Aerie the Faery
and the Unicorn
Brian Leo Lee
Published by Brian Leo Lee
Copyright 2011
Cover and Illustrations
Brian Leo Lee
Copyright 2011
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved
Aerie the Faery
and the Unicorn
Aerie was a faery who did not fit in very well with her many friends. For a start she did not like her long golden hair. Everyone kept saying how beautiful she looked when the wind blew her hair into long streamers around her pretty face.
The problem was that Aerie wanted to go exploring, to visit dangerous places like Wild Boar Forest just like one of her friends Bouncey the Elf did.
Aerie knew that her long hair would soon become tangled and caught if she tried to pass through the thick bushes and low branches of the forest.
Of course, Aerie knew she could wear a hat but that wouldn't work. She hated hats.
Years ago, when she was very small, her mother had made her a special hat. It was shaped like a giant strawberry, bright red with a long green stalk sticking right up into the air.
When Aerie went outside to play with her friends they all started to laugh. She did not know that a blackbird had perched on the top of her hat and was pecking at what it thought was a giant strawberry.
Aerie squealed when she realised that a bird was on her head, pecking her hat.
'Get it off me' she shouted. Her friends laughed all the more loudly.
So Aerie ran back home, sobbing and crying for her mother to take off her new hat. The blackbird had of course, already flown off.
From that day Aerie had never worn another hat.
It was a nice sunny morning when Aerie got her idea. Quickly dressing and without any breakfast, she walked through the fairy village without stopping or speaking to any of her friends.
Outside the fairy village was a large cave, the home of a white witch who was a good friend of Aerie's.
'Can you please help me?' Aerie asked the White Witch. 'I need someone to cut my hair, very short.'
'Oh! I couldn't do that.' replied the White Witch. 'Cut your lovely hair. Oh no.'
'Tell me though, Aerie, why do you want me to cut your hair?’
'Well,’ said Aerie.
Then she told the White Witch all about wanting to go exploring and that her long hair would be a problem when going through the forest.
'I see.' said the White Witch quietly. 'Maybe I can help you but in another way.'
Going to a nearby cupboard, the White Witch picked up one of her special magic brews. It was in a small brown bottle.
'Just rub a few drops of this into your hair but make sure you keep your eyes tightly closed.'
'What will it do?' asked Aerie, feeling a little alarmed.
'Don't worry.' replied the White Witch. 'It will shrink your hair so short that you will not be troubled travelling through the thick forest trees and bushes.'
'What,’ cried Aerie. 'Lose all my hair with a magic spell.'
'Don't worry.' said the White Witch. 'To get your hair back, all you have to do is wash your head with twenty drops of morning dew.'
'Great!' Said Aerie. 'I'll do it.' Thanking the White Witch, Aerie went back home to pack for her trip into Wild Boar Forest.
Very early the next morning Aerie opened the magic bottle and rubbed seven drops of the magic mixture into her lovely long hair.
One. Two. Three minutes went by then Aerie felt a strange tingling in her head. WHOOSH! Her long golden hair had gone.
'Oh my!' said a startled Aerie. She looked into her mirror and saw that her hair was now just like a furry covering on the top of her head.
Quickly getting over her surprise. She wrote a note to her parents saying that she was going away for a few days and they were not to worry.
Now Aerie had often heard about many of her friend Bouncey the Elf's adventures and of how he always took food and drinks whenever he went on a trip. So she made sure that she did the same.
Although Aerie, like all other fairies, had wings, she didn't use them all the time. So making sure that the straps of her backpack did not snag her wings, she set off for Wild Boar Forest.
The journey took her towards the Village of the Elves. Nearby, a path led her through Fawn Wood and to the bridge over the River of Dreams.
Crossing the bridge, Aerie could see in the distance the dark gloomy trees of Wild Boar forest.
Aerie suddenly felt a little scared. She stopped for a moment.
I bet Bouncey the Elf didn't feel scared. She thought to herself. So neither will I.
Walking on through some thick bushes, Aerie was glad she had got rid of her long hair. It really was much easier with short hair and she did not need a horrible hat.
By now Aerie was getting rather warm and just a little tired. 'I need a drink and a rest,' she said to herself.
Sitting by a small stream, Aerie opened her backpack and had a drink from one of her six-pack cokes, carefully replacing the empty can.
Still feeling quite tired, Aerie lay back in the grass and closed her eyes. 'Emmm, that's nice,' she thought.
Suddenly she heard a snuffling noise from behind some bushes. Turning around, Aerie saw a very large wild boar coming from out of the trees.
Tiny beady eyes looked out through a fringe of hair, which fell down across its huge snout. A set of enormous tusks could be seen as the wild boar opened its mouth wider and wider. It grunted loudly.
Then the wild boar saw Aerie and stopped. It began to paw the ground, still snuffling and grunting,
Aerie quickly sat up and grabbed her backpack in one hand and pushed herself upright with the other one. Now she could use her wings.
Flip, Flap - Flip, Flap - Aerie rose up off the ground. Flying right over the startled wild boar, she gave great big shout. 'Yeeeeeeeee!'
The wild boar looked up, gave a loud squeal and ran back into the forest.
Aerie flew for a several hundred metres and then landed softly in a glade full of brightly coloured flowers. 'Phew! That was close.' she said to herself.
One of the problems of Wild Boar Forest was the fact that Goblins sometimes went into it to hunt for the secretive, harmless unicorns.
Fortunately, Goblins as well as being horrible and nasty creatures are very noisy and no one has ever heard of them catching a unicorn.
