She is Fierce: Fairy Dust Mischief

Hey, grownups! Tessa Flannery here, and we at GirlTales know how quickly family time turns into scrolling time, with everyone defaulting to their own devices after a long day. Wouldn't it be great to have an active option the whole family can enjoy? Something fun for those cozy fall nights when no one wants to leave the house? We've found the answer. Next, Playground. An active game system where your body powers the play. It's 100% motion-driven gaming, no controllers or wearables needed. Just move naturally to play. The game library is packed with family favorites. Join Blui in a game of keepy-upy. Go on adventures with How to Train Your Dragon, Dance with Barbie, Pop Bubbles in Gabby's Dollhouse, or Master Some Moves with Kung Fu Panda. Even better, Playground is kids safe, with no ads, in-app purchases, or mature content. It's the perfect way to turn screen time into active family time this fall. Want to learn more? Visit nextplayground.com, that's nexplayground.com, to explore active family gaming today. Hey, Tale Blazers. I'm Rebecca Cunningham, and this is Girl Tales, a kids podcast packed with girl power and stories where every child's voice matters. Grown-ups, Girl Tales is brought to you by families like yours. If you would like to hear your child's name at the top of our next episode, or if you would like me to wish them a happy birthday, head to patreon.com/girltales and join a team today. Now on to our episode. This is the next story in our She Is Fierce series. Fairy Dust, Mischief. Enjoy. I'd like to tell you about a friend of mine. Who in the world? Hello, Miss Rebecca. It is I, Isabel Burtwistle, Plumber Extraordinaire. Let me guess, something in our plumbing you've got to check? How'd you know? Oops. I'm going to the flower shop. I've got to send some flowers to my friends. I'll be back soon. Don't get into too much trouble, Isabel. Trouble? Me? Never. Now where to start on the plumbing? Oh, hello. The record is running. Tickle-tee, tickle-tail, little piglets. How do you turn this off? Ouch! Well, I suppose if it's recording, I might as well tell a story. This is a story my Nana's Nona told me about two florists, an equal thief, and magical flower crowns. Long, long ago, when kings and queens were in charge of most things, and some of the horses were actually unicorns, there were two best friend florists who lived in a small village. The village was called Harmony, and the people there were friendly and welcoming. The flower shop was always busy. Miss Ford grew the flowers, and Miss Page grew the leaves, and together they arranged the bouquets. Miss Ford and Miss Page were best friends. They were only teenagers, but they had to work to support their families, so they opened the Ford and Page Flower Shop. Work then, child labour laws were very lax. Anyway, people would come from far and wide to buy the Ford and Page bouquets and arrangements, but what everyone loved most was the flower crowns. They were so beautiful, and somehow the flowers never wilted. Some even said the flowers changed with the seasons. Daffodils covered the flower crown in spring, but changed to chrysanthemums in the fall. Once a royal princess came in her carriage to buy a flower crown, and she liked it so much she made it her official crown, and made the florists honorary knights. But that's another story. This story is about when a ragamuffin, rapscallion rapscall named Flapjack, tried to steal the florists secret ingredient. Old Flapjack, who was actually only 13, was down on her luck. She made her living by collecting used swords from battlefields, but there hadn't been any battles for ages, and she needed some way to make a little money. She happened to arrive in the village of Harmony, just when everyone was preparing for the yearly FET. A FET is just another word for a party, with food and drink and music and dancing. Flapjack saw the decorations going up, and saw the special flower arrangements being created in the Ford and Page flower shop. "Hmm, let's see what I can steal for myself," Flapjack thought, and she snuck around the back of the flower shop to the delivery door. Peeking into a window, Flapjack spotted Miss Ford and Miss Page standing over a flower crown. Miss Ford was adding wild time, while Miss Page added honeysuckle. Next, they added violets, then lavender, and a few bright daisies. As Miss Ford carefully