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January 5, 2014

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The Dragon and the Phoenix

Yangshao never knew what woke him from his thousand year sleep under the frozen taiga. His muscular, golden legs and long limber back snapped and creaked. His lungs filled with crisp, clean air, as he emerged from deep under the ice. Brilliant lights at the far horizon drew his sharp dragon eyes south. The night sky filled with swirling reds, yellows and oranges, and these colors reminded him of his best friend, Xin-Yin, the Phoenix. Brilliant blue star shapes expanded, filling the sky as the other colors faded.

Yangshao’s back rippled side to side like a snake as he flew up and over the larch and birch forest, his vertebrae cracking like saplings in an ice storm. His golden claws clenched and released, easing their stiffness, then reached up to itch between his horns. His whiskers trembled in the cold wind, and he started to feel alive, his senses filling with the forest fragrance. He brushed the tips of snow-laden spruce trees for the joy the showering powder gave him. He felt his magic renewed from his long years of slumber.

His senses expanded over the lands searching for Xin-Yin. Where was she? Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

November 23, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages, Young Fairy Tale

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Red Mushroom Mansion

Used Courtesy of Postaldeliveries

Maybelle had often admired the red mushrooms mansions, where she imagined only the very luckiest of fae could live. She liked to imagine the quiet with only a few neighbors. She had been living in a fungus highrise since she was born, surrounded by constant noise and banter.

Sylphanya, her sprite-mother, was hardly ever home and wanted different things than Maybelle. Her mother cared only for painting autumn leaves whereas Maybelle was drawn to water blossoms. Her mother seemed to like having a hundred neighbors, singing out happy hellos to everyone.

Maybelle knew the other fae-children thought she was a bit odd. Her near-neighbor Jamus called her a loner that morning because she hardly ever joined him and his sister, Dolpha, for nectar in the berry bar.

Maybelle was sad all day, not even the rainbow tints of a new lotus bloom cheered her. Maybelle decided to find her mother. Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

October 22, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Girls, Poetry

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Star Fairy Fibonacci Poem

Quick!

Hide!

Deep down,

All alone.

She fled the falcon,

Taking cover in a canyon

Still she could hear it screaming for her to come out now!

Never would a star fairy fear a peregrine falcon, but she was injured and drained.

She sang to her kin, sparkling in twilight air; soon they entangled the bird in a magic web, destroying his concentration, and saving her.

Note: A Fibonacci Poem is one in which each succeeding line is equal in syllable length to the syllable length of the preceding two lines added together, or one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four, etc. Usually they are 5 or 6 lines long, but I wanted to see if I could write one 8 lines long.

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Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

October 2, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages

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Sprite Spite

A new Adventurous Fairy Tale, named Sprite Spite, is now available to read. An excerpt follows:

Sprite Spite

Wings swiftly beating, Amadou dodged saplings and swung wide around old soul trees, the wind pulling his curly, brown hair straight back. He felt the tree spirits slumbering in the cool midday, their leaves turning golden shades of autumn.

Amadou had been unfurling fiddlehead ferns all morning, and he needed to blow off steam. He was looking for a wide ledge of fungus, just the right height above the ferns. He could see it in his mind’s eye. That day, rain had created the perfect conditions. Diving sprites give a tremendous scream, arch their backs gracefully, wings folded. Then they take a running jump from the fungus ledge, falling through the thick, damp air, eventually bouncing from fern to fern and water slalom skiing in the dew on their tiny feet.

To continue reading, click on Sprite Spite.

Used with permission of acuriousgal

Some photographs used with kind permission of acuriousgal, a very talented photographer.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

September 23, 2013

Posted under

Bicker-Backer Brothers, Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages, Young Fairy Tale

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Disappearing Toadstools

“Mr. Puffy!” Jane walked by a small patch of clover and two red leaves, calling for the Lord of the Stone Family. “Puff Monster!” The family cat definitely ruled their roost. Her father worried over him like a hen over a chick, Jane thought to herself with a smile.

She heard a gasp behind her, and she turned to look. Nothing. Except, beside the clover patch, was now a toadstool circle. All the toadstools looked down, as if not wanting to draw attention to themselves. They seemed to be hiding. Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

September 14, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages

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Fae Cousins

Friendly Fairy Tales is proud to offer its newest Adventurous Fairy Tale, Fae Cousins.

Photograph of Osaka used with permission of Mohamad Reza

Excerpt of
Fae Cousins

From a distance, cities like Osaka seem all concrete and steel, not a place for a fairy’s magic. Jade Lion Fairy knew the opposite was true. Urban Fairies are the busiest fairies, sprinkling their magic over long distances and up high heights. They look after patio flowers, green squares, Castle Gardens, parks, tightly confined trees and small children. If nature pushes through the concrete and flourishes, then a fairy enchants.

Jade Lion rode the tide of heat from a vent all the way up to a balcony. A fairy in a glamour could appear as a shimmering heat wave or a large insect. She tucked her sparkling wings neatly on her back and sprinkled fairy dust from her bag on the tall purple orchids, which seemed to glow from within. Meanwhile, she also looked around for her necklace.

“Where did I lose it?” she wondered to herself. She thought back over where she had been. The last time she remembered taking it out of her dahlia-petal dress was when she showed it to that Tokyo sprite.

“Ouch! Hey, I’m Spit Spite Sprite – Just call me Spritester,” the small, blue-skinned sprite and she had collided under a Japanese maple tree by Osaka Bay. He danced on a salty breeze, laughing.

Click here to read the rest of Fae Cousins.

