A Sprinkle of Love

The incidents that I am about to narrate will probably sound improbable and fantastical and I will not blame you for not believing them, for if they had not happened to me, I would not have believed them myself. I was ten years old when we moved into a new house, a house that was located on a beautiful meadow, far from the grime and dust of the big city. My mother, an acclaimed writer, needed the quiet and solitude for the formation of her next plot and this house was ideal. Actually that is how I lived the first ten years of my life, moving from place to place to fit the artistic temperament of my mother and her next story.

Coming back to the point, we were now living in a hundred-year-old sprawling white mansion with forest green shuttered windows. The solitary house located in a meadow of flowers had an endless backyard that lead into dense woods, which even on a sunny day, looked misty, dark and mysterious enough to intrigue the imagination of an already imaginative boy. The day in question, was a beautiful summer day and I was practicing my tennis strokes with the ball machine on the courts which were built on the right side of the backyard, when I realized I had an audience. She had honey brown eyes twinkling with mischief and she seemed very interested in watching me play. 

“Hello, well aren’t you such a cutie!” I exclaimed, squatting down and holding out my palm.  

She wagged her bushy red tail and came and licked my hand. I threw the ball at her and was thrilled to see that she could fetch it back. She was like the pet dog that I so wanted, but was never allowed to have. Vixie, as I named her, played fetch with me for a while and then, with a few short barks and the wagging of her tail, she invited me to follow her. I was only too willing to oblige, I wondered if she was taking me to meet her family. She led the way and I followed her till the edge of the woods but then I hesitated, suddenly I was a little fearful. 

She barked again as if to say, “Come on, don’t be scared.”

So I followed her into the woods. The huge oak trees stood tall and sturdy, they joined their heads together exchanging secret wisdom with each other. Not a sound could be heard, it was eerily quiet and I was a little unnerved. Where were the birds, the chipmunks, the deer and even the frogs? We seemed to be walking in the clouds as the woods were covered in a cloak of dense fog. Emerald green velvet moss covered the ground. We crossed over what seemed like a dry bed of what was once perhaps a babbling stream. We found ourselves in a clearing, where the trees were not growing so densely and stray rays of sun found their way to us. I guessed that we were in the heart of the woods. 

I looked up at the sky which was now visible, blue and cloudless when suddenly I felt myself trip over something, I held out my hand to prevent my fall and found myself leaning over a fallen oak that lay sprawled across our path covered by a shroud of moss. The moss felt soft as butter and smooth as silk to touch. My touch etched my handprint on the trunk.

“Vixie, look at the enchanted handprint,” I laughed and much to my surprise the echo of my words rang through the woods and the woods were filled with laughter. 

Suddenly a low groan filled the woods and slowly it grew louder, startling the vixen and me. What was going on?  All of the vixen’s attention was now on the handprint that I had left on the tree. Much to my amazement with a creak a door opened in the trunk of the fallen tree and my handprint turned into a door knob. 

“A door? Where does that lead to?” I asked, “Hey Vixie, wait for me, where are you running off to?” 

Before I knew the vixen was clambering up the fallen tree trunk and running inside the door. Caution warned me to head back home, but the path we took to get here seemed to have been covered back by the moss. There was no option other than to follow her. The door was small and I had to bend down to enter. Upon entering I found myself in a cozy parlor with a welcoming fire burning in the fireplace. The room smelt of hot cross buns and cocoa. I looked around but saw no one, till I found myself staring at a beaver, with a wise face and kind eyes. She was wearing a bonnet and a white apron over her long dress walked into the room. She could have stepped straight out of a story book.

“Well, hello, who do we have here?” asked she. “Won’t you sit down and have some cocoa?”

A beaver that speaks and knows how to make cocoa!! I couldn’t believe my eyes!

“Hello, I’m Johnathan.” I replied politely, “My mother and I just moved into the big white house at the edge of the woods.”

“I am Dame Hubbert and I have lived in these woods since the beginning of time,” she replied, “I’m glad you came to pay me a visit because not too many children come to these woods anymore.”

I gaped at her in astonishment. I did not know of anyone who had lived as long as the beginning of time. The vixen had made herself comfortable on the couch and was eating a bun that was fresh out of the oven. I too, sat down on the comfy armchair by the roaring fire and sipped the piping hot cocoa, Dame Hubbert offered. 

“At one time these woods covered the entire land and all the creatures lived in magic and harmony. Young boys and girls would come to these woods and play with the folks and animals who live here,” she said nostalgically.

“Are these woods enchanted?” I asked incredulously. 

“The whole world is enchanted my dear, you just have to open your eyes to the magic,” replied the wise beaver. “Now that you are here, let me show you around.”

She took me through a small door at the back of her parlor and into a narrow tunnel that was lit with small oil lamps. We went down a few hundred yards and then the tunnel opened up to the woods. It was warm and sunny and bustling with tiny folks, the kind I had only seen in books. There were homes made into the tree trunks and some made of toadstool. The houses had gabled roofs and brightly painted doors and each house had a birdbath in the front. 

