The Fairy Tale

I looked at my laptop with absolute frustration. My thoughts were still hooked at that unfortunate moment, when Ravi, a much junior in grades was selected for the coveted onsite project for which I was the leading contender. I left office soon unwilling to show my disappointed face to peers and reached home and started preparing my resume.

Six years of hard work and commitment did not really paid off and the company failed to recognize my efforts every time. Needless to say, I felt like furniture in my office.  “Abdul, Can you get me some nut and paan, son? I can’t walk”. The weak voice of my grandmother broke my thoughts to which I gave her an annoying reply. “Can’t you get someone else grandma? Just leave me alone now” She stood there for sometime, looking deeply insulted and left the room slowly with her osteoporosis affected limbs.

I realized that I have done something terrible and it would be unfair to show my anger on my grandmother who is no way related to my career issues. My grandmother was a great woman and she was adored by lot for her kind nature. I came out of the room and found her sitting in the balcony, staring at the people walking on the streets. Quickly hurrying myself to the nearby shop, I got her betel leaves, areca nuts and snuff, all her favorites. I apologized to her for my rude behavior for which she gave a smiling nod. I rested on her lap which made me feel comfortable after a tough day. I requested her for a story which I expected to be much fanciful than my stinging reality.

My grandmother was wonderful with chimerical fairy tales. I grew up hearing a lot of them and felt living with beautiful fairies, handsome princes, ruthless magicians and huge castles in the never land. I would never ask her for the source as I know that no child would bother about the source of these fairy tales. They were splendid than our imagination and filled us with awe and enthusiasm.

She cleared her throat to begin her next story with child like eagerness. “Once there lived a king and a queen in a vast fairyland which was filled with happiness and prosperity. They never had a child for a long time. They prayed to god and he finally answered their prayers with a beautiful fairy, who had the prettiest face in the fairyland. When she turned five, her cruel uncle, a wizard killed the king and queen and took the fairy to his castle. He had dangerous plans and wanted to sacrifice her to the Satan once she turns twenty which will make him more powerful”

Grandma paused to get some breath and then she continued, “Years rolled by. Even in the company of her cruel uncle, the little fairy grew up with much virtues and values. She always believed that she will be saved from the clutches of her evil uncle one day. She used to bath at the nearby pool and was spotted by a handsome prince who had lost her way into the forest. He almost lost his senses when he looked at the heavenly beauty of the fairy. He approached her and introduced himself as the prince of the nearby region. The fairy had never seen a male with such mild manners and masculine charm all these days and was fascinated by him. The prince wanted to take her to his kingdom for which she agreed right away. She knew that she had fallen in love with the prince at first sight. The prince was happy and they rode on the horse towards the neighborhood kingdom. The wizard was watching all of these through his magic mirror and was fuming with anger. He appeared before the prince and the fairy and made the prince into a dove and caged him. The wizard took both the fairy and prince back to his castle. The fairy was helpless and felt sorry for the prince who is now a dove. She was desperate to save her prince and ran into the forest and bumped into an old man who looked wise. She narrated the entire incident and pleaded for help. The old man was a magician himself and was acquainted with the cruel tricks of the fairy’s uncle. He comforted her and told her that she has to follow the sun before it disappears and find a yellow flower on a moving thorn bush. The fairy understood that she has to travel to west but she could not get hold of the flower on a moving thorn bush. She asked the old man for a clarification to which he replied that he himself was not aware of the moving thorn bush. He alarmed her that she will face a lot of difficulties on her way and if she does not find the flower before dusk; her prince will remain a bird forever. The fairy ran towards the west in search of the flower. She had to cross a river in which she was caught by a behemoth like demon. He was starving for long and wanted to eat the fairy. The fairy begged for mercy and told that she was ready to be his prey but she wanted to save her prince before that. She promised that the demon can eat her after she finds the flower and save the prince. The demon took pity on her and left her with an admonition that he will swallow her once she saves the prince. The fairy thanked the demon and started running towards the west”

I was waiting to hear the next line as the story was getting interesting.  I raised my head to look at my grandmother who was resting her face on the wall. I felt her pulse and found that she was dead. I announced her death to the entire family and soon there were tears all over the ground. I was staring at her dead body for the remaining story which now remained untold.

