The snow settled lightly on the already frozen ground, it was a silent magical world of snow and ice. Even the passing of time seemed to have forgotten this small, enchanted forest. It was late winter and the very air that surrounded and filled this small world seemed heavy with a sense of excitement – as if waiting for something wonderful and exciting to happen. Something was about to happen that would change the world of all living creatures forever!
The creatures of the forest were restless as they awaited this very special time, each in their own way trying to find a very special gift for the wonderful event that was about to happen. Everyone was busy trying to find the very best present that they could give for this special time. All that is except for a tiny golden fairy named Petal. Petal like most of her kind can make herself invisible when she wants to, only the animals can see her all the time. Her large golden eyes twinkle when she smiles, and her laughter fills the forest with sunlight. Her golden hair is long and flowing; it glistens and sparkles in the sun. She wears a flowing gossamer grown made of the finest red silk. Her wings glow gold in the dark of night and shimmer in the sunlight. She is a little less than 2 feet tall and her golden wings were as long as she was tall. She moved softly and silently through the forest on her way back to her home. Her house was deep in the largest of the oak trees. It rested near the top of the tree, hidden by an umbrella of leaves.
The house was made ofold acorn shells. Inside she had a small bed made out of moss and flower petals. Her blanket was made out of the softest of feathers given to her by the beautiful birds who tipped of the forest. She had two soft chairs made out of wood and moss. Her kitchen held two beautiful glass jars; one where she stored her magic dust and the other was filled with the dew from the flowers that she had collected over the summer. These were not just any jars these were magical jars. Whatever was put into the jars became instantly invisible; Petal was the only one who could see what was in the jars.
Normally the oak tree where she lived would lose its leaves in the wintertime but because she was a magical creature, her magic kept the tree from losing its leaves even in the winter. The tree grew acorns all winter long and her friends were able to have food through the long winter. A lot of other fairies lived in the ground, and some lived under rocks, inside the trunks of trees or in fairy circles, but not her. She loved living in the top of the tree because she could see everything that went on in the heart of the forest.
Winter had just begun and she needed to collect the last of the dew that had frozen to the plants. This was the last chance she would have to collect it before winter weather forced the plants into their deep winters sleep. She had been gone for several days on the edge of the forest gathering dew and magic dust which collected on the plants in the early hours of the morning. It would not be long now before many creatures of the forest with settle down for a long winter rest. She had filled both of her large blue bags to the top. She stroked the bags softly loving the silky feel of them. She remembered when she had gotten them for her birthday as a gift from Molly the squirrel this. Molly and her friends had used blue wild flowers sewn together to make the bags.
Petal returned to her home in the heart of the forest in a flurry of snowflakes. She loved to see the snowflakes like tiny stars filtering down through the tree branches. With a flutter of her golden wings she hurried over to her best friend Molly’s home. Molly and her family lived in the trunk of a large evergreen tree. Petal lived next door in the large old oak tree. Arriving at Molly’s house Petal knocked on the opening but no one answered.
“Molly, Molly are you in there?” She called out to her friend. Peeking inside she could see no one was home.
‘That’s odd,’ she thought. ‘There was always someone at home!’
She stopped for a moment listening for sounds of activity, but she could hear nothing. It was odd that she couldn’t hear Molly’s soft laughter, she was always laughing. It was as if the entire village had just disappeared. ‘This can’t be right,’ she thought, ‘everything was fine when she left five days ago. What could have happened to everyone?’ She wondered. ‘They’ve got to be here somewhere.’
Frantically she hurried from nest to burrow, looking for her other friends. She couldn’t find anyone in the village and the forest seemed deserted. This was very strange because if Mrs. Possum always had a bunch of kids at her house and the badgers, birds and raccoons were always around somewhere nearby. Pausing for a moment she suddenly thought of old Mr. Owl.
‘He would know what happened,’ she said to herself, ‘He knows everything that goes on in the forest.’
Hurriedly she flew over to the old oak tree on the outer edge of the forest. The tree where Mr. Owl lived was the oldest and biggest in the forest. It was here where everyone met to discuss problems, get the latest news or to ask advice from Mr. Owl. She found Mr. Owl, asleep on his perch.
“Mr. Owl!’ she called breathlessly. “Mr. Owl, please wake up.”
Mr. Owl opened his eyes slowly, as if from a deep sleep, and stared blankly at the little fairy.
“Mr. Owl, you must help me, I can’t find any of my friends. Where has everyone gone, has something happened?” she asked anxiously.
“Where is everyone, you ask? Don’t you know about the coming?” the owl asked sharply.
“The coming?” she asked. “What is the coming? I don’t know anything about it. Is it something important?”
The old owl smiled wisely to himself and shook out his feathers and reached for his glasses placing them on his short beak. “Where have you been child that you don’t know about the coming birth?”
“What birth?” Petal asked in confusion. “No one told me about any birth.”
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