Hello I’m Dash. Come along with me on another fairyland adventure. Today we catch up with Eniki the water sprite, who seems to have had a rough night, and woken up in a funny mood. Let’s see how she handles it.

Eniki, the Water Sprite

Eniki didn’t sleep well and woke up in a terrible mood. One would wonder why, as she lived near a beautiful waterhole with an amazing waterfall. She lived in a place any water sprite would be happy in, Kondalilla Falls, for it was one of the Blackall Range’s most spectacular waterfalls. Water sprites absolutely adore water. Swimming in it, playing in it and just hanging out in it. It was hard to imagine that anyone, on such a beautiful day, could be in a terrible mood, yet Eniki’s mood was ever so foul. 

This very morning, Eniki snapped at her mother when she put mint into her pancakes instead of pansies. She growled at her brother when he took the last pancake, thinking she didn’t want it. Hissed at her little sister for chomping too loud. And was about to scream at Hubert the beetle for excitedly tapping on the table as he waited for his breakfast.

Before she could open her mouth, her mother scolded her, telling her she had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, and that she now had a choice. To either go back to bed and get up on the right side, or go for a swim. Eniki thought about it for a moment. She had no idea that there was a right or a wrong side to a bed, other than a left and a right. Plus, since her bed was pressed to the cave wall, there was only one side to get up from. What her mother said didn’t make sense to her. Such statements left her a little confused. Though there was only one good option, she decided to go for a swim.

Still in a foul mood, Eniki stomped down the path, mumbling to herself.

‘It’s not my fault that everyone is being an annoying buzzy wuzzy today.’

She huffs loudly.

‘I don’t understand why my mother scolded me. Me! Of all sprites! When I did nothing wrong. Did she not see my brother, or hear my sister? Pfft!’

Her anger blinded her so much, that she did not see the rock in the middle of the path. Nor did she see, or hear, Lachy, another water sprite, trying to warn her. Instead, because of her mood, she kicked that rock. And she kicked it hard. Eniki squealed in pain just as Lachy landed next to her.

‘Oh, are you okay?’ He asked.

‘Do I look alright?’ Eniki squealed.

‘I did try to warn you, but you seemed absorbed in a conversation with someone.’ Lachy looked around to see who she had been talking to. There was no one.

‘I’m by myself you ninny whinny.’ She responded.

Lachy was taken back by her anger. ‘There is no need to be rude. I did try and help.’

‘Well, you obviously didn’t try enough.’ Eniki pushed her way past Lachy and continued to the waterhole.

Lachy stood there stunned. He had never met such a rude water sprite. In general, all the wee folk were a happy bunch. This one was not. He wasn’t going to let her ruin his day, so Lachy went back on his way, singing to himself and waving to a nearby possum who winked back at him. It’s such a beautiful day, he thought.

In the opposite direction, Eniki approached the water’s edge, yet she tripped on a stick, causing her to fall. She landed face down in some mud. Bubbles of angry words popped from the mud as Eniki tried to pull herself from the oozy stickiness. After much effort, she was free of the mud, however, it was caked all over her. So Eniki dove into the cool water to wash off.

Her dive took her down into the water, where she saw wild grasses and the roots of the duckweed floating above. As she floated up to the surface, Eniki felt a small pull on one of her feet. Looking down she saw a little fish sucking the mud from her foot. She yelled at the little fish to stop, yet he didn’t hear her words because they rose through the water as bubbles. It’s probably a good thing as nobody should hear such angry words.

Frightened by something, the little fish stopped nibbling her foot, and darted off. Eniki rose to the surface. She was rinsing her wings when a dark shadow passed underneath. Thinking it was the little fish, she told him to go away. The shadow passed again, yet it looked larger than the fish she had seen. Suddenly something gripped her foot and dragged her under the water.

Eniki squealed in fright and tried to see what was dragging her, but they were moving too quickly. Bubbles and underwater grasses slapped her face each time she tried to look. It was obvious that they were getting deeper and deeper into the waterhole. She knew this as the water was getting cooler and darker. Fortunately, water sprite can breath under water, so there was no chance of her drowning. 

Eniki tried to wiggle free. She couldn’t. Using her hands she felt down her legs to reach whatever had grabbed her. As it was getting fairly dark now, she couldn’t see anything beyond her nose. Surrounding her foot, she could feel slimy lips, attached to a slimy head. It must be an eel she thought. They are little rascals who like to tease water sprite. She tapped it on the head with her hand in the hopes it would release her. It didn’t. She tapped it harder. The eel shook its head.

Eniki didn’t know what to do as the eel seemed to be enjoying itself. And it wouldn’t listen to her. She either had to wait till it got bored with her, or … What was the or? She thought a bit. Hmm. Hummed a bit. Hum. Then decided to create a glow ball. Surely, since the eel liked living in the dark, it wouldn’t like bright light in its face.

