The Land of Fairytales: Where the Rainbow Ends

Submitted into Contest #165 in response to: Write a story that includes the phrase “This is all my fault.”... view prompt

13 comments

Adventure Kids

Not so long ago, in the Land of Fairytales, Lucky, the leprechaun, lived at the end of the rainbow, in a little green house with a with a backyard full of four leaf clovers.


One day, Baby Bear, Goldilocks, and Little Red Riding Hood played next door in the Rainbow Park while Lucky painted his house with green paint like he did every day.


Goldilocks called out, "Lucky, why do you paint your house green every day?"


"Because this is where the rainbow ends," Lucky answered.

On this particular day, Lucky ran out of paint, so he headed down the path toward town to visit Cobbler’s Discount Store.


When Lucky was out of sight, Evil Queen crept down the path toward the little green house. She walked right up to the little green door and turned the little green knob, but the door wouldn't open, no matter how hard she tried. She crept around the house. She tried to open every little green window. When nothing opened, she stomped her foot and headed back down the path toward the Badlands.


"Evil Queen," Red called out. "Why did you try to go into Lucky's house?"


Evil Queen answered, "Because it's where the rainbow ends."

Little Red, Goldilocks and Baby Bear all looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.


Not long after, Leeroy, the big bad wolf, tiptoed down the path toward the house where Lucky lived. He stood in front of Lucky's little green house and blew as hard as he could. No matter how hard he blew, the little green house still stood. Leeroy stomped back down the path toward the Badlands.


"Leeroy, the big bad wolf, why did you try to go into Lucky's house?" Goldilocks asked.


Leeroy huffed and puffed, then said, "Because it's where the rainbow ends.”


Soon after, Captain Hook strolled down the path toward Lucky’s house. Using the hook attached to his arm, he tapped against the window. A few taps later, the window cracked and shattered. Hook climbed inside.


"Hook broke into Lucky's house!” Baby Bear said.


"What in the world will we do?" Goldilocks asked.


"We'll go inside and stop him," Red said. "Follow me.”


Red sprinted across Rainbow Park and jumped through the shattered window, while Baby Bear and Goldilocks followed.


“Hook, why are you inside Lucky’s house?” Red asked.


“Because it’s the end of the rainbow, but there’s nothing here.” Hook climbed back out the window.


Before the kids could follow Hook out, Lucky opened the door holding a bucket of green paint.


“Just why are you three inside my house?” Lucky asked.


“To find out why Hook was here,” Baby Bear answered.


“I don’t believe you,” Lucky said and shook his finger. “And you broke my window.”


“We’re telling the truth,” Red insisted with her hands on her hips.


“We’ll let the board of commissioners decide. Come with me or I will tell your parents,” Lucky said.


With their heads down, Red, Goldilocks, and Baby Bear followed Lucky down the path to the town hall to stand before the board of commissioners, the elders of the Land of Fairytales, who made all the important decisions for the land.


When they arrived at the town hall, Lucky announced, “I went to the store for paint, and when I returned, these three had broken into my house.”


“My goodness, is this true?” Mother Goose questioned as she peered over her glasses.


“We didn’t break into Lucky’s house,” Baby Bear said, “We were there following Hook, who snuck over from the Bad Lands and broke into the house.”


“Hook wasn’t anywhere in sight,” Lucky insisted. “These children aren’t telling the truth.”


“Before Hook arrived,” Red explained, “Leeroy snuck over too and tried to blow the house down.”


“It’s a fact that Leeroy has already blown down several houses,” Brickerton Pig said nodding his head.


“You three kids are old enough to know the laws of the land,” Santa scolded. “The second law states that you should be honest.”


“We’re being honest,” Goldilocks said. “Before Hook and Leeroy arrived, Evil Queen tried to open the door and windows.”


“Such nonsense. These little troublemakers should be punished.” Cupid insisted. “Let’s vote.”


