But Wizzy’s wonky landing was forgotten in the flash of a wizard’s cape when he saw his two good friends. “Wizz bang wonderful good morning Elf, Barnaby!” greeted Wizzy, unaware that Barnaby was not pleased.
“Guess what … something fan-wizzy-tastic just flew into Wizzle Gazzelles! It was a …”
But his excited announcement was interrupted by the grumpy Barnaby, who butted in, finishing Wizzy’s sentence “... a fairymail from Harmony and Rhapsody.”
“Oh, you guessed” said Wizzy, a bit deflated, for a second before he cheered up. “Ah, but you’ll never guess what they wrote!” he said a bit more smugly.
Barnaby whined “Hmmm.. let’s see. ‘You’re invited to A Surprise Royal Fairy Wedding.”
Wizzy’s mouth turned down, his surprise ruined. “Well, yes” he said to Barnaby. “Have you been reading my fairymails?”
Barnaby huffed and puffed, then stomped out of Fairyland as Wizzy shrugged and said to Elf “somebody fell into a grumble bush!”
Elf was laughing at his two friends. “It’s a fabulous invitation, isn't it Wizzy! We’ve ALL been invited!”
“Really! Everyone?” Wizzy answered with delight.
“Everyone! Come on Wizzy, come to The Flower Pot while I get out of my pyjamas. My friend Prince Cobalt is coming in for a fruity-slushie this morning - I’d love you to meet him!”
“Be there in a wizardly minute, Elf, I just need to make sure Barnaby’s happy,” answered Wizzy as Elf cartwheeled out of Fairyland.
CHAPTER TEN
Thankfully, all was happy in Fairyland again as Barnaby buzzed back in, fully dressed and over his grumpiness. He was reading his invitation again before resting it carefully on top of a mushroom while he talked to Wizzy.
“Imagine performing at a Surprise Royal Fairy Wedding! I wonder what kind of dance I should do?”
Wizzy so wanted to be useful, he begged Barnaby to let him help decide, but Barnaby was lost in his own thoughts of stardom. He jumped up on top of a low mushroom making it his ‘stage’ as he called out “A song that reflects my true bee-sonality …”
Desperate to help, Wizzy pulled his sparkling purple wand from his cloak and with a double-handed wand wave, transformed Barnaby into a very smart bee suit, tie and hat.
“Hmm, not bad as a fancy bee” Barnaby smiled, looking down at himself, but then he launched himself off the mushroom, landing in front of Wizzy.
“Or perhaps my wizardly friend, I should be a one-man bee band … or should I say a one-insect bee-band!”
“A one-insect-bee-band coming right up!” said Wizzy with a flourish, and giving an elaborate wave of his wand, they were both astonished when his magic worked, and suddenly Barnaby was covered in instruments! There was a drum on his back and a drum on his tummy. Cymbals on his legs and a tambourine style of one-bee band instrument that gripped Barnaby’s legs and arms and let him strum, bash and blow all in one action! For just a few seconds Barnaby performed as a one-bee band, before switching again.
But Barnaby then had an even better idea, and buzzed excitedly. “Wizzy – best idea ever! I could dazzle with some bee rock ‘n roll! Can you turn me into a rock ‘n roll superstar, just like that old elf from years ago … what was his name … Elf-vis?” he asked his magical friend, and Wizzy took a deep breath, loving the trust Barnaby placed in him, and produced a twirling, swooshing wand wave that turned Barnaby into the best bee Elf-vis the world had ever seen! His yellow and black stripes were sparkling with sequins; his guitar matched his stripes, and on top of his head he had a totally amazing rock ‘n roll hair do!
Barnaby raced over to a nearby pond and looked down at his reflection, watching the sparkles dance off the water as he posed. “That’s it Wizzy! You’ve done it – I’m going to be the best rock ‘n roll bee the Prince and Princess have ever danced to!
Turning back to his friend, Barnaby gave him a hug. “Sometimes your landings aren’t great, but Wizzy your spells have been amazing today. You must have been practising hard!”
Wizzy smiled happily and have a little twirl of his purple cape. “Guess I’d better turn you back to Barnaby now” he said to his friend, but just as he held up his wand, Barnaby stopped him. “Er, Wizzy, perhaps leave the rock ‘n roll hair do just for now. It’s quite beee-autiful … handsome even, if I do say so myself!”
