This looks like a fairy tale moment. If you are looking for inspiration, the jump for joy project provides plenty. Makes me want to write a story about jumping for joy. I’m going to add that to my list.
Category Archives: Tales for Kids of All Ages
Donal Outwits the King
Deep in the forest, someone was sleeping. Covered in leaves and moss, with a windbreak lashed snuggly in the bracken, he was dreaming of a king, a curse and a drumming in the dark.
In another part of the forest, a young boy was disguised as a fox. He heard the pounding of hooves behind him. He ducked under a tree root, but was soon surrounded by baying dogs. The horses approached, and their riders were holding bows and arrows. Their velvet cloaks were lined with fur, and one wore a silver crown. Donal stood up fast, and threw off his fox hood before an arrow could be nocked. His costume had a real fox tail dragging on the ground, and it must have drawn in the dogs.
“You’re no fox!” laughed the King with the silver crown. “Who are you to be on my land? Trespassers are made into slaves here.” The King’s face turned dark.
Brother-Wolf
Fionna was so excited she was wiggling like the four-year old she was. Her parents stopped the car to look at a roadrunner. They were in Arizona near Sedona on their way to visit The White Deer Native American Museum. Reina White Deer had been a famous artist and activist for native Americans.
“The bird is smaller than I imagined,” her father said. “Now all we need is Wile E. Coyote.” Her mother laughed, and said, “What’s up, Doc?” The museum was in an old, rambling stone building. Fionna looked at beautiful weavings, paintings, baskets and jewelry with her parents. Her parents were in conversation with an older woman, who was sitting behind the jewelry counter. “My mother was Reina White Deer,” the woman said. “This museum holds my memories of her and of me; my name is Jill Prince.” She pointed at a painting on the wall of a beautiful young woman, holding a little boy in her arms. “My mother painted that of me and my son. Shortly afterwards, my son disappeared. This is all I have left of him.”
Fionna wandered into the vast back room, which was like a garden, full of desert plants and animals. The farther she walked, the sandier the floor became. A hawk flew low over her head, bells jingling on its talons. She was startled, and darted through two trees where she saw a door strangely high on the wall. She brushed away cobwebs; no one had passed this way in a long time.
The Talking Fish and the Pirate Key
Photograph 2013 by K. Harsham
One summer day, Collin went to stay with his cousin, Russell, who was thirteen. Colin was four years old (practically full-grown!). Together, they had an adventure involving a river, a key and a talking fish.
They bellied down on big rocks by the Bass River. They held their hands very still in the water, hoping a fish would swim into them. Collin’s hands got very cold, and he fidgeted. Russell was still as stone. A large fish swam into Russell’s hands. He moved like lightning, and he threw the fish onto the riverbank.
“Let me go! I can’t breathe!” the fish exclaimed, its mouth gasping and its brown speckled sides heaving.
Russell was startled and fell into the water, shouting: “It talks!” He stood up, hair dripping.
The Lost Magical Power
Jason had a secret, and he did not tell anyone. He knew how to keep a secret. He knew if he walked behind the bush in his backyard, he would be on his secret road. Every time he walked on this road, it took him to a new place.
One very windy day, he took a step on his secret road while his father was talking to the neighbor. The road carried him through hills, down valleys and over stone bridges. He followed it until he heard singing.
“I’m a sprite day and night, my feet are light, and my eyes are bright. The sky is blue, the wind smells new, but I don’t know who could be so true,” a pretty voice sang high and sweet. Jason saw the sprite, slender as a willow branch and dressed in all the colors of the valley. She had a red dress like one hundred roses, blue tights like river water, and green bracelets like rings of grass. She was dancing and twirling in a green meadow surrounded by purple flowers and Queen Anne’s Lace. She stopped singing and dancing when she noticed Jason, standing on the secret road. “Hello. Are you true?” The sprite asked Jason.
“I don’t know what you mean,” answered Jason, feeling a bit confused.
