The Fairy Rescue Centre

[Raven]

Part One - The Fairy Rescue Centre Tour


It was lunchbreak at the Fairy Rescue Centre.

'Is there a tour today?' asked Marek.

'Yes, at two o'clock,' replied Alan, 'Paul is leading it.  I will go and remind him to unlock the door soon, in case any visitors arrive early.'



'Hi Paul,' said Alan, 'Will you go and unlock the front doors soon, ready for the tour?'

'Sure,' said Paul, 'And perhaps we will get some good donations today.'



The first visitors did arrive early.  They were a family on holiday in the area: Ruth and Scott, and their three children, Tina, Timothy, and Thomas.



'Welcome to the Fairy Rescue Centre,' said Paul, 'Please take a look around the Gift Shop while we wait for the other visitors to arrive.  Help yourself to coffee, too, if you would like it.'



When all the expected visitors had arrived, Paul asked them to take a seat.

'Welcome everyone,' he said, 'My name is Paul and I am your guide for today.  And I'm glad to see that we have three children with us.  As I expect you know, fairies are reserved around adult humans, and unlikely to approach strangers, but they are usually very interested in children, so I think that today they will approach our group to see the children, and you will all get a good view of most of the individuals that we have here at the moment.

'We are the only Fairy Rescue Centre in the country, and we play an essential rôle in the rescue and relocation of fairies which have been displaced by the destruction of their habitat, or who have been found badly injured.

'We are totally dependent upon the generosity of supporters of this work, and I hope that when you appreciate the contribution we are making to fairy well-being and survival, you will be keen to join our supporters and help to ensure the safe future of fairies nationwide.'



'And now,' said Paul, 'Let's begin our tour.'

Little Timothy made sure that he was the first to follow.  He was eager to see the fairies.



'We begin our tour at the most important place at the Fairy Rescue Centre - the Barn Kitchen,' said Paul.

'Fairies are very fond of good food and drink, and presenting them with appetising meals and snacks is the surest way to gain their trust and interaction.'



'As you can imagine,' he continued, 'Providing daily meals of quality ingredients is an ongoing expense to the Centre, but we cannot reduce expenditure in this area.  Miriam is in charge of the Barn Kitchen, and she will tell you more about the feeding of fairies.'



'Hello everyone,' said Miriam, 'As Paul said, the way to gain a fairy's trust is through food and drink.  They are very fond of sweet things - fruit, fruit juices, and berry wines - and when a fairy first arrives at the Rescue Centre, we offer these things at intervals during the day.

'At first we just place the items in their holding pen, and leave immediately, but after a time, we remain with the fairy while she eats, and soon she associates our presence with the good things we bring.'



'Once the fairy is relaxed in our presence,' continued Miriam, 'We introduce a more well-balanced diet.  All fairies continue with daily fruit of course, but we also serve bread and cheese and meat and vegetables.'



'And there is a special way to gain the trust of any particularly shy fairy,' added Paul, 'Children, you will want to pay attention to this, because if you want to gain the trust of fairies, this is something that you can do too.'



Timothy and his siblings listened closely as Paul explained about the special way to win a fairy's trust.

'It's with milk,' he said, 'Fairies love milk.  If you have fairies in your garden, and you want to get to know them, put out some milk for them.  Not too much: they only need a little taste of it.  Take an old eggcup and fill it half full, and leave it in a pretty place in your garden.  At first they may be too suspicious to take it - they might fear that it is a trap.  But after a while, they will drink the milk while you are not looking; and, after that, they will wait for you to bring more.  It is a slow process, gaining the trust of fairies but, with milk, you can do it.'



'Now,' said Paul, 'Let's go and meet the fairies.  Next to the Barn Kitchen, we have two holding pens, where we place fairies when they first arrive here.  We can easily keep an eye on them, and they also have the opportunity to become accustomed to the sight and sound of humans as we work in the Kitchen.'



'We have two holding pens,' said Paul, 'but only one is occupied at the moment.  Sometimes, however, they are very overcrowded.  Our holding pens are too small, and we would like to combine these two pens into one larger one, and also build two more.  This is one of the things that we are looking for financial support to do.  As you can imagine, it will be much less traumatic to new fairies coming into our care, if they have more space and comfort.'



'This fairy has only been with us a few days, and although she is calm with us when we approach her, she still prefers to remain at the back of the holding pen.  But we can all just have a brief look without distressing her.'



'She is a Crowned Forest Fairy,' explained Paul, 'And I will tell you more about the various species of fairies as we go round the Rescue Centre and see them.  This one has had a bit of a traumatic time; it seems that she panicked when some logging was taking place, and she flew into a logging vehicle, damaging her wings on the right side, and also breaking her right arm.  Thankfully, the loggers contacted us immediately, and we will keep her here until she is completely healed, and then we will release her back to her own forest.'



'Yes, please all do take a turn to have a look,' said Paul, 'And you can also see our second holding pen to the right, which is a little more open, for those fairies who prefer not to be totally enclosed by trees.'



'And now,' said Paul, 'We will proceed to our main fairy pens and, with the children present, you should all have the opportunity to see the various fairies close up, which I'm sure you will find most interesting.'




Tomorrow:  Part Two - Forest Fairies and Meadow Fairies

[playmofire]

Superb!  What an original idea both for a Playmobil custom and a story.  And the idea of having fairy species is an excellent one.

Looking forward to part 2 tomorrow.

[PlaymoMan]

What a great concept, fantastic story so far. Looking forward to the second installment!

