At the end of a country lane is a lovely old home. And behind the home is a magical garden. In order to enter this special place you must first pass through the most magnificent, ancient willow tree. The tree is so big and has grown for so long here that its branches sweep down to the ground creating a soft swishing sound as each gentle breeze blows, rustling the long slender leaves. The tree forms a sort of gate through which one must pass to enter the garden. Because of this the family who recently moved into the home named the garden, Willowgate.

A little girl lives in the house with her mother, father, baby brother, two cats and a most cantankerous old dog named, of all unsuitable names, Lilac. The little girls’ name is Jillian and her favorite thing to do on the first day of summer, after school has ended, is to run barefoot through the garden, inspecting each new flower and plant that has sprung up. Jillian’s mother is thankful for the garden because as she herself admits, she hasn’t got a “green thumb”. Jillian had to agree, her mother’s thumb certainly did not look green. But this was a garden that practically took care of itself after years of growing wild and free. There was no grass to mow since Irish moss had covered the floor of the garden, creating a deep green carpet that glistened with dew as the sun filtered down through the trees each morning.

Jillian’s Grammie had told her, when Jillian was just a tiny girl, that each dew drop became a fairy when the sun hit it in just the right way. Jillian was sure this was true as she bent down to pick up the petals of a fat pink rose that were lazily falling off of the rose bush as she rustled its branches. On warm summer evenings, Jillian was sure she had seen the fairies dancing in a circle at the back of the garden, surrounded by bright fireflies who provided lighting for the delightful occasion. You could almost hear, if you listened closely, the sound of bells tinkling and soft fairy laughter as the fireflies made figure eights in the dark night air.

It was the morning after one such evening when Jillian was making her morning rounds of the garden that she was sure she saw a fairy. It was over by the pond where the great old bull frog resided. Jillian did not like frogs, but this particular frog interested her simply because of his size. The old frog was resting on a lily pad in the middle of the pond as water lilies began to open for the day, making the most beautiful floating garden. It was on one of these flowering green pads that Jillian was sure she saw something, some kind of movement, some creature peering out at her from beneath a pointed petal as the lily slowly opened. She knew from her Grammie that fairies were incredibly shy, they didn’t trust humans, especially children.

Jillian decided to sit on the edge of the pond to better observe the pad her interest was fixated on. Before too long her eyes became tired of watching and they slowly closed as she slept away the warm summer morning.

“She did see you! I told you she did!” Pollywaddle, a fat, round fairy, nudged Lilliepadup, almost knocking her into the pond.

“She most certainly did not!” Lilliepadup replied indignantly, dusting the fairy dust off her hand that she had blown toward Jillian to cause her to sleep. Lillipadup was a slender little fairy who made her home on the pond. She rarely left this particular lily pad because she liked the shade its bloom provided as she whiled away each day, waiting for the night to come when she and the other fairies would dance again. They danced to make the flowers grow, spreading seeds as they flew through the garden.

Each fairy had a different task. Lilliepadup was in charge of the pond, making sure the blooms on each pad grew and opened to each new day. Pollywaddle was in charge of the flowering vines that covered the trees and meandered over the garden floor, like a fragrant carpet, especially the honeysuckle that filled the air with its sweet smell. There were many fairies in the garden, for there was so much work to be done. Most recently a new fairy had sprung from a dewdrop one morning and Lilliepadup had decided to call this fairy “Sweet Pea.” Sweet Pea was a tiny little fairy who had giggled with delight the morning she came to life, shaking the last remnants of moisture off of her body. Her shimmering wings caught the sunlight as they unfolded. Lilliepadup felt very responsible for Sweet Pea and decided she must be her companion to make sure Sweet Pea didn’t get into any mischief. With human children around, one couldn’t be too careful and Lilliepadup wasn’t about to let the newest fairy in the garden get into trouble.

