Hello I’m Dash. Come along with me on another fairyland adventure. Today, we join Roman who has anxiety, but is trying hard to overcome it. I sure hope he does. Let’s see what adventure he is up to.

Roman the Rock Fairy

Roman stared at the cave entrance. It was dark. He didn’t like the dark. It scared him, all the unknown possibilities that lay beyond the entrance. His imagination would run wild, thinking of all the monsters that awaited him. He knew most of the monsters didn’t exist, yet his imagination was powerful. So powerful, it made his body tremble.

Squinting into the darkness, Roman thought for a moment. As a rock fairy, he collected rocks from many places. Some deep in the ocean, others by a river’s edge and the best of them from the mountains. It was a known fact that the best rocks, the prettiest rocks, the most magical rocks, came from deep within caves. Well, except for the black opals, they came from deep underground in the semi-desert region humans call Lightning Ridge. 

Roman has only ever seen one black opal, and it was the most beautiful rock he had ever seen. The opal was the one his father, Rolph, found many years ago. Rolph was only young at the time, and he was so enchanted by the opal, he carried it with him everywhere, calling it his good luck charm. When Rolph met Roman’s mother, Ceru, he fashioned the black opal into a beautiful necklace and presented it to her. As a sign of his love. From that day forwards, Ceru has worn it and never taken it off. When Roman was a baby and his mother leant over him, the stone would dangle above his face. All the colours it reflected soothed him. His mother said it always stopped him crying.

Rolph is a very well known rock fairy. He is especially known for his ability to find the most beautiful and the most magical rocks. People come from far and wide, to buy the rocks he finds.

The idea of such wonderful rocks has brought Roman to this cave. Roman does not want the fame his father has, yet he does want to be known for finding only the best of rocks. And this cave is known for it’s magic. So Roman stands at the entrance staring into the darkness. His fear grips him tightly.

‘No.’ Roman says sternly to no-one in particular. ‘I will not let my fear stop me from doing the things I want to do.’

He takes a step forward towards the entrance. Straightening his satchel and preparing his rock pick, Roman takes a deep breath as he steps into the darkness. With the daylight behind him and the darkness in front, he creates a glow ball to lead the way. To reduce his fear, and to stop his imagination from running wild, Roman starts to hum to himself. A little tune that always makes him happy. A bold attempt to distract him from his fear.

Roman can’t remember when his fear started, or if anything even started it. All he knew was that it came on when he least expected it. It would grip his chest hard, make him sweat, and put nasty doubt in his mind. Fear was uncomfortable and he hated it. Over the years Roman had tried many things to get rid of the feeling. 

He had repetitively counted out of sequence – 2, 3, 4, 17, 6, 19. That wasn’t bad as it distracted his brain. He had talked about it with his mother. She told him to only think of positive, and happy outcomes. That wasn’t always easy for him. 

When in situations, such as now, he imagined what’s the worse that could happen? Laughing, he thought that no matter what happened, no one could take his birthday from him. For some reason that made him happier.

Today, Roman was facing his fear by breathing deep and just entering the cave. The glow ball led the way. With each step, Roman touched the walls. It may have looked like he was playing or just running his fingers along the roughness. In truth, he was scanning for the perfect rocks. Not with his eyes, but with his fingertips. A truly magical rock will send out little sparks of electricity. Sparks so small, that only the most sensitive of nerves could feel them. And rock fairies had such nerves in their fingers.

Though, there once was a special rock fairy who developed the ability to smell magical rocks. It was a very unique ability, and no one since has been able to. Wondering what a magical rock would smell like, Roman kept walking deeper into the cave. Every few metres his fingers felt a slight flicker. Stopping, he would investigate the cave wall. If a rock looked promising, he would chip it from the wall with his little pick, place it in his satchel, then move on.

After awhile his satchel was half full. The rocks inside were magical, but not as wonderous as Roman would have liked. So, he went deeper into the cave, to a point where the path split and narrowed. 

‘Left or right, Roman?’ He asked himself. ‘Hmm.’ 

Then his nose twitched. It was an odd twitch unlike anything he felt before. Roman leant towards the left tunnel. It smelt bad. Like cabbages that had gone rotten. He leant towards the right tunnel and sniffed. Oddly, it smelt like the wattle flowers that bloomed near his home. That was strange, as he was deep within a cave. Sniffing both tunnels, he decided there was no way he could walk down a tunnel that smelt like rotting vegetables. Instead, he went down the one that smelt like flowers.

This tunnel had no flickers or sparks in the walls. Roman’s fingers searched, yet there was nothing. Soon, the cave came to an end. He circled round and returned to where the tunnel split. Looking at his half full satchel, Roman knew it was not yet time to go home. Standing, facing the left tunnel, the bad smell was nearly overpowering. He was nearly going to give up and leave the cave, when Roman remembered he had a wattle leaf in his bag. Removing it from the satchel, he wrapped it around his face. Mainly over his nose. Now, all he could smell was the fresh wattle.

Sending the glow ball ahead, Roman started walking down the left tunnel. He had barely taken three steps when his fingers zapped from the cave wall. Searching, he found a wonderful rock, full of raw energy. Once it was safely in his satchel, Roman started again. Within another three steps, there was another zap, more powerful than the last. Searching, he found an even better rock. This excited him. With such excitement, he had no time to think about fear.

After stashing another wonderful rock, Roman continued. The next zapped so hard it flung his hand into his face, which knocked the wattle leaf loose. The leaf drifted to the ground. As it did so, the most pungent smell Roman had ever smelt, attacked his nose. It was coming from further down the cave. It was so bad, it made his eyes water.

