Welcome back to another fairyland adventure. I’m Dash and I’m excited to hear what Willow the wind dancer has been up to. Are you excited? Willow’s most favourite thing is dancing. I think everyone likes to dance. And it doesn’t matter if it is a silly dance, or a made-up dance, so long as you have fun.

Well, we better get started.

Willow the Wind Dancer

The morning was wetter than expected. The ground was sloshy underfoot, and the leaves on the trees, bent under the weight of the falling rain. To some this weather is gloomy, yet to those in Fairyland it is just another magical day to be enjoyed. All that is required is some imagination.

Not far from where Willow sat, some brownies giggled, jumping in puddles, competing to make the biggest splash. Several fairies darted from leaf to leaf playing a game trying not to get their wings too wet, laughing as they did so. And, on the open ground, some pixies used sticks to etch the dirt so that the water would follow their trail, like mini rivers on a great map. Other wee folk were racing leaf boats down the streams of water, cheering as one leaf boat passed another.

There was so much life and action happening, yet Willow just sat and waited. Others asked her to play, she smiled to thank them, yet shook her head with a no. Willow was happy waiting. 

Finally, around midday, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. Its warmth turned the puddles of water to mist which rose slowly from the ground. Willow watched on patiently as the little wisps danced and twirled, her body wanted to dance and twirl as well.

It started in her hips then spread to the rest of her body. Her knees jigged, her hands waved in the air, as her arms stretched as far as they could go. Willow threw her head back, flicking her long hair. From a distance, the others thought she was dancing to music that they couldn’t hear. And in a way she was. You see Willow is deaf and can’t hear like the others. Her ears don’t work as they should.

Willow may not be able to hear everyday sounds that you can hear, but she does feel sounds you may not feel. Like the vibration of the sky as the thunder rumbles. Or the static from lightning bolts. Or the patter of the rain as it hits the earth. And Willow’s favourite feeling sound is the wind.

The wind not only howls through the trees, it shakes and rattles them. It lifts objects like leaves and dirt, to make them dance. Willow loves the wind. To her it is a continuous music that tickles her face. It makes her arms and legs want to move. When the wind sings, her body wants to dance.

As the wind became stronger, Willow’s body moved more rapidly. Suddenly the wind settled for a moment, silent as it breathed in. With excitement Willow spread her wings. The wind breathed out in a great gust of air, lifting her from the ground. As it continued to blow, Willow could feel herself carried on its breathe. Twisting and twirling in the air, Willow danced like a fluttering leaf. This is what she had been waiting for.

Willow was so absorbed in her dancing that she didn’t notice, or care, where the wind took her. She felt it lift her, twirl her and its song tickled her ears. This went on for ages, yet sadly the wind eventually slowed. As it did, Willow was softly plonked onto the ground. Willow felt this was her best dance yet, and as she excitedly turned what the others thought, Willow realised she had no clue where she was. None at all.

Looking this way and that, nothing looked familiar. Nothing looked like home. Not far from her a Jacaranda tree was in full purple bloom. It looked amazing so she moved closer to it to smell the trumpet-shaped flowers. They had that sweet sickly smell of Spring. Plucking one from the tree she sipped the nectar slowly. Dancing was thirsty work.

Several bees thought the flowers were wonderful too. They buzzed past Willow, as they hurriedly collected the nectar. She tried to ask one where she was yet, all she felt was its annoyed buzz as it flew away. The buzz vibrated the air in a way that she knew he would not help. So, Willow fluttered to the ground and looked for a path. Surely, such a beautiful tree in bloom had many visitors. And she was right, not far from the base of the Jacaranda was a path that led through some long grass. Willow followed it.

The path snaked its way through the long grass and eventually opened to a freshly ploughed field. The smell of the rich soil overwhelmed her nose. Willow felt giddy for a moment so sat on the path. A grasshopper jumped over her in a hurry to get somewhere. It happened so quick that she never got a chance to ask it a question.

Across the field, Willow saw a group of gumtrees. To her, that seemed the most likely place to find someone, to ask where she was. Flying over the freshly ploughed field, Willow saw some magpies darting down amongst the dirt to find some yummy snacks. That made her tummy yell, as she too was hungry, but her tummy would just have to wait.

In the first gumtree Willow found a mother koala munching on some gum leaves. Its fluffy grey baby was sound asleep on its back. She thought maybe the koala would know where she was.

‘Hello, I’m lost. Do you know where I am?’

The mother koala just looked at her, shrugged its shoulders and continued to much on gum leaves. Willow decided to fly to the second gum where she found a young dark grey koala on its own. It too was munching on gum leaves.

‘Hello, I’m Willow. I’m a little bit lost. Do you know where I am.’’

In between bites the young koala grunted and pointed away from the field. Before she could ask another question, the young koala finished his last bite, closed his eyes, and was snoring. Willow couldn’t believe how quickly he had fallen asleep. She did prod him to see if he was really asleep, but he didn’t budge. All she could do was fly in the direction he had pointed.

As she flew, her eyes searched the land to see if there was anything she recognised. So far there was nothing. She was getting tired, especially after all of the dancing, and her tummy was still yelling at her, so she decided to land. Not far away was a billabong, or a large pond. She never really knew the difference. Surely there would be lots of yummies there.

