Who Keeps (The Key of) Time...?

A Fairy's Tale - Part One

Some of you might be Wondering, Dear Readers, What the Fairy did with the Key Of Time, when he carried it off with his racing snail? Well, he hadn't gone terribly far before he realized that it was rather heavy and awkward to drag along, and it was slowing him down! And as he was passing by the Cloud Palace, he decided to leave it there tucked into a corner for safekeeping. But How could a snail be passing by the Cloud Palace, I hear you ask? Isn't it always high up in the sky? Well, Sometimes, on Very Misty Foggy nights, The Cloud Palace can be found sitting right on the Ground! And it was just such a night when the Fairy was passing by. He had no idea he was leaving it in such an Out of The Way place! But, being a Fairy, he really had no use at all for the Key of Time, and he quickly forgot all about it!

And there it sat, completely forgotten for the Longest Time!

Until one afternoon when Lady Lavender

was doing some tidying up in the Cloud Palace 

while Everybeary else was busy. 

(She likes tidying things up!)

She spotted the key in the corner.

She wondered whether it went to one of the doors in the Palace.

She went to try it on the Front Door....

But there was no lock or latch on that door at all!

The only other door in the Palace was the one to the upstairs rooms...

But there was no lock there either!

She decided she would take it back downstairs 

and ask Blue about it later.

 

 

And on her way she would bring the clean linens too!

But when she reached the bottom of the stairs, 

Hamish Harry completely surprised her!

"Ach it is a Bonny Bonny Day," he declared

"but Never as Bonny as my Lovely Lady Lavender!"

And he Kissed her boldly on her cheek!

 She was so surprised that she never noticed the key falling....

Right down into the fluffy thick Clouds......!

In fact, she was so startled by that Kiss

that she forgot All about the Mysterious Key!

And it Just So Happened, Dear Readers,

that Far Far below that Cloud Palace cloud,

Tommy and his little sister Beatrice were 

sitting in the meadow and gazing at the clouds.!

It was That sort of beautiful Day, 

chilly and brisk but sunny between the clouds!

Tommy thought he saw something shiny up above.....

And before he could even Think, 

it landed with a thud Right beside his head!

He picked it up. "Look at this!" he said.

"I wonder what it goes to?" he added.

"Maybe it goes to the Cloud Palace....?" said Beatrice hopefully.

(She had heard about the Cloud Palace

 and was wondering about it ever since!)

"Nah... probably not" said Tommy, (who didn't believe in a cloud Palace) 

"I bet it goes to the Castle" he added.

"Some bird probably stole it and dropped it here" he explained.

"Maybe it goes to a Treasure Chest" he said excitedly!

And so it followed that not much later that Afternoon, 

 Tommy was heading for the Castle on his pony Prince

to see if he could find his Treasure chest.

 

 

 He knew he was not supposed to go to the Castle at all, 

and was trying to get away when Beatrice spotted him leaving.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Nowhere" said Tommy, annoyed.

"I bet you're going to the Castle" she said.

"You can't come!" he declared. "You're too little!"

"Then I'm telling...!" she declared.

"Fine. You can come" said Tommy, relenting.

"But you have to be good and do as I say!" he declared.

"And don't get lost!" he added.

And so they headed off together to the Castle ruins 

which stood on the hill not too far from their house.

Tommy had been there many times, and Prince knew the way.

And in another Time altogether, 

another Young Boy was setting out on a Similar errand.

You might recall that Peregrine 

(who Long Ago had lost the Key of Time on the Distant Briar Moors)

had chanced to capture a Tiny Fairy

 while he was chasing Butterflies across the Moors.

He had never seen a Fairy up close before (few among us have!)

and he put it in a jar to study as he would an interesting insect specimen.

But the little fellow kept saying "It wasn't me!"

"It wasn't you What?" asked Perry, not sure what he was talking about.

"I didn't take it!" declared the little fellow.

"Didn't take What?" replied Perry.

"If you don't know, then I'm not telling" said the Fairy beligerently.

"Well, if you won't tell, then I won't let you out!" declared Perry.

"I'll tell you if you let me go...." wheedled the Fairy.

"Nah, I think I'll keep you for studying anyway..." said Perry.

