NOTE: The below story was written by my 13-year-old daughter, Aurora, and is shared here with her permission. (In fact, we decided together to create a category for her stories here on my blog, so I can share more of her writing here in the future since she's an aspiring author!)
For more context about the (somewhat-humorous) impetus for her writing this story, see my Facebook post.
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Story's Story
July 17, of 2029, a beautiful baby was born in Fairy Forest. She was so bright and so happy her love-filled heart would glow brighter than the sun, and her joyous laughter made the birds’ melodious tunes seem sad and lonely.
On the day she was born, the fairyfolk knew immediately what to call her.
“Story Kindheart,” they said, “because her tale will be full of love and kindness.”
And they were right. The next 11 years were full of her wonderful songs and stories.
The fairyfolk prized her kindness so much, they didn’t want anything to stop her from singing. So they protected her. They protected her from everything they thought might hurt her…even the foxes.
But one day her village got sick. It was a sickness the likes of which they had never seeb before. It caused the fairies to turn pale, and wither away like flowers.
Story was scared. How was her village going to survive this harsh illness? The village elders came to her a few days later.
“Story,” they said. “We found a scroll in the Library of Fairies that tells about this illness. It is called the Fade. it is caused by a star that has lost its shine.”
“What do you mean?” asked Story.
“When a star loses its shine, it starts to fade. When it's faded, the star then falls. When the star falls, it does not cause a crater, as humans believe. Instead, it falls gently to the ground, searching for the largest source of power it can find to send it back up. When it hits the ground, it immediately starts sucking the light, joy, and love out of everything nearby. As you know, light, love, and joy are what we fairies live on. When the world around us becomes deprived of those three things, we cannot continue to live. We fairies are the largest source of happiness, so, if this star is not stopped, we will all die, and once that happens, there will be no more happiness.”
“No more happiness?!” gasped Story. “We have to stop this!”
“You are the only one who can,” said the elders. “You are the only one with enough light and love to send the star back up to the sky.”
“Me?” asked Story.
“Yes,” they answered. Although they hated to see her go, they knew it was necessary. So they knew that the time had come for her to learn about the fox.
“There is one more thing,” the oldest of the Elders said. “Be wary of the fox. He will lie and trick you, to get you to his house, because he likes to eat fairies.”
“What does he look like?” asked Story.
“He is orange and red, and he looks like a dog with pointy ears and a poofy tail,” he answered.
So Story set out to search for the star. She looked for it for half the day, and found no sign of it.
Then, as she was walking through the forest, she came upon a dog with orange and red fur, pointy ears and a large, poofy tail.
“A fox!” Story hid behind a sunflower and held her breath as the fox crept closer.
“Who is this I smell?” the fox asked. “A fairy? Far from home, aren’t you, little fairy.”
Story took a deep breath before she answered, “I can’t talk to foxes. The Elders of my village say you like to eat us.”
“A fox, you say? I am not a fox. I am a wolf,” he said. “My name is Sly.”
“Are you sure you aren’t a fox?” Story peeked around the stalk of the sunflower to look at him, “You look like a fox.”
“Oh, foxes and wolves look similar,” he said. “But wolves have tongues, and foxes don’t, so I’m clearly a wolf.” He stuck out his tongue for her to see.
“Oh, I see.” The elders didn’t say anything about foxes having tongues, so that made sense.
“Would you like to come to my house? It’s getting pretty late,” said Sly.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m on a very important trip to find a star.”
“Well there are plenty of stars in the sky. Why don’t you come to my house and see them with me tonight?” asked the wolf.
“Oh, no!” Story shook her head. “The one I’m looking for is on the ground.”
“Why would a star be on the ground?”
“It fell out of the sky.”
“Oh, well that explains it. Why don’t we look for it together?”
“Oh, that would be fun!” said Story.
“We should wait until tomorrow, though, when the sun is higher. It will be easier to see the star if the sun is shining on it.”
“Oh, okay,” said Story.
So she went home with the wolf.
After a while, they came upon a cave.
“You first,” said the wolf.
“Oh, thank you!” said Story. She started to go inside, then she heard a furious chirping.
A blue jay fluttered over and started pecking at the wolf’s face. “Run!” yelled the bird. “Fox!”
“He’s not a fox, silly! He's a wolf! He has a tongue!” Story shouted.
The wolf snapped at the bird with his sharp teeth.
“He’s a lying fox!” said the bird. “He tricked you!”
“I did not!” objected the wolf.
“He’s lying! He wants to eat you!” cried the bird.
“Sly, is it true that foxes are green and have wings?” Story asked.
“Of course.” He said, pinning the blue jay. “That’s why I’m a wolf.”
Story gasped. “You really are a lying fox!”
He snarled and pounced on her.
She darted under a bush and ran away from the fox. She heard the bird behind her, then she saw it next to her.
“Here, hop on,” the bird said.
Story jumped as high as she could, and the blue jay dove underneath her.
The blue jay flew higher than the fox could reach, so the fox growled and gave up.
As they flew, Story saw something shining below her. “What’s that?” She pointed.
The bird flew her down, and she couldn’t believe what she saw. It was a star! It was so small, she could hold it in her hands like she would a grape or cherry.
She picked up the dull star and laughed, happy she had found it.
The star surged a bright white and flew out of her hands, shooting back up to the sky. She was surprised by how easy it had been, but she was glad she had saved her village.
And now she knew what a fox looked like.