This story tells of Nathan's first meeting with Pooka & Elsie.
I've put it on a plain white background to make it easy for
you to print out and read.  It's about 3 1/2 pages long.
I hope you enjoy it.  -   Lora

Nathan’s Midsummer Folly
by
Lora Craig-Gaddis

“Vervain, St. Johnswort, Rue…” muttered Elsie.  Her gaze ran along the gleaming jars of herbs that lined the shelves before her. “Now where in The Lady’s Name is my rue?”

Edgar cawed and flapped his wings from where he perched on the brass scales. 

Elsie sighed.  “You’re a big help,” she told the crow. She peered carefully at the fragrant bundles of herbs drying from the beams overhead then stomped her foot in frustration.  “Now that’s just too strange!  I know I had some!”

Pooka padded into the herb room through the open door leading to the garden.  “Some what?” he asked.

“Rue!”  Elsie told the little cat.  “My rue’s missing!”

Pooka leaped onto the worktable and said, “Thistle took it.”

“Thistle? But why?”

Pooka answered as he sniffed around the jars and bundled herbs on the table:  “She doesn’t like rue.  She says its bad luck for fairies and, besides, it stinks.  So she hid it.” 

“Well, Poopy Pentagrams!   What am I supposed to use in my Midsummer charms?” cried the witch.

“Catnip?” suggested Pooka hopefully.

Suddenly, a tiny blur of motion, flew in and darted frantically around room.  “Save Me!” cried Thistle.  She dove under the witch’s hat just as a young boy came pounding through the doorway and plopped a butterfly net over Elsie’s head! 

“Gotcha!” he panted triumphantly.  

The little witch blinked at the boy through the strings of the net.  The boy blinked back at her in dismay.

“Not you!” he stammered.  “I meant the fairy!  Ummm…Did you know there’s one under your hat?” 

Elsie rolled her eyes up and Thistle peeked out.  “Elsie, this kid’s trying to Catch me!” Her tiny voice squeaked with astonishment and outrage.

Elsie looked at the boy again.  He grinned and shrugged.  “Just a hobby.”

“Catching fairies?”

He shrugged again.  “Some kids catch bugs.  But everyone knows Midsummer is Fairy Season and catching fairies is much more interesting!”

“And when you catch them, what do you do?” asked Elsie lifting the net from her head carefully.

“Keep ‘em in a jar for a while.  Then I let them go.  Otherwise they die.  I haven’t figured out what fairies eat yet – but I will!” he vowed.  “Then I can keep them for a long time!  Fairies are cool!”  He brushed his dark bangs out of his eyes, rubbed his nose and looked at her defiantly.  Thistle’s little face turned pale and disappeared under the hat again.

Pooka growled and Elsie frowned, but Edgar cawed and landed on the boy’s shoulder.   Rather than being frightened at having the huge, black bird suddenly alongside his face, the boy looked pleased.  “Wow!  You’ve got a crow?”  He reached up to stroke Edgar’s sleek feathers.  “By the way, I’m Nathan.  Are you Elsie? …the one they say is a witch?”

She nodded slowly, studying him.  The boy grinned at Pooka.  “I like your cat!” he said.  Pooka stopped growling and his ears pricked forward. 

 “Nathan,” said Elsie.  “Fairies have ways of defending themselves…especially at Midsummer.”

 “But I don’t want to hurt them,” the boy protested.  “I just wanna look at them!  You know…study them up close and all!”

Elsie heard a muffled “Eeek!” from under her hat.

Nathan began wandering around the room, examining the various containers and hanging bundles of leaves and flowers.  “Say!  What is all this?”

“Herbs mostly,” Elsie told him.

“Really?” Nathan grinned, completely distracted now.  “What do you use them for?”

 “Various things…Healing, Cooking, a bit of magic…”

“Healing? Really?”  The boy’s dark eyes gleamed with excitement.  “My grandma does that …but she mostly only heals people. I wanna learn to heal animals! I’m going to be an animal doctor someday.  Do you think you could use them on animals?”

Elsie nodded.  As she did, she could feel Thistle under the hat grabbing onto her hair to keep from rolling about.

“Will you show me?”

Elsie nodded again, more slowly this time.

“Cool!” Nathan grinned, white teeth flashing against his dark complexion.

The boy strolled along the shelves of neatly labeled jars and bottles.  “Got anything for horses?” he asked. 

Elsie took down a bottle of citronella oil.  “Mix this with some water, alcohol and a bit of mint.  It will keep flies away during the summer.”

“What about when they cut themselves?” Nathan wanted to know.

The witch reached up and pulled down a bundle of large, hairy leaves that were in the process of drying.  “This is Comfrey,” she said.  “Put it between two pieces of cloth, pour some hot water over it and put it on the wound.  Or, in a pinch, you can just use the leaf as a bandage.  It will stop the bleeding almost immediately and speed the healing process.  It also helps take away the pain and kill germs.  If you drink it as a tea, it makes broken bones heal faster too.”

“No kidding?” marveled Nathan.  “This leaf can do all that?” 

 “Elsie, it’s getting hot under here!” Thistle protested from beneath the hat.  Elsie smiled and lifted the brim of the hat.  The fairy darted out the door, Nathan’s eyes following longingly.

“Nathan, don’t even think about it!” warned Elsie.

The boy frowned, then returned his attention to the table.  “Okay…” he grumbled, then asked, “So, what else you got?”

Elsie and Nathan spent a fun and productive afternoon. Despite his regrettable hobby of catching fairies, Elsie found herself liking him quite a lot.

