The Butterfly and the Fire Breathing Dragon

       The Butterfly and the Fire Breathing Dragon


                                                           

A long, yes very long time ago there was a dragon, a most evil, wicked and feared fire breathing Dragon called Dre. Or so it was believed that he was most evil and wicked – but later, and as the story will tell, it will be learned that Dre had been shunned by most which is why he turned bitter, evil and wicked.  Until one special day, one very special day he’d meet and cross paths with a butterfly, a butterfly named Faith.

Faith lived in Butterflyville with siblings Hope, and Harmony.  Faith lived a most joyous and happy life, fluttering through life with Hope and Harmony until most recently when she’d awaken to learn that her siblings had simply vanished.  Thinking perhaps they were just playing an old fashioned game of butterfly hide and seek Faith flew from one corner of the tree to the other, looking from one lily to the other until she could stand it no longer and called out, “come on you two, come out, come out wherever you are!”   Surely now they would fly out and laugh at her for not being able to find them but neither Hope nor Harmony appeared. As minutes turned to hours daylight to dark and there was still no sign of Hope and Harmony Faith cried herself to sleep , alone and confused not knowing what tomorrow would hold in store.  Exhausted and with no other choice but to sleep Faith drifted off hopeful that with the start of a brand new day perhaps she would awaken to find both Hope and Harmony.

And with the next day’s burning rays of sun Faith stretched her wings, yawning to meet the brand new day.  Quickly remembering she had a mission today and that mission was to search for Hope and Harmony and search she would!  Faith flew from tree to tree, lily to lily once again making sure Hope and Harmony weren’t carrying out some silly little game and in despair after not finding either Faith entered  into the deep dark forest.   Although worry she did as she heard tales about Dre the fire breathing dragon, Faith knew there was, just simply no other choice.   So deep and deeper into the forest Faith flew.  Along the way Faith ran into Rattle, hissing and snarling he spoke to her and said ssss faith,  I ssss seen Hope and I ssss saw Harmony - they were behind the rock wall just a few ssss short ssss steps away, Faith hurriedly flew to the rock wall.  Hope, Harmony she cried, it’s me it’s Faith!  And just as she had landed on the lily by the rock wall Rattle tried to catch her, ssss swallow her.  And just as suddenly as Rattle tried to swallow Faith there was a shrill cry “watch out”….and Faith flew to the nearest and highest tree limb.  “Whew”, cried Faith thanks for saving my life.  Why who are you?  Bunny is my name said the brown long eared rabbit.   Dear Faith, what brings you, alone, into the depths of the forest?   Sobbing Faith explained she couldn’t find her siblings and would search anywhere and everywhere she could until she found them. And then just as Bunny was getting ready to tell her about Dre there was a ROARso loud and so scary they both huddled together and scattered into the nearest cove they could find.  And when they found the courage to peek out what seemed like hours later, they saw Dre, the fire breathing dragon, with big dark eyes, and green scaley body and why, the longest tail Faith had ever seen, but fire?   Faith saw no fire.

Funny, although both Bunny and Faith were trembling with great fear, Faith thought hmm, Dre didn’t look evil and wicked and, well, he wasn’t breathing fire. Perhaps the tale of Dre and the fire was just that, a tale, after all.  But Bunny begged Faith not to leave the cove where it was safe – and in that moment Faith stood tall and explained she was on a mission and had to find Hope and Harmony.  Faith appeared at the opening of the cove and startled Dre who wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the forest.  Suddenly fire emerged from Dre’s mouth and Faith had to fly hurriedly to avoid being burned, and in her haste she hadn’t realized she didn’t fly quite far enough away from Dre.  Faith fell to the ground a wing singed unable to fly any further any longer.  Bunny watched in horror but, frozen with fear, couldn’t find the courage to come out of hiding and help her.  Surely Dre would not them being in his forest, surely Dre would…..and then Bunny, when he couldn’t imagine any longer saw something that he never in a million years would have ever imagined he’d see….it was Dre and, did he see a small tear in the fire breathing dragon’s eyes, he wondered? And as he watched he saw that Dre was headed to a small stream where he’d placed some water in his mouth, carried it back and let it flow gently over Faith’s singed wing.  Shaken from the cold water and the fear of waking up to seeing Dre directly above her Faith tried to fly away again falling to the ground. 

