How Hugo Became A Fairy Friend

It's tough to be a fairy. I have to constantly hide from humans, who populate this earth and then there are predators like cats, dogs and even hawks and eagles, who seem to think that we are a delicious meal.

Oh! I forgot to introduce myself, I am a good fairy and my name is Carrie. I am a flower fairy and reside among the flowers. I help them grow by carrying the seeds and planting them under the sunlight. I make sure they get the right amount of sun, or they will wilt. When it rains, I make sure that enough water reaches them that helps them grow. I also open the petals in the morning and close them in the evening.

We fairies live in groups. I have my fairy friends, like Fanny, Jillian, Nora, Barry and Marcus who help me care for flowers. My best friend is Barry. He's fun to be with, though he talks a lot. Barry and I love to spend our spare time scouting for treasure. While treasure-hunting, he humours me with highly imaginative stories and I pretend to enjoy them. Our treasure hunts have led us to find some really beautiful things - a shining silver button, some big round heavy coins, a lovely little doll (though torn and missing one hand), a pink shoelace, a big fawn-coloured seashell, a keychain with little tinkling bells and a human baby shoe. We store our treasure in a big shoe box, that we found during one of our outings.

One day, after our work was done, me and Barry were searching for treasures in the flower field. Suddenly, we heard the barking of a dog. Now dogs are our biggest enemies, because they keep chasing us everywhere we go and have such sharp teeth. So as soon as we heard that, we started flying to our hideout, which is on top of the big birch tree in the middle of the field. No sooner did we hide than the dog came, barking and sniffing at the bottom of the tree. He was huge, I mean huger than other dogs I've ever seen. Behind him came his little master (I remember he was called Samson). He whistled and the dog ran to him. Samson and the dog were about the same height, in fact, the dog seemed taller. Samson and his family owned the field, where we lived. They had recently shifted here from a faraway city, and we had seen Samson often. But this was the first time we had seen his monster of a dog. We must take care to avoid it hereafter, though it looked gentle enough. Soon, they left and we continued on our treasure hunt, though we only found a big, old bone. Being very tired, we went to our flower beds and slept under the moonlight.

The next morning, we were awakened by the booming bark of that dog, though the house was quite far away from the field. Me and my friends woke up and went about our daily duties of tending to the flowers. We made sure they all were blooming and then took some rest under the birch tree. As we were talking, we heard barking and flew up to the top of the tree. The dog had somehow opened the gate and came charging towards us (dogs have a strong sense of smelling out fairies). Samson had gone to school and his parents to work, so we were at the mercy of the dog. He kept barking from the bottom of the tree and when we didn't come down, he settled himself there. Now, this was a problem. We could not come out and soon it would be evening when the flowers must be closed. Nora tried to fly soundlessly above the dog, but he chased her, till she came back to the tree. So we were stuck there until Samson came home.

When Samson finally came home, he probably noticed that his dog was missing and came out to the field, calling, "Hugo! Hugo!" So the dog's name was Hugo. Hugo looked at us longingly one last time with his large eyes and ran to Samson. After their evening walk, Samson took Hugo home. It was already late and we scampered about, hurriedly closing the many flowers' petals. Barry and I didn't have time for our treasure hunt that day.

The next day, the same thing happened. We found out that Hugo had learnt to open the latch of the gate and again, we all were stuck on the tree. When the same thing happened the next day, we decided to do something about Hugo, because all the flowers were suffering. Since it was late by the time we closed the petals, they refused to bloom early in the morning. And the flower cycle was getting affected. Many flowers were already droopy. If something was not done, they would soon die and our homes would be disrupted.

So that night, we called an emergency fairy meeting and discussed various ideas about stopping Hugo. Jillian said that we should tighten the latch on Samson's house gate, but who would do it? It was Hugo's base and we all were too scared of him to try it out. Fanny suggested that some of us should distract Hugo, while others closed the flower petals at the right time. It was a great idea, but it would take double the time than usual. And how long could we keep distracting Hugo? Then Barry spoke up, "Why don't we make Hugo our friend?" "What?" cried Marcus, and others were perplexed. I asked, "And how do you propose to do THAT?" "Remember that old bone we found, we can offer it to him as a peace offering..." "That's all very well, but what if instead of taking the bone, he snaps at you?" asked a worried Fanny. "And who is so bold enough to take it to him?" asked Jillian. I raised my hand and so did Barry. Our only hiccup was this - what would we do when Hugo got tired of the bone? Or if he refused to accept it?

Anyway, we decided to try it out the next day. Myself and Barry prepared ourselves with a big speech and carried the bone to the tree. Others waited with us for Hugo's arrival. Soon, we heard his frantic barking and he rushed out to the field. Barry and I waited till he reached the bottom of the tree and slowly flew towards him with the bone. Hugo became excited at the sight of the bone and jumped up and down. We dropped it near him and he became busy with it. Meanwhile, Jillian, Fanny, Marcus and Nora flew toward the flowers. Hugo did not even look up. Great! Our plan had worked so far. Barry went near Hugo and spoke in his ear, "We want to become your friends, please do not bite us or chase us." Hugo replied with a big, "Woof" and started licking Barry. I laughed and joined them.

Thus began our friendship with Huge Hugo. He played 'Catch' and 'Hide and seek' with us almost every day and even gave all of us a ride on his back. Sometimes, he joined Barry and me in our treasure hunt too. We remain friends to this day and cherish our friendship. And, of course, we all lived happily ever after.

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