placed more flowers, Miss Page took a small jar down from a high shelf. Flapjack watched closely as Miss Page opened the top of the jar, and spooned a sparkling, shimmering dust onto the flower crown. Miss Ford and Miss Page chanted as they worked, "Magic dust from fairy land, make our flower crown so grand!" "Fairy dust?" Oh, Miss Page, isn't it lucky that we have this fairy dust? Look how lovely the flower crown shimmers and shines. Indeed, Miss Ford, thank goodness we found that sweet last fairy and helped her get home to fairy land. Then she gave us this fairy dust as a thank you present. I know all that, Miss Page, I was there too. Oh, right. Well, I just like to remember that. What an adventure! Miss Page put the jar back on the high shelf. Flapjack stood watching in awe. So this was the secret of the Ford and Page flower crowns. Flapjack knew that fairy dust could catch quite a price in London. Maybe she could make some quick money if she could get her hands on that magic fairy dust. The florists finished putting the final touches on the flower crown, and then Miss Ford and Miss Page both went to the front of the flower shop to arrange their other bouquets. Flapjack took her opportunity to sneak in through the back door. "Just gotta get my hands on that magic fairy dust!" Flapjack stayed low, hurrying to the shelves. She spotted the jar of magic fairy dust. "Gotcha!" She opened the jar, and inside she saw the shimmering fairy dust. When she looked at the fairy dust, she thought she heard music and giggling. Flapjack was entranced. Suddenly she felt like she had to try some fairy dust. Flapjack scooped up the dust with her fingers and greedily shoved the dust in her mouth. But Flapjack hadn't expected the fairy dust to be so dusty. It clogged her mouth and throat, and when she sniffed it went up her nose and made her cough. Miss Ford and Miss Page came running, but Flapjack was scurrying out the back door and away from the flower shop, coughing and sputtering all the way with the fairy dust in hand. "What in the world? That rap scallion has our fairy dust! That's all the fairy dust we have left after her!" The chase was on. Flapjack was still trying to swallow the spoonful of fairy dust, but the shimmering powder was impossible to get down without some water. Flapjack saw a horse trough straight ahead, where a chestnut mare was getting a cold drink. Flapjack ran straight to the horse's water trough and jumped straight into it, mouth first, startling the poor horse. "Fairy dust, here occurs! Swap that thief into a horse!" Wind swirled, strange music filled the air. Flapjack sputtered and stood up in the water trough, looking for the fairy dust. She had jumped into the water with the jar in her hand, and the jar sat, sunk at the bottom of the water trough. Then the fairy dust magic took effect. "What's happening?" Flapjack suddenly was looking down at the trough from quite a few feet higher up, and she could see herself. Flapjack wondered why she could see herself and tried to ask, but all that came out was a "ah!" Flapjack saw her own self look at her, and "ah!" Flapjack was now in the body of the horse, and vice versa. Flapjack, the horse, panicked and backed away, bumping into a maypole that had been set up for the fate. The maypole gave a loud "crack" and slowly fell, hauling down all the coloured ribbons and decorations set up in the Harmony Village Square. Then the maypole crashed down onto the musician's stage. Luckily no one was on the stage. In the commotion, Flapjack almost forgot she was a horse. Ms Ford grabbed Flapjack's human body, and Ms Page took Flapjack the horse by the reins. "Please help! I'm a horse! I need oats! Get me out of this puny human body! Sorry about that, Chestnut. We'll put you back in the right body. Fairy dust, we thank you! Now our trick is all through!" Flapjack felt herself floating around for a moment, before she was back inside her own human body. "Few! Well, ladies, what a grand adventure! I'll be off! Make sure that rascal horse-gitties come up in! Nice try, thief! Hand over the fairy dust!" "About that!" Flapjack reached into the trough and pulled out the jar. Ms Page took it from Flapjack and opened it. Her jaw dropped. "Is there any left?" Ms Ford asked. In answer, Ms Page turned the jar upside down. All that was inside was horse trough water. All the fairy dust was now at the bottom of a horse trough. Flapjack, Ms