Tale of the Fairy

Once upon a time, on a small planet far far away, there lived an entire village of tiny fairies. They lived together in harmony half the days and in conflict half the days. They divided their lives equally between labor and fun. Their sole mission – at work time – was to make the lives of other beings on that small planet easier and more tolerable. They had their own private lives and domestic problems of course, but at day time before noon and very very late at night, their full attention was devoted to what they do best.

With the lives of the other beings on that far far away planet made easier and more tolerable, the whole planet was known for its harmony and peace; its people even agreed to call it “Planet Bliss”, and often referred to it as the Happy Planet when relating it to their solar system – as opposed to the Grim Planet, the Green Planet, and the Grand Gluttonous Planet.

Years and years went by and the Happy Planet was as blessed with harmony and peace as it always has been. The fairies did a good job all the way. However, the beings on the Happy Planet – as a result of being as happy and carefree as they mostly were – kept on reproducing and multiplying. Families of different natures and origins were generally huge, and the fairies’ job was getting tougher and tougher; they had to keep up and preserve the happiness and harmony of each and every being – as small or gigantic as they vary.

In the village of the fairies, the work was constantly multiplying as well. They were busy almost all the time and some of them even stopped sleeping for days and days; for the fairies are known for being diligent and devoted to their work. However, with the amount of work insanely increasing and time not expanding or miraculously slowing down, their stress level was jumping high. The tiny little diligent fairies barely had any time for themselves. As a matter of fact, some of them lost their precious lives as a result of overworking themselves beyond their capacities.

Thus, despite being one of the basic most dependable reasons behind the happiness and contentment of the Blissens (people of Planet Bliss), the magical influence did not touch them and was only rather restricted to the other privileged “Blissens”. They no longer had time for themselves, they could not afford such a thing.

In this beautiful yet sad beehive of a village, a little boy fairy with a distinctive glow that seemed to come from within was born. He was named “Elfo” after his great great great grandfather who helped in founding the village centuries ago. Elfo was born in a tough time to loving but very busy parents. He never witnessed the days of glory when the fairies used to equally divide their lives between labor and fun. He never witnessed domestic problems because… well, no fairy had time for those! He sometimes heard about these things from his loving Fairy mom when he was very little; she used to sit by his tiny blue bud of a bed at dusk time and tell him stories of the glorious past. But that of course did not happen much; she only had very little time. For all fairness though, she did her best for she loved little glowing Elfo.

Elfo and all the other young fairies had to work too, but for a definite number of hours and under training to learn how to be good fairies. They were allowed to play most of the day as it was a well known fact that little young fairies could not handle the enormous amount of work that grownup fairies were burdened with. But Elfo did not play much; he would watch his mama and papa Fairies work half the day, and the rest of the day he would wander around the village in what always looked like deep thought.

Elfo would fly around with his little almost-invisible wings looking at fairies’ faces and he would wonder “But why are they so gloomy and grim? How come they never smile? I thought the whole point of what we do is to make others smile!” He remembered that his mama once told him at dusk time about some happy good times when fairies used to sing and dance. He used to interrupt to tell her that he honestly thinks that she’s only telling him imaginary bed time stories. She would gasp and tell him “Son, I was there, I was a little kid back then but I saw it with my eyes.”
“But mama, can you prove it?”
“Elfo dear, where do you think you get your little inside glow from? Your grandfather and all the fairies at the time had a similar glow. The whole village used to glow with light from a distance. Those were the times when they had free time for themselves and less effort to burn their light over. I’m telling you dear Elfo it was true; these are not mere bed time stories.”

Elfo would think of his mama’s early words and tales and his little glowing mind would drift off and back. He would think “But still, this is no excuse for fairies not to smile where they live and save all their smiles for other beings. This cannot be fair. Does this mean I have to do this one day? Naaah… this doesn’t make sense.”

