The Periwinkle Flower

The grass was speckled with white daisies and Elsie bent down with achy knees to pick one from below. As she pinched the flower’s stem between her fingers, she examined the back of her hand, observing the lines on her skin that reflected many years of working in gardens and the brown spots that she thought of as kisses from the sun. She had changed so much since she was last here all those years ago, so had the outside world, yet the forest looked exactly as it did back then. At the edge of the meadow was the tree with the hollowed out trunk in which Jack and her used to hide and tell each other childhood secrets that echoed off the wooden walls, and a few feet in front was the particularly inviting patch of grass where they would lay, feeling their bodies pressing against the soft earth and the warmth of the sun touching their faces. Even the daisies she stood among looked the same. It made her smile to think of the endless lengths of daisy chains that she wove together in the meadow as Jack made toys out of sticks he tied together with thin strips of bark.

Often when Elsie returned after a forest trip her mother would scold her for the dirty state of her dresses and wished she would read stories or play tea parties with her sisters instead, but Elsie loved the feeling of adventuring with Jack, he was her closest friend and the forest felt magical to her. Magical… Elsie pondered the word and felt her heart jump with excitement as a memory flooded her mind.

It had been a day in late June, just like today, but many, many years ago. The sun was high and the sky was so clear that it looked like a dome made of sapphire had enveloped the earth. Elsie and Jack decided such a day was not to be wasted, so they stuffed their pockets with jam sandwiches and butter biscuits and headed into the forest. They took the dirt path that had become so familiar to them, winding deeper into the towering trees and telling tales of the creatures who they imagined lived in the forest. Eventually they came to the opening which held their favourite meadow and beginning to feel the tiring affect of the summer sun they sat down in the grass ready to eat their food. Elsie’s mouth began to water as she looked at the strawberry jam glistening in between two slices of her mother’s homemade bread, but her focus was broken suddenly when she swore she heard the sound of…

“Music!” Jack exclaimed excitedly. “Can you hear it Elsie?”

She certainly could hear it, but it was like nothing she had ever heard before. It wasn’t like the piano music her older sister Lily played, or even like the jazz music her parents listened to on the record player. Whatever it was, it was completely entrancing. A warmth touched her heart as the music filled her ears and she watched Jack who, from the smile on his face, seemed to be having the same experience.

“It sounds like it’s coming from just beyond the edge of the meadow, let’s go have a look!” Jack suggested eagerly.

They stuffed their sandwiches back in their pockets and headed towards the music, but as they got closer to the trees a peculiar thing happened. The music seemed to be getting further and further away. They both started to run. “Faster! Faster!” yelled Jack, but no matter how fast their little legs took them the sound was travelling away faster than seemed humanly possible. They crossed into the shade of the trees and kept running until their breath ran out and they could no longer keep going. The music had escaped them and was now a distant echo amid the depths of the forest. Elsie and Jack disappointedly leaned against a thick tree trunk.

“What. Was. That?” Jack managed to get out between sharp inhales.

However, Elsie was hardly listening. A glimmer in the bottom corner of her right eye had distracted her. She quickly glanced at the ground but all she saw was a beautiful blue flower. Or was it purple? Either way she decided this flower’s unique shade was her new favourite colour and she wanted to take it back to show her family. Bending down she aimed to pick the flower, but just as she was about to wrap her hand around the stem she felt a zap! Jumping back with shock, a strange buzzing sensation travelled through her whole body, head to toe, followed by the sensation her body was being compressed, like she was stuck in a room and the walls were getting smaller and smaller until she couldn’t fit any longer. Then suddenly… POP! Elsie covered her eyes with her hands, trying to shield herself from whatever horror had just occurred. A silence followed and she wondered if she had just spontaneously combusted. Her father had told stories of men and women disappearing in puffs of smoke when going about their daily business and she couldn’t help but fear that she had met the same fate.

After a few seconds of contemplation she realised that she was still having thoughts, which meant that she must still be alive. Gathering all the courage in her, she removed her hands from her eyes, but what she saw made her wish she hadn’t. She may not have spontaneously combusted but she must definitely be losing her marbles. Towering above her was a very tall blue-purple umbrella. At least that’s what she thought until she realised this umbrella was in fact the flower she had tried to pick only a moment before. Had the flower somehow grown to the height of a tree in such a small space of time? Or had Elsie shrunk down to bug size? The answer revealed itself without much time to think.

“ELSIE!” Boomed a voice from above. “ELSIE, WHERE ARE YOU?”

When did Jack’s voice get so loud? Elsie wondered. And come to think of it, she didn’t know where he was either.