And it was then that Dre spoke, I didn’t mean to harm you I am not evil and wicked I am alone and confused. And Faith came to realize that Dre was very much like herself.  Faith tried to perch herself along the rock wall resting to try and get her strength back and she explained to Dre that it was the loss of her siblings Hope and Harmony that brought her into the deep woods where normally she wouldn’t enter, she knew this was his territory but simply, she just had to find them no matter what the risk.  And Dre putting his dragon hand out for her to fly into explained that it was also unlike him to venture out of the deep woods where he’d been outcast to for many, many years.  And as Faith and Dre shared their tears and their laughter Dre explained to Faith that all he really wanted was to be liked and to have friends.  And just as Faith and Dre discovered they shared many things Bunny appeared, Rattle appeared, and creatures unknown to them all appeared. And in the distance fluttering and flying back to Faith were Hope and Harmony, and it was at that very moment there was a peace and serenity in the deep woods unlike any had ever known or seen before.  Among an understanding of creatures great and small - there was Faith, there was Hope and there was Harmony. 

Snow White and Rose Red

         Snow White and Rose Red

           

            

The “Snow White” of the title is not related to the more famous Snow White who met the Seven Dwarfs. This Snow White is the sister of Rose Red. The two girls live in the forrest and get on well with the animals who live there, including a big playful bear. They also meet a rather bad-tempered dwarf

A poor widow once lived in a little cottage with a garden in front of it, in which grew two rose trees, one bearing white roses and the other red. She had two children, who were just like the two rose trees; one was called Snow-white and the other Rose-red, and they were the sweetest and best children in the world: always hard-working, always cheerful. But Snow-white was quieter and more gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red loved to run about the fields and meadows, and to pick flowers and catch butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother and helped her in the household, or read aloud to her when there was no work to do.

The two children loved each other so dearly that they always walked about hand in hand, and when Snow-white said, “We will never desert each other,” Rose-red answered: “No, not as long as we live”; and the mother added: “Whatever one gets she shall share with the other.” They often roamed about in the woods gathering berries and no beast threatened to hurt them. In fact, animals loved and trusted the two girls. The little hare would eat a cabbage leaf from their hands, the deer grazed beside them, the stag would bound past them merrily, and the birds remained on the branches and sang to them with all their might.

No evil ever befell them; if they stayed late in the wood and night overtook them, they lay down together on the moss and slept till morning, and their mother knew they were quite safe, and never felt anxious about them. Once, when they had slept all night in the wood and had been wakened by the morning sun, they saw a beautiful child in a shining white robe sitting close to their resting-place. The figure got up, looked at them kindly, but said nothing, and vanished into the wood. And when they looked round about them they realised that they had slept quite close to a deep crater in the ground. If they had gone a few steps further in the darkness, they would have fallen into it. When they told their mother of their adventure, she said what they had seen must have been the angel that guards good children.

Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s cottage so beautifully clean and neat that it was a pleasure to go into it. In summer Rose-red looked after the house, and every morning before her mother awoke she placed a bunch of flowers before the bed, from each tree a rose. In winter Snow-white lit the fire and put on the kettle, which was made of brass, but so beautifully polished that it shone like gold. In the evening when the snowflakes fell their mother said: “Snow-white, go and close the shutters,” and they drew round the fire, while the mother put on her spectacles and read aloud from a big book and the two girls listened and sat and span. Beside them on the ground lay a little lamb, and behind them perched a little white dove with its head tucked under its wings.