Lilliepadup had invited Pollywaddle and Sweet Pea over for morning tea; she reached for a slender branch with which to row her floating home to the side of the pond to pick up Sweet Pea who had just arrived. A fairy’s wings do not work in the daytime that is why they have to be so careful not to be seen. Once an old woman had lived in the house the garden owned and she had caught one unfortunate fairy on a bright sunny day. The fairy had never returned. The fairies in the garden felt that they did own the house the new family had moved into. They had created it out of a dream thought so it would shield the garden from nosy humans wandering through the surrounding woods. Several humans in one house they could handle, random wanderers were another story entirely.

Besides the woods were magical, and it was their responsibility to guard them and make sure that nothing could interrupt the important work being carried on within the dark spaces that filled the dense overgrowth of vines and trees that knew the wisdom of the ages.

Lillypadup safely paddled her floating home back to the middle of the pond and got to the business of serving sweet lilac tea and clover honey cakes to her two guests.

“Isn’t it a beautiful morning?” Sweet Pea lazily stretched, shaking the dew off of her wings as she settled into one of the soft lily petals.

“It is lovely,” Lillypadup replied, “but that human child is wandering in the garden again this morning and we must be very careful.”

Pollywaddle gave a disapproving grunt as she took a large bite out of one of the honey cakes. “The creature saw Lillypadup this morning, she will be even more curious now and we may have to handle the matter.”

“Oh Pollywaddle,” Lillypadup answered impatiently, “I don’t think she saw me, she only saw a shadow and thought it was the fairies she has heard about. Besides, what could it hurt for one little girl child to see us?”

“There could be plenty of trouble,” Pollywaddle replied, “she might be able to catch us or any of the others if she set her mind to it and then where would we be?”

“Oh Posh,” Sweet Pea was getting bored with the conversation. “Let’s talk about the dancing we will do tonight. I’m tired of all the talk of humans; they look perfectly harmless to me.”

Lillypadup knew better, but being bored herself, she changed the subject to dancing and starlit nights with the other fairies as they worked their special magic in the garden and surrounding forest.

Jillian stirred in the high grass that grew all around the pond and yawned as she awakened from her nap. She rubbed her eyes and looked all around her still remembering the fairy she had surely seen. There was something that felt like soft sand on her hands and she noticed that it was a fine gold powder as she inspected her fingers in the bright sunlight. “Fairy dust!” Jillian thought to herself. She was more convinced than ever that there really were fairies in her garden, just as her Grammie had said.

Jillian thought for a minute and made silent plans to return to the garden that night to wait in the tall grass to see what she might see. She remembered that her friend Cammie was to have a sleep over with her that night, but she was sure she could trust her dearest friend to share the secret and go along with her plans.

That night after dinner she explained to Cammie what she intended to do, and Cammie was delighted at the prospect of fairy hunting. “Oh what fun!” Cammie jumped up and down, so much so that Jillian had to “shush” her to keep from drawing her mother’s attention.

“Be quiet, we won’t get to do anything if you keep making so much noise.” Jillian led the way up the stairs so that her parents would think the girls were playing busily in her room.

Once the girls were safely in Jillian’s room, she began to gather the equipment they would need for their outing. Binoculars, a sheer scarf she had taken from her mother’s drawer that would act as a net should they catch a fairy, one of her brother’s baby blankets so they would have something to sit on and a box of sugar cookies, in case they got hungry during their wait.

The two little girls crept quietly down the stairs and out the back door without making a sound. Jillian’s parents were none the wiser as they played a game of chess, so absorbed in their game they didn’t notice a thing.

Once outside, Jillian and Cammie ran for the shelter of the enormous willow tree that guarded the garden with an eerie shimmer of sound as a soft night breeze moved the branches back and forth in rhythm with the frogs that sang their croaking song at the nearby pond.

A shiver went up Cammie’s spine as she clung to her friends arm and realized that it was more than a little chilly in the dark night air. It was a new moon which made the night even darker than usual as the girls carefully made their way toward the back of the garden where Jillian’s Grammie had promised the fairies danced.

