Awakening

by Nancy Gaskin

The Dream

  The smell of summer rain and freshly cut grass surrounded the girl as she stepped into the a clearing filled with colour. As she walked further into the clearing she became surrounded by hundreds of beautiful butterflies with vibrantly colored wings, hues for which the girl could not find a name for. The butterflies were fluttering around her head in such a wild frenzy that she had to gently wave her hands in front of her face to be able to see. She could feel them landing on her hair and lifting some as they took off into flight. Looking around in wonder at the flowers that were growing all around her she dropped to her knees wanting to smell and touch them. The butterflies flew in a mad frenzy all around her and then settled on nearby flowers as well as the girl’s hair and shoulders. A butterfly landed on the tip of her nose which made the girl giggle. As the girl went cross eyed to looked closer she saw that what had landed on her nose was not a butterfly at all but a tiny little person with a big smile. The surprise of seeing a little butterfly person perched on the end of her nose made the girl jump back and falls onto her back in amongst the flowers and butterflies. This caused a riot of fluttering of wings and a few of the butterflies flew up to her face and she saw little people with wings and very cranky faces waving their arms about angrily. Watching them and looking around she saw that not all of the swarm of butterflies were little people.

  As everything settled the girl noticed movement to her left and turned to see more clearly. A procession of butterflies moved along in a very stately manner but on closer inspection the girl could see that every single butterfly was actually tiny person. The noise which the girl heard was actually drums and pan pipes playing and also singing in the most heartbreakingly beautiful voices. As the procession got closer to the girl it stopped and as the sea of butterfly people parted, the girl could see the most beautiful maiden that she had ever seen, not that she had met many beautiful young maidens living with her grandparents and seeing mostly their neighbours, friends and relatives. The girl was stunned by all these lovely creatures and bobbed down on her heels in the middle of the clearing, staring in wonder and amazement with her eyes nearly popping out of her head and her mouth about to drop open.

  A carriage made out of flower the kind which the girl had never seen before was drawn by bumble bees. The colours were of hues of the flowers the girl had never seen nor heard describe before and she could find no words to describe the vibrancy yet subtlety of the colours which emanated from these petals. A beautiful small creature stood up and waved to the girl and motioned for her to come closer beckoning with her tiny hands. The girl carefully moved closer, she could hear individual voices and was yet again mesmerized by the beauty of the sound. There was something familiar to the girl as she listened more closely to the melody, a haunting sound tugging at a memory tucked away in furthest recess of her subconscious. The beautiful tiny lady stretched and fluttered her wings and then ever so gracefully floated up to the girls face with a beautiful smile which lit up her face. Looking closely, the girl saw sapphire blue eyes and a heart shaped face, there was something familiar about her face but yet again it felt like a long lost memory to the girl. The butterfly lady opened her mouth but the noise which came out was that of a flock of chirping birds, not words that the girl could understand. The little butterfly lady frowned, wings fluttering in an irritated manner, which if it could have, made her even more beautiful and then looked up with delight glowing on her face. With a look of concentration the little lady fluttered back and forth in front of the girls face and then just as quick she turned around and looked hard at the girl and made a humming sound, similar to bees far away. The girl smiled and shook her head slightly indicating that she could not understand which made her feel a little sad.

  There was a commotion and another butterfly person, a man, fluttered up to the girls face and made noises which were somewhere between birds twittering and the wind rustling autumn leaves as he spoke. The little lady and the little man were talking they looked at the girl and stopped, the man cleared his throat and called in a loud clear voice “I am called Alberich, do you understand me little human?” The girl smile and nodded her head too afraid to speak unless they disappeared and she woke up. The little man turned to speak to the little lady and then he turned back to the girl “I have the greatest of pleasure to introduce you to the Princess Niamh. Princess of this entire realm which the eyes perceive” The girl is surprised by the announcement and in the huffy manner it was done. She smiled and bowed her head and spoke in a shy whisper “My name is Dagmar, your Highness, it is a pleasure to meet you”, shyly looking at the beautiful faery princess.

  Princess Niamh listened intently to what Dagmar had said and after clearing her throat she spoke in a voice so clear and beautiful, it could make you weep, and said “Welcome Dagmar, welcome to my kingdom. May I ask how it is you have come to be here as we have not seen humans since……?” The princess stopped suddenly and looked very closely at Dagmar and then she turned to Alberich and spoke in hushed tones. All this was making Dagmar very nervous and she looked around for a place to hide if the need arose, not seeing anything apart from hundreds of butterflies, no they were faeries she reminded herself and there was nothing big enough for her to hide behind. The princess noticed that Dagmar was becoming agitated and turned to her and smiled “Come and we will talk, follow us and we will go to the palace and speak about many things. I am sure you have many questions as we also have many to ask you. Do not be afraid we will not harm you little sweetling you will be safe.” The girl decided that there was no harm in following these beautiful creatures because after all, it was only a dream……