She was right. Along the water’s edge she found some aquatic mint leaves, which were juicy and minty! A little further out, floating on the water, she grabbed a handful of duckweed, shoving it in her mouth hungrily. Slurping as she did. The greens were ever so tasty. After several handfuls of both plants, her tummy was no longer yelling from being hungry, yet it did grumble about being too full. Willow sat on the water’s edge and wondered what to do.

As she pondered her problem, the sun started to move lower in the sky. Willow did not want to be out all night, though if she couldn’t get directions soon, she may have to. A ripple of water tickled her toes. Startled she looked up to see a turtle’s head sticking out of the water, looking at her.

‘Hello little turtle. Can you help me?’ Yelled out Willow.

The turtle’s big eyes looked at Willow. She thought he was going to leave, yet he didn’t, he nodded instead.

‘Oh, thank you. You see, I was dancing on the wind, and didn’t notice where it took me. Now I’m lost.’ 

Willowed must have looked a little sad as the turtle came closer. It blew bubbles in the water before it lifted its long neck up. A dark brown shell rose up, and a webbed claw lifted from the water. With a sudden motion the claw splashed her. The turtle laughed. Willow was surprised but laughed too. The webbed claw tapped the water and the turtle smiled again.

‘You want me to swim with you?’ 

The long-necked turtle smiled and nodded. All Willow could do was jump into the water, splashing the turtle as she did so. Both laughed. She and the turtle splashed and dived. The water was refreshing, and made Willow feel good.

After a while she asked the turtle if he was going to help her find home. He nodded yet said nothing. Willow was curious. The turtle was friendly and helpful, though had not said a word since she met him.

‘Do you speak?’ She asked.

The turtle shook his head and looked sad.

‘That’s okay. I’m Willow. I’m deaf, I don’t hear things. Though I can read people’s lips.’

The turtle nodded in understanding, then splashed her. Willow laughed.

‘Well, we make a fine pair don’t we? You don’t speak, I don’t hear. That should make us best friends!’

This time the turtle had a great big grin on his face and splashed her with both webbed claws. The two laughed.

Willow still needed to find her way home, so she described where she lived to the turtle, who she decided to call Stretch due to his incredibly long neck. Stretch seemed to like his new nickname. He listened patiently, thought for a moment, then indicated for Willow to hop on his back. As she climbed onto his shell, the turtle started swimming away from where they had played.

Stretch wove his way in and out of some reeds, crossed a patch of pebbles and entered a small creek. He checked on Willow before lowering his head and swimming as fast as he could. It took a while for the pair to make their way up the small creek, yet eventually the creek opened to a river. Willow looked around. She wasn’t sure if she knew the river or not. It was vaguely familiar.

Though Stretch did not stop. He kept swimming. Ducking his head occasionally under the water. Willow thought he may have been checking a map or asking for directions under the water, she couldn’t be sure. As they approached a bend in the river, Willow saw Stretch wave to a couple of pelicans. One clapped his beak in response. Turning his head, Stretch winked at her then dipped into the water. It surprised her as the water rose up to her neck, then over her head. Willow held her breath as she knew she couldn’t stay underwater as long as a turtle. She hoped this was just a quick dip. A dark shadow formed above them. Then suddenly they were scooped up in a stretchy yellow beak. The pelican had scooped them up. He was now lifting them high into the air and flew across the land.

Willow squealed but Stretch just smiled. The pelican tried to speak but it just came out as a gurgly sound. Willow tapped on the beak and the pelican opened it ever so slightly. She assumed this was because he didn’t want her to fall.

Far below them the ground slowly changed. The freshly ploughed fields had vanished, as had Stretch’s billabong and small creek. The river had grown wide, snaking into the distance then returning some time later. The pelican flew straight across it all. Then in the distance Willow could make out the tall ghost gum tree near her home. She was so excited.

The pelican snapped his beak shut and started to descend. Willow could barely contain her excitement. She smiled at Stretch, who grinned back. There was a plonk as they landed. The pelican tilted his mouth, then opened it wide. The water, he had caught with them, flowed out, as did they. Willow turned to thank the pelican, who was already taking off for flight. Then she turned to Stretch.

‘Thank you for helping me, but how are you going to get home?’

Using his long neck Stretch pointed over to the local pond. There another turtle popped up from the water. When it saw Stretch it smiled. Willow was happy.

‘Well, I hope you will stick around for a while, so we can have some fun together.’

Stretch nodded excitedly. Willow hugged his neck and thanked him, before skipping off home. She couldn’t wait to tell her mother about the day’s adventure. Plus, she wanted to show her the best wind dance she had ever done.

We are all different, and that’s a wonderful thing, it makes us all special. And that is what makes life interesting. Being different doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. Look at Willow and Stretch. They each had a unique difference, yet they had fun together, helped each other and became great friends. 

Like Willow, sometimes you just have to keep looking until you find the right person to help. So, if someone doesn’t want to help or play with you, don’t worry, just keep looking as there is someone out there who’d love to be your friend. Who knows, maybe they are looking for you right now. So keep a smile on your dial, be nice to everyone, and wait for all the good things to come your way.

See you next time.