One by one they saw fireflies appear in the still darkness like pinpoints of light moving in circles, leaving streams of light behind them as they made their fanciful patterns at the edge of the great forest. Jillian’s mother had always warned against going into the forest. Mostly because of the many old wives tales about children disappearing, never to be seen again. Jillian did not believe the tales, but neither had she ever felt the urge to disobey her mother.

“Let’s sit over here,” Jillian motioned Cammie over to a soft clump of clover, where she carefully spread out the small blanket she had brought along. The girls settled in as quietly as could be so no fairies would know they were in the garden and would not be shy about coming out for their nightly frolic.

It seemed like hours passed as the girls patiently watched the little fireflies making their own kind of dance, when suddenly Cammie sat bolt upright, sure she saw some other kind of creature moving in and out of the line of fireflies.

“Did you see that?” She whispered to Jillian, nudging her with her elbow so hard that Jillian gave a start that almost brought attention to them.

Just then two other creatures joined the original one and before the girls knew it there must have been a hundred little fairies, flying, dancing, jumping and frolicking through the grass and swinging from the tendrils of moss that hung on the giant live oak trees.

The girls were enchanted as they watched in silence. Being human and not tuned in to the tiniest of noises, they were unable to hear the music being played by a group of fairies on grass harps and other instruments fashioned out of leaves and flowers. Jillian could only imagine a tune, softly repeating in her mind as she watched the tiny, iridescent creatures weaving through the air as they spun the night air into their own kind of web.

Suddenly, a slightly larger fairy appeared. This fairy seemed to have some kind of authority over the others. They all came to a halt as she approached the group and brought them to attention. She motioned toward the forest and all of the fairies took flight and followed her into the darkness of the woods.

“Let’s go!” Jillian got up excitedly, ready to follow at any cost.

“Are you crazy?” Cammie answered, “Hasn’t your mother warned you about the forest? We don’t dare follow them, we might never come back.”

“Oh that’s a bunch of nonsense!” Jillian replied, “I’m going with or without you.,” and she took off into the woods.

Cammie waited two minutes, frozen to the spot where she was standing as she made up her mind to throw caution to the wind and support her friend in their venture. She ran right over the area where the fairies had formed their dancing ring and as she stepped over the middle of it she noticed something shiny on the ground. She bent down to pick it up and realized that it was a golden ring one of the fairies had been using in the dance. Little did she know this particular ring had special, magical powers and in taking it into the woods, she had just insured that she and Jillian would be safe.

It took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the absolute darkness that surrounded them, and Cammie began to have serious second thoughts about having followed Jillian.

“Don’t be afraid!” Jillian reached out and took her friend’s hand, leading her further in the direction she had seen the fairies flying. “There they are over there!” Jillian and Cammie hid behind a tree as they watched the fairies gathering in a clearing that was surrounded by a perfect circle of the most unusual trees.

The fairies began to dance in a circle, faster and faster, until they formed a band of golden light that spread into a column as the light moved with the speed of the fairies. In the middle of the light the girls began to see a form take shape, and they gasped with surprise as a lovely woman slowly motioned for the fairies to stop as she stepped out of the light. She glowed with soft, violet light and wore a crown of fireflies in her hair that lit up the darkness and bathed the clearing with the warmest golden halo.

As the woman sat gently on a large rock in the middle of the clearing, the fairies gathered around her skirts. Jillian strained to hear whatever she could, but all she could hear was Cammie’s heavy breathing as her frightened friend clung to her arm for dear life.

The woman was obviously communicating with the fairies, almost as though she were giving them a list of tasks they were to complete that evening. In pairs the fairies flew further into the woods taking different directions as they set up to finish their work.

The night was perfectly still as a small fawn came quietly out of the forest, into the clearing, and nuzzled its nose against the woman’s arm. Whoever she was, she had the magic that Jillian’s Grammie had told her of in the many stories she concocted when she visited.