Days ran like they always do and the mood of the home had now changed into normal. It was hard for me to forget my grandmother as she was a phenomenal woman and she loved me than anyone else. I walked into the bedroom with nostalgic feelings. It was 1 a.m and I still could not get some sleep. I was rolling on the bed, cuddling the pillows but there was no sign of the strange feeling called doze. Suddenly I felt dark all over. At first I thought it was the beginning of unknown dream with faint visuals but the vision was getting clear and I found myself into some eccentric land which had blue hills, sweet smelling flowers, and funny looking animals. I looked around desperately for some concrete buildings, vehicles and posters and found none. I started walking on the smooth sand for some human trace.

I found a girl who was running towards me and I quickly moved out of her way. She looked extremely beautiful wearing a snow white gown and was exactly matching with the description of the fairy in the story told by my grandmother. She gave an odd look at my clothes. T-shirt and jeans, perhaps are an alien costume in this wonderland, I thought. She finally spoke, “Oh sir, did you find any moving thorn bush here?” By this time, I was convinced that I’m in the fairyland to visualize the rest of the story of my grandmother. I stammered and then spoke, “No, actually do you know how to travel back to earth? I live in Chennai, you see.” She looked upset and started running into woods. I felt that she had more troubles than mine and started following her. We traveled a large distance and reached a place full of thorns. The fairy looked at the sun and he threatened as if he will hide behind the mountains to allow darkness to prevail. She looked all over for the magic flower and broke into tears when she found nothing but thorn bushes. “Oh Fairy, please do not cry. We will find the flower soon” I comforted her and started looking for the flower on the thorn bushes. I remembered the wise old man’s words that the fairy can find the flower on a moving thorn bush. No thorn bush moved and was still. There were no signs of the flower and it was getting dark. “I guess there is no flower here. These bushes do not move. We have to go somewhere” I told to fairy to which she reluctantly agreed. I then looked at that bizarre creature and jumped in joy. I gave away a loud cry to the fairy pointing at the thing, I found and the sight of that made her happy too. It was a porcupine and it had a yellow flower on his head. It did not strike us that the porcupine is actually the moving thorn bush. The fairy spoke to the animal in some strange language and got the flower from him. She thanked me and then hurried towards castle and I was following her because there was no one to keep company in this wonderland. We reached the castle and the fairy told me that her uncle is away and we have to find the prince before its too late. The castle was scary, had a lot of vacant rooms with dim lamps. The fairy finally found the cage and was about to keep the flower in the beak of the dove when her uncle, the brutal wizard came. I hid myself one of the pillars as I did not wanted to encounter such a powerful sorcerer. The wizard thundered at the fairy. “You silly little fairy. You think that you can save this prince from me. No one can deceive me. You understand that?” The wretched fairy looked for me but I did not dare to go in front of the callous wizard.  “Now its time for me to sacrifice you to my lord, He will be indeed very happy with my offerings and will gift me more powers” roared the acrimonious wizard. I prayed for some miracle as it was certain that he is going to kill the fairy and the prince.

“Here I got you, little fairy” there was loud thunder of voice from the gate. There stood the demon that had come to eat the fairy.  More trouble, I thought and was standing behind the pillar as a mute spectator to the proceedings. The wizard scornfully replied to the demon, “Go away you monster. She is the prey of the Satan. ”

The Demon laughed and said,” I do not care about anything than my food. Let me eat the fairy” and approached the fairy. The wizard tried his magic at the demon which proved futile as he seemed more powerful than the wizard but it did hurt the demon a little which made him infuriated. “You will pay for your efforts, you wicked wizard. My appetite has grown so large that I will need a heavy meal like you” Saying this, the demon lifted the wizard and walked out of the castle and the wizard was crying for help which obviously did not attract any sympathy from us. The fairy kept the flower in the dove’s beak which made him a human again. They hugged each other and looked extremely happy. I wanted to announce myself to them when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was my grandmother and she was dressed in the fairyland’s attire.

“You have to go back now son, I wanted you to know the rest of the story and that is why made you came here. Look at that fairy. She had more problems than you but yet she fought for her prince. You exactly need to do the same when you return to your place. Whatever the problems are, remember that there is always a happy ending for those who fight for their desires.” said my grandmother with a soothing smile.

“Abdul, Lazy goose, aren’t you going to office today? Get up now.” I woke up from my dreams with the usual words of my mother. Be it dream or hallucination, the trip to fairyland made my heart to brim with bliss and buoyancy. I walked towards the bathroom as it was a custom to brush one’s teeth in the planet earth. Little did I notice that there was a beautiful yellow flower on my bed.