A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, on the far side of a mountain and across the sea, there stood in a very untidy yard, a most unusual house.

It had clapboard sides and an uneven roof and looked rather like it had grown instead of being built. Which was how you would expect it to look, if you knew it had been planted, which in fact it had, some time ago,

It was Grandmother's house and she had grown it herself so that it would exactly suit her when fully mature. And it did.

It had very uneven walls and a floor that tended to slope in odd places. This was, Grandmother would say, because the furniture could never get comfortable on a completely even floor. The walnut secretary could not rest it's interesting nooks and crannies behind it's sloping lid unless it could lean back in a restful fashion and cozy up to the wall.

An unhappy secretary would be a dreadful thing to have in your house. The field mice would never sleep curled in it's pigeon holes in winter if it were unhappy. When field mice leave the garden in the fall and begin to make their winter home it is better if the secretary sighs in contentment than if it groans in discomfort.

Grandmother's secretary was very contented. And the rest of the furniture was, too. From the very sleepy overstuffed sofa to the stove where the teakettle whistled happily to itself, all of Grandmother's things were just like Grandmother. A bit odd, but very satisfied.

Her house was exactly the right size (she had tended it very carefully as it grew and pruned it back whenever it was tempted to get too large). Grandmother grew her house in the exact middle of her garden, behind the rambling hedges but before the quiet river that wound it's way lazily through the village.

Lazy rivers are by far the best kind because they only chuckle over stones and never roar. Grandmother's house often smiled at the river and shook itself just a litte in happiness when the river smiled back. Now and then they spoke, but very quietly and no one knows what they said.

Every morning, in nice weather, Grandmother went to visit the flowers in her garden. Flowers like to be visited, and Grandmother's were especially well behaved. This was because they greatly enjoyed the company of fairies, and knew very well that flower fairies insist on a well behaved home.

A certain amount of dancing in the wind was expected and allowed, but no ill bred nodding would be tolerated. Grandmother was very careful of her fairies and insisted that there should always be bumblebees in her garden, because there is nothing a flower fairy likes better than a nice bumblebee ride on a sunny morning.

On this particular morning Grandmother was expecting company and so she hurried a little over placing the new toad houses under the Lilacs, where the Toad family had indicated it would most like to live.

There is no point at all in having a garden if you don't properly place the toad houses. There is nothing a self respecting toad likes better than a well placed house near a lilac. The mosquitos are particularly tasty when eaten under a lilac. And properly prepared, of course. Mrs. Toad served an excellent dinner of fly and toasted mosquito garnish. In fact, it was quite a favorite of Mr. Toad, and he insisted it be served at least once a week, usually on a sunday.

Since this particular day was a sunday, Mrs. Toad was especially anxious to get the moving overas early in the day as could be managed. Grandmother was very fond of Mrs. Toad and so she was hurrying. I expect that's why she failed to see the.....

To be continued.