Two of the fairies returned with a garland of beautiful moon flowers they placed at the feet of the woman. Two more came with a gossamer bag filled with the sweetest honey, and yet more began to appear back in the clearing bringing special gifts they had collected. All of the treasures lay carefully at the feet of the woman, and she nodded at the fairies with approval as she smiled gently and rose to her full height, which was considerable.

The quiet night was suddenly invaded when Cammie let out the most enormous sneeze and almost fell out from behind the tree which hid the two girls.

The woman looked up, startled, to hear a human noise breaking into the silent night. She motioned to the fairies and several of them flew into the forest to see what might have caused the disturbance. Jillian felt Cammie’s heart pounding as she grabbed her arm and began to run in what she hoped was the direction of her home.

“Stop there!” Jillian realized she was hearing the voice of the lovely woman, although the voice was far from lovely.

Jillian felt her legs freeze and heard Cammie whimper with fear as they stopped in such a way that could only have been caused by some sort of spell being cast. Slowly, the two little girls turned and saw the woman standing less than three feet away from them.

“And who do you think you are, spying in the night, watching what is not yours to see?” The woman rose to her full height and towered over the girls who had now begun to fear for their lives.

Jillian mustered up what little courage she had left by now, and slowly took a step toward the woman. “I am Jillian Farrell, and my family owns the house....” her words were cut off abruptly by the loud laugh of the woman whom Jillian had now decided must be a witch.

“Ha! We own that house. We own the house, the garden and these woods. They are not owned by mere humans!” The woman laughed loudly, shaking the leaves on trees as her arm made a sweeping motion that encompassed the whole area. “You own nothing and you are an intruder!”

“But, if you will excuse me,” Jillian tried to continue, “We didn’t mean any harm. We only meant to watch and see what fairies do.”

“You have seen too much and for that you must be punished!” The woman came closer and reached out to grab Jillian, who managed to escape her grasp and break out into another run, dragging Cammie along with her. Cammie held tight to Jillian, wishing that they were home, safely in bed. No sooner had she made her wish than the girls were magically in Jillian’s room, safely tucked into her bed, still shivering with the fear of the moment they had just escaped.

“What happened?” Jillian asked.

“I don’t know. I simply wished that we might be home, safely in your bed and the next thing I knew, we were.” Cammie fingered the slender golden ring she had picked up out of the fairy circle as she released the tight grasp she had kept on the ring in her hand while they were in the forest. Suddenly she wondered out loud, “You don’t suppose it could have been this?” She opened her hand to reveal the ring, and Jillian carefully took it out of her hand knowing that the ring was exactly what had saved them.

“Where did you get this?” Jillian turned the ring over and over in her hand as she examined the intricate vines and trumpet flowers engraved in the gold.

“I picked it up out of the fairy ring when I followed you into the forest. One of the fairies must have dropped it.” Cammie watched in wonder as Jillian held the ring up into the light of the bedside lamp.
“It definitely has power,” Jillian remarked with sure satisfaction. “But if it is powerful, the fairies will want it back. We must find a safe place to hide it so we can use it when we want to. I intend to go back into the forest tomorrow night, and I will need this ring.”

Jillian opened her jewelry box, the one her father had given her on her fifth birthday. She nestled the ring in the velvet alongside the birthstone ring her parents had given her. She closed the box and hid it in the drawer with her socks and underwear.

Both girls were too excited to sleep talking into the night as they wondered about the woman in the woods and what the fairies might have been doing for her.

The next morning dawned, sending buttery streams of yellow sunlight through the window of Jillian’s room. Cammie stirred as the light settled on her closed eyes, turned over and nestled further under the down comforter that felt so warm and cozy.

In the garden there was a commotion on the bank of the pond as a small gathering of fairies searched for the golden sphere that helped to work the magic they required to keep the garden growing.

“I can’t imagine what could have happened to it!” Lilllypadup cried in frustration as her companions made their way carefully through the long blades that ringed the fairy circle they had danced around the night before. “I had it last night, I know I did,” Tuppenstuff said as he kicked up tiny bits of dirt in the fairy circle.

“You don’t suppose those little girls might have gotten it?” asked Sweet Pea.

