A Fairy, A Child, and a Cat

The white tip of the cat’s tail disappeared under a bushel of cowberry. Ghillie Dhu looks up from the deer’s leg he was finishing mending. He grumbles, always the humans’ meddlesome animals disturbing his forest. Ghillie looks at the deer who’s eyes blink up at him as if to say I don’t know what you should do. Ghillie Dhu had a reputation to uphold as guardian of the Caledonian forest. Humans were meant to be afraid of him. What if it got around that he allowed a simple house cat to move about the forest as it pleases.

Ghillie Dhu stood up with a grunt, and pulled his cloak of moss, ferns, and heather tightly around his shoulder.

“You there, stop!” he commanded the cat who was now sitting on a log. The cat seemed to be laughing at him. Its yellow eyes squinted at Ghillie Dhu. The fairy was strange looking, there was no doubt about that. A short, skinny man, with a mop of black hair on his head, not unlike that of the damp leaves that litter the forest floor.

Ghillie Dhu approached the cat with short swift steps, and although his limp seemed to be getting more and more pronounced as the days went by, Ghillie didn’t mind, it added to his fearsome reputation.

The cat turned on its paws and continued running, and Ghille followed. The bright white paws were easy to track against the dark forest floor. He moved almost better through the forest than Ghillie, almost.

Ghillie Dhu was placed in the forest as a young fairy as a type of punishment. Always unruly and wild in his youth, his father thought the Scottish Highlands were the perfect place for him to run wild, alone. Ghillie was sentenced to be alone. Unlike the leprechauns who traveled in packs in Ireland, or the sea nymphs who spent the majority of their days riding on turtles backs together, Ghillie Dhu was to live out his days in the Caledonian forest not bothering other immortal beings.

So instead, he bothered the humans. Ghillie Dhu despised the humans, and for good reason. They stole from his forest, killed the mammals for food, the reptiles out of fear. They plucked berries from the cherry trees and eggs from the grouses nest. They cut down trees for their homes and toys and furniture. Ghillie Dhu felt as if it was his job to protect the forest, and protect it he did.

The humans whispered of the monster living in the forest, as large as an oak tree, and as wide as the dense cowberry bushels. Walk into the Caledonian and you’ll feel a prickle of electricity. It begins in your toes, spreads to your thighs, lingers in your stomach, and pulses outwards from your chest. Some interpret it as excitement, but the intention is that of a warning. They say, if you see the monster in the woods you are as good as dead. Turn and run, whatever you do. It has been said the last thing you’ll see before you are turned into a slug is the red piercing eyes of the monster.

Of course this wasn’t true, Ghillie Dhu had no such powers, but if he did he probably would use them in this way. But he didn’t, so the best he could do was scare the humans to stay away from him, and his forest.

And so, the chase continued. Ghillie Dhu periodically shouting at the cat, and in reply the cat moved faster, as if mocking the forest fairy.

Finally, a smell wafted in the air into Ghiliie’s nostrils. An unpleasant one of salt and sweat, of campfire smoke and strawberry jams. All unnatural to Ghillie Dhu, and it meant only one thing:a human. The cat had stopped moving, perching itself on a low tree branch.

“Who goes there? Show yourself now!” Ghillie’s voice boomed through the forest, a skill taught to him by the golden eagle. His mouth settled into a snarl, yellow pointy teeth caught on his bottom lip. His eyes moved up and down, left to right, searching for the vile human. Brain conjured up images of what he would do to his human once he found him.

“I–I’m over here. Please, sir, please don’t hurt me.”

A small voice, more of a whisper than anything came from inside a hollowed out tree. Ghillie Dhu moved slowly towards the tree, leaning down to look into the hollow. He saw red frizzy hair first, and then the soft green eyes. A loose cotton dress hung from her shoulders, ripped stockings on her legs, and only one shoe on her left foot.

A child, a child? Never having encountered a child, Ghillie Dhu was at a loss. It was a human no doubt, but small like a doe. Surely this human could not kill a boar, or chop down a tree. True, it could probably pick the berries from an elderberry bush, but really was that a crime?

Ghillie sat back on his heels, unsure what to do next. He twisted a twig between his finger tips.

The two stared at each other, and it wasn’t clear who was more afraid of who.

“Stay here.” Ghille Dhu commanded, quickly standing up and running towards the nearest yew tree. The cat mewed in apparent amusement, and stayed near the girl as the two watched the fairy dash between ash trees, holly, aspen, and oak trees. He then moved towards fern and heather bushes, he grabbed handfuls of lungwort, and a bushel of wildflowers.

He returned to the young human child, a small jacket in hand, and a new pair of shoes. All made from the forest, and decorated to the best of his ability in a way he could only assume a young girl would enjoy.