Eventually Nathan left, laden with remedies he had helped make for horses, dogs and cats and even his grandmother’s little songbird.

Elsie realized she hadn’t gotten a bit of work done for the Midsummer Festival and she only had two days left.  She’d better get busy! 

The next morning, Thistle found Elsie in the garden harvesting more rue.  Pooka lay on his back, soft furry belly to the sun and legs sprawled in the middle of a bed of catnip.  His glazed eyes blinked at Thistle lazily.  “They’re right, you know,” he purred.  “Catnip is even more magic on Midsummer Day.” He closed his eyes again.

  “All herbs are more magical on Midsummer – and Midsummer Day isn’t until tomorrow, silly!” laughed Elsie.

The little fairy lit on a rosemary branch nearby and wrinkled her nose.  “Eeew!  That rue stuff stinks!” she complained.  “Why do you grow it when you know I don’t like it?”

Elsie smiled, still clipping away.  “Rue’s good for lots of things.  I don’t grow my garden just for fairies, you know.”

“Well, you should!”  The pixie poked her dainty nose into the air looking Very Indignant. 

Elsie decided to change the subject.  “Were you looking for me?” she asked.

Thistle’s nose came down. “Oh!  Yes.  Something Very Strange is happening in the Forest!”

Elsie stopped clipping and looked up. “Strange?  What do you mean?”

“Berry and Buttercup say there are strings going from branch to branch in the trees like giant cobwebs – only they aren’t cobwebs.  They’re People-Person’s strings. And they’ve got all these upside-down cups and pots and baskets attached to them.  And,” Thistle continued, “whoever tied them didn’t do a very good job.  I mean,” she explained, “all you have to do is touch a string and whatever it’s tied to falls down.  One of the baskets landed over a Sparrow this morning and Berry says it took five fairies to get the poor thing out from under it. It’s Very Dangerous!” she added solemnly.

Elsie’s face looked thoughtful.  “Those sound like traps to me.  Why don’t you go in my sewing basket in the parlor by the chair?  There is a little pair of scissors in there.  I think you and the other fairies should find all those strings and cut them.  And be careful!”

Thistle nodded and flew off.

“It sounds like Nathan’s at it again, “ she muttered and bent once more to her work.

The moon illuminated the forest that night as Nathan wandered down the path. His net was clutched tightly in his hands.  “Here, fairies, fairies, fairies,” he called softly.  “It’s Midsummer Eve! Tonight’s your night and I know you’re there. Come on little fairies!”  His dark eyes darted back and forth across the path. 

Suddenly, he got his wish! 

“Now!” cried a tiny voice that sounded like Thistle’s.  Glowing blurs of silvery motion, lit by the moonlight and shadowed by the trees, suddenly beset him.  First the net was yanked from his hands and it somehow sailed into the nearby bushes.

A dozen fairies flew at his face and Nathan reeled backwards.  He stumbled over a tree root, landing on his back.  Thistle perched on his nose and shook her tiny finger at him.  “You’ve been a Very Bad Boy,” she scolded.  Honeysuckle vines quickly bound his arms and legs. Lying on his back, trussed and tied like a chicken in a pot, the boy yelled:  “Let me go!”

The response was a chorus of high giggles.  A dark haired fairy peered into his face. Her wings gently fluttering in the moonlight, she winked mischievously.   “Didn’t you invite us to join you for Midsummer’s Eve?” she laughed and flew off to one side.

Nathan found his shirt being pulled up by a team of pixies and a little glowing lantern on a pole was planted into his belly button.  “Hey!” he cried.  “You can’t do that!”

Thistle landed on his chin and cocked her head to one side.  “You don’t expect us to dance in the Dark, you Silly People-Person!” She pinched his cheek playfully.

Nathan watched with interest now as a tiny wooden table was set upon his chest and covered with leaf-plates and acorn top bowls filled with fairy foods.  Little toadstools served as chairs. 

Thistle clapped her hands.  “Are we ready?”  High little voices all answered that they were.  “Then Let the Midsummer Party Begin!”

Wild and beautiful music filled the forest and suddenly dozens of dainty feet were dancing on Nathan’s tummy.   Nathan couldn’t help it – he started to giggle.  “Hey!  Stop it!” he chortled.  “That tickles!”

“Ooooh, this dance floor’s Bouncy!” one little round-faced fairy exclaimed with delight.

“Wheee!” cried the fairies, their small feet bouncing higher and higher with each step. 

Nathan was laughing so hard his face and sides hurt!  “Stop!” he gasped.  “I…heeheehee…can’t …Haha… take anymore!”

Eventually they did stop – but not before poor Nathan was exhausted from laughing so hard for so long.  The table of fairy snacks was cleared away and the toadstools removed.  Even the little lantern was plucked from his belly button and carted off by a team of fairies who waved and called over their shoulders: “Thank you, Nathan.  That was fun!”

“Wait!  Aren’t you going to untie me?” the boy cried, suddenly panicked.   Thistle flew back over to him and perched on his chin.  “So you can chase us and try to catch us again?”  She folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air.  “I think Not!”

“I promise I won’t try to catch you anymore,” swore Nathan.

“Good!” said Thistle.  She hopped off his chin.  “Good bye!”

“But…”

Her little voice floated back to him.  “It will be morning in a few hours.  Elsie & Pooka will find you then.  In the meanwhile, you Think about your Promise!”

Nathan lay looking up at the stars.  He hoped the witch and her cat were early risers.  And he really hoped he wouldn’t have to explain to them how he got here…

- The End -

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