“The sphere is said to be invisible to the human eye, although I don’t have any proof of that.” Violianna, the keeper of the tiniest flowers said, with great concern. “Surely those little girls did not have the sight to see through the fairy mist.”

“Certainly not!,” Lillypadup said with determination. “It has been over a century since any human has come to us who had the sight.”

“Well it is a possibility,” said Pollywaddle, “anything is possible,” she repeated as she walked in a circle, carefully searching the ground for the sphere. “Without the sphere, we won’t be able to get the seeds spread for the lily of the valley to begin to grow. And now is the time to plant them as well as making sure the different colors of the hydrangea bushes are in order.” Sweet Pea sat down with a sigh as she rested her chin in her tiny hands.

“Alright,” Lillypadup said with authority, “we’ll just have to find a way to get to the house and see for ourselves.”

“We don’t dare in broad daylight,” said Tuppenstuff. “Queen Maeve warned us never to leave the garden in daylight.”

“Then we will have to wait until tonight,” said Lillypadup, “I’m going to stop this nonsense for now and rest until sundown.” With that, Lillypadup stomped off toward the pond and found a most perfect oak leaf that had fallen which she placed at the waters’ edge and climbed upon, floating out from the shore toward her home.

Jillian waited impatiently all day as she accompanied her mother on various errands and helped prepare the evening meal. When she heard the clock in the hallway strike six she let out the heaviest sigh, knowing she had at least two more hours before she could continue the adventure she had started the night before. Cammie had begged to come over for the night again, but neither of the girls’ mothers thought it would be a good idea, sensing that something was up.

Dinner seemed to last for hours as Jillian pushed fresh green peas around her plate with her fork and played with her meatloaf. She rushed to help her mother clean the kitchen after the meal, which in itself caused suspicion between her parents. Her father’s raised eyebrows sent a silent question to Jillian’s mother as they stood watching their young daughter scurry around the dining table, making sure every inch was wiped and clean as could be.

At last, Jillian’s parents retired to the living room and their nightly game of chess. In the winter they played Scrabble, but with the coming of summer they always began a three month long chess tournament that her mother inevitably won.

Jillian ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door for effect, so that her parents would think she had retired for the evening. Lilac had followed Jillian and plopped herself in the hallway outside Jillian’s bedroom door, guarding it as though she too sensed that something was up.

Jillian opened the drawer where she had hidden the jewelry box and carefully removed the box, releasing the brass hook on the lid that kept it safely locked. She gently slipped the delicate ring out of the velvet onto the middle finger of her right hand. With that accomplished, Jillian took a blanket, a flashlight and the same scarf she had carried the night before to use just in case she might have the opportunity to catch a fairy.

Quietly, Jillian made her way back down the stairs, scolding Lilac when the old dog growled a warning at her young wards’ obvious mischievous behavior. Lilac sluggishly followed Jillian and went into the living room making a brief attempt to alert Jillian’s parents to their daughters’ leaving. Both Mother and Father were too absorbed in their game to notice and with a large sigh, Lilac sank to the floor in a wooly puddle letting her head drop onto her huge front paws.

The night was alive with the sound of frogs, crickets and the hooting of an old owl who had made his residence in the willow tree which marked the entrance to the garden. Jillian used the flashlight, carefully watching every step so that she didn’t trip in a hole and turn her ankle. She made her way to the edge of the fairy circle and hid her presence, once again behind the huge honeysuckle bush in a thick patch of clover.


Sure enough, one by one, the tiny creatures she had spied the night before gathered in the circle, but this time no one was dancing. The fairies were obviously concerned as they put their heads together and scoured the surrounding area as though looking for something.

Jillian turned the ring on her finger, wondering if that might be what the group was looking for so urgently. Some time passed before several of the fairies flew toward the large house that was Jillian’s home. They made their way to the second floor and went directly to the window of her bedroom. They hovered in the air, peering through the glass and trying, without success, to push the window open. Soon they gave up and returned to join the others in the fairy circle. Jillian sensed the feeling of hopelessness they shared as they continued their search in the surrounding area.