[Birdie]

  yippee, new story!

What an excellent idea to put wings on those dolls.
I'm really enjoying the story 

[bonniebeth]

  This is really cute. And I'm not even in to fairies. I REALLY love the custom rescue center. Brilliant use of the grande mansion baseplate. And the lighting behind the walls makes it so beautiful. The holding pens are cool too. Can't wait to see more.

[conniefrere]

  brilliant!

Don't let us wait too long for part 2.

 

[basilsdad]

Wonderful story and brilliant pics!  Looking forward to the next segment.

Joe

[DrDalek6]

What an unusal idea for a story, I'm not really into fairies but, nonetheless it was interesting reading the story and waiting to see what you were going to do, and reading all the interesting information about the fairies and way to lure them in  . Good idea sticking wings on the dolls in the gift shop.   

[Tiermann]

Your stories are always really interesting, looking forward to the next part. I agree the wings on the dolls in the gift shop are a fantastic idea. I volunteered at a wild bird rescue center for a number of years and all of this totally rings true, just substituting fairies for birds.

[Raven]

Part Two - Forest Fairies and Meadow Fairies


'Here we are,' said Paul, 'This first pen is for the Common Forest Fairies.  Now if the children would like to step forward and the adults take a step back, then I believe that the fairies will come close to the viewing window.'



'As you can see,' continued Paul, 'We have four Common Forest Fairies at the moment.  Their forest was cleared to make way for the building of an industrial area, and they became homeless.  We are looking for a privately-owned forest where we can rehome them, and where they can live in peace and safety.  Most Common Forest Fairies come to us when their habitat is destroyed by humans.  Ideally, we would like to purchase some woodland ourselves, and use this as a Nature Reserve for fairies - it is one of the focuses of our fund-raising this year, and when we return to the Gift Shop and Reception Area, you will be able to receive our brochure, detailing all the ways that you can support the Centre and its aims.'



'There are several species of fairies, and they can be identified by their wing shape,' said Paul, 'You will notice that Common Forest Fairies have quite small wings.  Living amongst trees, they do not fly much or far, and their small wings are adequate for forest dwelling.

'You will also notice that Forest Fairies wear leg coverings.  These are to protect their skin against sharp branches, pine cones, prickles, and thorns.  The leg coverings also enclose their feet for the same reason, and the soles are reinforced with animal skin, so they can move amongst the undergrowth without damage to their feet.'



'Can they understand our language?' asked Timothy.

'Fairies speak their own language,' said Paul, 'But most fairies can also understand the human language of their country.  How well they speak it depends on how accustomed they are to using it.  Common Forest Fairies usually only speak very simple and basic human language but, for example, Garden Fairies, who have much more contact with humans, speak human language very fluently.'



'Now, if we would like to move on now, we will visit another type of Forest Fairy.'



'Here we have the Crowned Forest Fairies, like the one we saw in the Holding Pen,' said Paul.



'Crowned Forest Fairies are a very old species of fairy who live in glades - open spaces - deep in the forests.  They are a species that you will seldom ever see in the wild; they keep themselves very well hidden.  But if you go to a quiet forest on a summer evening and sit still in total silence, you may sometimes hear their music in the distance.  They are skilled at playing stringed instruments, and they play beautiful fairy music which echoes the movement of leaves in the breeze.

'Knowing their love of music, we have provided them with some small harps to play, but we would like to provide them with full size ones.  And providing our fairies with enrichment items is something else that our supporters can assist with.'



'You will notice that like the Common Forest Fairies, the Crowned Forest Fairies have small wings.  However, living in grassy forest glades, they have no need for practical clothing, and they - like most fairies - prefer to be bare-footed and to wear long robes.

'Their name comes from the fact that they always wear small crowns, which we believe is a symbol of their status of being the oldest - and wisest - of the fairy species.'



'Bye bye Wise Crowned Forest Fairies,' said Timothy.



'Now here we have a species of fairy which is very important to the whole of fairy society,' said Paul.



'These are Meadow Fairies,' Paul said. 'They are the least shy and the most curious of all the fairies, but they are very industrious as well as very fast in flight, and most humans rarely see them.

'However, children especially, if you are lucky enough to have a big meadow near your home, and if you wait there quietly and patiently, you may find that the Meadow Fairies come to take a look at you.  If you offer them an apple, they may even speak to you.'



'Meadow Fairies are the traders of the fairy world.  They interact with other countryside inhabitants - like gnomes and dwarves - as well as with all other species of fairies, and they supply necessary goods to all.

'Their own skill is in making fine clothes.  All species of fairies obtain their clothes from Meadow Fairies, and often copy them in colour and style.'



'As you can see,' said Paul, 'Meadow Fairies have much larger wings than the Forest Fairies we saw previously.  Meadow Fairies fly long distances, so they need these big strong wings.

'Again, these fairies came to us when their land was taken by humans for building land.  And, again, we would like to purchase a permanent home for them, where they can take their essential part in the functioning of fairy society.  In order to prevent a decline in fairy numbers, we need to ensure that there are Meadow Fairies living alongside all fairy populations - and all donations can help with this.'



'Next we will see a most interesting species of fairy; one which sometimes confuses beginner fairy-spotters,' said Paul.

'Come on Timothy,' said his mother, Ruth, 'You don't want to be left behind.'

'I think that the Meadow Fairies are beautiful,' said Timothy.




Tomorrow:  Part Three - Border Forest Fairies and Garden Fairies