There was a tiny village in the deep black forest. It was hidden among the moss and ferns. You couldn’t see it with the naked eye. One could only see it if one knelt down, was completely silent, and looked hard into the ferns. Then he might have seen a small village where the elves lived. There were several of them. They worked hard, they were cheerful and always singing as they worked. But one of them wasn’t like that. His name was Gloom. He wasn’t mean, he just rarely laughed and his most common words were: “No, I don’t want to, I don’t like it.”
The elves liked to go into the woods often. They helped the ants to complete their anthills, the newts to find burrows to live in and the hedgehogs to clean their spines. They did it all together and happily. Only Gloom always said he didn’t like the work and looked angry. The elves tried to cheer him up. They told jokes, tickled him, sang happy songs. But he just kept on frowning. It did nothing to make him smile and do something happy. His elf friends even looked for herbs and some magic to cheer him up. But nothing worked.
Once when the elves were in the forest working hard, they heard a faint voice calling for help. They ran around the forest looking for where the voice was coming from. They couldn’t find anyone for a long time. Until suddenly, Gloom called out: “Come here, all of you. I know who’s calling.” He was standing by the ditch. There were lots of thistles and climbing plants. And amongst it all was a fairy. She was a friend of the elves. She wandered off and fell into the ditch. Now she was tangled up in the plants that stung and scratched her. She couldn’t move. She was weak and wounded.
When Gloom saw this, it was as if something stirred inside him. Immediately, he wrapped the sturdy stem around his waist, hooked it on the stump, and began to lower himself to the ditch to save the fairy. The elves came running over and held the stem to secure Gloom. The elf tried his best to free the fairy as soon as possible. He hung over the ditch and cut down all the plants that tied the fairy. Then he took her in his arms and carried her up.
He laid her on the moss and began to order the other elves, “Hurry and get the leaves of the daisy and the honey from the hive. We must treat her wounds.” The elves scattered, and in a few minutes they brought everything. Gloom gently applied the leaves and honey to the sore spots the fairy had.
After a while, the fairy was relieved and her pain disappeared. She took the elf’s hand and smiled at him. At that moment, something incredible happened. Gloom smiled too. He was glad that the fairy was getting better. The elves stared at him. One of them got the courage and asked in surprise, “What happened, Gloom? How come you smiled? We’ve been trying to cheer you up for so long and nothing.” The elf himself was amazed at how easy it was to smile. Then he thought and said: “I just like the fairy. And it made me happy that we helped and saved her.”
From then on, Gloom smiled more often. For he had a fairy beside him who made him happy. So no herbs, no magic, but the love spell has changed Gloom. Because it’s the most powerful.
