselves into. And I want you to know that I am ready for it.” “You always were very perceptive, my son,” said Abercrombee. “I love you very much and I am very thankful that we both have finally discovered who we really are.”

2nd Napkin 67

When they arrived at the river, Chester noticed something shiny at the bottom, so he dove in to check it out. When he climbed up on the bank, he was holding a gold ring. “Squalor,” said Abercrombee quietly. “This is a clue,” said Chester. At that moment, Hedgie noticed that the staff began to quiver again, so he put his paw on it. “We need to go up that ridge,” he said.