ABCs of Fairy Tales

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Thanks to TwoScamps for giving friendly fairy tales its magical third award and inspiring the

ABCs of Fairy Tales

A – Alchemy, Albatross, Ancestors, After, Alone, Air, Aloft, Awkward, Ashamed, Angel, Aged, Aspire, Afar, Arbor, Aladdin;

B – Beauty, Beast, Boast, Bested, Bird, Ballad, Bilious, Bold, Beggar, Book, Before, Backward, Beanstalk, Boots;

C – Castle, Cinderella, Cowboy, Catkin, Cape, Charming, Children, Crown, Curse, Chase, Cat, Caper, Canter, Command, Charcoal-burner, Cendrillon;

D – Dragon, Dungeon, Dwarves, Doorway, Disguise, Dream, Different, Dance, Delight, Donkey, Dell;

E – Elf, Equestrian, Enemies, Equal, Escape, Everyman, Elemental, Ephemeral, Estuary, Elongate, Elegant, East;

F – Fairy, Farmer, Fisherfolk, Flying, Forest, Fortune, Frozen, Feast, Family, Fire, Frog, Flowers, Flax, Famine, Find;

G – Ghosts, Genius, Gnomes, Gingerbread, Glass Slipper, Gold, Genie, Goose, Gander, Grace, Giant, Goldilocks, Gift, Godmother, Goblin, Gelfling, Grime, Ghasts, Glen, Ghillie, Gaffer, Gem;

H – Happily Ever After, Heroes, Honey, Hood, Handsome, Hidden, Hunt, Horse, Haven;

I – Igloo, Igniting, Invisible, Island, Ignominy, Ignorance, Improvise, Ivy, Iron;

J – Jester, Jump, Joke, Jokers, Journey, Jack, Jewel;

K – King, Kids, Key, Knight;

L – Liar, Loved, Lantern, Light, Leprechaun, Luminous, Lost, Luck, Left, Longing, Lair, Labyrinth;

M – Monster, Moon Princess, Maid, Minister, Music, Magic, Mystery, Mountain, Mist, Minstrel, Mulberry;

N – Nightingale, Nymph, Nightmare, North;

O – Once Upon a Time, Old Woman, Old Man, Ogre, Ocean, Orphan, Offal;

P – Princess, Pauper, Pretty, Prince, Promise, Pigs, Palace, Pirate, Puss, Postern, Pattern, Peace, Prophecy;

Q – Queen, Quit, Question, Quilt, Quaff, Quibble;

R – Robber, Ruler, Righter of Wrongs, Red, Rescue, Road, Ruin, Ring, River, Riddle, Rumpelstiltskin, Roses, Requite;

S – Spider, Sorcerer, Sylph, Spirit, Shoes, Samurai, Swans, Sleep, Sea, Secret, Strength, Spell, Stepmother, Stolen, Storm, Sword, Sunshine, Snow White, Star, Smith, Sidhe, Sanctuary, Stone, Silver, South, Sprite;

T – Traitor, Tyrant, Thief, Tree, Treasure, Transformation, Time, Toad, Tower, Toll, Troll, Train, Trip, Tale, Talk, Temper, Test, Truth, Traveler;

U – Unicorn, Ugly, Urge, Utmost, Until;

V – Volcano, Voice in the Darkness, Valor, Vow, Valentine, Village, Visier, Vacancy, Viceroy, Vamp, Vulture, Villain, Vapor, Vampire;

W – Wizard, Widow, Wind, Wisps, Wonder, Wishes, Woods, Weary, Wildflowers, Water, Witch, Wolf, Word, Wax, Wane, Wastrel, Wrought, Winged, West, Woodcutter;

X – eXcellence, eXcelsior, eXasperation, eXhale, X marks the spot;

Y – Youth, Yarn, Yellow Sunshine, Yeh-Shen, Yawns before Sleep, Yoga; and

Z – Zest for Zaniness, Zax for roofing, Zephyr, Zorro, Zero, Zaftig, Zapped, Zonked.

I hereby share the limelight with more bloggers putting out awesome content:

Angelart Star;

Apronhead — Lilly;

Becca;

Feralc4t;

Geo Love Photography;

Geo Sans;

Jeweled Frog Creations;

Kissed by Starlight;

Marviiilous; and

Schelley Cassidy.

Here are some flowers to show my appreciation for all the likes, comments, follows and awards I have been receiving lately:

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Thanks for making my world even more magic!

—- Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Namaste to the Trees

Peonies on the deck

“You’re swaying,” Jenna said to her big sister Elaine. Elaine was standing on one foot, with her right foot on the opposite leg and her hands in front of her chest, as if praying.