So Aerie still had to be extra careful as she continued to explore Wild Boar Forest. After a while she thought it must be lunchtime, so Aerie looked for a nice place to eat her meal.
Soon she found what looked like a good spot. A hill, with a small stream gushing merrily out of a cave towards a sparkling pool
'Ooo! I could just do with a swim.' said Aerie eagerly.
Two ticks later she was in the pool, splashing and giggling to herself. Aerie was very pleased with her exploration of Wild Boar Forest.
Then she heard a horrible noise. It sounded like a pony that had hurt itself and the noise was coming from inside the cave.
Drying herself quickly with the towel she had fortunately put into her backpack, Aerie carefully went inside the cave.
There was just room for a little track beside the bubbling stream for her to walk along. Further in, the cave became darker but Aerie could just see were she was going.
In the gloom she could see the outline of a small horse or pony. It lay on its side with a big rope tied cruelly round its neck holding it down to the cave floor.
Before Aerie could do anything, a horrible looking Goblin appeared from the other end of the cave. It was the hairiest Goblin Aerie had ever seen. It was disg
usting. Its hair hung down, greasy and grimy all the way to the floor.
The Goblin sat down by the little horse and poked it with his horrible foot. The little horse gave a little whinny and the Goblin laughed.
'That does it' said Aerie to herself. 'That Goblin's for it now.' How could it do that to a poor helpless horse.'
A short time later, the Goblin got up and picked up a few sticks from the cave floor and began to make a fire.
Oh no, Aerie nearly called out aloud. There in the firelight was a little unicorn, not a horse or pony.
How can I rescue the unicorn from this horrible Goblin? Thought Aerie.
Soon, however, the heat from the fire made the Goblin feel sleepy. So he stretched out by the fire and began to snore. What a noise, it sounded like a baby's rattle knocking the inside of a big drum.
Aerie knew that she had one chance to rescue the little unicorn before any more horrible Goblins came along. But what could she do, they are so big compared to a fairy.
Thinking hard, Aerie clapped her tiny hands together. 'YES,' she whispered. 'It might work.'
Hoping she had brought it. Aerie looked inside her backpack, fingers crossed. Yes, there it was, the little brown bottle the White Witch had given her yesterday. Would the magic mixture work on the Goblin?
Keeping as quiet as she could, Aerie crept towards the sleeping Goblin, the little brown bottle held out before her.
Holding the magic mixture above the Goblin's head, Aerie shook the brown bottle and several large drops splashed down onto the Goblin's filthy, grimy hair. He gave a loud moan and then turned over, still asleep.
Three minutes later, the Goblin gave a loud cry, and sat up rubbing his head. A large tuft of hair fell to the floor of the cave. As he looked at it, more and more hair fell to the floor and the Goblin started to shake and shiver.
'My hair,' he shrieked. By now all of his hair had gone. 'They won't let me back into the Goblins' Lair.' he moaned and then cried out, 'what can I do?’
Saying that he rushed out to the cave entrance, never to be seen again.
'Oh dear! I must have given him too much of the magic mixture,' said Aerie. 'Still, he did deserve it for hurting the little unicorn.'
'Oh my! The little unicorn,' cried Aerie rushing over to where it lay. As quickly as she could, she untied the rope that was holding the unicorn down. Then slowly and very carefully Aerie led it to the pool by the cave mouth.
The little unicorn was very thirsty and it drank and drank until Aerie thought there wouldn't be enough water in the pool.
Wandering what to do next, Aerie took out her towel and began to rub the little unicorn dry, because it had splashed itself quite a lot when it first went into the pool.
As Aerie rubbed the tiny horn of the little unicorn dry, a small cloud suddenly appeared and a voice spoke from within it.
'Aerie! Do not be afraid. I am Athan, Keeper of the Unicorns. I wish to thank you for saving one of my unicorns. It is too young to know what you have done for it.'
'However! Whenever you are near Mirror Lake, in the Barren Mountains, keep this day in your memory and you will be rewarded.'
'But for now wear this. Thank you and farewell.'
The cloud disappeared, as did the little unicorn.
Aerie noticed a beautiful wreath of flowers by the cave pool. Picking it up she thought it reminded her of a hat, so she put it on without thinking.
In blink of an eye Aerie was back home, just by the front gate and it was early in the morning she noticed. Remembering what the White Witch had told her, she picked twenty buttercups, each one holding a drop of morning dew.
Quickly, Aerie squeezed each drop onto her head. That strange feeling of tingling and then - her long flowing golden locks were back. She felt much better now. Maybe she had been too keen to have short hair.
I mean, she thought, exploring Wild Boar forest was all right but now that she had done it, the urge to go back wasn’t there. What did Athan mean about Mirror Lake? Now I wonder if that golden ribbon is still in my trinket box, it would really go with my hair.
Strangely, no one seems to have noticed that she had been away.
Another thing. Aerie always liked to wear hats from that day onwards.
***
By Brian Leo Lee
(Children’s stories)
Bouncey the Elf and Friends Bedtime Stories
Just Bouncey
Bouncey the Elf and Friends Meet Again
Bouncey the Elf and Friends (Box set)
Four Tales from Sty-Pen
Mr Tripsy’s Trip
Mr Tripsy’s Boat Trip
By Brian Leon Lee
Trimefirst
Domain of the Netherworld
All available as eBooks
https://www.bounceytheelf.co.uk
The Author
Watercolour painting by Rita Clements Lee
https://ritaclementslee-artist.co.uk/Public_html_Home.html/Home.html