The morning dew dripped upon Valkyrie jolting her from her peaceful slumber. Drip! The drop fell right on Valkyrie’s head making her groan with irritation. She stood and parted the leaves and grass that grew in front of what she calls her front door. The shelter of her home was merely made of larger leaves, sticks, and grasses. Valkyrie looked all around, then spread her wings and flew.

Yes, Valkyrie is a fairy. Big deal, right? Valkyrie isn’t like one of those fairies you hear about in stories like Tinkerbell, where every fairy has a rhyme, a reason, and a job. Valkyrie was unemployed and that’s the way she liked it! She always said “Life’s short, why do something you don’t wanna do? And besides, if I got paid, that would be a different story.” The fairy’s work force is different than ours. You work out of the kindness of your heart because they don’t have a currency. Although sometimes Valkyrie would help with the mushroom rings they used for dance halls.

Valkyrie had no idea where she was flying to, but that was part of the fun! Just about every day she would fly around until she found somewhere that tickled her fancy. Zipping through the trees as fast as a humming bird, she spotted somewhere below that looked as if it was enchanted. She decided to land. Landing upon a log sticking out of the deep black waters, she looked around. It was like the swamp in the story of The Marsh King’s Daughter, quagmires and all. The Marsh King’s Daughter was one of the stories told by the storks, passed down from generation to generation, for well…Since the Vikings were around. But I can tell you it is one of Anderson’s Fairy Tales, so if you go poking around you’ll probably be able to find it, but be warned, it’s not a fairy tale for small children!

In the distance Valkyrie heard the grass ruffle. She thought nothing of it and sat down upon the log, and stared into the deep black water wondering what was down there. She ignored the ruffling and now the sound of foot steps, and continued to look dreamily into the pool. The sounds drew closer and closer until they were upon her. She turned her head slowly but at the same moment, whoosh! A butterfly net fell on her. Then, being dragged into the air, the net at her back, she came face to face with a human boy. Fear engulfed her. As she was trying to tear through the mesh, the human child let out a scream of surprise and delight. “A FAIRY?!?! NO WAY!!!” The human pinched himself once. Valkyrie would have liked to pinch him. Clinging tightly to the net as if for his life, he ran home as fast as he could. Valkyrie was bouncing up and down like crazy in her mesh prison. She grabbed a piece of the net and held tight.

When they reached what seemed to be the destination the boy screamed “CALIPSO!!!” A little girl, (but older than he was,) came running out of the house.

“What?!?! What?!?!” The boy, running so fast that he almost bumped into her, came to a skidding halt. “Are you hurt?” she asked.

“No, but look!” he said shoving the net in front of her face. She stepped back, took a good look and said, “I-Is that?...”

“A fairy? Yes!” he answered. She was speechless. Valkyrie couldn’t help but giggle at the dumbfounded look on her face.

“What’s so funny?” The boy asked turning the net to look the tiny fairy in the face.

“That silly look on her face,” Valkyrie said as she turned and pointed to the girl, then fell to the floor laughing.

Shock, embarrassment, and then anger filled the girl’s face. “You wanna go you stupid little pixie?!?!”

“It fairy to you fool!” She said with the same look of rage on her face. “If you let me out of here I’ll pinch you till you’re black and blue! And-”

“Girls!” said the boy cutting her off. “Knock it off!”

“Oh I’ll knock something off!” The girl said, bending her fingers like she was about to flick something. She began moving towards the fairy, when all of the sudden the boy jumped up giving her a flying ninja kick to the stomach almost knocking her on her bottom.

“Don’t hurt my fairy!” The girl looked like she was about to kick some butt. The fairy piped up and said. “Excuse me?!?! Maybe I never got the memo but, SINCE WHEN DO I BELONG TO YOU?!?!”

“Since I caught you.”

“Oh really? Will you cater to my every whim?”

“Yes?...”

“Oh really? Then…Make me a house! I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I’m tired, and it’s cold!” Then mustering a scream the way only a fairy can. “Ieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”

“CALIPSO!” He yelled over the crazed fairy. “GO GET A JAR!” Without hesitating she ran away and returned with a jelly jar. Quickly they dumped the psycho fairy into the jar and closed the lid. The fairy was still screaming.

“If you’re going to be a brat we’ll put you in the garage and let you starve!” Immediately she quieted down. “That’s better. There’s a limited amount of air in there, so if you promise to be good we will put some hole in it for you, or you could suffocate.” Valkyrie nodded her head once. Then the girl walked back over to the garage and found a nail and a hammer. She pounded five holes into the lid.

“So what are you going to call her?” The girl asked.

“Excuse me! I already have a name! It’s Valkyrie.”

“My name is Calipso. Nice to meet you, and his-“

“Up! I can speak for myself! Names Neptune, call me Marv if it’s too much to wrap your brain around!”

“Why Marv?” asked Valkyrie.

“Cause Marvello is my middle name.”

“Oh… I think I get it…”

“How are we gunna make her a home?” said Calipso.

“How ‘bout Mom’s old bird house?”

“Ok, I’ll get it.” Calipso ran off.

Neptune started to walk towards the house. “Where are we going?” Valkyrie asked.

“To my room.” he replied.

Through the front door up the stairs, first door to the right. “This is my room.” He said, setting the jar on the dresser. It was surprisingly neat. Over in the corner there was a twin sized bed, next to it was the closet. All of a sudden Calipso burst in.

“There you are!...Hey…How come she gets to be in your room?”

“Cause she’s MY fairy!”

“Hey! I already told you I don’t belong to anyone!”

Calipso sat the bird house down and pulled out some tape. “Wait,” said Neptune pulling out some plastic and pulling it over what seemed to be the window. “Hand me that tape would ya?...Thanks.”

Calipso unscrewed the lid but quickly put her hand over the top. She jammed the jar against what looked like the door. She removed her hand from in-between, and then taped the rim of the jar to the bird house. Valkyrie stepped into the bird house. “There’s nothing in here!”She exclaimed.

“Course, it’s a bird house!” replied Neptune.

“Didn’t you say you were hungry?” Calipso said to Valkyrie.

“Yeah.”

“Hold on.” She ran downstairs and brought back some grapes; Neptune took them from her and put them through the window. “Well, it’s not exactly fairy food, but it will do!” Valkyrie said chowing down.

In a slightly annoyed tone Calipso replied, “Your welcome!”

“Hey kids, bath time!” called their mother. And Valkyrie was left alone.

Around bedtime Valkyrie started to have flash backs of her old home. She missed her little house with the leaky roof, but she didn’t mind the water. It was sort of like an alarm clock to her. She longed to finish exploring the new place she found, and she hoped to escape so she could go to another dance. So she began to push on various places of the bird house trying to get out. She flew up to the window. Thank goodness! It was loose! It was almost like Neptune wanted her to get out.

So once they both were asleep she climbed out and, like a ninja, she went around to each child and pinched them as fairies do. She pinched Calipso the hardest and flew out the window. In the morning the children went to show their mother the small black bruises. Their mother said there was nothing she could do about them and told the children they would heal with time. Then all of a sudden Neptune remembered hearing that fairies like to pinch people when they became angry. So he and Calipso rushed upstairs and sure enough, Valkyrie was gone.