Ford and Ms Page sat down and leaned on the trough. They looked miserable. "I'm Flapjack, by the way. Sorry about the fairy dust. I thought maybe I could, you know, sell it or, I dunno, start my own flower shop?" "You know, Flapjack, if you had just asked nicely, we would have given you a bit of fairy dust. True, in harmony everyone is welcome, and hospitality is important to us." "Really?" "Yes, but instead you stole, so the fairies worked their magic on you. And we'll never be able to make a magic flower crown again." And Flapjack cried, because she felt the consequences of what she had done. "Actually, my dear Ms Ford, there is a tiny bit of fairy dust left," Ms Page said, as she pulled out a teeny glass jar of sparkling fairy dust. "I put some aside for your birthday. I thought I'd make you a special flower crown, but I think there's just enough here for your flower crown and the flower crowns we promised for the fate. Ms Page, you are simply miraculous. What would I do without you?" Ms Ford and Ms Page beamed at each other. Flapjack sniffled. "Alright, Flapjack, stop that sniffling and put on an apron." "You mean you're not sending me to jail?" "What use would you be in jail? Here in our flower shop, you can help with the flowers." "Unless you'd prefer jail?" "No, thank you indeed. I'd much rather work here." So, Ms Ford and Ms Page put Flapjack on sweeping and cleaning duty. And Flapjack worked quick as a whistle, cleaning the flower shop from top to bottom. Ms Ford and Ms Page whipped up a few magic flower crowns, just in time for the fate. After the fate, two things happened. First, Chestnut the horse, who drank fairy dust, remember? Grew a horn and became a very famous unicorn. Second, Flapjack stayed on as flower shop assistant, and even made some improvements, turning the old storeroom into a tea shop and library, so villagers could sip bubble tea and read while they waited for their bouquets. Years passed, and while Ms Ford and Ms Page couldn't make their magic flower crowns because they were all out of fairy dust, everyone loved the regular flower crowns, bouquets and arrangements they created. And when they decided to retire early and move to the seaside, they offered their flower shop to Flapjack, who became the most renowned and beloved florist in all the land. The Ebb. "Ishbel, I'm back." "Clippity cloppals, it's Ms Rebecca." "Hey Isabel, I brought you a flower." "A flower? For me?" "Well sure, you work so hard on the plumbing around here, it's the least I can do." "Oh thank you, thank you very much Ms Rebecca, I'll cherish this flower I will. Goodbye now Ms Rebecca, bagai, bugalai, good boy." Hmm, wouldn't you know it, there is something on the recorder, I wonder what it could be. That was Fairy Dust Mischief, written by Tessa Flannery. A part of our She Is Fierce series, which are adaptations of the original plays written by William Shakespeare. This story was written with the help from the Girl Tales Club members, who gave us their feedback on this story. If you would like to hear Girl Tales stories before anyone else, and join me in Zoom meetings to give me your feedback on our stories, grownups can head to patreon.com/girltales and sign up for the Girl Tales Club tier or above. It gets you into the meetings and other perks, like special shoutouts or a birthday shoutout, and into our brand new Girl Tales Penpal program. Today's episode was performed by Tessa Flannery. It was also performed and executive produced by yours truly, Rebecca Cunningham. Girl Tales is a Cordelia Studios production. Grownups, you can get access to ad-free episodes of Girl Tales, as well as a range of other shows for the kids in your life, by subscribing to Star Glow Plus on Apple Podcasts. If you'd like to hear me narrate the original stories of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the wonderful Wizard of Oz, or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, head to patreon.com/girltales and join Team Sunnybrook or above. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review wherever you get your podcasts. And hey, if you loved this story, share it with a friend. Oh and remember, I believe in you. Cause I trust your heart, I trust my heart, and I trust your mind, I trust my mind, and I trust the friends, I trust the friends. I know you will find or the hill, and on the road, so off you go. And remember, I believe in you.