KATE’S
SONG
by
Grandma
Baadsgaard
Happy Birthday to my amazing granddaughter Kate.
Do you know that you make me smile inside?
Once there was a girl named Kate. While
most grown-ups don’t believe in fairies, Kate does. Kate knows you have to be careful
and quiet with fairies because they are easily frightened.
Kate
likes to create fairy villages to entice wee ones to come to her house. She makes
fairy bowls from acorn hats at her grandma’s house. She sews dresses from
hollyhock pedals and lilac leaves with a long pine needle. She wraps sticks
together to make tables, chairs and beds. Kate also knows fairies like sparkly
things so she collects colorful bits of glass and jewelry. Kate knows fairies
don’t come out when human are about but Kate can tell when they’ve been to her
village because she can see crumbs strewn about or a colorful flower pedal left
just so.
Kate’s most ardent wish is that a fairy
will come out where she could see them. One day she thought of a plan. Kate sat
at her piano and used her fingers to create fairy songs. She wrote the music
notes down on paper and gave her songs titles such as: Fairy Lullaby and Elf
Mischief. She took her songbook to her grandma’s house and walked out to
the back pasture. Then she sat on a wooden fence and opened her book.
Kate sang softly so she wouldn’t
frighten the wee people. As she sang she saw the pasture grass rustle in the
wind. She almost thought she saw a fairy dart behind a rock. Then she found a tiny dandelion crown in the grass.
“There are here,” Kate whispered to
herself. “I hope they feel safe with me.”
Every day Kate brought a tiny blanket
out to the pasture and left crumbs of food and all the tiny dishes and furniture
she made for her wee friends. She left bits of glass and jewelry for them to
carry away. Each day when she returned, the tiny objects were gone.
Kate searched and searched in the
pasture but she couldn’t find their home. She explored in the plum trees back
by the irrigation ditch. She lay in the grass and listened to insects in the
grass or watched the clouds float across the blue sky.
Then she sang her fairy song . . .
As
the moon rises over the mountain
And
children have gone to bed,
wee
ones come out to play and dance
and
all their mysteries are said.
For
fairies are real to children
wee
ones fly about their dreams
so
all the precious nippers
learn
that nothing is as it seems.
So
close your eyes and imagine
fairies
are flying all about
and
when you feel alone
jump from your bed and shout.
Come
home my winged friends
and
find your rest with me
let
my arms cradle you
Like
the big blue China sea
“Grandma,” Kate asked one day, “do you believe in
fairies?”
“Yes,” Grandma answered. “I saw one once by a lilac
bush in my back yard when I was just your age. My sisters tried to convince me
that it was a dragon fly but I knew and I’ve always known. Don’t ever stop
believing Kate. Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it is not
real. You can’t see the wind but you can see the way the leaves move and the
trees sway. You can’t see love but you can feel it deep inside.”
“ I love you grandma,” Kate said.
“I love you too,” Grandma answered.
