Outstanding Story (Sub-junior) - The Helpful Fairies

“The Helpful Fairies” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2019 written by Ifeoluwatoni Majaro, RA International School, Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria.

The Helpful Fairies

Once upon a time, there lived a unicorn named Umi. She had a bright pink colour with a little black mark on her forehead. Umi was a magical unicorn who used her magic to help people in need – this made her famous in her town. Umi lived with her parents and her little sisters in a little cave on the side of a gorgeous hill with many fragrant flowers. The hill was in a town called Sparkleville, where many other magical creatures lived. Sparkleville had narrow streets and a bright blue stream flowed through the town. Umi loved her little town and had lots of friends to play with, especially her best friend, Daphine the dolphin.

One beautiful, sunny day, Daphine went to Umi’s house so that they could go to the forest by the Land of the Pixies. The two of them agreed to have a picnic with their fairy friends: Fiona and Flora. When it was time to go, Fiona and Flora rushed in with their puffy, purple fancy dresses. They were panting as if they were being chased by a starving lion. Flora stopped outside Umi’s house to catch her breath and also to admire the beautiful flowers in the bright sunshine. “Oh my goodness!” cried Fiona, “Sorry we’re late. We had to help our mum with the house chores before leaving”. “No problem!” exclaimed Umi, “Daphine and I were also busy choosing clothes”. “We should be on our way, otherwise it will be late before we get to the forest” said Daphine. “You’re right,” said the rest of them together. After some more chitty chat, they began their journey.

Around 10am, the four friends reached an open area in the forest and set up their picnic. The journey had made them hungry and they ate up all their food in no time. When they were done, they decided to explore the area. They found a spooky, dark cave and decided to enter. They went so deep that they got tired, but they were excited and decided to continue.

Later on, Daphine found a little bit of light and followed it. She called the others and everyone followed her. The light led to a big treasure chest and they opened it. They saw a beautiful, ruby-coloured necklace inside, which Umi picked up and wore on her neck. After five minutes, Umi lost all her magic powers. The four friends were scared and did not know what to do.

Flora and Fiona went back to the Land of the Pixies to call all their fairy friends to help out, since Umi had been kind to all of them in the past. Flara, Fina and Flarine were all there. They searched around and found a powerful potion for Umi. The came back to the forest and gave it to Umi, who drank happily, even though the potion was very bitter. Umi got her magic powers back after ten minutes. She learnt a lesson not to touch anymore strange objects. When she got back home, she made some friendship bracelets and a rainbow so that she would never, ever forget this day. She and all her friends lived happily ever after.