“I’m balancing.” Elaine responded peacefully, raising her face to the sun shining on the deck and bringing her arms up like tree branches. Jenna liked that Elaine never got mad at her. Sometimes big people got mad at her unexpectedly. “This is tree pose,” Elaine continued. “Want to try?”

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The Sun is Shining on Friendly Fairy Tales!

My second award! Thanks to Julianne Victoria at Through the Peacock’s Eyes. I love her new animal spirits posts and her take on dragonflies. Thanks for awarding Friendly Fairy Tales the Sunshine award — for blogs that are positive, inspire others creatively or just make you smile.

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I’m happy to be making people smile with my Friendly Fairy Tales. I’ll be answering some questions, and then passing them along to 10 other bloggers, complete with notifications and links.

10 Questions: What is your:

1. Favorite fairy tale;

2. Favorite exercise;

3. Favorite smell;

4. Favorite dessert;

5. Favorite vacation spot;

6. Favorite sound;

7. Most unexpected visitor;

8. Dream for the world;

9. Closest dance with death; and

10. Favorite lake.

My answers: I like Cinderella the best because many little girls imagine meeting a prince and I was no different. My favorite exercise of the moment is walking, and I take lots of pictures along the way.

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My favorite smell is chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven which happens also to be my favorite dessert. Hawaii was the best place I ever visited (so far). My favorite sound is the exhale my children make when they come to me for a hug and lay their heads down on my shoulder. My most unexpected visitor was a total turkey:

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My dream for the world would be peace, me and the other beauty queens. 😉 I’ve had so many dances with death, it’s hard to narrow it down, but I’d have to say my first labor that ended in a caesarian left me the weakest I ever remember being. Ending on a happy note, my favorite lake:

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Many bloggers out there make me smile and give me a positive charge. The blogosphere is a magical world of its own. Here are 10 very special bloggers you should visit, but many more of you out there deserve this award:

Cindy Knoke;

Donicia;

Tokidoki;

Redheadedknitter;

Fairytale Fallacies;

Sheila T Illustrated;

Witlessdatingafterfifty;

Benvenutocellini;

Fabulous 50’s; and

Imelda’s Wall.

Thanks to all the bloggers out there, sharing your stories and time. Thanks for coming on my journey with me. I’ll leave you with one last doorway, a magical portal to the world of fairy tales…

Brenda

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Jewel and the Moon Princess

Lightning on a Dark Night

One dark, stormy night, Jewel and her mother, Esperanza, played Mexican Train dominoes while the rain lashed the kitchen windows. The wind bent the trees sideways, and all the birds and squirrels were in hiding. The lights flickered and went out. Jewel could no longer see the walls of the kitchen, and the lightning briefly lit the kitchen.

“I can’t find any matches,” Esperanza said. “I know we have a lantern here somewhere.” Another flash of lightning lit the dark cupboard her mother was searching. She heard the whirring of her mother cranking a lantern before a boom of thunder made her cover her ears.

“I’m scared.” Jewel whispered in the dark. Somehow talking about fears in the dark seemed natural. Her mother lit the lantern and gave her a big hug. Her mother laughed deep from her belly, just in the way that always made Jewel smile.

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International Day for the Protection of Children, Moscow, Russia

We should all celebrate the protection of children. What a great idea!

The Prophecy and the Runaway Frog

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Jasmyn often dreamed of flying. One night, she flew on the back of a bird to a new land. The bird grew tired even though Jasmyn was light as a feather. She landed in a ring of stones, and her bird friend tucked its head under its wing and slept.

Jasmyn could hear a stream, but she could not see it. She followed the musical sound, and found the stream through a bank of yellow irises. Jasmyn wandered for a time, smelling flowers and rolling down the hills, without getting any green stains on her dress, for this was an enchanted place.

She sat, braiding gerber daisies into a crown, when she chanced to see a frog hopping madly down over the top of the hill. It skirted the stone circle and plunged down toward the stream. So intent was the frog on rushing down the hill, he didn’t see Jasmyn until too late, and she scooped him right up.

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My first award, woo-hoo!


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Thank you to Julianne Victoria at Through the Peacock’s Eyes for making one of my dreams come true today, an award for friendly fairy tales. She is an inspiring person with great things to say about yoga, tarot, poetry, philosophy and a whole lot more. I hope you will be able to visit her website. I hear she is writing fairy tales, too, and I can’t wait to see them.

Having thanked Julianne Victoria, I now have to tell you 7 unknown things about myself and then nominate 10 other lucky bloggers (with notices and links going out to them).

A story is coming soon(1)! In the meantime, I’ve planted sage, parsley, thyme, tomatoes, cucumbers, meadow sage and peonies today(2). One of the tomato varieties is a zebra stripe. A new adventure in cuisine for us(3).