Note: First photograph published by Folliculostella and was taken by Mohamad Reza.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

September 2, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages

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The Vegetable Fairy

Friendly Fairy Tales is happy to present a new Adventure Fairy Tale, the Vegetable Fairy. In honor of Labor Day, we are celebrating the hard work of gardeners and others who labor to grow the food we all enjoy. Happy Labor Day!!

The Vegetable Fairy

Squash Blossom was a Vegetable Fairy, but she sprinkled her fairy dust on the vegetables resentfully, looking longingly at the flower beds blooming with petunias, coreopsis and dusty miller. She longed for the color and brightness.

The flower she liked best was the rose bush, it had such amazing flowers. She knew the flower fairies made tea with the rose hips, the green nub left after a rose bloom had faded. Squash Blossom loved tea.

“The flower fairies have the best jobs,” she thought to herself. She thought spending all her time in the flower beds would be the best job ever!

Click here to read the rest of the Vegetable Fairy

This story is dedicated to all the gardeners growing food everywhere.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

August 24, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages

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31 Comments

Mushroom Condos

“Oh no, not Mushroom Condo Village!” Fingle Daggadar Northstar said to his mother, Jin-Jangle Northstar, Fae-Mayor of Rushing Fairy Glen.

“Dear, you’ll have to live somewhere if you go off on your own.” Jin-Jangle said.

“But just look at them. Tiny, some of them are just barely taller than me!”

“Finn, darling, just live at home while you study toxicity eliminicity in Twist Trunk University.”

“Oh, mom, only dorkus fairistinkers live at home while they go to TTU.”

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

August 19, 2013

Posted under

By&4Kids, Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages, Young Fairy Tale

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19 Comments

Moonlight’s Revenge

Friendly Fairy Tales is delighted to offer fairy tales by and for kids!!

Here is the first, a terrific tale by K.H., Age 9

Moonlight’s Revenge

“Get out!” shouted King Dusk as he banned shape-shifters from his kingdom. Shapeshifters not only can shift into another form of any size or shape, but they can control the weather as well. King Dusk was frightened of the shapeshifters, and wanted them to be as far away from his new baby daughter as possible.

That day in the Land of the Lights, two children were born on the same second of the same minute of the same hour. The first was named Princess Sunlight, daughter of King Dusk. The other, Prince Moonlight, heir to the throne of the shapeshifters, was orphaned when his mother succumbed to a fever right after he was born.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

August 19, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages, Young Fairy Tale

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26 Comments

Rose Fairy finds a Family

Each fairy breath of summer,
as it blows with loveliness,
inspires the blushing rose.
— Unknown

On the day Rose Fairy was born, a young family picnicked in the sunshine. Their chubby firstborn, Barnabus, wore a solemn smile and chewed on his fist. Then his father slipped on the stony ground, and fell smack, bang, boom on the ground with an “Ooof!” that could be heard for miles.

Barnabus’s mom cried out, “Charles, dear, are you okay? Is anything hurt?”

“My pride!” Barnabus’s dad answered with a hand rubbing his bottom, where he landed on the rocks, and straightening his glasses.

Barnabus removed his fist from his mouth, and drew in a deep breath.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

August 14, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages

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17 Comments

Clan Destined, Part III (Finale)

The Finale of Clan Destined, the latest Adventurous Fairy Tale, is here!

The adventures of Darvin, emerging shaman of the Dwarvish Mountain Clan, concludes with a final confrontation, in The Clan Meeting. Darvin’s stiffest opposition for saving his clan from danger will be Granite, Sillette’s father, but he is not without allies, including his foster brother and Sillette herself. If you’ve missed Part I or Part II, they are already up and ready to read.

Excerpt from
The Clan Meeting

Gregori and Darvin fell into step on the rocky climb to the Great Cavern where all clan meetings were held. Darvin stepped three times for every one of Gregori’s long legs. Yoli remained behind to care for Wizen, unwilling to leave him in case the antibiotic did not help. The silence between the foster brothers was the consistency of clotted cream: thick, opaque, but oddly sweet.

“I was a goner.” Gregori said into the silence. He carried a lantern to light his way, not having dwarvish eyes, canny with night sight.

“Nah,” Darvin said. “You’d have farted, and they all would have run away.”

“Oh, Darvin!” Gregori groaned, although he couldn’t help laughing at the same time. “That hail hurt.” Gregori rubbed his head, his long legs taking him easily up winding path. Most clan longhouses were down the mountain, only the Great Cavern entrance was higher than the shaman’s longhouse.

“Lucky you have a hard head,” Darvin joked, giving Gregori a shove on his waist. He wasn’t sure that Gregori even felt it. He was happy to have such a big, strong ally in the upcoming meeting, but sometimes Gregori made him feel small, which he didn’t like.

Click to continue reading The Clan Meeting.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

August 13, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Tales for Kids of All Ages

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Clan Destined, Part II

Part II of the newest Adventurous Fairy Tale, Clan Destined, has arrived! In Gregori Returns, Darvin’s foster brother returns injured but alive. Together, they must find a way to stop daylight smelting or the clan’s safety will be endangered. The last part is written and will be published in a day or two.

Photograph taken by busymindthinking

Excerpt of
Gregori Returns

Darvin drifted as part of the clouds for a long time, enjoying shoving them this way and that with his will. He forgot why he was there in the clouds. The ground looked black beneath him.

“Darvin! Darvin! Darvin!!” Darvin heard the call, and he became confused. Where was he? Why could he not move? He remembered he was scrying, and he remembered controlling the clouds. He tried to find his body, but he had lost all sense of direction drifting.

“Darvin!” That sounded like Sillette. He drifted along the water, particle to particle, moving toward the call, his consciousness moving along the water bridge as quickly as sound travels. He let go of his urge to control the clouds. They started to break apart.

Click link to continue reading Gregori Returns.