GOING TO FAIRY LAKE

GOING TO FAIRY LAKE
by
Terry Burres



I would run out of the house and leap upon my magical black horse. The horse with the flowing mane and tail, that nobody could see except me.

He would prance impatiently. Eager to start our adventure, around and around my house we would race. The familiar path would fade. It would slowly become lands where enchantment could always be found.

The wind whipped my hair. My Laughter would carry to faraway places. When the magic was just right then through my back yard we would gallop. That black horse was the fastest horse in the world.

When we were in the alley we would turn right to travel past the fence where the chicken coop stood. Slowing at the honeysuckle bush only long enough to sip from three white and three yellow blossoms as was part of the charm.

My charmed horse would whinny. I knew it was time to continue on to Fairy lake. With great anticipation we would rush through the shadows of the ever growing trees that would soon become a wild woods.

The weeds grew tall in the wild field but the magic made them grow until they loomed above my head. I would follow the path that wove its way around and back to where the magic made it impossible for others to follow.

Finally, I would reach the rabbit's nest that I had created from grasses of the very best sorts.

I would let my horse go home knowing that he would return as soon as I thought of riding him again. In my nest I would part the surrounding grass that separated me from Fairy lake.

I would use the secret words to call upon the fairies and their pets the huge gold, white, and orange fishes. They were the enchanted ones that the good keeper Eettler would feed from the silver pan.

The king, Barts the First, would arrive while the fairies peeped from their homes to be sure I was alone. When they were assured that they were safe from discovery they would scurry out of their hiding places to greet me.

We would pass the summer day playing games that only the fairies could create full of magic and charms. I was the only human child that they would play with during those hot dry days. The magic words and the transformations that they would create where something very wondrous to see.

They would tell me stories of magical worlds. Stories of ancient bewitchments that took place in a time before human folk.

I learned all of their legends and history. They told of the Rakuss Of Rensapall. When the Hooble from below the Cave of Rensapall, with the help of the Rakuss Crystal, enter the realm of the daylight creatures. I was told of the hero who had sent them defeated to the region of darkness until the time of the Great Darkness. That will be the time that the fairies believe will come when there are no more believers in the world of light.

The heroes and evil villains were as real to me as the humans that I knew. They painted pictures in my head that were too wondrous to belong to any but the fairies.

From far away came the call of my mother. Calling my name, causing my wild black horse to appear beside my nest to carry me home for supper.