Wizzy waved his wand and turned Barnaby back to his beee-autiful bee-self .. all except the very cool hair! “Job done!” said Wizzy. “Now I’m off to the Flower Pot Café to meet Elf’s friend,” and he swooshed his cloak in a totally wizardly way before bounding out of Fairyland.
Barnaby had just one more glance at himself in the pond’s reflection, before standing to attention and talking out loud. “Time to work! Five hundreds acorns full of sweet nectar – help is required!”
As he held out his hand, Barnaby called out loudly, “Kazoooo!” and very magically a black and gold kazoo appeared – a funny little musical instrument a bit like a tiny pipe, coloured in gold with black stripes of course.
When Barnaby put the little pipe into his mouth and blew, the noise that came out was very loud and very funny. It sounded a bit like a swarm of angry bees with lots of attitude!
After the loud buzzing noise echoed its way around the flowers and mushrooms in Fairyland, Barnaby called out “Bee Boyz! Bee Boyz! Report for duty. Fast!”
You see, the kazoo was the special signal for the young trainee Bee Boyz to meet, and suddenly Bee Boyz buzzed in from all directions and scrambled together in front of Barnaby. They all lined up in a straight line in front of their teacher-bee as Barnaby held the roll call.
“Mambo?” he called.
“Present!” cried Mambo.
“Rumba?”
“Here!” saluted Rumba.
“Tango, Bolero?” Barnaby remembered the next Bee Boyz’ names.
“Ready for bee duty Barnaby!”
“And Samba?”
“Here!” said Samba.
But Barnaby didn’t realise he had not yet called the littlest Bee Boyz’ name. He was called Conga and he jumped up and down trying to get Barnaby’s attention, but Barnaby swatted him away, almost treading right on top of him as he paced around the Bee Boyz, inspecting his students and making sure they were ready for flight duty to the Top of the Garden.
Finally Conga had enough and picked up the kazoo, jumped up on a mushroom and as Barnaby walked by, blew it loudly in Barnaby’s ear. Barnaby had the shell-shocked look of someone who has had a very loud surprise.
“What about me? You forgot to call my name!” said Conga unhappily.
Barnaby took his hands off his ears before answering “Boondoggling Beehives!” and he checked his list again before realising that his little friend was right.
“Conga!” he buzzed.
Proudly saluting, Conga was happy now. “Reporting for bee duty, Mr Barnaby!” and he put down the kazzoo on a mushroom, on top of the wedding invitation, then stood with the rest of the Bee Boyz. Their leader walked up and down the line then pronounced them all ready for action, and led them out of Fairyland.
As they marched like bee-soldiers, nobody noticed the Little Gnome, who popped up from behind a mushroom as they passed and picked up the kazoo and invitation left sitting on the mushroom.
The Little Gnome was mimicking Barnaby as he muttered out loud. “So much talent! So many choices! Blah blah blah. It’s not fair that Barnaby’s been asked to perform at the Surprise Royal Fairy Wedding. What about me! He’s not that good. I’m a great performer ... I’m a hip hop gnome!”
And with that, the Little Gnome launched into another truly amazing hip hop dance routine before stopping, his shoulders sagging as he continued talking out loud to nobody.
“Why does everybody laugh at hip hop? When I was a kindergarten gnome I was so cool but everyone laughed. They just wanted fairy dancing and elf jazz … not funky hip hop. They said my dancing looked strange. What’s strange anyway? So I stopped dancing for people. Who wants to be l
aughed at?”
The Little Gnome was clearly very unhappy, believing that people really didn’t like his dancing, but like so many people who love to dance, he just didn’t want to stop, he loved it way, way too much.
“Those fairies should have asked me if I could dance!” he said. “It’s just not fair. Plain old favouritism! Shouldn’t be allowed.”
Suddenly a sly look came across his face and he glanced secretly around before whispering “The bees have gone to collect sweet nectar from the top of the garden but not if I can help it! I’m going to pay a visit to the top of the garden myself and see if I can whip up a bit of wind. That’ll stop those annoying bees mid-flight! Try collecting sweet nectar in a howling gale, bee boyz!”
And with those quite terrible thoughts and words, the Little Gnome put the kazoo into his mouth and blew loudly, but instead of the lovely, strong sound that Barnaby had created, all that came out was a spluttering farting sound!
He threw the kazoo on the ground and hip hopped his way down the path but tripped over a small mushroom and fell flat on his face!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
In the Snuggery, Rhapsody was looking out of the window, watching the Little Gnome, and she jumped as he tripped up and fell.
“Oooh! Oh Harmony, that little gnome was grooving in Fairyland, doing a strange but really cool kind of dance, but then he tripped over a mushroom, and fell flat on his face! Poor little gnome,” she said out loud.
“But Harmony,” she continued, “do you know, he really has got some pretty funky moves happening there! Strange dancing but kind of cool! Have you ever seen someone dance like that before in Fairyland?”
Harmony was looking through the Magic Music Book, trying to choose the perfect song for them to perform and hadn’t seen the Little Gnome's dance. She shook her head then raised her eyes as she heard a ringing sound.
“It’s the magic fairy phone!” said Rhapsody, forgetting about the Little Gnome, and holding out her hand in front of her, the phone appeared in a burst of magic fairy dust.
“ Fairy hello, Rhapsody speaking!” she said with the phone at her ear. It was their beach friend, Bubbles the Beach Fairy calling.
“Hello Bubbles!” Rhapsody answered in delight.
“It’s so exciting Rhapsody – thank you for the invitation to perform at the wedding – we’d love to, but we can’t think of a song! Can you help?” Bubbles asked in a rush.
Rhapsody was very proud. “It IS so exciting and we’d love to help! In fact, we’re organising the whole wedding! Why don’t we meet about 11 o clock at The Flower Pot Cafe?”
“Fan-fairy-tastic, Rhapsody! See you at 11” replied Bubbles.
“Fairy goodbye” signed off Rhapsody as she held the phone out and it disappeared, but only a few seconds later the ring was heard again!
This time Harmony held out her hand for the phone to appear. “Fairy hello, Harmony speaking!” she answered, to find that another friend was calling.
“Fairy hello Harmony, it’s Snowflake the Snow Pixie!” she heard through the earpiece.
“How lovely to hear from you Snowflake! Let me guess … you need help with your Surprise Royal Fairy Wedding performance!”
“We do Harmony … can you help?” Snowflake pleaded.
“Of course! Rhapsody and I are organising the whole Surprise Royal Fairy Wedding – and all of the performers. We can help you learn the most fan-fairy-tastic dance! How about 11.15 at The Flower Pot Cafe?”
Snowflake was delighted and after finishing the call, Harmony kept the phone in her hand as she talked to her best fairy friend. “There are a lot of fairy excited pixies and fairies who have never performed at a Royal Fairy Wedding before and want lots of help!” The phone rang again almost instantly. “Your turn Rhapsody!” said Harmony, handing it to her.
This time it was Princess Glittermist, and Rhapsody gave a little curtsey as she started to talk to the Princess. “Fairy Princess Glittermist! Hello!”
“You want to sing a duet with an old friend? How exciting! Of course we’d love to help you! We’ll see you at 11.30 at the Flower Pot Cafe.”
Princess Glittermist gave a happy reply “Thank you Rhapsody … keep on smiling and fairy goodbye!”
As Rhapsody held out the phone, it disappeared in a burst of stars and she turned to Harmony, so excited that her words were spilling all over each other!
“That was Fairy Princess Glittermist! – you know, she comes from a far away Fairyland in England but she’s here now and she’s coming to visit us! I can’t wait to meet her – she’ll be at the Flower Pot at 11.30 this morning – she wants to sing a duet with a friend of hers. Harmony, what’s a duet?”
Harmony giggled at her friend’s happiness as she replied “A duet is a very special song or dance that’s performed by two people. It will be good to meet Princess Glittermist … I’ve heard such lovely things about her!”
The two fairies chatted for a while about the perfect duet for the Princess to learn. There were so many to choose from, but finally they decided on Forever Friends, the perfect song to be sung by two old friends. Realising that it must be getting close to 11 o’clock, the two fairies decided to sing together for the only friend who kept perfect time in Fairyland – the Fairyland Clickety Clock.
Fairyland clickety clock
We need to know the time
Please show yourself in Fairyland
And let us hear you chime!
Tick tock, clickety clock
Tick tock, clickety clock
Tick tock, clickety clock, chime!
The Fairyland clock was called Clickety Clock, and she appeared in front of them, with the hands on her clock face twirling around and around before settling on the right time, as she answered their song.
“The sun has risen in the sky. Elf has finished baking marshmallow hearties and fairy wing fluffies. My big hand is pointing straight down so it’s half past something, and my little hand is in between the 10 and 11, so it’s half past ten on the clickety clock!”
Thanking their friend, The Fairies quickly dressed in the fairy way. Of course, that meant another song, because singing was the way that many things happened in Fairyland!
Goodnight moonlight, hello sun
It’s time to start the day
Let’s put our fairy dresses on
In the fairy way!
And with a touch of fairy magic, Harmony and Rhapsody were magically changed into their pretty and very sparkly fairy dresses, ready to help all of their friends with the special dances.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Back at the Flower Pot Café, Prince Cobalt was sitting on his own, reading The Flower Pot Menu as he decided what to have for morning tea. Elf danced towards him - well really, he was just walking, but Elf’s movements were always so graceful, it looked like he was dancing! He was delighted to see his royal friend and gave him a great big elfie hug as he welcomed him “Prince Cobalt! Great to see you again!”
Just then Wizzy swirled into the Flower Pot Café behind Elf, very excited to meet a real Prince, bowing and fawning as he moved closer and closer, then bumped bang into his Elfie friend!
“Wow Wizzy! I thought you only crashed when you landed!” Elf laughed before introducing him. “Prince Cobalt - please meet my very good friend, Wizzy the Wizard!”
Wizzy’s smile froze in place … he really is a genuine Prince! He tried to speak, opening his mouth like a goldfish, but no words came out until Elf slapped him on the back …
“Weeeelllllcome your right royal regal-ness! I’ve always wanted to meet a REAL Prince! A wizz bang pleasure, Prince Cobalt!”
“The pleasure’s all mine, Wizzy!” Prince Cobalt replied laughing. He had seen that kind of response often as everyone thought that a Prince was someone really amazing to meet … but really, he was just a normal elf under the title!
“Great cape you’re wearing!” the Prince brought Wizzy back down to earth, and the two new friends laughed and congratulated each other on their m
agical capes, with Wizzy so delighted at the praise he whirled in a whimsical, spinning turn that went horribly wrong! With a bang and a crash he pulled everything off a nearby café table as he trod on the hem of his cape and fell hard on the floor.
Fruit smoothies, baby pancakes, berries of all colours and shapes flew through the air just like in slow motion and splattered all over the ground … Wizzy’s bottom lip wobbled as he realised he’d caused such chaos, but with his eyes closed, elaborate hand movements and a quick magic spell, Elf righted the wrong and helped Wizzy to his feet. His bottom lip back to normal and trying to recover his poise, Wizzy sat down next to the Prince, crossed his legs regally and acted as normally as he could.
“Er, what brings you to Fairyland, Price Cobalt?” he questioned.
“Ah, well now, that’s a long story ...” the Prince replied.
Elf plonked himself down on a mushroom next to Prince. “Ooooh I just love stories!” Obviously all of the friends in the café loved them too, as suddenly the Prince was surrounded by magical creatures all ready for a tale! There were elves and butterflies, pixies and fairies of all shapes and sizes and colours and sparkles.
Taking a deep breath, Prince Cobalt chose to tell his magical tale in the way that most creatures in Fairylands across the world do - in song!
The story starts when I was a baby
A little prince, so very lonely, very sad
I needed a friend
Then right next door moved a little princess
We became best friends, we were heaven sent, no more tears
Loneliness disappeared
The next three years we were always playing
From the moment we woke, 'til the stars were twinkling
We had fun, we never thought it would end… and we said
We’ll be best friends for ever and ever
We will live next door, spend our days together
I was the prince, and she was the princess
Everything was perfect, Oh we were blessed
The Fairy Princess Wedding Page 4