The Kitchen Witch
Some moments are magical, like the moment a ladybug lands on your hand. Or the moment a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and stretches out its wings. The moment a frog’s tadpole tail is gone forever, and its legs have fully grown. The moment Bella met the kitchen witch was a moment like that.
The kitchen witch looked like any other mom. She tied her hair in a ponytail, she was taller than the refrigerator, and she was wearing yoga pants with a loose shirt. She welcomed Bella and her mother, then she rushed around the kitchen opening the oven, stirring this, sprinkling salt on that, shaking frying pans.
She smiled and said, “Don’t touch a thing, it will all be ready on time.” She disappeared. Bella looked at the pictures in her favorite book about fairies and butterflies. Her mother sipped a glass of wine. When the kitchen witch reappeared, she was wearing a pretty dress, her earrings were swinging, and her hair was combed around her face. She had transformed, just like a butterfly.
The Ring of Peace
Watercolor painting by K. Harsham 2013
Gabriel sat down on some rocks by the Ganges River with a pita and kabob sandwich. He was on a holiday with his parents touring India.
As he took his first bite, he heard sobbing. At first he thought it was the wind. He looked around at the trees, but they were still. He could not feel any breeze. The sobbing came again. It was not the water, and it was not his parents, sitting up the slope behind him on a blanket with some friends. He got up and explored among the rocks.
A small boy with black hair and eyes was hiding behind a boulder wailing. When he saw Gabriel, he dashed away his tears and turned his back.
“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asked the boy.
Kendara at Sea
One stormy night, Kendara dreamed she was a storm-petrel, flying low over the waves, playing near the surfacing whales. The whales sang their sad, slow music, and she understood they were asking her to find the City in the Sea, the home of the Sea Guardians.
“Please tell the guardians that we, the whales, are dying out and we need their help.” Kendara felt nervous at the idea that she would have to find the City in the Sea. Sometimes she did not feel brave, but in her dream, she was a storm-petrel, and she would be very brave. She dipped her gray tail feathers in the sea, and laughed into the wind. She flew farther and farther, feeling her wings become tired. Ahead of her was the dawn, and a head appeared in the waves.
Magda Solves the Labyrinth
One night, Magda attended her first gala with her parents. Her cousin’s best friend was turning sweet sixteen, and her grandmother had rented a huge old mansion to have a party to benefit the local children’s hospital. Magda wore her prettiest dress and ribbons in her hair. She sat quietly during a marionette puppet show of Rapunzel. She ate her dinner of peking ravioli and dan dan noodles without spilling a drop. She danced the Macarena and shook her tail feathers.
That evening, she felt grown up right until the riddle labyrinth. The courtyard of the mansion had a labyrinth made of hedges. Each child entered the labyrinth in the same spot, but then they split up. Whoever got to the center first won a prize, they would go to the sponsor store to pick out a new bicycle. She could pick one out in her size. Magda was determined to win. She knew her parents were watching her through cameras in the maze. She found herself alone at the fifth turning, should she go right or left? She could not see over the tops of the hedges. An axe clattered to the ground behind her. A woodcutter was there.
The Queen’s Ruin
Liam took a walking tour with his parents through Shrewsbury Castle gardens. On the edge of the Severn River, a tour guide named Julia waved Liam’s group into a ruin with broken columns and wall fragments, some with windows still framing the soft Shropshire sunshine.
“This is the Queen’s Ruin,” said Julia, the tour guide. “Queen Maud and her cousin Stephen battled for the throne of England. At one point, Queen Maud is said to have taken refuge here, and after she left, Stephen pulled it to the ground, leaving only ruins. This statue in the flowers is said to be of Queen Maud as a young woman, descended of kings, married to a king and mother to a king.”
Liam looked at the statue for long minutes as the rest of the tour continued on to the archways of blooming wisteria. She looked so peaceful there in the shadows of the lilacs. Unfortunately, both arms were broken off of the white marble. Liam was sad to see her damaged.
Friendly Fairy Tales 