There was movement in the trees on the north side of the garden where the forest began. Suddenly, Jillian saw the same tall woman, from the night before, emerge from the forest. She also noticed that this seemed to startle the fairies who immediately became very still as the woman approached.

Through whatever communication the group used, the woman became very upset as several of the fairies flew up to her eye level and shared their concerns over what Jillian was positive must be the missing ring.

“It must really be important,” Jillian thought to herself as she quietly sat, hidden from the gathering.

Little did Jillian know how important and what lay ahead for her because of the stolen object she wore on her finger. The fairies had seemed panicked over the missing ring, but the tall woman was obviously very angry. And as her anger grew, she seemed to become taller as she towered over the trees, peering toward the house as if to see through its walls. Jillian felt a cold shiver go up her spine as she watched the woman. For an instant she feared for her family and she also felt fear for the fairies, who seemed frightened of the woman. Jillian quietly crawled closer to the fairy circle, hoping she might be able to hear something. She trained her ears, holding her breath, so as not to make even the slightest noise. She thought she heard a light tinkling sound, but could not distinguish any sounds that might have been words. Carefully she scooted back to her hiding spot and proceeded to watch what happened next.

The woman shrank back to her normal size and sat down on the ground in the center of the fairy ring. Suddenly her voice became audible to Jillian.

“What will we do?” The woman sighed with despair. “We must have the golden sphere to insure that the garden continues to grow and that the forest is safe.”

Several of the fairies gathered on the woman’s lap, trying to console her. Jillian realized that the woman wasn’t evil or mean, she took great responsibility and pride in keeping the garden and forest.
“For centuries this has never happened.” the woman continued. “I, Queen Maeve, have been left the duty of seeing that time in the garden continues on a set schedule with the energies of nature. Without the correct timing, nothing can be as it should.”

Jillian felt sad to have caused such a problem. She silently rose from her hiding place and without a thought as to her safety; she made her way to the circle, unafraid of the group that gathered there.

“I think I have something that belongs to you,” Jillian said as she cleared her throat to get their attention.

The Queen, as Jillian now knew her to be, looked up from where she sat and instead of anger, Jillian sensed a great relief. Jillian held out her hand to the Queen and in it was the golden sphere the group had so desperately been trying to find. The queen gently took the gold piece out of Jillian’s palm and grasped it in her own. She motioned for Jillian to come and sit beside her.

“I’m sorry to have caused such a problem,” Jillian said, “I had no idea the ring had such great importance. I would never have let Cammie keep the ring if I had known.”

“Far greater importance than you can imagine,” The Queen replied, “without this golden sphere, nothing happens in nature as it should. This sphere holds the magic of the ages. It is one of the last pieces in existence with the knowledge and power once available to all men.”

Jillian listened as the Queen described a time when all humans had the power to work with nature and with the fairies to achieve great things for all. Queen Maeve was the daughter of one of the people from ancient times. As Jillian listened to the story Queen Maeve was relaying she tried to imagine how old this lovely woman must be. If only Cammie could have been with her that evening, she would have loved hearing the tale of times long ago when the world worked as one for the good of all.

“You, Jillian, are the first human who has been able to see through to our world in over a century. Your little friend who was with you last night must have the sight as well or she would never have found the ring.”

“The sight?” Jillian asked.

“Yes, the ability to see through the veil created by the fairies for protection from humans. You see, as mankind grew and became more worldly, the power was misused. One day, my father, a very powerful wizard, cast a spell that created a barrier between the fairy world, the world of nature and the working of magic, and the world of mankind. He fashioned this ring and in it he poured his power. He entrusted this ring to me, as he was very old and tired. I have lived through the ages, protecting the ring and working with the fairies to see that our world lives and thrives. This forest is the center of our universe. From here we are able to do our work and send it all over the world.”

