The Moonlight Boy | Ferry's Tale # 1

A fairy's love

The fairy took down one of the pictures above the fireplace. The man looked young and full of hopes and dreams in that photo. She caressed his face with the tips of her fingers.

"His name was James..." she said, and her lips trembled when she said the name.

"He brought me here, in this very house. His home. I can't remember how many days I've laid in his bed, agonizing between two worlds. When I woke up, my ankle was almost healed because he had been fomenting it with healing herbs.

"James grew vegetables for a living. He earned just enough to have a modest life. He was a simple, happy man. He had the most contagious, overwhelming laughter, and he loved life. His heart was kind and generous. He couldn't hurt a fly. The people from the village were cherishing his hard work. And they knew that vegetables and fruits in his garden tasted better just because they were looked after with love. Sometimes, he didn't even have to go to the village. People often came by and bought straight from his garden.

"But I wasn't like anyone he has ever seen. And I caused him a lot of trouble. At first, I was scared and stubborn, wild even. I refused to eat, drink, or talk. I felt captive in that new world, the one I was so much curious about before. I couldn't fly, nor use any of my powers because I felt so weak. The power of the iron was too strong. But his persistence, his endless patience, and care eventually healed me. He knew I was different from the ones his kind. He must have known it from the very beginning. But it didn't bother him at all.

"He learned how to take care of me. He got used to it. In the beginning, I did nothing but watching him working in his garden from dusk 'till dawn. And in time, I began helping him with his chores. I felt good when I was seeing his plants growing and yielding fruit under my touch. There was so much to do in his small garden─ watering the plants, weeding out, digging and loosening the soil. Then, the vegetables and fruits had to be prepared for the cold season. Then, there was the conserving and canning. His basement was full of jars, pots, and bottles of all shapes and sizes, filled with the most inviting jams, marmalade, syrups, pickles, and most noble wines. And the vegetables were resting in wooden boxes filled with moist soil while the walls were covered with thick ropes of which peppers, garlic, and onion were hanging.

" James loved his simple life, and he made me love it, too. And eventually, he fell in love with me. I thought I was the luckiest being in this world and a hundred others when that happened. It wasn't that impossible love between two different beings. It was just love. It was the purest, the most honest love. So strong, that it made me stay forever. It made me want to become a human.

"All that mattered to us was to be together. We were happy. I was helping him take care of his garden, and under my power, the plants were growing like never before in those lands. People from the village were visiting ever more often to enjoy the unearthly flavors and tastes of his vegetables, fruits, and herbs. The worries seemed as drifting away like a dandelion puff, carried away by the wind. And every night, James and I were laughing and dancing under the moonlight, thinking how lucky we were to have found each other.

"The happiest day was the day of our first kiss. When this world and the ones beyond were ours... And for a moment, everything seemed perfect.

"But then, they've tried to set us apart. People and fairies alike. Sometimes I felt the whole universe was against us. And I couldn't understand how something so pure, so profound, could be wrong.

"The village people could not possibly understand how a young, strong man like him could love a stranger coming from nowhere. James has told them he found me wandering in the woods and that I was suffering from amnesia. That's how I managed to get away from their questions and curiosity. But not from their resistance. They could never accept I was different. A freak, they said. But James couldn't care less. He was not listening to their words full of venom and he kept on loving me with my whole fairy nature.