One evening as they sat cosily together someone knocked at the door as though he wanted to come in. The mother said: “Rose-red, open the door quickly; it must be some traveler seeking shelter.” Rose-red hastened to unbar the door, and thought she saw a poor man standing in the darkness outside; but it was no such thing, only a bear, who poked his thick black head through the door. Rose-red screamed aloud and sprang back in terror, the lamb began to bleat, the dove flapped its wings, and Snow-white ran and hid behind her mother’s bed. But the bear began to speak, and said: “Don’t be afraid: I won’t hurt you. I am half frozen, and only wish to warm myself a little.”

“My poor bear,” said the mother, “lie down by the fire, only take care you don’t burn your fur.” Then she called out: “Snow-white and Rose-red, come out; the bear will do you no harm; he is a good, honest creature.”

So they both came out of their hiding-places, and gradually the lamb and dove drew near too, and they all forgot their fear. The bear asked the children to beat the snow a little out of his fur, and they fetched a brush and scrubbed him till he was dry. Then the beast stretched himself in front of the fire, and growled quite happily and comfortably. The children soon grew quite at their ease with him, and teased him and played with him quite roughly. They tugged his fur with their hands, put their small feet on his back, and rolled him about here and there, or took a hazel wand and beat him with it; and if he growled they only laughed. The bear submitted to everything with the best possible good-nature, only when they went too far he cried:

“Oh! children, spare my life!
“Snow-white and Rose-red,
Don’t beat your lover dead.”

When it was time to retire for the night, and the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear: “You can lie there on the hearth, in heaven’s name; it will be shelter for you from the cold and wet.”

As soon as day dawned the children led him out, and he trotted over the snow into the wood. From this time on the bear came every evening at the same hour, and lay down by the hearth and let the children play what pranks they liked with him; and they got so used to him that the door was never shut till their friend had made his appearance.

When spring came, and all outside was green, the bear said one morning to Snow-white: “Now I must go away, and not return again the whole summer.” “Where are you going to, dear bear?” asked Snow-white. “I must go to the wood and protect my treasure from the wicked dwarfs. In winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are forced to remain underground, for they can’t work their way through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the ground, they break through and come up above to spy the land and steal what they can; Anything that falls into their hands and into their caves is not easily found again.”

Snow-white was quite sad that their friend was leaving, and when she unbarred the door for him, the bear, stepping out, caught a piece of his fur in the door-knocker, and Snow-white thought she saw glittering gold beneath it, but she couldn’t be certain of it; and the bear ran hastily away, and soon disappeared behind the trees.

A short time after this, the mother sent the children into the wood to collect twigs to start the fire. As they wandered, they came upon a big tree which lay felled on the ground, and on the trunk among the long grass they noticed something jumping up and down, but what it was they couldn’t be certain. When they approached nearer they saw a dwarf with a wizened face and a beard a yard long. The end of the beard was jammed into a cleft of the tree, and the little man sprang about like a dog on a chain, and didn’t seem to know what he was to do. He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes, and screamed out:

“What are you standing there for? Can’t you come and help me?”

“What were you doing, little man?” asked Rose-red.

“You stupid, inquisitive goose!” replied the dwarf; “I wanted to split the tree to get little chips of wood for our kitchen fire. My beautiful white beard has got caught in a cleft, so here I am stuck fast, and I can’t get away; and you silly, smooth-faced, milk-and-water girls just stand and laugh! Ugh! what wretches you are!”

The children did all in their power, but they couldn’t get the beard out; it was wedged in far too firmly.

“I will run and fetch somebody,” said Rose-red.

“Crazy blockheads!” snapped the dwarf; “what’s the good of calling anyone else? You’re already two too many for me. Does nothing better occur to you than that?”

“Don’t be so impatient,” said Snow-white, and taking her scissors out of her pocket she cut off the end of his beard. As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he seized a bag full of gold which was hidden among the roots of the tree, lifted it up, and muttered aloud:

“Curse these rude wretches, cutting off a piece of my splendid beard!” With these words he swung the bag over his back, and disappeared without as much as looking at the children again.

Shortly after this Snow-white and Rose-red were out again, walking along the bank of a stream. They saw something which looked like an enormous grasshopper springing toward the water as if it were going to jump in. They ran forward and recognized their old friend the dwarf.