He wished he could speak his thoughts, amazements, and questions with anyone else, yet all what he saw when he looked around were either very very busy grumpy and exhausted grownup fairies, or little ones like himself who mostly couldn’t care less or were ignorant of the great tales his mom used to create some little time to be able to tell him.

As Elfo started growing up just a bit, he was given more chores and sometimes even without supervision. He started working hard and going alone to other villages where his efforts were needed. He gave away smiles and helping hands and magic stardust and enlightenment to those in need. He would fly off leaving thousands of different beings in harmony and peace. Nevertheless, as happy as it made him feel sometimes, it always made him wonder “But this is still unfair! Why do we have to be keepers of their welfare while none of them ever think about our welfare? They just keep multiplying and filling the planet to the top without a care in the world. Do they not ever think of how it would be with them if we ever fail to do our jobs? Is it not possible at all?”

Elfo started coming up with theories and logical expectations like “But what if years from now it started affecting our jobs too? What if the overworking and consumption prevents me and all the other fairies from carrying out our destined job? Why is it our destined job to just make them happy? Should we not have a life of our own? If not for ourselves, than at least to do a more spirited job.”

With the amount of work laid upon Elfo gradually increasing, he found little time to think and ponder. He had to work very hard and he had so little space for his endless contemplations. Elfo’s glow was only a little dimmed with over consumption and lack of nurture. He came home one day to his parents where his mama was sick in her yellow flower bed; she had worked hard non-stop for 20 days and she fell ill. He did not have much time to spend with her, but as he approached to make sure she’s okay and blow a magic kiss, his mama screamed “Who are you? Stay away from my bed”

“Mama, it’s me Elfo”

“You’re not Elfo, I haven’t seen him in weeks I know but I know my son. Elfo has a very distinctive glow that I could see from a distance, you are not… Elfo? Sweety is that really you?”

Elfo was shocked and devastated. He sat by his sick mama only for the allowed short while, he was overwhelmed and upset and angry but he had obligations. As he was turning around to leave after blowing a magic kiss to his mama, he heard her faintly say “I miss your light”.

He stopped, turned around, paused for what seemed like forever then yelled out at the top of his lungs “THAT’S IT! THAT DOES IT! IT’S OVER”

He stormed out, flew from rooftop to rooftop in his village screaming his thoughts. He started every sentence with “I refuse to…” and between each and every announced objection he shouted “Unfair”. The fairies – in amazement and disbelief – stopped to listen. For the first time in years they actually paused to listen. Elders tried to calm down Elfo, reminding him that what they do is their destined job and they cannot alter it.

He cried in anger “Says who? Who said we have to do everything we can and more to please others while we fall sick and die without a single moment for ourselves? Why can’t other beings try and do a little extra effort for themselves to maintain their happy state and for God’s sake stop multiplying like rabbits? Why can’t we have our own time and still do a good job? Who came up with the idea that we have to try and tolerate and compromise and fall sick and lose our glow and waste our lives for the sake of beings who don’t even fully apprehend or appreciate our efforts and needs? Who set the rules around here? Who…”

An old Fairy interrupted “Umm… Elfo… honey… before you say more… it was your great great great Grandfather “Elfo the Great” who set those rules. So with all due respect to him and to you of course being his grandson and all… you might want to consider…”
“I don’t care! This cannot keep going any longer. I object to my grandfather’s rules, as well intentioned as he probably was he obviously wasn’t very insightful”
“Elfo! respect!! Elfo the Great was one of the founders of our village! He was your great great great grandfather. You’re named after him! Do not disgrace him like that”

“Well then that’s it; I’m changing my name. From now on my name is Sprazzo, I will not go by Great Elfo’s name or rules. I will make my own rules which will strive to serve all Blissens – us included – in the best possible just way. You, fairies of the village are free to follow me or to stay as miserable as you are, you are not to condemn me for what you know is my lawful right as a Blissen myself. You are not to call me Elfo, I am Sprazzo and I will not let my glow die out.”

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*Sprazzo: Italian for “light flash”

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Tags: fairytale, Fiction

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