My fairy story, by Grandpa Reg

Once upon a time I had been asked to baby-sit for my son and daughter-in-law’s children, my grandchildren Helen and Peter. The moment that I arrived at their home I was greeted by the two young children with their arms full of fairy tale books. Their mother had told them earlier that I was going to tell them stories when I arrived. I was soon to be made comfortable on the settee with the children either side of me, when I had to make a major decision as to whose story book I would read first as they could not agree to having the same one. I knew I would be upsetting one of them so I asked if they minded if I told them my own story and, with great enthusiasm, they agreed to listen.

Once upon a time an old man and his three grandchildren were walking through the woods. It was a fine warm day in the summer, with the sunbeams dancing though the trees above and birds singing to each other and flying onto the pathway ahead of the children, picking up insects to feed their young. Because of the heavy rainfall the night before, the potholes on the pathway were filled with water and the birds were enjoying an early morning bath. The children were delighted to see their antics. Even the tiniest of them were behaving like ducks. The potholes were very shallow so the birds could not come to any harm, although they were ducking their heads under the water.

Not only had there been heavy rain the night before, but there was a strong wind that blew a lot of leaves off the trees to build up in heaps on the side of the pathway. The children ran and jumped into the heaps of leaves, rolling over and over on them. They were having a wonderful time. Grandpa called out to them to be careful what they did not disturb any wildlife that might be hiding in them. Grandpa did not want to spoil their fun but he knew that there would be some wildlife in the leaves. Just then a small mouse emerged cautiously from a heap of leaves nearby, took a look at the children, stood on his back legs and proceeded to wash his face. The children were amazed and stood transfixed until he had finished his ablutions. It was not until one of the them moved that the mouse ran away back into the undergrowth. This was a new adventure for the children, they had never seen creatures like that so close before.

They continued along the path tiptoeing very quietly in case they saw more wildlife amongst the leaves. Suddenly they stopped. A heap of leaves was moving. The youngest of the children hung onto his grandfather’s hand very tightly while the other children, moved closer to their him. He was smiling for, as he had guessed, a large blackbird with a bright yellow beak appeared, startling the children. They wanted to know what a bird was doing under the leaves. Birds fly, they do not go under leaves. He explained that birds are always looking for food for themselves and their young and the heap of leaves would provide them with a variety of insects. He told them that, although that they had passed that way before, they had never noticed the wildlife and other things moving about in the woods because they, like all children, would have been running and shouting to each other and, without realizing it, would frighten all but the insects away before they had even noticed them.

Although the children were very excited as they walked along the tree covered pathway, they asked Grandpa in a whisper whether, if they were very quiet, they would see more animals like the little mouse? Grandpa said they would and they did see many more as they continued their walk. They all agreed to be as quite as mice and walk along very slowly. As they turned the next bend, they stopped and sat on a small bank amazed at the spectacle before them. There were at least fifteen or even twenty rabbits, large and small, running up and down a high, grass covered bank. The children remained absolutely still noticing that some were going in and out of holes in the ground. Grandpa, seeing that the children looked puzzled, bent down and explained in a whisper that the holes in the bank were where the rabbits lived. They looked at him in disbelief and he understood why when the youngest told him that he thought rabbits lived in rabbit hutches. At that, the eldest of the grandchildren, who thought she knew everything, began to giggle and told her younger brother that rabbits normally live in holes. She made so much noise that they soon noticed that she had frightened all the rabbits away.

Grandpa reminded them that, if they wanted to see anything in the woods, they would have to stay perfectly quiet. It was not long before they saw something else much larger than them and, had it not looked so beautiful, they might have been frightened. It was a deer and one of the children whispered that she wanted to call it Bambi. It had been looking at them for some time through a clearing in the woods and only moved away when it heard what sounded like gunfire. Grandpa told them not to worry as it was not a gun making the noise but a tree being felled by woodmen in the distance.

They continued their walk, passing a beautiful little cottage with smoke curling out of the chimney. The children thought that it must be lovely to live in the woods surrounded by animals. In all the excitement they had not noticed how tired they had become after all that running around. What an adventure! Grandpa suggested that they might like to sit down to rest for a while on a grassy bank in the warm sun. First walking and now climbing - what fun, but very tiring. When they got to the top of the bank Grandpa sat down first, followed by the children. All at once they wanted to use him as a pillow. They must have been tired because one by one they went off to sleep. Grandpa softly whispered to them, sweet dreams. The youngest of the children went to sleep first followed soon after by the other two. Grandpa stayed awake to look after them. He was enjoying this day as this was the first time he had them all together to walk with him in the woods, for now they were old enough to be able to walk any distance and appreciate what the woods had to offer them. In their dreams they carried on walking, passing a little girl dressed in a bright red shawl and carrying a basket over her arm. She smiled at them and told them she was going to see her Grandmother who was ill and in bed, adding that she had just seen a wolf and told him about her poor grandma's illness, He appeared to be very concerned about her health and had asked the young girl where did her grandmother live. She said that she told him and he then suggested, to get to her grandma's quicker, she might like to take a short cut to the cottage by going by a different route. Giving the children a wave she continued on her way.

A little further on they came to a little red brick- built cottage with a pig looking out through a window, as they passed, the pig called out something about a wolf huffing and puffing, but the children could not hear exactly what he said as the windows were closed. Grandpa thought that, had it been important, the pig would have come outside to tell them so.