"You can be my pet Fairy!"

 

And he tied the jar to the end of a stick and carried it everywhere he went!

 

 

"But it's something Important you Should be doing..." hinted the Fairy.

"I don't care..." said Perry.

But really, he did care. 

He wanted to know what the Fairy knew.

But he didn't trust the Fairy to tell him if he let him go.

So they teased each other back and forth, neither one willing to give up.

And then one day, as Perry was thinking about Magic, 

he remembered that he had never given 

the Magic Key of Time back to the Wizard!

And he wondered if that had caused any problems.

And it began to worry him like an overdue Library book!

And he realized the only thing he could do was

 to try to find the Wizard and ask him what to do,

Because he had no idea what had become of the Key of Time!

And so he set out to see if he could find the Castle, 

and then maybe he could find the Wizard.

He had been to the Castle before.

But this time he went in through the door to the ancient stables.

 

And because he didn't know exactly where the Wizard could be found, 

he decided to see if there was anybody else there who might know where to look!

 

He went into the next room which might have once been a kitchen,

but it was empty too.

And just at that moment Tommy and Beatrice arrived on Prince.

Sometimes when Tommy came to the Castle, 

the Castle folk and their horses were there, 

and sometimes they were not!

He never was sure what he would find, 

and he knew his parents believed that 

the Castle was a deserted ruin!

This time he was surprised to find no horses, 

but it seemed that someone was in the kitchen!

"Who are you?" asked Tommy, feeling as though Someone was trespassing!

"I'm Perry" replied Perry. "I came to find the Wizard" he added.

"I'm Tommy." said Tommy. "And this is Beatrice" he added.

"We came to look for the Treasure" he said.

"What's that?" asked Tommy, staring at the Jar on the stick.

"It's a pesky little Fairy" said Perry.

But then he noticed the Key Tommy was holding.

"Hey, where did you get that Key?" he declared.

"I found it" said Tommy.

"Give it it to me" said Perry. 

"I think I know whose it is!" he  added.

But Tommy wasn't eager to give up on his Treasure.

And yet the Fairy in the jar was something he had never seen before!

"I'll swap you" he offered.

"I'll give you the Key if you give me the Fairy!"

Perry didn't want to give up the Fairy, but he knew he Had to get the Key!

 

 

"Okay" he agreed. 

"But you have to take good care of him 

and feed him blossoms" he added.

"Deal" said Tommy, handing over the key.

And he took the Fairy from Perry.

But he suddenly wasn't sure who had got the best deal!

Did he really want to look after a pesky little Fairy?

But before either of them could say a word 

there was a loud bang 

and a cloud of smoke appeared in the Fireplace behind them......

And where there had been Nothing at all before....

there suddenly appeared a large Old Book!

Tommy dropped the Fairy stick and raced to the hearth. 

Perry was not far behind him!

"Where did That come from!" cried Tommy.

"It must be Magic....." said Perry, a little bit alarmed.

"Do you think it shows any Magic Tricks...?" said Tommy, reaching for the book.

But Beatrice was much more interested in the Fairy....

So she picked up the jar to have a closer look.

She could see the little fellow in there.....

And she really thought he would be happier Flying around......

So she removed the mesh that was covering the jar.....

 

And the Fairy, not Quite believing his Luck, 

flew out of the Jar!

But neither Perry nor Tommy were paying her any attention.

They were too busy arguing about the book....

"I just want to see what is in it...." argued Tommy.

"Well, it might be Magical and we should be careful" said Perry.

"Oh look..." said Tommy....

"It says A Spell For Moving Ahead In Time...!"

 

"Oh... let me see..." said Perry, looking over Tommy's shoulder.

 

 "What does it Say..?" he asked as he reached for the book.

 

But the Moment Perry touched the Page...

There was a loud "crack"....

and a puff of smoke....!

And they Disappeared!

The moment she heard the "crack" 

Beatrice turned to see what had happened...

But there was nobody there!

Where had Tommy gone?

Ah, Dear Readers, I must leave you here....

No closer to the Answer to

Who Keeps the Key of Time!

But rest assured...

This Fairy's Tale shall be continued....!