I also took a long walk(4), thinking of flowers, magic, sunshine and friendship(5). Oh, and sugar, since I stopped at Starbucks (6). 🙂 Here are some things I saw on my way (7):

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Thanks for coming on my journey with me. I hope to meet you at my site again soon!

Other lovely bloggers I hereby nominate (in no particular order):

I hope you like them as much as I do!

Prince Columbine

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Prince Columbine hung his head like the flower he was named for. His father, King Pine, wanted him to become a judge in the court, but Prince Columbine never had the right words. His sister, Princess Starflower, could talk rings around him.

“I would give anything to sit in the court like you do,” she said, failing to understand how he could be sad about it, her golden hair falling in petals around her glowing face. “If you had just told Farmer Wednesday that you would check the records and get back to her about the boundary marker, all would have gone well. Why did you have to tell her that a foot one way or the other doesn’t matter? Of course it matters to her.”

“Well, when you put it like that, I get it. She was so angry. It just didn’t seem that important.”

The princess huffed and gave up on him. “Ugh, if I see one more bleeding cut, I’m going to throw up!” she insisted.

“Why don’t we switch for a day?” Prince Columbine had always enjoyed assisting the healer when he had the chance. He knew his father would disapprove, but he did not think he would be angry. “Let’s tell the healers and ministers we have father’s approval, and then hope he’s busy all day. Then he won’t notice! He has plans to tour the castle walls with his architects.”

“I love the idea!” And so they switched.

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Fairy Princess Shinobu and the Samurai Rats

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Once upon a time, there was a very angry fairy princess. Her mother was Queen Red Leaf. Her court lived in a Japanese maple beside a small lantern in the Azalea Garden. Her mother was warring with the samurai rats living under the Bridge of Singing Water. She had allied with the Orange Blossom fairies. The fairies of both courts encircled the Wren Palace.

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The Oak Princess

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Cassandra looked out her window at the early morning sunshine dappled by her favorite oak tree. Before school, she asked permission from her dad and then ran outside quickly. She looked up at the face in the oak tree. The bark formed eyes, a smiling mouth, and curly hair. She smiled back at her friend in the tree. Some of the leaves were turning orange, and waved in the breeze like thousands of hands.

Yesterday, the rain fell in torrents, and the wind had blown down branches. Acorns had fallen like hail. She had gathered up the acorns to save them from car tires. Except for three, they were all gone from her basket, taken by the neighbors – squirrels and chipmunks. These last three she buried with her shovel in the grassy berm. A beautiful mother oak should be surrounded by her children; Cassandra felt strongly about certain things. When she finished, she waved at the face in the tree, and returned inside. She washed her hands carefully, and got ready for school. Another place to shine.

The next morning, she ran outside again to check on her acorns. As she skipped past her basket, waving at the face in the tree, she noticed something glint at the bottom. She stopped and picked up a golden ring.

“Where did this come from?” Cassandra wondered aloud.

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Hidden Island

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The Scottish village of Arisaig was huddled in close between the church and the harbor. Looking out past the ferry dock, islands appeared in and out of the mists that shrouded the Atlantic coastline.

The fairy queen lived lonely on Hidden Island, with only the seals, fish and seagulls for company. Lying on her bed of seaweed, she dreamed of olden days. She remembered when her people danced in the stone circles on the mainland, but long ago she had been exiled by the fairy king. Her heart yearned to see him again. Her husband and king had sent her away because of a terrible misunderstanding. Sometimes, the seals carried small boys to Hidden Island for her, but they always brought them back. This is the story of one of those boys.

Innis was visiting Scotland for the first time with his mother, whose people had left when the lairds ran sheep across their land.

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Hannah Saves Seaside

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“Shiny, shiny little flower,” sang a little child named Hannah, whose curly red ringlets shone in the sunshine. Her stomach rumbled. She had not had her porridge for breakfast. Her family was all out of food, as was most of Seaside Village. The villagers did not lock the doors of their houses, and instead all the villagers locked their gold in the village tower. Three nights before, a landslide had rumbled down the foothill, leaving a great mountain of earth blocking the villagers from getting to their gold.

The tower was made of smooth granite with seven foot-thick walls. The only way in now was one long, narrow window forty feet in the air. No one could climb the tower, although many young men and women of the village had tried all day. For three days and nights, all the villagers had worked to shift half the earth away from the door. Even Hannah had carried dirt in her pail. No one had had any time for fishing, and everyone in the village was exhausted and hungry. The tax collector was due the very next day.

The elders were meeting, and Hannah could hear a lot of shouting.

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