Seraphim-6
The Magical Forest is one of those rare tales that are nestled securely in the bosom of legend; never to be forgotten once it has visited your soul. And it is told again right here... SPOILER ALERT Long ago (the mid-70's), in a faraway land (most likely Sweden), there lived a modest little frog named Kikki. He was perhaps too modest, for as he made his morning jaunt through a shady glen, he was startled too see a brilliant, sparkling light. Suddenly nature exploded all about, and magical sparkles and beams of fairy light lit the hidden glade. To Kikki's surprise, the Fairy Mother and her entourage of the four Seasons appeared near a gurgling spring. The Fairy mother lifted her golden goblet to the spring, and she and the Seasons drank its clear, cool waters. Upon seeing Kikki hiding nearby, the Fairy Mother thanked him for his goodness. But Kikki did not think he was worth much at all compared to her maight and beauty, and didn't see much goodness at all in himself, so she mercilessly froze his little frog legs into the water of the now frigid spring until he had 'found his worth'. With that, the denizens of Fayrie disappeared. Nearby there happened toe a pair of clever young girls frolicking in the meadows near the glade. Their names were Maria and Mirabella, and they had been relaxing and playing with their ball after a hard day of mining coal. Their ball bounced into the woody glen, and upon retrieving it, they found poor Kikki, and after a gaggle of fellow amphibians had freed his frezzing foots, the two girls agreed to find the Fairy Mother and help the hypothermatic hoptoad. They started off through the dark, thick, woods as the clouds darkened and poured forth their watery fury as if Nature was warding off the two foreigners. The girls shivered as lighting bolts pierced the sky and thunder shook the high cliffs they were skirting. Soon they found refuge in a cave, and chanced upon a glittering swarm of singing glowworms. One of the gloworms looked a bit harrowed, and when all the others glowed their brightest, it sparked, and burst into flame. Kikki introduced the incandescent insect as his friend Skippy, and they learned that he couldn't light his glow like the other glowworms; he'd simply light on fire. Maria gathered him up and began to make her way out of the cave, but Mirabella, who was much more impatient and forthright, stole Kikki from out of her hands and ran away. Maria lost her in the winding passageways of the huge caves, and even though she had Skippy to keep her company, she missed her friend. Meanwhile, Mirabella had run off to a secluded part of the cave and, after telling Kikki he wasn't worth anything after all, threw him violently down an endless chasm. But she lost her balance in the task, and fell down afterwards, only to be caught by him, clinging to a rock! She screamed for Maria, who heard her just in time to find Mirabella hanging just above a small ledge, which she hadn't seen in her fear. The girls embraced and Mirabella apologized, and they were on their way. They met many more friends in the forest, including a poor, newly-transformed butterfly who just couldn't fly named Belinda. She joined them on their quest for the Fairy Mohter, who was getting ever nearer. One obstacle remained for the group to conquer in their quest, and that was time itself, for the hour of midnight was almost upon them, and after that it would be too late to save the needy animals they had met, so they were relieved when they heard the hoot of a flock of owls hailing the approach of the King of Time. Grand and powerful was he, and quite intimidating, but the girls had a mission, and they boldly pleaded with him totop the clocks so they could rescue their friends. But the King of Time was stubborn and loved his clocks too much to stop their ticking for even an instant, so Mirabella formed a plan. She sang a beautiful lullaby to fool the King of Time into falling asleep, so time would stop and they could reach the Fairy Mother, but in doing so, he fell asleep on Maria's dress, forcing Mirabella to proceed alone. But as the King of Time slept, so did every other creature nearby, including the Fairy Mother adn the Four Seasons, so Mirabella had tooreturn to wake him up and ask him once more to help them. This time he agreed, and used the chiming of his great clocks to wake the weary world. But their problems were not over yet. Even though the Fairy Mother was awake, her four Seasons were sick with colds and she was much too busy to deal with the poor animals. She attempted to make some tea, but lo, no water was coming out of her modern kitchen sink. Hoping to score some brownie points, Maria and Mirabella offered to fetch some water from the spring, but of the two spouts, they couldn't tell which was the best water for drinking. Here Kikki leapt out and tested the water, which was his speciality, and as he concluded his analysis, his feet thawed and he knew he had found his worth. But where to find a match to light the stove? None were around, and the girls thought all was done for. But Skippy flew over and valiantly started himself on fire to light the pilot. But he couldn't put himself out, so as luck would have it, Belinda flew out from nowhere to put him out with the gusts from her beautiful wings! Mirabella gave Skippy a new pair of snappy glowing spats, and everyone was as happy as could be. Then the teapot rang and the girls woke up, finding that it was all just a silly dream being narrated by Kikki, who might have been part of the dream or might not.
