A “Scary Travel Adventure” tale
from the 2012 “Canadian Magic Forest Tales.”
By
Gypsy Joy.
The scariest travel adventure
of one of the littlest fairies of “Brampton Lake” which lies close to the border of Ontario and Manitoba near Kenora and Red River, began after she had fallen asleep on top of an old model volkswagen. The car had been parked on a roof to keep it from being vandalized because the owner had been unable to find a safe parking spot for the car he treasured so very much. Before the fairy knew what was going on the volkswagen seemed to fly through the sky and in a matter of seconds the car was on its way to the City of Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario. She heard the driver yelling goodbye to someone who was waving at the driver and tried her best to position herself in such a way on the roof of the volkswagen that she would not get blown off. She could not attempt to fly away for fear her gossamer wings would be damaged. The car past at high speed a fisherman’s “Out Fishing” sign. She sighed and thought about the fishermen’s chatty calls to visitors at her neck of the woods:
“Hullo Mate!
Grab your fine fly fishing rod and reel,
a variety of fish including northern pike, smallmouth bass and walleye
are awaiting your favorite bait.”
It brought a smile on her sweet worried face.
In Kenora one can meet the muskies she mumbled to herself and drifted off to the land of Mr. Sandman.
http://www.lowac.ca/news-and-events/muskies-on-main/
It was almost 26 hours later when the owner of the volkswagen arrived in the middle of the night in the midst of the City of Brampton. “It has been a long trip”, he mumbled to himself, “time to stretch the legs” when he suddenly slammed on its breaks to avoid driving through a red traffic light. The shock awoke the sleeping fairy. She looked around somewhat bewildered. All of a sudden it dawned on her that the driver had stopped his car. “My oh My”, she cried. She stretched and flapped her magnificent wings and in a jiffy she had landed safely in a serene garden nearby. It did not take long for the sweet little fairy to find a hiding place amidst the Blackeyed Susan flowers. With a smile on her sweet luminous face she fell fast asleep.
Morning came and the noise of voices and traffic woke the sweet little fairy up. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around and wondered where she was. In awe she saw that she had fallen asleep not far from a beautiful green statue where three playful girls holding hands twirled around. She flapped her wings in excitement and flew over to the statue and twirled around with the three girls. “Look Mom”, cried a little girl passing by, “I see a fairy flying!” “A fairy! It must be an exotic butterfly” the mother said while holding tighter onto the hand of her little child as they were on their way to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. The little fairy giggled and whispered to the twirling green girls: “If I am a butterfly I wonder if the butterflies are called fairies in this city” and she flew over to the park nearby.
Seeing that she had landed at the foot of a wooden soldier statue she at ones flew closer to his face. To her surprise she heard the soldier whisper to her: “Welcome at Gate Park dear faery.” “You can speak” gasped the little fairy? “Sure” answered the soldier and grinned as he said to her “have you forgotten the story about Pinocchio?” “Eh…certainly not” answered the fairy with a frown on her face, “but it’s still strange that you can talk since you are not Pinocchio and your nose is not as long as Pinocchio’s,” she added with a giggle. “And why is it” the little fairy continued, “that the happy green twirling girls cannot chat with me?” “Well, you see, that’s because they are not sculptures made of wood”, answered the soldier proudly. The fairy was a bit puzzled about the soldier’s answer and since the soldier had stopped talking she whispered farewell as not to be heard or spotted by the visitors nearby.
She flew around through the park for a bit to investigate if there were other statues, critters, flowers, plants, shrubs, trees or even the grass in the park she could have a chat with. “Nobody else seems to have the gift of gag,” she thought and felt very disappointed.
Hovering over a beautiful blond young lady sitting on a bench enticing a black squirrel to come closer, the fairy felt tempted to ask her if the young lady was related to Cinderella and to let her in on the secret that she herself was related to Cinderella’s Godmother.
Seeing others nearby she immediately changed her thoughts. It was probably best not to be so inquisitive and on she flew back to the statue of the three green girls. Just in case the wooden soldier had it all wrong she was going to try to make the girls talk to her. But how she tried and twirled and twirled around and around, the green girls did not utter a word.
The sweet little fairy from the woods of Brampton Lake near Kenora and Red River sat down and rested a while on top of a festive banner. She was just about to fly away when a Gull flew by and asked her what she was doing sitting there. “Just thinking” she answered without even looking at the bird.”
