The Salesman and Fairy

“The Salesman and Fairy” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Nicole Phan Shi Yee, SRI KDU Primary School, Malaysia.

The Salesman and Fairy

Once upon a time, there was a fairy. She wants to be free and find her true lover, but her mother who was the Queen of the fairies won’t let her go out. At night, she slipped out of Heaven to find her true lover, get freedom and have fun.

One day, she saw a salesman selling some clothes for his sick parents and his injured brothers. He worked as hard as he could. She said “I must help him”. After that, she disguised herself as a servant. While the salesman was walking, he saw a beautiful girl. The salesman did not notice that the beautiful girl was actually the fairy. The girl said he looked sad and asked him about his story. With a sad sigh, the salesman told her his story. The girl said “What a hard life you have? I have had a hard life too. After my parents died, I was forced to be a maid. The master treated me badly. The master thought to herself that if only I have a husband, he would lift me of the hook. The girl had an idea. She told the man “why don’t I live with you”? I can sew and cook. The man was shocked when he heard the idea and said “you want to marry me? I haven’t informed my parents yet! The girl said this tree about the marriage. It will be our matchmaker. Ask it now! The man said alright. Please be our matchmaker. The tree thought for a while and said alright. After that, two of them got married. However, the queen found out about everything. She sent her guards to capture them but they failed so she sent her most loyal and skilled guard but they also failed. The queen was very angry, so she told her messenger to tell the fairy that if she does not go home before the break of dawn the fairy was very sad, because he had to leave her husband but he had no choice. By the break of dawn, she told her husband about the thing that the messenger told her. When the guard brought her back, the man secretly follows the guards back. At night, the fairy was brought in by the palace guards. Meanwhile, the salesman hid behind the Heavenly Gate. In heaven, the fairy was imprisoned by The Heavenly Mother under the Lotus Peak. Soon, the salesman was punched out of Heaven by the heavenly guards. While, the fairy was imprisoned, a baby came out of fairy’s womb. As soon as the heavenly guards heard the baby crying, they reported the crying to the heavenly mother. Upon hearing that the fairy gave birth, the heavenly mother broke into a rage and trapped her in the middle of a circle of fire and said “If you try to step out, the fire will rage even more. Don’t even try to fly. I have absorbed all your magic power and took all of your treasures”. The heavenly guards threw the baby down.

A week on Heaven is 18 years on Earth so when the fairy stopped crying, the baby had turned into fully grown, 18-year-old boy. The husband told his son about his mother. The boy said: I am going to rescue my mother. He met the God of rain on the way to heaven. He said: you don’t have enough skills to save your mother. Let me be your teacher. I will guide you until you will have enough skills to save your mother. The son worked hard learning good new skills. He also made a sword with his hard work. The master said: you have worked hard and now you can rescue your mother. The son thanked the God and went to heaven. After a while he reached heaven and he hid beside the Heavenly Gates. When the son saw the fairy, he was shocked to see the fairy who was his mother, trapped in the circle of fire. The son knew that the fairy is his mother. He sneakily went inside. When he saw the fairy’s mother’s statue, he broke it. When the heavenly mother knew about this, she felt very angry and said “How dare you break my statue! Do you know who am I? The son said “I know who you are. You are the queen of heaven. You split my mother from my family. Let my mother go now”!!! The son took out his sword and fought against 50 heavenly guards. The guards were no match for the sword. They were defeated. The Heavenly Mother took out her staff. The son shot jets of water from the tip of his sword and the Heavenly Mother was soon defeated and the circle of fire extinguished.

The son took his mother’s hand and flew back to his house. When the fairy saw the father, she cried for joy and they lived happily ever after.