The seedling
by Ari

In a far away land, in a far away time, a seedling grew in a clearing in a forest. By day he lifted his branches to the sun, by night he slept and every morning he was refreshed by the dew. Every day was the same, but he was content, for this is what trees always do in the forest.

He didn’t remember how he came to the clearing. He had probably been dropped there as a seed by an animal or a bird. He wasn’t very tall yet, maybe about ten inches high. He watched the insects and butterflies in the clearing all day long. He could see the birds flying overhead, and sometimes swooping down to snatch up an insect to take home to their noisy families. No bird ever perched on him, because he was far too small, but on a sunny day a grasshopper jumped up and sat on one of his branches the whole afternoon, which he enjoyed very much.

One night the seedling was awakened suddenly. Something had landed on him! He was astonished as he looked around and saw little creatures with wings flying round and round the clearing laughing, singing and splashing dew everywhere from little silver buckets. “So that’s why I am covered with dew every morning!” He exclaimed aloud.

A tiny, tinkling voice nearby said “What?” and laughed a bubbly laugh. “Hey, everyone, the seedling is awake, and he can talk!” The beautiful creatures flew over, giggling, and said hello to the little seedling.

“What ARE you?” he asked them in a wondering voice.

“We’re fairies, of course! You have chosen to grow in our fairy glen.” They laughed some more.

“Oh, I don’t think that I chose to grow anywhere.” He answered. “I just grew where I was dropped. I like it here, though.”

“Well, we’re very glad you’re here!” They assured him. “We are the dew fairies, and it is our job to spread the dew every night. We usually pick up any seeds we find and plant them somewhere else, but somehow we missed you. We will be glad to rest in your branches when we are done with our work.” They laughed their bubbly laugh again.

“You sure do laugh a lot.” The little seedling said.

With more laughter, they said, “We love to have fun. We love the night breezes and the stars and moon. And we love to dance in our glen.”

“What are stars and...Moon?” the seedling asked.

“Look way, way up, Little Seedling.” one of the fairies answered in a musical voice.

He tilted his branches back and looked up. “I see trees.” He said.

“Look up further!” they chorused.

So he tilted his branches back more and looked up, up, up. He gasped! The sky was full of lights! Tiny twinkling lights covered the entire sky and right in the middle of it was a large, round, ivory circle shining brightly. He had never seen anything so beautiful, and he was too overcome for words.

The fairies laughed delightedly when they saw the awe on his face. “Well,” they demanded, “what do you think?”

"It’s, it’s so...beautiful!” he exclaimed.

Giggly fairies began zipping around the clearing again. Then, one by one, they flew off in different directions through the forest.

“Wait!” the Little Seedling shouted.

“We have to get back to work!” One of them called back. The last thing he heard was the sound of Fairy laughter drifting back on the breeze.

The Little seedling sighed. He gazed up at the moon for a long time. “I’m going to go visit her.” He murmured as he drifted off to sleep.