“Where are you going to?” asked Rose-red; “you’re surely not going to jump into the water?”

“I’m not such a fool,” screamed the dwarf. “Don’t you see that cursed fish is trying to drag me in?”

The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunately the wind had entangled his beard in the line. Immediately afterward a big fish bit, and the feeble little creature had no strength to pull it out. The fish dragged the dwarf toward him. He clung on with all his might to every reed and blade of grass.

The girls came up just in the nick of time, held him firm, and did all they could to free his beard from the line; but in vain, beard and line were in a hopeless muddle. All they could do was to take out the scissors again to cut the beard.

The little man was far from grateful to the girls for rescuing him. He yelled to them:

“Do you call that manners, you toad-stools! to disfigure a fellow’s face? It wasn’t enough that you shortened my beard before, but you must now cut off the best bit of it.”

Then he fetched a sack of pearls that lay among the rushes, and without saying another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.

It happened that soon after this the mother sent the two girls to the town to buy needles, thread, laces, and ribbons. Their road led over a heath where huge boulders of rock lay scattered here and there. While trudging along they saw a big bird hovering in the air, circling slowly above them, but always swooping lower, till at last it settled on a rock not far from them.

Immediately afterward they heard a sharp, piercing cry. They ran forward, and saw with horror that the eagle had pounced on their old friend the dwarf, and was about to carry him off. The tender-hearted children seized hold of the little man, and struggled so long with the bird that at last he let go his prey. When the dwarf had recovered from the first shock he screamed in his screeching voice: “Couldn’t you have treated me more carefully? You have torn my thin little coat all to shreds!”

Then he took a bag of precious stones and vanished under the rocks into his cave. The girls were used to his ingratitude, and went on their way and did their business in town. On their way home, as they were again passing the heath, they surprised the dwarf pouring out his precious stones on an open space, for he had thought no one would pass by at so late an hour. The evening sun shone on the glittering stones, and they glanced and gleamed so beautifully that the children stood still and gazed on them.

“What are you standing there gaping for?” screamed the dwarf, and his ashen-gray face became scarlet with rage. He was about to go off with these angry words when a sudden growl was heard, and a black bear trotted out of the wood. The dwarf jumped up in great fright, but he hadn’t time to escape down his hole, for the bear was already close to him. Then he cried in terror: “Dear Mr. Bear, spare me! I’ll give you all my treasure. Look at those beautiful precious stones lying there. Spare my life! what pleasure would you get from a poor feeble little fellow like me? You won’t feel me between your teeth. There, lay hold of these two wicked girls, they will be a tender morsel for you, as fat as young quails; eat them up, for heaven’s sake.” But the bear, paying no attention to his words, gave the evil little creature one blow with his paw, and he never moved again.

The girls had run away, but the bear called after them: “Snow-white and Rose-red, don’t be afraid; wait, and I’ll come with you.” Then they recognized his voice and stood still, and when the bear was quite close to them his skin suddenly fell off, and a beautiful man stood beside them, all dressed in gold. “I am a king’s son,” he said, “and have been doomed by that unholy little dwarf, who had stolen my treasure, to roam about the woods as a wild bear till his death should set me free. Now he has got his well-merited punishment.”

In due course, when the girls were old enough, Snow-white married the prince who had been a bear, and Rose-red his brother, and they divided the great treasure the dwarf had collected in his cave between them. The old mother lived for many years peacefully with her children; and she carried the two rose trees with her, and they stood in front of her window, and every year they bore the finest red and white roses.

Henna and her wiggly tooth

FAIRY TALES &FOLKLORE

                             Henna and her wiggly tooth 

                

Henna, the baby hippo wasn't very happy. In fact, it had been two days since she 

had smiled at all! It all began a couple of days back when she was brushing her teeth 

as usual in the morning and she felt a strange feeling in her mouth. She continued 

brushing. Brush, brush, brush…… There, she felt it again. She looked in the pond at 

her reflection and touched the spot where she had felt it. And goodness! Oh, 

goodness! Her teeth was wiggling. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle……. it went. 