Jillian was struck by the importance of the garden and the woods she had been so attracted too. She stayed for some time with the Queen that evening. The last lights in her house went out as her family settled in for a night’s rest. Queen Maeve told her it was time for her to return to her family, but invited Jillian to come again and visit at any time. There was much she hoped to share with the child, much knowledge to pass on to one so open and so obviously chosen to learn the work she had carried on through the years.

Jillian said her goodbyes, noticing that one of the fairies had rested on her left shoulder as she sat talking with Queen Maeve. The tiny creature flew into a nearby tree and seemed to blush with embarrassment at having come into such close contact with a human.

When the morning came, Jillian intended to share her adventures with Cammie. She climbed into her warm bed that night with a feeling of wonder and accomplishment. For the first time in her young life she sensed a purpose for her life and she relaxed into the comfort of that knowledge as she fell into a deep sleep.

That summer passed too quickly for both Jillian and Cammie. They spent every evening they could manage with the fairies and learned many valuable uses for the various herbs and flowers that grew in the garden and surrounding forest. By September Jillian knew which mushrooms were poisonous and which were delicious in the summer salads her mother made. Cammie showed a natural inclination toward preparing flower essences and Queen Maeve worked with her to learn everything the young girl could. The Queen, who turned out to be over three thousand years old, warmed to the two little girls as hot summer nights began to possess a chill that foretold the coming of fall.

There was much work to be done in the garden to insure that it rested through the long winter to prepare for the freshness of spring. Not only did the fairies have work to do, but Jillian and her mother worked every afternoon pruning the hydrangea bushes and planting the first tulip bulbs.

First grade began for Jillian and with that the leaves slowly began falling as the enormous maple trees that bordered the lane formed an arc of the most brilliant shades of red, orange and a yellow so golden it almost hurt the little girls eyes as she walked home in the afternoons with Cammie. Soon the first snow fall would arrive and the garden and forest would settle down for a long sleep. This was a time of rest for the fairies as well. They had invited their new human friends to join them for a harvest celebration they held each October, as they readied their underground homes for the coming cold.

Jillian’s parents had long since stopped worrying about the comings and goings of their daughter on long summer nights. Her avid interest in the garden had been so refreshing that they had silently agreed to let nature take its course, so to speak, and allowed Jillian her late night forays. This decision was, no doubt, encouraged by Grammie who, when told of the unusual change in Jillian, simply told her daughter to leave the young girl alone. Grammy knew that Jillian was special and that she too had the sight that the old woman had nurtured in herself for so many years.

The night of the harvest celebration arrived and Cammie was spending the whole weekend with Jillian as her parents were away for some college reunion, and Jillian’s family was always happy for the two girls to spend time together. As soon as the house was settled for the night, the girls made their way down the stairs and out the back door.

They flung off their slippers as they ran toward the forest, breathing in the crisp night air giving no thought to the cold, damp grass beneath their feet. Queen Maeve had taught the girls that it was good to feel the earth with their feet. It gave them a connection with nature that they might not otherwise have.

As they neared the fairy circle, they immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong. Queen Maeve sat on the usual rock in the middle of the circle with all of the fairies gathered around her. All except Sweet Pea and Violianna. It seemed that the two fairies had been working busily to prepare the nest that they would share during the winter and had accidentally stumbled into a hole that led to the middle world.

“The middle world?” asked Jillian. “You have never mentioned any such thing.” She said to the worried Queen.

“Dear Jillian, there is so much that you do not know. Yes there is a middle world where all of the roots of the plants retire to rest for winter. It is ruled over by a most powerful King. His name is King Lleviathan and he is bigger than even I can imagine.”

“Have you ever seen this King?” asked Cammie, her eyes widening at the thought of anyone so great.

“Not actually,” answered the Queen, “but his presence is known throughout the land of the fairies. Any fairy knows to avoid the middle world. If by accident a fairy should end up there, it would be almost impossible to bring it back. The energy there is very dense and there is no light for the fairy to see. Fairies must have light in order to live. They perish very quickly if they become trapped in the middle world.”