“Jack! I’m here!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, but what came out sounded more like a high pitched squeak than her voice.

Following his voice she stepped out from under the flower to be met with a giant white canvas shoe, which despite being so large looked familiar. Beyond the shoe was a leg the size of a tree trunk. Up and up Elsie’s eyes travelled, taking in a giant pair of blue denim shorts and a striped blue and white t-shirt, until they widened in shock seeing Jack’s enormous head.

“ELSIE!” he continued to call to no avail.

Where could his friend have gone so quickly? One minute she was next to him and the next she was gone. Deciding to look around the other side of the tree he lifted up his foot ready to take a step. Below, Elsie squeaked with fright as she saw the bottom of her giant friend’s shoe lowering down above her, sure she was about to be flattened like a pancake. Quickly she ran back under the blue-purple flower for shelter and watched as Jack walked around the tree, the earth trembling below him with every step.

As Elsie tried to come to terms with her new tiny stature, she was oblivious to the equally tiny creature watching her from behind the flower stem. This creature watched with a mixture of curiosity and fear as the tiny girl walked back and forth talking to herself. Stepping back slightly, the onlooker accidentally crunched a dry leaf below its feet which captured the girl’s attention.

Elsie turned around and screamed in fear at what she saw. Peering out from behind the flower’s stem was some kind of being with skin the colour of sage green, its large amber eyes were staring right in her direction. It had the shape of a human, but its unusual features suggested otherwise. She wanted to run but it felt like there were weights holding her feet down. Examining the green being further she saw it had large pointed ears and there were flowers, of the same colour as the one she was standing under, adorning long dark green wavy hair. This creature was also wearing a dress. Not pink and frilly like her own, but a lovely bright green which looked to be made out of leaves. Was this creature also a girl?

For a moment the two stared at each other in silence until Elsie decided to try communicating.

“Hello, my name is Elsie. Who are you?” she asked tentatively.

From behind the flower stem the green girl stepped out, also revealing a pair of sparkly silver wings.

“Are you a fairy?!” a bewildered Elsie asked.

“No! I’m a forest sprite.” said the green girl, sounding slightly offended. “My name is Pip. And what are you?”

“I am a human of course!”

Pip looked suspicious. “A human? I thought those only existed in stories.”

This response confused Elsie even more. Humans only existing in stories? It was like she had entered an alternative universe.

“You tried to steal my flower.” accused Pip, a serious look on her face.

“Your flower? Flowers don’t belong to anyone until they have been picked.”

“What a silly thing to say! I made this flower so of course it’s mine.”

“You made the flower? I don’t believe you.” said Elsie crossing her arms. “If you made it then prove it.”

At this challenge Pip looked determined. Human’s in the stories she had heard were always ignoring the magic around them, maybe that was true of them in real life too. She walked out of the flower’s shade and bent down, reaching into a small bag woven from grass that was clipped at her waist and pulled out a handful of glittering blue dust. With a look of concentration she whispered an incantation in a language that Elsie didn’t understand and sprinkled the dust on the ground in front of her. Elsie watched on in amazement as out of the ground emerged a flower, reaching the same size as the other one in just a few seconds.

“Do you believe me now?” asked Pip in a tone which seemed to imply “I told you so.”

“It seems impossible, but how could I not believe you now? I’m sorry I didn’t believe you earlier. What beautiful flowers you make! What is the colour? Blue or purple?”

“It is periwinkle, my favourite colour. All my flowers are periwinkle.” answered Pip proudly.

“Periwinkle.” Elsie repeated, she liked the sound of the word.

The two girls asked each other questions about their different lives. Much to Elsie’s surprise Pip seemed to be just as interested in learning about humans as she was in learning about sprites.

As their conversation progressed a feeling of guilt took over Pip’s stomach. Despite what she had heard about humans Elsie seemed like a nice girl, perhaps someone she could even be friends with, but now she had to admit that it was her magic that made the human girl shrink. Taking a deep breath she told her the truth. Elsie was understandably upset but chose to look on the bright side.

“At least I know how it happened and you can turn me back to normal.” She concluded.

Pip didn’t say anything.

“You can change me back, can’t you?!” demanded the human girl.

The truth was that the young sprite had not yet learned the magic to reverse what she had done, but suggested they go to the village to see her mother who did possess the knowledge of how to reverse it. By happy coincidence, the Summer Festival was also being held today. This was a yearly festival which Pip said Elsie should join in to see how the sprites celebrated the sunny season. Elsie contemplated this invitation. She did truly want to see a sprite festival but she had one condition.