“Put these on, you’ll catch a cold.”

The young girl smiled, slipping into the jacket, pushing her feet into the perfectly fitted sandals.

The two continued to stare at each other.

“My name is Jessie.” the small girl ventured, eyes dropping, staring at the fairy’s overgrown fingernails.

“I’m Ghillie Dhu. Alright then, where is your mummy and papa?” Ghillie Dhu wanted to get to the bottom of this, enough with the pleasantries.

“We were picking elderberries and cherries for supper,” Ghillie Dhu shuttered, typical humans, “I found the biggest bushel I had ever seen. I filled my basket, I must’ve had one million berries. When I came back to show mummy and papa, they were gone.”

Ghillie Dhu nodded, he had lived in this forest for thousands of years, and wasn’t afraid to admit he had gotten lost more than a time or two.

“Do not worry child, we will find them. Now you just need to tell me where you last remember seeing them.”

Tears pricked at Jessie’s eyes, slowly her face turned red, and then all at once. The tears fell. The child shuddered, and soon she was sobbing.

Ghillie Dhu jumped back, “What-what is the meaning of this?!” Water falling from a face? He had never seen this before. This only made the girl cry more, shame bubbling in her gut and burning her face a bright red.

Ghillie Dhu stood rooted in place, mouth agape. The cat slunk its way over, giving Ghillie Dhu a side eye of judgment, this cat had obviously spent time with humans and their fickle emotions.

It curled itself in the young girl’s lap, rubbing his face between the space between her collar and jaw.

Slowly, the crying turned from sobs, to steady tears, to sniffles. In a moment of rare tenderness Ghillie Dhu placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder, “Come Jessie, let’s go find you parents.”

The trio began walking, Ghillie Dhu with his eyes on the cat, hoping this strange creature would somehow know where the girl lived. He proved useless in this endeavor.

They walked aimlessly, Jessie chattering about her friends at the village, the scones her mother makes, and the wooden trinkets her father crafts. Another shutter from Ghillie Dhu, but Jessie assured him it was all from scrap wood.

Jessie began to tire after a few hours of searching, and the sun was setting. Ghillie Dhu used what little magic he had to make wildflowers spring at her feet with every step she took, but soon those strange tears began to fall once again. The sun was setting, the forest turning a bright orange, then dark red, a midnight blue, and finally a deep black.

The three found a grove of bog myrtle and settled in for the night. The cat curled at Ghillie Dhu’s feet, Jessie nestled in the crook of his arm.

It was said, that day in the forest, the buzz of electricity subsided. It was replaced by a soft warmth. The body felt as if was glowing, rather than buzzing. The forest felt safe.

At daybreak the group set out again. Creeks were crossed, hills climbed, and swamps stomped through.

“Jessie, child! Look here. You see this cloth? Do you recognize it?” A bright red strip of cotton dotted with yellow tulips was tied to a low hanging branch.

“Mama! Her apron, that’s her apron!” Jessie jumped towards the cotton yanking it down. Ghillie Dhu scanned the area. Fifty yards ahead, another strip of cotton.

“Child, look! Your mother left a trail for us!”

The three followed the trail, giggling at their good fortune, inspired by Jessie’s parents’ good thinking. Wildflowers continued to bloom at Jessie’s feet, the fairy and girl even held hands. Ghille Dhu told her stories of conniving otters, rowdy boars, and gentle deer. He taught her which plants were poisonous, what trees were the best for climbing.

Finally in the distance, a cabin. A leaning thing, more sideways than upright. It was as if it sprouted from the hillside, and decided halfway through it wanted to burrow back. Wooden logs made up the three room home, with a large porch in the front. Hens roamed freely in the yard, and a vegetable garden struggled to grow.

“There it is, there it is! Home, we found home!” The child squealed, yanking down on Ghillie’s arm “Come, Ghillie Dhu you must meet Mama and Papa. They’ll want to thank you.”

Ghillie Dhu squatted down, to eye level with the child. For the first time in his life, his own eyes welled with tears, “My dear child, you mustn’t tell your parents we met. It is for the best. Bring this cat with you, tell them he and your Mama’s apron brought you home.”

The girl nodded, looking up at the fairy one last time before turning and running with her cat into the loving embrace of her parents.

Strangely, predators stopped praying on the family’s chickens, and the vegetable garden flourished. The family never had to search long for plump berries, and Jessie taught her parents how to make clothing from the trees and bushes and flowers . Ghillie Dhu watched Jessie grieve her parents, have her own children, and experience the joy of grandchildren. The cat, lovingly named Berry, seemed to never age, he stood by Jessie’s side her whole life. And when her grandchildren returned Jessie to the Earth, a field of wildflowers grew over her grave.