The Toad & the Mud Fairy
A fairytale
In a groggy murky swamp there once lived a miserable slimy Toad. He lived with a Mud Fairy, who liked to fly above the swamp and skate across the surface of the water. But the Mud Fairy was not like other fairies. She was devious and stubborn. She had clever ways of getting what she wanted.
The Toad and the Mud Fairy spent each day hunting for flies or bathing in the mud. The fairy liked to use her powers whenever she got bored.
One day, the couple went out fly hunting as usual when they were taken aback by the sound of horse hooves galloping on the land nearby. They spotted a sleek black horse, who let out a shrill “neeeeigh!” and collapsed to the ground. As the horse collapsed, a knight who had been riding on its back fell off with a thud and lay unconscious. The horse meanwhile just got back to its feet and trotted back to wherever it came from, leaving the knight alone on the ground with what appeared to be an arrow in his arm.
“Look!” said the fairy.
The knight was armed with bright titanium armour, but had lost a part of the protection for his arm, which was where the arrow had struck him. The Mud Fairy flew over and used her wand to remove the arrow.
“Blasted knight!” moaned the Toad, “what business of it is his to come to my swamp?”
“He’s very rich,” said the Mud Fairy, examining his armour. “I shall wake him up.”
As the fairy was about to wave her wand, the Toad stopped her. “Wait! Lets look at his finery first, maybe he’s carrying treasure.”
The Toad leapt over the shoulder of the knight and slithered himself under the armour, which was a tight squeeze. He slid onto his chest as far as he could without getting crushed and in the knight’s pocket the Toad felt something round and heavy. He grabbed it with his sticky wet tongue and carried it up for the fairy to see.
“Here, croak! Treasure, croak!”
The Fairy scratched her muddy green hair and excitedly examined the coin’s inscription.
“This,” she gasped, “is a special coin!” She snatched it from the Toad at once, much to his frustration, and held it in front of her face as it mirrored her muddy reflection. “Look, Toad! Look how it shines at us!”
The Toad grunted. All he could think about was the idea that he might be able to buy a large swamp, twice as muddy as this and with many more flies for him to feast on. But while the Fairy and the Toad were fantasising, something very odd happened.
All the expensive armour on the knight began to disappear. His chest gear melted away in the sun and his black boots dissolved into the earth.
The sword that was attached to his waist fell apart and the metal buried itself into the ground. The helmet he was previously wearing turned to liquid silver before it dissolved into nothingness and revealed his face, which was handsome with bronzed skin. His eyes were closed in a deep sleep.
“Fairy!” croaked the Toad.
The Mud Fairy flew away from the coin and hovered over the knight’s face. “Wake up knight!” she shouted, “someone has stolen your armour!”
When he didn’t respond, the Fairy flew down to his ear and tugged it hard. Eventually the knight began to stir. The Toad jumped onto his chest and prodded the knight with his wet tongue, “Come on knight.”
The knight opened his eyes at last. He looked rather delirious as he stared between the Fairy and the Toad.
“What is this?” he asked, sitting up and flicking the Toad off his chest. “Why am I here?”
He wafted the air with his hand as he tried to stop the pestering Fairy from whizzing around his head. “Get away from me!”
“Thats not very grateful,” she said to the knight, “we saved your life. Look at this arrow I pulled out of your arm.” She held it up and showed him. The knight took the arrow in his hand. “I owe you thanks. My name is Timothy.”
The Toad croaked, “Who shot you with the arrow?”
Timothy took a while to answer, “It could have been any one of those men. They want something that belongs to me.”
“Oh you mean-“ but before the Toad could finish his sentence, the Fairy waved her magic wand and unbeknownst to the knight, sealed his mouth shut for a few seconds.
“What did the men want from you?” she asked instead.
“That is not your business,”he replied.
Timothy moved his hands over his body in a confused state. “My armour,” he panicked, feeling his chest pocket. “Did the man chasing me take a coin out of my pocket?” Did you see him steel from me?”
The Fairy waved her magic wand and appearing in mid air was a colourful mist forming the shape of a man taking something from the chest of an unconscious man. “Thats what we saw,” lied the Mud Fairy. “He went that way, deep into the forest.”
The Toad had caught on to the Mud Fairy’s trick and nodded his head in agreement.
“Well!,” said Timothy, “I shall be on my way.”
The knight began walking away from the two creatures and ventured deep into the forest. As soon as he was out of sight, the Mud Fairy flew behind the rock and pulled the coin from under it. It gleamed at her in the fading sunset.
“You wicked Fairy,” croaked the Toad, “You stole his precious coin.”
“We stole it,” replied the Mud Fairy, “Think how rich it will make me!”
After a few more moments holding the precious item, the Mud Fairy began to change. Her muddy brown shoes turned to pure gold, her scrappy old dress became a long shimmering gown. Even her hair became a more vibrant green and was pinned away from her face with a diamond broach.
“Mud Fairy!” gasped the Toad, “You are not muddy anymore! You are a rich Fairy!”
The Mud Fairy shimmered and sparkled, flying over the heads of the trees and dancing in the air, singing to the birds in the sky. “Look at me!” she beamed, “Look how beautiful I am! My shoes are gleaming gold, I’m richer than any man!”
She flew back down to the swamp and gazed at her stunning reflection in the water. She had been so bold and vain that she had not noticed that Timothy was watching her from behind the trees.
“Let me have the coin now,” said the Toad, “Let me hold it.”
But the Mud Fairy just laughed in his face. “If I let you hold it I’m sure I would lose all this magnificence! Go away Toad, hop along to another swamp. This one is mine!”
Noticing the greed in her eyes, the Toad hopped toward her and before she had chance to wave her wand, he gobbled her up at once. After he had eaten her whole, he spat out the coin she had been holding.
“Now it is mine,” croaked the Toad, “I shall be the king of all the swamps.”
“No you shall not,” said Timothy, stepping out from the shadows, “that coin belongs to me.”
Then he picked up the arrow and threatened to plunge it into the Toad unless he gave him the coin back.
The Toad was horrified, “Oh how I wished to be a royal Toad!” but the Toad gave up and put the coin down. Timothy picked it up.
“Hop along now Toad.”
The Toad hopped off as far away from him as his tired legs would allow. The knight held the coin in his hand tightly and gazed at it while his leather boots came back on his legs, and his body covered in shiny titanium armour once again.
“I cannot afford to loose the coin the princess entrusted to me. She would have wanted me to be wise, not have it snatched away by a rotten toad. I shall give it to my son Tristan, for he is nearly ten years old now. No one shall suspect him to possess it. He deserves it more than I.”
And with that, the knight spoke to his son that very evening. After he had explained the coin and all of its powers, he told Tristan to guard it with all his life. Tristan put the coin under his mattress and fell asleep.
This story is a chapter from ‘Fairytales of the Elvish Coin’ which can be read here;
https://www.amazon.com/Fairytales-Elvish-Coin-Kate-Norwood-Carr/dp/B0875ZTFJF