The Gull shook his head and called out: “too bad, I was expecting you would tell me all about your adventures… what a pity!
Well, off I am!”
He glanced once more at her, plucked at his feathers and made himself ready for a take-off when the fairy turned to him and told the bird what she had heard from the wooden soldier in Gate Park. Whereupon the Gull replied that he, too, never before had heard that wooden statues could talk. They remained both in deep thought for a while. Suddenly the Gull said to the fairy: “let’s fly to Chinguacousy park in this city and see whether a beautiful carved statue that stands in the greenhouse will chat with us. Would not that be marvellous?” The fairy’s eyes and face became radiant with joy. “After you Mr. Gull”, she said excitedly as the bird made a start to fly away. Clapping with her tiny hands, tapping her little toes and flapping her beautiful gossamer wings away she flew with Mr. Gull leading the flight.
Pretty soon they arrived at Chinguacousy park. They ignored everything else there was to be seen and flew straight into the beautiful greenhouse. The carved statue they found out was named Kwakiutl and a Totem sculpture made by the Aboriginal Canadian artist Simon Charlie and unveiled in the City of Brampton on July 19, 1972. Kwakiutl was very happy to see the two visitors and to chat with them. “You cannot imagine what it is always to stand here” he said, “and never ever be able to talk to someone.” He sighed and went on “and to stand day after day behind these green plants though they are very beautiful.” “The surroundings are certainly exquisite” said the fairy, “but I think we know how you must feel” added Mr. Gull.
“It’s not that I don’t like the beautiful scenery and the squirrels who from time to time slip inside when a visitor comes in”, replied Kwakiutl. Shaking his head he continued: “it’s just that the mighty people in this city from day one when the City of Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area was still called a town, seem to be ashamed of me.” The bird and fairy both shook their head and said simultaneously: “what a pity for anyone who cannot see beyond and appreciate the beauty of a grand totem carved by an exceptionally talented and famous Canadian native artist from the west coast of Canada. All three sighed and were very still for what seemed a long time, then Kwakiutl continued and said: “the last excuse for hiding me behind these exotic plants was that I seem to take away the viewers eyes from all other exhibitions.” All three thought about this for a while and they mutually agreed that the thought of the mighty on one hand could be seen as a great compliment for the artist and thus also for Kwakiutl and on the other hand attributed to shortsightedness of the people in charge. The threesome felt that it was sad, indeed, that a wooden totem sculpture as beautiful as Kwakiutl was more or less kept in hiding in a greenhouse even though the surroundings were beautiful.
The fairy and Mr. Gull promised Kwakiutl that they would do their best to spread the word of his loneliness in the hope that many faeries and critters would visit him and chat with him so he would no longer feel lonely in the wonderful surroundings of the greenhouse and the artist’s magnificent carved totem sculpture would get all the attention it fully deserved. The sweet fairy suddenly had a lovely thought and said to Kwakiutl and Mr. Gull “Perhaps one day there will be more wooden sculptures who will find a place in this beautiful greenhouse to keep you company. Would not that be wonderful?” The other two agreed and with this pleasant thought in mind they said goodbye to each other and promised Kwakiutl to stay in touch with him. The sweet fairy from the Brampton Lake near Kenora flew quickly outside to bring Kwakiutl the company of a beautiful butterfly to chat with for a while. And Mr. Gull, too, promised that he would pass on to the Canada Geese who have made their residence at Chinguacousy park to fly by from time to time. Kwakiutl felt a bit sad that his new found friends had to leave so soon but he felt very happy that the Monarch butterfly could linger a bit longer.
Mr. Gull invited the sweet fairy to sit on his back as he would keep her company and fly her home to Brampton Lake on the Woods. He said he was, just like Mother Goose, used to flying long distances and insisted that the distance was much too tiresome for the sweet fairies delicate gossamer wings. “Also, the sun and wind may do damage to your gossamer wings,” he added. The sweet fairy smiled and because she really liked company, too, she accepted his offer in gratitude. On the way they both enjoyed the antics of a black bear.
Till this day, all three, the sweet fairy, Mr. Gull and Kwakiutl
are still recalling with glow how the scariest travel adventure from the sweet fairy from Brampton Lake near Kenora brought them together in the City of Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area.
Enjoy:
