by Lily Small
“Ow!” cried Sophie, stopping with a bump.
The bluebird stopped singing and flew over to her. “What is it, little squirrel?” he asked.
“It’s my tail,” gasped Sophie. “I can’t move it!”
Sophie’s friends gathered around.
“It’s all tangled up in the branches,” Katie meowed.
Sophie pulled her tail one way. Then she pulled it the other way. But it was no use. She was well and truly stuck!
CHAPTER FOUR
Triple Trouble
“Oh no!” Sophie cried. “How can we practice for the dance if I’m stuck to the tree?” She looked at her friends, her brown eyes widened in fear. “What if I’m stuck here forever?”
“Don’t worry.” Bonnie hopped over and patted Sophie with her paw. “We’ll soon figure it out.”
“We just need to be patient,” Katie agreed. “We’ll untangle it one branch at a time.”
“I’ll sing you a patient song, if you like,” the little bluebird chirped, perching himself on a branch in front of Sophie. He began tweeting very slowly and gently.
Polly, Bonny, and Katie began working on Sophie’s tail. Slowly and gently, in time with the song, they untwisted the long, thin willow branches one by one. Sophie watched them anxiously over her shoulder. Sometimes they accidentally pulled her fur, and she had to try hard not to yelp. To take her mind off it, she closed her eyes and thought of yummy acorns instead.
Just as Sophie was thinking of her twenty-second acorn, Polly clapped her paws.
“You’re free!” she woofed.
Sophie opened her eyes. The bluebird was flying around and around in a circle, chirping wildly.
Sophie hopped forward. It felt so good to be able to move again. “Thank you!” she exclaimed in relief. “And don’t worry, I’ll be doubly careful with my tail from now on!”
They all took their positions around the tree, and the bluebird flew up to the top.
“All ready?” he called down.
“Yes!” they chorused.
He opened his little beak and began his beautiful song again. The dance started, and soon Sophie had forgotten all about trapping her tail. As she and her friends skipped in time with the bluebird’s melody she felt herself getting more and more excited.
Tomorrow is going to be so wonderful, Sophie thought to herself. It’s going to be the best day of my—
“AAAHHH … CHOO!”
Sophie jumped as a loud sneeze rang out across the banks of the spring. Then it got even worse. “AAAHHH … CHOO! Cough, cough, COUGH!”
Sophie stopped dancing and looked around. Bonnie was doubled over behind her. Her floppy ears were lying flat and her pink eyes were streaming.
“Oh no!” gulped Sophie.
She could see at once what the problem was. Bonnie’s normally snowy white fur was glimmering silver. Sophie had gotten so excited while she’d been dancing that she’d showered Bonnie in stardust!
“Cough cough cough,” spluttered Bonnie. “I’ve got stardust up my—aaahhh … choo—nose.”
“I’m so sorry,” cried Sophie. “Oh dear, my tail’s causing all sorts of problems today.”
Polly let go of her branch and bounded over. “Don’t worry,” she yapped. “I’ll soon fix it.”
She scampered around Bonnie, wagging her tail, just as she did when she was flicking pollen in the meadows. Flick flick flick, went her tail. Flick flick flickety flick …
Bonnie started to giggle. “It tickles!” she cried as Polly’s tail flicked away at her fur.
The bluebird flew above them, chirping jauntily, and soon Polly had flicked all the stardust away.
“Oh, well done, Polly!” Sophie exclaimed. “You’ve done a really great job!”
“Yes, thanks, Polly,” agreed Bonnie, wiping her eyes dry. “I’m ready to start dancing again.”
“Right,” said Sophie. “And this time my tail won’t cause any problems. I won’t let it!”
So off around the tree they went. Sophie concentrated really hard. She mustn’t shake her tail too much, and she mustn’t get it stuck.
“I’ll tuck it between my legs,” she muttered to herself.
As the practice went on, Sophie began to feel happier and more confident. With her tail tucked tightly between her legs, there were no more problems. But just as they whirled around the tree one last time, Sophie suddenly felt herself hurtling forward.
“Wahhhhhh!” she cried.
THUMP. She fell flat on her face.
“Help!” squeaked Bonnie, bumping into Sophie.
“Uh-oh!” yelped Polly, landing on Bonnie’s back.
“Oh no!” meowed Katie, falling head over heels on top of them all!
“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” the bluebird tweeted as he hovered above.
The four fairy animals lay in a heap on the ground, their paws, wings, and tails in a higgledy-piggledy jumble. Sophie lay at the bottom of the pile, trying to work out what had happened. And then she realized. She’d tucked her tail so tightly between her legs that she’d tripped right over it!
A big, fat tear rolled down Sophie’s cheek. “It’s all my fault,” she wept. “Everything’s going wrong, and I’ll never be able to get the dance right. Never!”
CHAPTER FIVE
Shooting Star!
A delicious smell wafted through the cozy hollow in the old oak tree. It was Sophie’s favorite dinner—acorn soup—and her dad had just finished making it. But Sophie didn’t feel hungry at all. Her baby brother banged his wooden spoon and gurgled impatiently, but Sophie was quite sure that she wouldn’t be able to eat even the tiniest bit. She sat on her little sycamore stool in the corner, feeling glum.
“What’s the matter?” Sophie’s mom asked. “Didn’t your practice go well?”
Sophie shook her head. “No, it didn’t.” She could feel her lip beginning to wobble.
“Oh, never mind,” her dad said with a smile. “It can’t have been that bad.”
“But it was,” Sophie cried. “Everyone’s going to laugh at me at the fair. I can’t dance at all!”
“Yes you can,” said her dad. “You’re a lovely dancer.”
“Not anymore,” Sophie said, her head drooping low.
Sophie’s mom hopped over and stroked her silky fur. “What happened?”
“My tail spoiled everything,” Sophie muttered. “First I got it stuck. Then it showered stardust all over Bonnie and made her cough and sneeze. And then I tripped over it—and everyone else tripped over me! Stupid tail!”
“Oh, dear,” said Sophie’s mom. She wrapped her own bushy tail around Sophie in a big hug. “But try not to get too upset. Things always go wrong in rehearsals—I’m sure it will be fine at the fair.”
Normally, her mom’s hugs made Sophie feel a lot better. But not today. All she could think about was how terrible the dance was going to be. She started to cry, and buried her face in her paws.
“It’s going … to be … awful,” she sobbed.
“Now, don’t you worry,” her dad said, giving her one of his twinkly-eyed smiles. “I think I have an idea.”
“You do?” Sophie peeked hopefully at him through her paws.
Sophie’s dad whispered in her mom’s ear, and her mom nodded, her eyes sparkling.
“Oh yes,” her mom said in a mysterious voice. “That will work. Definitely!”
Sophie’s dad winked at Sophie and beckoned to her. “Come on,” he said. “You and I are going out.”
“What … now?” It was dark outside, and Sophie hardly ever went out at night.
Her dad nodded and held out his paw. “Follow me,” he said.
Sophie felt a tiny bit nervous at first, going out in the dark, but she knew she was safe with her dad. He opened his strong red wings and led her up, up, up toward the glowing, pearly face of the moon.
Soon they were high above the treetops, with nothing but twinkling stars around them. Sophie looked down and gasped. Misty Wood lay out like a map below her
—it looked very beautiful in the moonlight. There were the flower buds in the meadows, drooping their little heads as they slept. There were the shimmering waters of Dewdrop Spring. Then Sophie saw flashes of pale light and pointed down excitedly.
“Look, Dad!” she cried.
The Moonbeam Moles were flitting through the darkness below them like shadows, catching glowing moonbeams to drop into Moonshine Pond. Sophie’s dad nodded, then carried on flying upward. Sophie had to flap her wings very hard to be able to keep up with him.
“Why are we going so high?” she panted.
Her dad looked back at her and smiled. “It’s just a little bit farther.”
Sophie fluttered up next to him, panting from all the effort.
“This is what we’ve come for,” her dad explained. “Look. Up there.”
Sophie looked. Above her head, the most beautiful shooting star flew past, leaving a rainbow-colored trail of stardust behind it.
“Wow!” Sophie breathed.
“Now, be quick,” her dad said. “Fly after it and catch some of that stardust in your tail.”
Sophie twitched her bushy tail excitedly. All of a sudden she didn’t feel tired at all. The star was the most lovely thing she’d ever seen! She whooshed after it.
The star danced across the sky, making wonderful patterns as it went. Sometimes it zigzagged or soared in spiraling circles. Sometimes it even made the shape of flower petals as it looped around the shining moon.
As Sophie chased the star, she twisted her tail this way and that to catch as much stardust as she could. She completely forgot all her worries about the dance practice. She even forgot about the fair. All she could think about was how happy she was to be out catching rainbow-colored stardust in her fluffy tail.
The shooting star did one last enormous loop, then it disappeared behind the moon. Sophie gazed after it. Had it really gone? She felt a bit sad. Her dad flew up and placed his paw on her shoulder.
“Shooting stars never last long,” he said, “and you did very well to catch so much stardust. You see, shooting-star dust is special.”
“Really?” Sophie’s eyes shone.
“Yes.” Her dad smiled. “It is magical, and now that dust from a shooting star is in your tail, you’ll be able to get it to behave perfectly in the dance tomorrow.”
Sophie twitched her ears in disbelief. “Really?”
“Really and truly.” Her dad nodded solemnly. “As long as you believe in the magic…”
CHAPTER SIX
The Big Day
Dawn was breaking over Misty Wood, spreading pale golden light across the hedgerows and hills, meadows and valleys.
Sophie opened her eyes. She gazed up at the cluster of oak leaves that dangled over her mossy bed, and frowned. A strange memory was taking shape in her head—or had it been a dream? Something about chasing a shooting star …
Sophie hopped out of bed and gave her tail a little shake. A puff of rainbow-colored stardust filled the air and drifted down onto her soft pillow. Sophie gasped. It hadn’t been a dream at all!
Sophie scampered across the cozy hollow to join her mom, her dad, and Sammy at their breakfast table made from polished conkers.
“Good morning, Sophie,” said her mom. “Come and have some porridge. You’re going to need plenty of energy today!”
Sophie sat down and took a mouthful of porridge. She knew she had to eat, but she was starting to feel nervous. Was her dad right about the shooting-star dust? Would her tail really be okay?
Sophie had eaten half her porridge when she heard excited chatter coming from outside.
“Sophie, are you ready?” she heard Polly yap.
“It’s time to go,” Katie meowed.
“It’s almost time for the fair!” Bonnie called.
Sophie leaped up from the table, her tail twitching. A cloud of the special stardust shimmered into the bowls of porridge, like rainbow-colored sugar.
“Whoops!” Sophie exclaimed.
“Yay!” Sammy cried, looking at the porridge with glee.
“Good luck,” Sophie’s dad said as Bonnie’s, Katie’s, and Polly’s noses peeped into the hollow. “We’ll see you there. And don’t forget what I told you!” he added with a wink at Sophie.
“I won’t,” promised Sophie. She took a deep breath and headed out to join her friends.
Buzzing with energy, the four friends spread their wings and flew out between the trees. It was still early, but lots of fairy animals were already busy, bustling about making preparations for the fair.
Sophie spotted Old Frannie the Fern Fox’s tent, draped in garlands of copper beech leaves, where she would sit telling fairy fortunes all day. Just beyond that, Sophie saw the Misty Wood bees hard at work, building their fairground honeycomb maze. Sophie loved wandering around in the maze, giggling with her friends as they got lost in its endless twists and turns.
As they got closer to the Heart of Misty Wood, Katie pointed at the shimmering, swaying cobweb tent, made from the silky threads of hundreds of Misty Wood spiders. Inside the tent would be all sorts of stalls displaying the fairy animals’ favorite treats.
Every year there was a Guess How Many Blackberries competition. There would be a cake stall laden with mounds of hazelnut cakes and honey buns, acorn pies and conker crunchies. Flowers from the meadows would brighten every corner and, once the Cobweb Kittens had gotten to work, the whole tent would be glistening with dewdrops from Dewdrop Spring!
Sophie couldn’t wait for the fair to begin. It was all going to be so much fun!
They flew on toward the clearing where the grand opening was to take place. Sophie remembered that before they could explore any of the treats that the fair had in store, they had to perform their dance. She started feeling a little nervous again.…
Down below, in the clearing, Sophie could see some Bark Badgers. They were gathered in a huddle, their silvery wings folded neatly over their striped black-and-white backs. They seemed to be having some kind of urgent meeting. Sophie suddenly felt worried. She couldn’t see the festival pole anywhere. Where was it? Shouldn’t the badgers have put it in place by now?
Sophie and her friends fluttered down and scampered over to the badgers.“We’re here!” Sophie cried. “We’re ready to do our dance.”
The badgers turned to them, their faces sad. Sophie’s heart thudded. Now she knew for sure that something was wrong.
“Where’s the festival pole?” she asked.
The badgers parted so that the four friends could see what they had been gathered around. There, on the vivid green grass, lay the festival pole covered in amazing carvings, with ribbons of flowers streaming from one end. Sophie’s eyes shone when she saw how beautiful it was.
But then she noticed something. There was a problem. A big problem. The pole was broken in two, right in the middle.
“We just finished decorating it, but it was so heavy we dropped it,” explained the badger they had met yesterday. He gave a long, sad sigh. “We’re very, very sorry.”
Sophie couldn’t believe it. She blinked hard, hoping she might see something different when she opened her eyes—but the festival pole was still broken.
“So … what should we do now?” she asked in a very small voice.
“Well…” The badger stroked his chin and shuffled from one paw to the other. He looked very upset. “I’m afraid that there’s nothing we can do. I’m very sorry, but the dance will just have to be canceled.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Rainbow Bright!
Canceled! Sophie rubbed her ears with her paws, hoping she had misheard.
The sun was peeping through the trees around the clearing, and crowds of fairy animals had started to arrive. Over to one side, the Moss Mouse band had begun to play. There was no time left.
A tear rolled down Sophie’s cheek. She sat down next to Polly, Bonnie, and Katie. They were all too sad to say anything. The other fairy animals who had begun to gather to watch the dance looked at them c
uriously.
Sophie thought about how wonderful everything had seemed last night, flying high in the dark sky, chasing the shooting star. She thought of practicing around the willow tree and how her dad had promised that the magical rainbow stardust would make her tail behave. None of that mattered anymore.
But as Sophie remembered all that had happened the day before, an idea began to form in her mind. She scrubbed her tears away and leaped to her feet.
“I know what we’re going to do!” she called. “Everyone follow me!”
Polly’s, Bonnie’s, and Katie’s eyes widened, and they jumped up excitedly.
“Where are we going?” asked Katie.
“You’ll soon find out,” said Sophie. “Come on, everyone!” she called again to all the other fairy animals.
Sophie set off, half scampering, half fluttering, checking over her shoulder that everyone was following. Around the honeycomb maze, past the cobweb tent—she hurried on until she reached the banks of Dewdrop Spring.
The willow tree stood there, its branches draping down to the ground. Sophie bounded up to it. She gave a shake of her tail, and a little cloud of rainbow-colored stardust puffed out. Then she flew up and around the tree, shaking her tail until the whole willow glittered with glorious colors. Soon its trunk glowed red, orange, and yellow, and its branches looked like green, purple, pink, and blue ribbons—only even prettier!
“Wow!” gasped Katie, Bonnie, and Polly as Sophie flew back.
“How did you do that?” Polly woofed, her tail wagging wildly. “It looks beautiful!”
“It’s magic,” Sophie said with a grin.
The fairy animals that had followed them began to flutter about, chattering to one another and spreading the news: The dance was back on! The Bark Badgers looked very relieved indeed.
As the crowd began to grow, the band arrived and took their places next to the tree. Just then, Bonnie’s mom appeared. Her paws were full with the flower garlands that she’d promised.
“Here you are!” she cried. “You can’t dance without your garlands!”
She slipped one over Bonnie’s head. It was made of golden buttercups and soft bluebells, fluffy meadowsweet and bright red poppies. It looked beautiful next to the rainbow colors of the willow tree. The crowd cheered and clapped as Sophie, Katie, and Polly put their garlands on, too.