The Magic Powder
No one can say when the sickness first began in Madford, a small rural village, during the days when fairies still roamed the earth. It first affected the children then spread to all the adults until everyone was covered with open sores and lay in bed shivering from fever. The most able of the hamlet took counsel together.
“This plague will be the death of us all,” declared old Granny Woodnot.
Orin Gonnick, the mayor, massaged a bulge on his knee. “I agree this is all painful, but nobody has died from it yet.”
Granny refused to share the mayor’s optimism. “That may be so but how are we going to plant our crops, and continue to tend to our livestock? If this disease does not kill us outright, we’ll starve to death.”
The meeting continued as such meetings do when everyone has something to complain about, but no one has any solutions to the problem. They thought of seeking help from doctors, but they lived in neighboring villages which would not allow anyone from Madford to enter for fear the plague might spread. With all else failing, the town turned to Granny for her opinion thinking her to be the wisest because she was the oldest citizen.
Granny scratched her grey head. Her wrinkled face cracked into a smile. “You know, in the old days we gathered herbs to dispel things like this, but I think our plight is beyond simple herbs. We need a fairy godmother to make things right for us.”
Now most of the town’s people had long since given up on believing in fairies and such, but since they were out of options no one objected. No one had the faintest idea where to look for this magical being who would solve their problem. After much discussion and grumbling among the people, Mayor Gonnick stood in the village square and holding onto his lapel he spoke authoritatively. “I agree with Granny. We need to find a fairy godmother. Since we don’t know where one is, let’s appoint a team of three to find and bring back a fairy godmother to our village.”
Now, he had no idea as to why the number of seekers was to be three, but that number popped into his head as he thought about it. And so, Arlo, and his twin sister, Arla, and their close friend, Fred, all three still in their teens and the healthiest in the village, were sent on their way.
Outside the village, Arlo turned to his companions. “They said to find a fairy godmother. Now just how do they think we can do that? I’m not sure one even exists.”
His sister looked her brother in the eye. “Granny Woodnot says we must believe and we will know the way.”
“But which way is that?” her brother countered.
Fred stepped between the twins. “I have an idea. Since we don’t know the way. Each way is as good as any other to try. Let’s blindfold Arla and turn her around enough times that she loses direction and let her keep turning until she feels she should stop, and whatever direction she ends up facing that’s how we will go.”
And so, that’s what they did. With Arla blindfolded and reaching out her arm the others turned her around and stopped. She then turned around in a circle and a half and pointed. “There,” she said. “That’s the direction in which we are to go. I feel it.”
She pointed to the thick band of trees that stood near the banks of the River Spindle. Neither of her companions relished fighting their way through thick underbrush, but they had no better suggestion. Ater a half day struggling through the dense forest, they came to the river where they saw a small cottage about the right size for a rabbit (if they dwelled in anything but a hole in the ground). Wildflowers of every sort imaginable surrounded the cottage blooming profusely even though it was Fall and past time for them to do so.
Arlo pointed at the cottage. “Now what do you make of that?”
Arla smoothed back her braided golden hair. “Now if that is not the house of a fairy then I don’t know what is.”
Fred nodded.
The three companions stepped closer. Before they came up to the flowers, a small being appeared before them. Dressed in gold and shining in the sunlight she told the trio to stop. “Now don’t you go trampling on my beauties like you big people are so apt to do.” She held up a sparkling wand. “State your business from where you stand and be on your way.”
Arlo cleared his throat. “I, uh, we came from the village Madford. A plague has come upon our town. Everyone has a fever and sores. Our village doctor can do nothing for it. We are looking for a fairy godmother to help us.”
The fairy–for it was indeed a fairy they had found–stared hard at the three young people. “Pshaw. You bother me for such a little thing as that? You big people never give us fairies a mind except when you need something. Then you expect us to be your fairy godmother and be at your beck and call.”
“But, but,” stammered Fred. “Isn’t that what fairies are for?”
A smirk crept over the fairy’s face. “I suppose that is what the king of fairies in Fairyland would have us do, but I haven’t been there for ages. Still, I will help you this once.” She went inside her cottage and the three young people heard her fumbling around and humming to herself. After a few minutes she brought out a pouch with powder in it. “Mix this up with pure water in a cup and it will make your troubles go away, but only use a pinch in each cup and after the cure make sure you throw the rest away.”
Arlo, Arla, and Fred thanked the fairy profusely and hurried back to their village where they did as instructed. Soon everyone recovered from their ills. When they took the remaining powder to dispose of it as the fairy had said to do, Mayor Gonnick stood in their way. “You know that magic powder ought to be kept safe in case we need it again, give it to me for safe keeping.”
Arlo resisted him. “But the fairy insisted we get rid of it. I’m sure she had a reason.”
“Yes, so we’ll have to keep coming to her when problems come.”
Arlo and the others relented and gave the mayor the pouch with the powder.
For several years after that Madford village prospered. Any time there was even a hint of illness the mayor found that even the tiniest pinch of the fairy’s powder made it go away from man and beast. Just a grain of the mixture restored failing crops. The villagers suffered no problems of any kind–until the powder ran out. That’s when the worst plague of all broke out sweeping through all the villages in the land.
Most of the villages fared well having dealt with difficult times over the years, but by now the people of Madford had no recent experience with such things. They were beside themselves as people and livestock grew sicker every day. Crops withered in the fields. The villagers sent Arlo, Arla, and Fred to find the fairy godmother as they had before.
The twins and their friend, much older now, complied and though sickened themselves found the fairy on the fourth day of their journey. They told her their plight.
The fairy frowned. “Ah, this is because you did not do as I asked and did not get rid of the excess powder I had given you, but used it so you wouldn’t have any problems all these years. Had you done as I instructed you would have built up resistance when smaller plagues came and when this new one arrived you would have the strength to weather it. Now, I have no more magic powder to give.”
Arlo and the others returned to the village and told the people the news. There was much mourning that day. In the ensuing days many of the villagers suffered greatly. The survivors learned the hard lesson. It is not good to never have problems, because they make us stronger and able to face worse things when they come.