"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh
broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping
about, and that was the beginning of fairies." --James
Matthew Barrie
Mimi and the Babling

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young Abatwa Fairy
named Mimi. She and the other Abatwas who lived with her were
a happy and helpful group of fairies. Their home was the Island of
Thoth, where all babies go before they are given to a family. Mimi
and her friends cared for the preborn bablings with tenderness
and love, preparing them for the golden time when they would be
given to their own mother and  father. Mimi was particularly fond
of the catlings, and she spent a great deal of time in the kittenery,
playing with them and teaching them the ways of a cat.

One day, as Mimi was on her way to the kittenery, she happened
to notice a new human babling, hanging from a branch in a
nearby tree, being tended by Dahlia, an older Abatwa.

Mimi called up to Dahlia, "Girl or boy?"

"Girl," replied Dahlia, "and she is a beauty. Here. We will come
down."

But when Mimi looked into the face of the beautiful babling, her
heart was changed forever. The little babling looked steadily into
Mimi's eyes and gave a soft baby sigh. Mimi carried the little
babling to her own dwelling to care for her until she was ready to
be carried to her new family.

Even though it was strictly forbidden, Mimi always softly referred
to the babling by a special endearment, "Freya." Some days
Mimi would take Freya with her to visit the catlings, sometimes
stopping to pet and feed the little ducklings and goslings.

One day, as Mimi and Freya were feeding the ducklings, Mimi
noticed Bean Nighe washing clothes in the lake nearby. She
approached Bean Nighe, because her presence was always
startling: she only washed the clothes of those that were doomed
to die. When Mimi drew close, she saw that Bean Nighe was
washing Freya's softest blanket. Mimi hid the babling under her
wing and ran home.

During the night, Brighid the Banshee began crying in Mimi's
garden. Horrified, Mimi bundled up Freya and went to visit
Cluricaune, the Household Fairy who communicated with
humans.  Mimi begged him to go to the Human Islands and find
babling Freya's home immediately. Mimi knew that this was also
dangerous, and that Freya's fate may still be doomed, being sent
to a family before she was fully formed. But Mimi felt that this was
her only chance.

The next day, Cluricaune and his wife Huldra set out on a boat to
the Human Islands. Huldra, a musician, sang to babling Freya as
they crossed the ocean. Mimi also traveled along, ever vigilant in
her guard over her babling. Behind them, a much smaller vessel
was carrying Bean Nighe and Brighid. Mimi knew that they must
hurry.

When they landed, Cluricaune hurriedly bundled babling Freya
into the village and took her immediately to the young couple who
were to care for her, and it seemed as if they were expecting her
arrival already. But Mimi was never to see her babling safely in
the care of the young couple, for the two death fairies, Brighid
and Bean Nighe, frustrated at the loss of the babling, took Mimi
instead, feeling justified since Mimi had broken the laws of
caring for preborn.

Mimi's time as an Abatwa Fairy was over, but everyone knows
that fairies have more lives than even cats! And the next time
anyone knew Mimi, she was an Natale Fairy, and she spent her
next life happily overseeing the births of young ones, bestowing
fates on newborn children and dancing in the woods.
Fairy tale by Catherine Jane Trayer
Shafer, February 10, 2006.
If I can do this, anyone in my class
can, too. RIGHT??
PERCIVALLI CATLING, THE PERFIDIOUS POOK
THE POEM:
Percivalli Catling.
Happy, childish, silly, loving;
Friend to kittens, babies, good fairies, and puppies;
Lover of mushrooms, grilled cheese sandwiches, perfumey flowers, and bubble baths
(also tin cans);
Who feels sad that Pooks are mean (though he is always loyal to them), loving to    
"underdogs," and splendid about rainbows;
Who needs the play of kittens, the trust of babies, the lick of puppies, and the kiss    
of fairies;
Who gives balls of yarn to the kitties, bones to the puppies, and glittery rainbows to  
the forest;
Who fears the other pooks, being alone, and ogres;
Who would like to see tigers love to be petted, all fairies be good, and Quempel;
Resident of Thoth.
The Perfidious Pook.

THE STORY:
Percivalli Catling came back to the Island of Thoth from Sicily, where he raised for the first 482
years of his life. Upon arrival in Thoth, he joined the group of Perfidious Pooks living under the
Western Marshmallow Forest.

A Perfidious Pook is known to be a bad fairy, or even a false fairy. The Perfidious Pook is known
for manipulating humans into pretense and hypocrisy, inspiring lies and deceit. They throw
glamour over all things false so that they seem plausible and worthy.