“Now, just hold your horses.” Thumbelina, the tiny flower girl, jumped from Goldilock’s pocket and landed in the center of the board of commissioners’ table. “I was playing in Lucky’s green clover patch like I often do. I saw everything. Evil Queen tried to open the door and windows just like they said. Leeroy really tried to blow the house down, and after that, Hook cracked open a window by breaking it with his hook. The kids only followed him inside to help Lucky out. And besides, these kids don’t even know what’s at the end of the rainbow.”


“How’d you get in my pocket?” Goldilocks leaned over and whispered.


“The same way I got out.” Thumbelina answered in a whisper and smiled. “I jumped.”


“Let’s vote.” Cupid raised an arm. “And get this over with.”

Baby Bear, Goldilocks, and Red squeezed their eyes shut while the board of commissioners voted. When they opened their eyes, Lucky stood beside them, smiling.


“I’m very sorry,” Lucky said. “This is all my fault. You kids shouldn’t even be here. I didn’t listen when you tried to explain. You’ve proven yourselves as my friends, which is the tenth law of the land. Always be a good friend.”


“But wait,” Little Red said, “We still don’t know what’s at the end of the rainbow.”


Thumbelina answered, “The pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow.”


“But everyone looked,” Little Red said, “and no one found a pot of gold anywhere.”


“That’s because my house IS the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”


“But Lucky,” Baby Bear said, “your little house isn’t gold, you paint it green every day, over and over.”


“I paint it green, so the gold never shines through,” Lucky said and winked. “Because no one ever thinks of looking for a green pot of gold.”

September 24, 2022 00:06

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13 comments

Graham Kinross
13:13 Oct 13, 2022

“with a with a,” little typo in the first paragraph. Nice twist. Does that mean he has a swimming pool of gold like Scrooge McDuck?

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Melony Beard
00:32 Oct 14, 2022

I noticed my error too late to correct it. Made me so mad at myself. And yes he could definitely have that swimming pool. Anything can happen in the Land of Fairytales. I have ten stories in this series I'm working on. It's a favorite of mine. Thank you for reading.

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Graham Kinross
00:38 Oct 14, 2022

You’re welcome. It’s a shame they don’t allow grammar edits after stories have been approved. Hopefully it’s a feature they’ll add eventually. I think it’s to avoid people contesting competition winners if a piece is radically improved by editing after the entries have been judged. It’s still a weakness on reedsy.

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F.O. Morier
21:21 Oct 12, 2022

I’m going to read this story to my grandson tomorrow! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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Melony Beard
00:32 Oct 14, 2022

Awe that's so sweet. I hope he likes it. Thank you for reading it.

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Michał Przywara
21:29 Oct 04, 2022

An enjoyable story, with a lesson about not jumping to conclusions. However, it seems like the protagonists would have been in trouble if not for the testimony of Thumbelina, so perhaps the lesson is that kids shouldn't represent themselves in court :) I think there's something innately appealing about mashups like this, where familiar characters are put together and reimagined. In keeping with the kids' fairytale theme, using tropes like the number 3 (3 friends, 3 burglars, 3 judges, etc) is fitting. The whole commissioners thing was an a...

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Delbert Griffith
13:38 Oct 02, 2022

A very engaging story, and I don't normally like these types of stories. Great job!

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Delbert Griffith
13:38 Oct 02, 2022

A very engaging story, and I don't normally like these types of stories. Great job!

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20:40 Oct 01, 2022

Very engaging story. I love how you use fairy tale characters to help us relate to your storyline. Clever!

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Mary Lehnert
15:37 Sep 29, 2022

Love love the wee folk stories. Most rnjoyable

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Keila Aartila
22:55 Sep 27, 2022

I enjoyed reading this fun story!

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Shobana Gomes
02:11 Sep 26, 2022

Loved all the characters in this colorful story. It's true, no one will think of looking for gold in a green pot)

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Mendy Beatty
00:40 Sep 24, 2022

I need to look for some green pots!!! I love the ending!

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