Posted by

Posted on

May 22, 2013

Posted under

Comments

My first award, woo-hoo!

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):

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):

Kate Shrewsday

King Photography

Breath of Green Air

The Fairy Tale Asylum

Peak Perspective

Simono1968

Elizabeth Peartree

Elephant’s Picture Book

Jump for Joy!

Nature Diary

I hope you like them as much as I do!

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 18, 2013

Posted under

Comments

5 Comments

Prince Columbine

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 12, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

35 Comments

Fairy Princess Shinobu and the Samurai Rats

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 8, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

15 Comments

The Oak Princess

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 3, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

14 Comments

Hidden Island

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 1, 2013

Posted under

Fairy Tale for Boys, Fairy Tale for Girls, Young Fairy Tale

Comments

7 Comments

Hannah Saves Seaside

“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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

April 23, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

9 Comments

Princess Celestine

The old woman spun her silks in moonlight, and in the warp and weft, a story was written. Some believe a person’s story cannot be changed. But restless fingers can pick at the threads, and what was written becomes changed forever. That is what happened to the story the old woman was weaving of the Princess Celestine of Gothmidland, who was favored by the stars, and intended for Prince Elgar the Northman. A thief’s fingers picked at the threads, and her story was changed forever.

One day, the Princess Celestine boarded the ship, Starspun, headed for the shores of Northland. At that moment, the ship’s Captain was off buying barrels of oranges from sunny Spain. A thief cut his purse strings, but missed his money. Captain Ferdinand had cleverly hidden that under his waistband beneath a thick leather belt. Instead the thief made off with his gold astrolabe. The oranges were duly delivered, and the Captain returned to his ship without noticing his loss.

Meanwhile, the first mate had been so busy yelling at the ship’s boy, Leo, to carry the Princess’s bags, and bowing repeatedly to the beautiful princess that he failed to taste the water being siphoned into the tanks below the deck.

Princess Celestine admired the last view of Parvenue Harbor as the ship passed out of the narrow opening into open water, not knowing that she would never reach her destination.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

April 8, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

12 Comments

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

March 25, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

5 Comments

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

March 5, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

4 Comments

The Lost Dwarvish Treasure

Long, long ago, in the land of dwarves, an amazing treasure was forged. One part was a helmet that let the wearer see through stone, wood and water. The second and last part was shoes of gold that made the wearer silent and invisible. For generations, the king of dwarves held these treasures until the great battle of Stone Circle, where the dwarves were defeated by humans. The dwarf king was fatally wounded, and the humans took the treasure, never realizing what they possessed. The treasures were child-sized to humans. Many more generations passed, and the treasures became forgotten by time and memory, until Simon visited Castle Archer and Castle Thunder on his summer vacation. Although Simon missed his family during his travels to see his school friends, he didn’t miss his archenemy, his neighbor Tristan.

Simon liked to play hide-and-seek, hunt the treasure and capture the castle. One day he played a new game combining all the other games with his friend Sir Alec of Castle Archer. The boys called the new game hide-and-hunt. They made an old dirty helmet the treasure, and asked Sir Alec’s father to hide it. Simon ran from hiding place to hiding place, found the treasure and captured the castle by hiding the treasure in his suitcase without being seen. Sir Alec’s father let him take the dusty old helmet as a prize for winning.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

February 25, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

1 Comment

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.

Continue reading →

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

February 25, 2013

Posted under

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

Comments

8 Comments

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.

Continue reading →