Percivalli Catling is rather a failure at being a Perfidious Pook, because he was raised by a nanny
goat in Sicily, and never learned pookish ways. The nanny goat, Quempel, found Percivalli in a pile
of donkey dung, where he had been unceremoniously dumped after being found kissing a kitten.

Percivalli was found kissing the kitten by the farmer, Obadiah Oddtooth. When Obadiah first
saw Percivalli, he was unsure what this odd creature was: to Obadiah, Percivalli appeared feline,
but with odd features, such as wings and a glittery lavender coat (and a green undercoat).
Regardless, he was somewhat sure that Percivalli should not be kissing the kitten. Zuzu Petals,
the Mother Cat, tended to agree with Obadiah Oddtooth.

Jalope, the kitten Percivalli was kissing, was the only female in the entire litter of kittens. She
and her brothers were mewing in worry for the shiny little catling (Percivalli).
He was being ritualistically tortured by their mother. The kittens admired Percivalli’s beautiful,
shiny, lavender coat. He was a whale or a caribou. (They surmised). But he smelled like a kitten.
He looked somewhat like a kitten. He tasted a little bit like a lightning bug. This was puzzling.  

Zuzu Petals, the Mother Cat, found Percivalli flitting around the farm yard. She made a
magnificent jump and picked Percivalli clean out of the air. Her kittens looked at their mother in
amazement and admiration. They couldn’t wait to see what she had caught! It must be a caribou
or a whale! (They surmised.) Zuzu Petals brought Percivalli back to the haystack, and began
batting  Percivalli around, strutting for her kittens and teaching them the fine art of torture.
(“Zuzu Petals” was a name she had given herself.  Obadiah called her “Snowball,” much to her
consternation.)

Meanwhile, the kittens were mewing in worry for the shiny little catling: he was playful and happy
and they admired his beautiful, shiny, lavender coat. He wasn’t a caribou or whale at all. He
smelled just like a kitten. He looked somewhat like a kitten. He tasted a little bit like a lightning
bug. This was puzzling. But, they had never really ever tasted whales or caribou either.

Percivalli, making assumptions,  playfully bounced and giggled as Zuzu Petals pummelled and
tossed him about. When Zuzu Petals stopped to clean her right hind leg, Percivalli made the
mistake of kissing one of her kittens. This particular kitten was the only female in Zuzu Petals'
entire litter. Her name was Jalope. (Obadiah called her “Fluffball.” Really, it was horrid.)

Quite suddenly, Obadiah entered the barn. The cats scattered in a frenzy – they knew that
Obadiah fed and watered them, but he wore big, dirty, brown farm boots that stomped
indiscriminately. They called him “The Man With the Boots,” (Cat: “Food Giving Slave”) and they
were scared of him. He looked at the odd catling, then at Zuzu Petals, who seemed to be in
tremendous panic (Cat: apathetic). He picked up the little catling and slung him into a big pile of
donkey dung. Problem solved.

Quempel (the nanny-goat who found Percivalli) loved Percivalli as her own and raised him to be an
empathetic, cheerful, and joyful fairy catling, though somewhat given to eating tin. Quempel, with
the aid of fairy dust, lived to the ripe old age of 560 (104 in dog years) (23 in human years). The
kittens (Jalope and her 4 brothers) visited Percivalli and Quempel often. The kittens practiced
the fine art of ritualistic torture on Percivalli. Percivalli, continuing to make assumptions,
continued to play and bounce. The kittens loved him. Jalope ESPECIALLY loved him! Zuzu Petals
didn’t love him. Quempel didn’t love Zuzu Petals.

After his nanny goat mama's death, Percivalli returned to Thoth.

How did Percivalli come to be flitting around Obadiah's farm to begin with? Many many many
many years before Percivalli was found by Zuzu Petals, he was born to a beautiful indigo fairy
catling (also a rather unusual Perfidious Pook), Clytemnestra. Though it was against all of her
better instincts and assumptions, she had fallen in love with Sibelius, a handsome green cat.
Sibelius was actually part cat, part lightning bug. He was effervescent and incandescent,
qualities that Clytemnestra both admired and envied.  

The other pooks were embarrassed and shunned Clytemnestra, her Sibelius, and their kittenish
pook, Percivalli. The Perfidious Pook Community (PPC) put Clytemnestra and her colorful family on
the Winds of Sicily to float seaward and landward and airward to a place far from Thoth. And
that is how Percivalli came to live in Sicily. And what of his parents? They were carried on a
rogue gust to southern Delaware, where they live to this day.

And that was the beginning. The end comes much later.