I squinted my eyes to read the names on the door for they were written in miniature print.

 The yellow door said Mirth Faerie and the red door said Stupid Cupid, the primrose door said Laughter Elf, and the violet door said Happy Pixie. This seemed like a happy place to live.

Each birdbath was filled with shimmering dust. And the folks that were passing by would take a pinch of this and that and sprinkle it in the air around them. 

“Dame Hubbert. what is in the birdbath?” I asked.

“It’s fairy dust, you pick a pinch of what you need. If you need some laughter in your life then you take a pinch from the primrose house,” replied the Dame. “But remember to take only what you need, no more and no less.” 

 Soon we found ourselves in the town square, a huge crowd was gathered in the middle. We stopped to see what was going on. A Robin and a Cuckoo were singing popular songs while a green frog was accompanying them on the guitar and a leprechaun played the drums. The fairy folks and woodland creatures were singing and dancing along to the music. The music was so catchy that even the vixen and Dame Hubbert started to dance. I, who was not a good dancer and had often been told that I had two left feet, could not help join in.

In my glee I danced like a Danseur, kicking my legs this way and that way. I did not realize that an old gnome wearing a scowl, was standing right behind me.

“Ouch watch out, you are stepping on my toes,” he shouted angrily. 

But in the loud music and the cheering I did not care to hear what he had to say and continued to dance. Suddenly, the sunshine disappeared and I felt myself surrounded by a gray cloud. Despair spread through my body. The music started to grate on my nerves and I started to get anxious and angry. 

“Stop this horrible music,” I shouted loudly covering my ears with my hands, “This is the worst concert ever, this is not music it’s cacophony.” 

Robin and Cuckoo stopped singing and looked crestfallen, about to cry. Everyone turned to stare at me. Vixen and Dame Hubbert looked appalled.

“Who is this rude human boy?” I heard someone whisper. 

Then I noticed that everyone stood under blue sunny skies but I was the only one standing under a gray thunderous cloud. I felt miserable, the joy of the day had dissipated and my eyes started to well up. I sat down on the pavement and gave in to an uncontrollable urge to weep. I cried hard and loud, I cried like a newborn baby. The town square got very quiet and everyone looked worried. 

“Johnathan, what happened my dear?” asked Dame Hubbert rushing to where I was sitting. “Why are you crying?”

“The gnome took my joy away.” I sobbed barely getting the words out. “He shouted something at me and next I know I felt so blue.”

“Which gnome was it? It couldn’t be Sparkly for he is always sparkling; it can’t be Happy because he has enough happiness of his own,” mussed the Dame.

“He wore a grimace and a scowl.” I replied.

“Oh it is Grimacing Gnome, he’s always miserable and now he has put a spell of misery on you,” explained Dame Hubbert. “You must have hurt his feelings.”

“I stepped on his toes,” I replied sadly. “But I was having so much fun dancing that I did not care that I was hurting his feelings. I hate being blue, please help me get out of this spell?”

Dame Hubbert, Vixie and I walked to the far end of the town to where Grimacing Gnome lived. This part of town looked so different from the other part. It was gloomy, derelict and sad, even the sun shied away and kept itself hidden behind the dark thunder clouds. The houses looked dilapidated and had unkempt yards. I squinted my eyes to read the names on the doors. The dark green door said Envy Toad, the gray door said Greedy Wizard, the brown door said Messy Troll. Finally, we reached a house that seemed to be crumbling down, it had a faded blue door that said Grimacing Gnome. On the doorstep was a mat that read Misery Does Not Like Company! Go Back!

My heart sank.  This did not seem like a welcoming sign. Undeterred, Dame Hubbert knocked firmly at the door.

“Did you not read the mat,” shouted Grimacing Gnome as he scowled at us from his doorstep. 

“Sir, I have come to apologize for stepping on your toes,” I said. “Please can you remove the spell of misery that you put on me.”

The gnome’s grimace made his lips droop even lower with misery and loneliness. My heart contracted in sorrow, and instinctively I reached out and hugged him, just the way my mother hugged me when someone hurt my feelings. Suddenly, much to my surprise, the gloom surrounding me started to fade and I felt the heavy weight of misery lifting. The gray heavy clouds started turning into white fluffy ones and the sun was no longer scared to appear. Grimacing Gnome’s scowl was turning into a smile and the dark blue of his door was turning into turquoise as happiness was breaking through the misery. 

“You took away the spell!” I said excitedly.

“No, you did it,” replied the gnome.  “When you hugged me, you broke through the wall of misery that has surrounded me for a long time. Thank you.”

Grimacing Gnome was now Grinning Gnome and we helped him paint his new name on his beautiful turquoise door.

The time had come to say goodbye to my new friends. We hugged each other tight.  Dame Beaver and Vixie walked me to the edge of the woods. As the white house came into view, Dame Hubbert put a pinch of shimmering fairy dust in my hand. 

“Spread this wherever you go because a famous magician once said all you need is love.”

They disappeared into the mist of the woods and I never saw them again but since that day their magic is always with me.