Using all her might she created the biggest glow ball she could. It wasn’t as big, or as bright as she hoped, yet she thought it would work. With the light from the glow ball she could clearly see the eel’s eyes in the darkness. It blinked at her, while still holding her feet in its mouth.

They were no longer moving as the light startled the eel to a stop. It stared at her and she at the eel. Between them the glow ball shined. Suddenly the glow grew. The eel squinted its eyes as if unhappy with the increasing brightness. The area around the two got brighter and brighter. Unhappy, the eel screwed up its nose and spat out Eniki’s feet. As soon as it did she turned and kicked to get away from it. There behind her was someone else’s glow ball. It was huge. Sending light in all directions.

A hand reached out from behind the glow ball. It took her hand and dragged Eniki up to the surface with the large glow ball leading the way. As they got to the top, Eniki saw that it was Lachy who had pulled her from the eel.

‘I did try and get it to release me.’ She pouted.

‘Well, you obviously didn’t try enough.’ He said in a voice mimicking hers from earlier.

Eniki puffed her cheeks, as if to say something harsh, instead she let the breath out and started again.

‘I’m sorry. I woke up in an odd mood this morning. Thank you for helping.’

‘That’s okay.’ Smiled Lachy with his cheeriest smile. ‘Why do you think you woke up in a mood?’ he asked.

‘Hmmm. I ate a lot of candied figs yesterday. Maybe too many.’ She wondered.

‘Too many sweets can make your body feel icky.’ Lachy nodded.

‘Then I had a horrible dream last night. It scared me. And made me sad. Maybe I carried those feelings into the day.’ Eniki thought about the emotions the dream made her feel. They were yucky emotions, she did not like the feel of them. Plus, she did not know why they stayed after she woke up.

Lachy listened thoughtfully before speaking. ‘My Mum doesn’t let me have pineapple, as she says it gives me nightmares, and that I wake up mean the next day. Maybe candied figs are the same for you?’

‘Maybe they are.’ Agreed Eniki.

‘And my Dad says that when you are in a unhappy mood, unhappy things happen to you. It’s like the unhappiness invites more unhappiness into your life.’ Spoke Lachy.

‘Oh, that must be true, because everything was unhappy this morning. It was like everything was going wrong. How do I fix it?’ She asked.

‘Well, I work out the food that causes me to feel that way. Then I don’t eat it. And if I do have a bad dream, I tell my Mum and we talk about that. I tell her how it makes me feel inside, whether it is scared, lonely or angry. I find talking about it helps.’ Lachy smiled at her.

‘Like we are doing now?’ She asked.

He nodded. ‘Yes. And I try and do the things that make me happy. Even if I don’t really want to.’

‘Well, I like swimming, yet that didn’t go so well.’ Eniki pointed to the water.

‘It helps to hang out with good friends.’ Here Lachy smiled even harder. ‘Though, since I don’t want them feeling as bad as me, I try extra hard to be nice. Happy thoughts help.’

‘You are right Lachy. Today I have been unpleasant to so many people who love me. And you are a good friend. How about I meet you back here when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky.’ Eniki had a plan.

‘Sure!’ Yelled Lachy as Eniki ran off home.

Once she got there, Eniki gave Hubert a grape, apologised to her brother and sister, then gave them each a hug. Both said yuck, but let her hug them anyway. Then she ran to her Mother and told her about why she thought she was moody. Her Mother listened to everything she had to say, smiled at her and gave her the biggest hug.

‘Do you feel better now?’ Her Mother asked.

Eniki said she did, then thanked her Mother, before running out of the house to meet up with Lachy at the waterhole. Lachy and Eniki giggled as they dove into the fresh cool water, where they splashed and played games all afternoon. Lachy even taught her how to swim up waterfalls!

Eniki may have started the day in a foul mood, yet she ended it in a wonderful mood. This shows us that bad moods don’t have to stay. With some effort, we can make them go away.

There are things in life, whether they are food, dreams or events, that can make us feel out of place or odd. We may not always know what causes them, but we can take action, when we feel that way.

It’s not nice blaming those around us for how we feel. All it does is make everyone feel worse. If you don’t like the feeling, it’s not fair making them feel the same way too.

Like Lachy said, sometimes it helps to talk to someone about how we are feeling. Or we can just focus on the good things, the things that make us happy, or laugh or smile. And it goes without saying, that hanging out with good friends, can put a smile on your dial.

So next time you feel that way, talk to someone close to you, and if you don’t feel like talking, just give them a big hug. Surely that will make a foul mood go away.

If it helps, you can always join me on another fairyland adventure. See you soon.