“My friend Jack has to come too, he comes on all my adventures and I can’t leave him behind.”

The girls had a deal. Pip used her magic to shrink Jack, who had been getting rather stressed about losing his friend to thin air.

POP! He appeared beside them looking extremely disoriented but also relieved to be reunited. Elsie explained everything as they started their journey to the village.

Approaching the village the beautiful music Elsie and Jack had heard earlier once again filled their ears.

“That’s the traditional music of the forest,” said Pip noticing the look of wonder on the humans faces, “they say it has magical powers but I’ve never noticed that.”

Elsie and Jack looked at each other knowingly and laughed.

“Oh, look! We’re almost there.” Pip said, pointing to a blackberry bush that had a small archway at the bottom. “That’s the entrance to the village.”

Elsie and Jack were both a bit concerned, having known the pain of being pricked by thorns when picking blackberries, but they trusted Pip so under the blackberry bush they went. The children now being only the size of thumbs couldn’t believe how big the berries above were. They hadn’t eaten anything since before their adventure into the forest and were suddenly ravenous.

“You can pick a drupelet to eat if you’d like” said Pip.

“A drupelet?” The two humans asked in unison.

Pip looked at them in disbelief and reached up to pick an individual segment off one of the blackberries.

“This is a drupelet” she said as she held up a blackberry ball the size of her head.

Jack and Elsie immediately reached up to pick their own drupelets and happily munched away on the most delicious fruit they had ever tasted as they walked through the passageway, blackberry juice staining their smiling faces.

Emerging through the other side they were hit with a feast for all the senses. The village was bustling with sprites that looked just like Pip. Some had on hats made from leaves that had been wrapped around their heads and some had flowers in their hair, which came in a myriad of colours. Bunting, also made from a variety of coloured flowers chained together, was wrapped around trees, plants and even the little market stalls, which had been set up by planting sticks vertically in the ground and draping a blanket of leaves over the top.

“I made that one” said Pip, pointing to a chain of periwinkle flowers that was draped around the base of an oak tree.

Barbecues made from bundles of small sticks placed in the centre of stone circles cooked all sorts of foods that wafted delicious scents to Elsie and Jack’s nostrils. And the music was closer than ever before! They could see a group of older sprites playing leaves like harmonicas, strumming blades of grass like strings and drumming on the hats of acorns.

“Pip!” called a voice as a short, round woman sprite ran over from a stall that was selling greetings cards made from tree bark.

“There’s my mum!” exclaimed Pip

“Where have you…” Pip’s mum stopped mid sentence taking in the two new human children accompanying her daughter. “Humans? Oh Pip, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t shrink bigger creatures. They haven’t adapted to living in small conditions.”

“But they are my friends! This is Elsie and Jack. Can’t they stay for a bit and enjoy the Summer Festival?”

The older sprite looked disapprovingly at her child who pleaded with her to let her two new human friends join in the celebrations. Eventually the mother sprite gave in, on the condition that the humans go back before sunset.

Full of excitement, the three of them spent the afternoon taking in what the festival had to offer. Jack and an older man sprite who owned a stall that sold toys made out of forest materials discussed the pros and cons of various stick types, whilst Elsie and Pip admired all the stunning flower creations. Elsie even had her hair decorated with pink flowers by a sprite that specialised in hair floral arrangements. All of them enjoyed eating delicious food that had been freshly foraged in the forest and Pip even got to try some jam sandwiches and butter biscuits.

But as the sun started to lower in the sky Elsie and Jack knew it was time to go. Although it saddened them to say goodbye to their sprite friend they couldn’t help but be filled with joy after experiencing the most exciting day of their lives and thanked Pip for everything, all of them hoping they would see each other again one day.

When they were ready Pip’s mother gave them both a hot cup of floral tea which, with a strange feeling of being blown up with air, returned them to their human size.

The two of them walked back towards home, chatting excitedly about the day’s adventures. Near the end of their journey back Jack reached into his pocket and held out one of Pip’s flowers he had held onto especially for Elsie. The first, and most unique, of many flowers to be exchanged between the two of them over the years.

The sound of a loud bird call echoed around the meadow and brought Elsie back to the present day. She smiled thinking about how wild her’s and Jack’s imaginations must have been, it had all seemed so real. A light breeze stroked her arm and she couldn’t help but feel like Jack was there with her, reminiscing on their old adventures. Taking in her surroundings once more, it was time to make her way out of the forest, but just as she was about to do so she felt drawn to look down. Right in front of her feet, popping brightly against the white flowers was a single periwinkle flower.