Ally was a girl about as old as you. She had light-colored hair with beautiful curls, chocolate brown eyes, and always a smile on her face. She was a nice and good girl. She lived close to the forest and spent a lot of time in it. She loved watching the animals or simply walk around, listening to the birds sing. But today, she wasn’t walking there alone.
A cold fog rolled through the forest that morning. The animals were still sleeping or were just coming out of their dens. It was usually chilly at the beginning of March. Ally was skipping through the forest, gathering pinecones which she would carry to the deer feeder to make it pretty for the deer. As she bent down to pick up some pine needles, a thin voice called out to her: “Hi, Ally, how are you today?”
The girl was startled. She jumped aside, looking around. She couldn’t see anyone. “Down here. Under the pine needles. Look properly,” she heard the small voice again. Ally looked down. At her feet, in a pile of small poky branches, she spotted a tiny fairy. The fairy was waving her hand at her and went on talking: “I’m the forest fairy. I have been watching you for a long time. You’re clever and kind. You help the animals. I actually have magic powers. Which is why I would like to give you a reward for your kind treatment of the forest. Look, I have a few things here.”
The tiny fairy pulled out a napkin, a baton, a hat, and a small pouch from her pocket. “And now all of this is yours. Please, take them,” the fairy extended her hands. “What should I do with them?” Ally said. “You have to use them, of course! They can help you a lot in your life. They are magical objects. Watch, I’ll show you,” the fairy continued, picking up each of the objects in turn.
First, she held up the napkin. She spread it out on the ground and said: “Napkin, serve the feast.” Instead of making food appear, the napkin rolled itself up and started jumping around as if looking for someone naughty to chase around. “Well, that’s perplexing,” the fairy said. Then she picked up the baton and said: “Baton, on guard.” The baton did take up a fighting position, but instead of finding someone mean to give them a lesson, it started dancing around in the grass and summoning food. The fairy couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I can’t believe it! Each of them is doing what the other one is supposed to do,” the little fairy kept on shaking her head. And the same was true for the hat and pouch. Money fell out of the hat and the pouch made a person invisible. The forest fairy was appalled: “I messed it all up. The magical objects switched their powers. What will I do? I made a mess of it all. I wanted to reward you. Help you. And now I can’t. Oh my.” But while the fairy was all sad, Ally kept smiling.
“But dear fairy, it doesn’t matter. It’s really nice of you that you wanted to give me presents. I’ll be happy for the gifts even if their magical powers are switched. At least it’ll make me smile every time I use them. And I’ll think of you. Don’t be sad,” Ally consoled the fairy.
“Ally, you are so kind. Truly. Here are all the magical objects and I hope that they will still help you, even this messed up. I’ll never forget how kind you were to me, not getting angry at me,” the fairy said, handing all the magical objects to Ally. Then she disappeared back into the pine needles. Ally was very glad. She always kept the presents on hand. She took them everywhere. She learned to do magic with them and never forgot the kind, confused fairy from the forest. Sometimes she even thought that she spotted her in the pine needles.