The next house they passed was occupied by three bears - a very large one, a medium sized one and a baby one. They looked as if they had just returned home and were going indoors as Grandpa and the children went by.

As they continued on their way, they saw in the distance a very large, beautiful building with many towers. They asked Grandpa what it was but he had never seen one like it before, though he said he thought it was a castle.

The children had heard about castles and wanted to see this one much closer so Grandpa agreed to take them. They soon arrived and, not seeing anyone around to ask if they could go in, they decided to have a quick look around by themselves. They went from room to room on the ground floor, each one seeming larger and more decorative than the last, but, when they climbed the long, wide staircase and entered the first bedroom they had the surprise of their lives for, lying on the bed, was a beautiful girl fully dressed and asleep. As they did not want to disturb her, they tiptoed back down the stairs and out of the castle into the woods.

They carried on their way until, outside a large house, they saw a pretty girl with her face and arms covered in what looked like black soot from a stove. She was crying and told them that she wanted to go to the Ball but had nothing to wear. The children told her not to worry for they were sure that something would turn up so that she could go. She thanked them for stopping to hear her sad tale and bid them “good day”.

They soon came to a clearing in the woods, where a most unusual sight met their eyes. Outside of a little cottage a young man was climbing up a large beanstalk that reached right up to the sky.

They had not gone much farther when they heard singing, “Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to work we go” and saw seven Little folk walking and dancing down the path through the woods seeming unaware that they, the children, were there. The children then noticed a young woman with black hair standing in the doorway of the little house from which the Little folk had come and waving them goodbye.

As they walked away from that happy scene, they saw another castle, but this had only one big, tall tower with a small window at the top through which a young lady was uncurling her very long hair down to the ground. Nearby a handsome young man stood near some bushes looking up towards the castle and calling out to the lady asking her to let her hair down. As neither Grandpa nor the children understood what was going on, they moved away and continued their walk.

The pathway seemed to wind on forever with so many interesting things to see, but they were a little puzzled to see stones placed at intervals along the path leading to a large heap of fallen leaves that moved as they approached and two children emerged saying that they had slept under them to keep warn during the night. Grandpa and the children thought that the two children looked well enough and carried on walking.

They began to realise that they had been dreaming when the next thing they saw was a cat wearing long boots standing on the side of the road as if waiting for something. One of the children went over to the cat and asked him what he was doing there. He replied that he was going to London to see the Queen. They bid him a safe journey and went on their way. Just when they were thinking about returning home, they were nearly knocked over by a girl on horseback racing towards another castle. She looked very upset as she sped past and they overheard her saying that she wanted to marry her friend, although he was large and beastly.

The children had gone far enough that day and turned back along the same pathway. They had had the time of their lives and could not wait to get home to tell their friends and relations of their adventures. They had seen castles, rabbits running in and out of holes and a cat wearing boots. Such excitement!

On their way back, they passed by the two children who had been sleeping under the heap of leaves. They were seen tucking into a hearty meal in a cottage with friends.

And, as the children passed the castle, the one with the young lady with the long hair, they saw the handsome young man, who had been calling out to the young lady earlier, climbing up her hair into the castle. Grandpa and the children still did not know what was going on, so they carried on walking until they came to the clearing where they saw the young woman with black hair washing heaps of clothes. She was singing quietly to herself “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work they go” The children waved to her as they went past and she returned their wave giving them a beautiful smile.

They soon reached another clearing in the woods where they had seen the young boy climbing a beanstalk, but now it had been cut down and was lying on the ground. Grandpa thought that very strange as it had appeared to be very healthy when they went past earlier.

The children asked if they might see the castle again, where the beautiful lady lay asleep, but, as they approached, they saw a handsome couple walking arm in arm in the garden. With great relief they recognised her as the same lady whom they had seen asleep in the bedroom of the castle.

As it was growing late, they returned to the pathway and walked on until they came to the house where the girl with the blackened face lived. As they passed they looked in through the doorway and saw two people talking. They recognised one as the girl who had poured out her problems to Grandpa and the children earlier but the other person facing them was dressed like no-one they had ever seen before. She was all in white and carried a silver stick with a silver star on the end of it but, what was even more strange, she had silver wings just like a butterfly. Sensing their presence, the girl they had meet earlier turned towards them and gave them a radiant smile as if to say thank you.

When they reached the bear’s house, all they could hear was a high-pitched voice from indoors, possibly baby bear, complaining that someone had eaten his porridge and further along the path outside the pigs’ brick-built house they saw a wolf on his knees huffing and puffing at it, but he soon ran away when he saw the children chasing after him.

Further still along the path they again saw the girl with the red cloak. She was standing outside her Grandmother’s cottage talking to a woodman who was warning her about talking to wolves. Grandpa overheard their conversation and fully agreed with him. When eventually they reached the raised bank where they had rested earlier, they sat there for some time using Grandpa as a pillow until he told them that they had had a good sleep and it was time for them all to go home.

On the way Grandpa told the children all about wildlife that they could expect to see as they walk around, not just in forests and woodlands, but in town gardens and, in fact, anywhere that wildlife might expect to find food. Not only birds, but foxes and badgers are coming into town gardens as hedgehogs have done for years.

Grandpa thought that what the children had most enjoyed that day was seeing the little mouse washing himself.