She ran to her mom and in a trembling voice said, “Mama, my tooth is falling out. I 

brush it every day and still, why?” Mama smiled at her and said, “Oh, my little one 

has become a big girl now! It is only your milk tooth, Henna. Milk teeth will fall out 

one by one and new strong ones will come in their place, my dear”. Henna was 

horrified. What? Her teeth will fall out one by one!? What a sight she will look then. 

She didn’t want to lose her white pearly teeth. Oh, no!! And that is why she stopped 

smiling, lest her teeth fall out. 

Mommy Hippo kept asking her again and again to wiggle it lose or the new one 

would come out crooked. But she refused to listen. Mommy hippo was only worried 

she might accidently swallow it, but Henna didn’t let her come anywhere close. Tired 

of all the fuss Henna was making, she told Henna sternly that she would give her 

one more day to take the tooth out herself and after that she would have to take her 

to Dr Gerry Giraffe to pull it out. 

Henna went to bed a very scared hippo. She had a very restless night, twisting and 

turning. Suddenly, in the middle of the night she sat up straight. She thought she heard a strange sound coming from her mouth. Boo... hoo… hoo…!!! It went. Hippo 

ran to look in the tiny piece of mirror she kept in her little treasure hole in the corner 

of the cave. She had quite a few collection of things there. One lost shoe, a piece of 

chalk and a key were just among some of the things she found near the river bank 

on days she managed to slip away unnoticed from her mother. Now she opened her 

mouth wide and what do you think she saw there?!! Her wiggly tooth was crying! 

Yes, it had eyes and a mouth and as soon as it saw Henna looking at it, it started 

wailing even louder. BOOO…..HOOO….HOOO….!!! Henna was so shocked she 

nearly forgot to breathe for a few seconds. 

Then she gathered her wits and gently asked, “Can you tell me why you are crying?”. 

The tooth stopped crying and said, “Didn't you know, that if you don’t pull out your 

teeth in time and put it under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy to find it, it will be lost 

forever?” “Lost forever?”, asked the confused Henna. “Yes”, said the Tooth. “When 

the Tooth Fairy finds the milk tooth, she takes it to a faraway land called Milky Land. 

All the milk teeth collected from children around the world are brought here where we 

have the Milky River. All the teeth jump into it, splash around and have fun till they 

are spotless and white again! A few days later they are taken back to the children 

and planted in the same spot in the mouth as a new tooth.” 

Wow! I didn't know that”, said Henna, feeling very excited now. “So what is the 

problem then?”, she asked. “Well, you see when the child doesn't pull out a tooth in 

time, the Tooth Fairy plants another tooth beside it. The new tooth grows and pushes 

the milk tooth giving the mouth a rather crooked smile and very soon the child is 

taken to a doctor to get the milk tooth removed. And when that happens the tooth is 

lost forever and it can never go to Milky Land!” said the tooth and began crying all 

over again louder and louder!! “Alright, alright, I understand”, said Happy. “But are 

you sure?”. “Of course I am sure. If you don’t believe me see for yourself. There is 

the new tooth right beside me.” Said the tooth indignantly. Henna looked inside her 

mouth closely and sure enough there was a new tooth right next to it. It was just a 

white little spot. 

“Hmm…. Alright then. I will pull you out. But you better come out fast because I am 

scared”. The tooth nodded happily. Henna closed her eyes and nervously tugged at 

it. And out it came! It was so easy and it hardly hurt her at all. She felt very proud of 

herself for doing it all by herself. “But what will happen to you?” she asked. “Are you 

lost forever now?” “No, no I can stay in Milky Land forever thanks to you”, said the 

Milk Tooth as Henna placed her gently under the pillow. And Henna went to sleep 

yawning, for she was very tired after this little night adventure. 

Wasn't it brave of Henna to help out the tooth even though she was scared? I am 

sure the Tooth Fairy will be leaving a nice amount of money for her under the pillow 

for being such a brave little girl. Did you pull out your first tooth on your own too?