“We must help you get them back,” Jillian said without hesitation.

“That would be very difficult,” replied the queen, “You see, the entrances to the middle world cannot be seen, even with the keen eyes of a fairy. If you will remember, I worked with you one night on developing your imaginations. That is the only way we can work to help Sweet Pea and Violianna. We have to be very quiet and imagine them in the middle world. Then we have to imagine a tunnel of light going down to where they are trapped. We have to put all of our energies into this light to make it real for them so that they can find their way back.”

“I know we can help with that,” Jillian replied. After all, didn’t her mother and father always say that she had the most vivid imagination of any child they had ever known?

“We haven’t a moment to waste,” the Queen said. “Time is of the essence.”

Queen Maeve motioned for the girls to join her in the forest at the clearing where nightly magic was worked and rituals held to spread seeds throughout the world. She laid down in the middle of the clearing and had the little girls lie on either side of her. The three joined hands as fairies flew in a circle, lit by the light of the full moon. Their speed intensified, forming a ring of magical light around the Queen and the girls as all three silently began to do the work that would bring Sweet Pea and Violianna back to the fairy realm.

As Jillian closed her eyes she was aware of the Queen’s warm hand in her own. She took several deep, calming breaths, as the queen had instructed in an earlier lesson, and began to imagine the middle world. The energy in the air was so intense it buzzed all around the clearing. The fairies watched as the spirit bodies of the three workers rose out of their solid form and traveled down into the middle world. Jillian and Cammie stayed on either side of Queen Maeve as they ventured deeper and deeper into the earth. Only the Queen with her finely tuned fairy ears could begin to hear the cries of the two fairies, trapped in a tangle of roots and dark, moist dirt. They moved closer to the sound as Queen Maeve began the tunnel of light. It shone so brightly that Jillian and Cammie almost covered their eyes instead of assisting in the work that had to be done. No words were spoken as the three worked their magic and cleared the way for Sweet Pea and Violianna. Suddenly, the two little fairies were coming toward them in the whirling column of light and within minutes all of them were back on the soft forest floor of the clearing.

Jillian and Cammie shook the soft earth off of their flannel nightgowns as they got up from the forest floor. Never had either child experienced anything like what had happened here.

“Never underestimate what your mind can accomplish,” Queen Maeve softly whispered to them. They stood in wonder by her as the two lost fairies joined their friends joyfully.

“The world is a magical place," the Queen continued, ”you have only to awaken to the magic and realize the power you have. This power comes from the great creator, or God as you call the great spirit of love. God will guide and protect you as you work with your gifts, you have only to ask.”

The fairies danced the night away, rejoicing at the return of Sweet Pea and Violianna. Jillian and Cammie ate delicious honey cakes and drank sweet nectar from flower cups as they watched the merriment.

Just before dawn, the fairies along with Queen Maeve, escorted the young girls to the edge of the forest. They said farewell for the long winter months ahead and, sadly, Jillian and Cammie returned to the house and the warmth of Jillian’s bed. They dreamed of the adventure they had shared that night and awakened to the smell of pancakes with cinnamon apple sauce that Jillian’s mother made every fall. As they rolled slowly out of bed, both girls giggled and clasped their hands as they planned a day in the garden, planting more bulbs and placing piles of fallen leaves around the flowers that would need the most protection. The Queen had taught them well and later that week, as the first snow fell gently onto the garden, Jillian wondered at the magic of it all. She knew the fairies were tucked warmly into their nests they had built so carefully in holes that were burrowed out by forest animals specifically for them.

Jillian grew two inches that winter. By the next spring she was almost seven years old and full of wonder as she watched the flowers shake off the frost of winter as their green stalks began to grow. She knew that the coming season would hold new adventures and many journeys into the magical summer nights as she and Cammie worked with Queen Maeve and all of the fairies to make sure that every garden in the world was supplied with just what it needed to be beautiful and to bring joy to all who tended and appreciated the beauty of nature and its ongoing rhythm.

To print Willowgate Garden, click HERE.