Roman wondered if an ogre had a rubbish pit in this cave. Though, he could not see any rubbish, anywhere. He tried to push on, for each time he found a rock it was better than the last. After only several steps, he was emptying some of the first rocks he had found onto the ground, in a pile, so he could fit the nicer rocks. This cave had more magical rocks than he had ever discovered before.

Excitement filled his body, and the idea of finding even better rocks, allowed Roman to tolerate the horrid smell. If the rocks had been average, he would have left the cave already. Instead, he moved forward, deeper in the cave. Zaps of electricity shot from everywhere. The rocks he was finding were incredible.

As the zaps grew stronger, so did the overwhelming smell. It just got worse and worse. It made Roman want to vomit. He bit his lip instead, trying to hold it in. Though he kept wondering if it was worth it, suffering this foul stench, just for a few magical rocks.

Roman took a hesitant step forward. The ground under his foot felt loose. Suddenly it gave way, and he was tumbling downwards. Roman was sliding so fast his light ball couldn’t keep up, so it puffed out. Through the darkness he slid. There was nothing to grab. There was nothing to slow him down.  It was dark and all Roman could do was hope that this crazy ride ended soon.

For what felt like hours, but was only minutes, Roman slid down the dark, dirty tunnel. Finally, his speed slowed as the tunnel levelled out. Roman came to a stop. Taking a deep breath, he cast a spell for another light ball. As it appeared and light filled the area, Roman saw that he was in a dark cave tunnel like he had been before. Dusting himself off, he took a tentative step forward. It was a cautious step as Roman didn’t want to slide down another hole. The ground beneath was firm, so he took a second step.

Up ahead, he could just make out something blocking the tunnel. A small speck of light could be seen at the top of it, between it and the tunnel roof. He assumed it was a rock, even though all the walls were made of dirt. Roman wondered how he could ever get around such a rock. Looking back, he knew the tunnel that he had slid down, was too steep to climb. He had no choice but to move towards the rock, and hope that he could get around it.

Moving closer to the rock, Roman thought it moved. Rocks don’t move by themselves. And there was no rumbling in the mountain to indicate that there was an earthquake or something similar. Going mad at himself, Roman told his imagination to settle down.

‘Rocks don’t move Roman. Not randomly by themselves.’ He tsked himself. ‘Silly imagination.’

There was no way around the rock, so Roman decided he would push it. Rocks can be heavy, yet Roman had little choice. Plus, he felt strong today. Having already overcome his fear to enter the dark cave.

The rock was a grey colour, and as Roman placed his hands on it, he thought it felt softish. Maybe it was just dirt after all. So, he pushed hard on it.

‘Hey!’ Came a voice that came from nowhere and echoed everywhere.

Jumping backwards, Roman scanned the tunnel. There was no one else there with him. So, he pushed the rock again. An overwhelming smell of rotten cabbage hit his nose again.

‘Hey, I said stop pushing.’

The rock wiggled then shook. Dirt flew everywhere. With a shuffle the rock turned around. Two small eyes and a broad flat nose looked at Roman.

‘Why do you keep pushing me?’ It asked. ‘I was having a wonderful nap.’

‘S-s-s-sorry.’ Responded a startled Roman. ‘I was just trying to get out of the tunnel.’

The rock nodded. Roman covered his nose with his hand because the smell was just too much.

‘Do you know what that smell is?’ Asked roman.

‘Me, I’m afraid.’ Said the rock. ‘I ate something bad last night and my tummy has been upset ever since.’

Looking closer at the big round hairy animal in front of him, Roman realised it was a wombat.

‘I’m Roman.’ He said.

‘G’day, I’m Wanda.’ Responded the wombat. ‘Do you know how to fix an icky tummy? It hurts so bad.’

Thinking for a moment, Roman tried to recall what his mother gave him when he had an upset tummy. It took a few moments then he remembered.

‘My mum makes me peppermint tea. That always helps my tummy.’

‘Hmm.’ Said Wanda. ‘I don’t drink tea.’

She looked so sad, and Roman really wanted to help. In truth, he really wanted to get out of this tunnel and away from that smell. He thought even harder. Like a bolt of lightning the answer came to him. He spoke excitedly.

‘Maybe you could just eat the peppermint leaves? Surely that would help?’

‘Maybe.’ Responded Wanda. ‘But where would I get the leaves?’

‘I saw some wild peppermint growing on the mountain. Maybe we could go out and find some?’ 

Doing that would help both of them thought Roman. Wanda would get something for her tummy, and he would get out of this cave and it’s weird tunnels.

‘Okay.’ Said Wanda. ‘Follow me.’

Wanda turned and slowly waddled down the tunnel. Roman followed her, though it was hard, as every now and then Wanda would release the stinky gas that smelt like rotten cabbage. She always said sorry, yet she had no control over it. Roman would just smile, cover his nose, and wave to her to keep going.

Eventually the daylight in the distance grew brighter as they got closer and closer to the tunnel entrance. As they both popped out of the side of the mountain, Roman took a deep breath of the fresh air.

‘Thank you.’ He said. ‘Just give me a moment to find some peppermint for you.’

Roman started to search the mountainside for the wild peppermint. He searched in all the places he knew it liked to grow. It wasn’t long before he had a big handful of it. Returning to Wanda he presented her with a big bouquet of peppermint leaves.

‘Do I have to eat all of that?’ She asked.

‘I wasn’t sure how much you would need.’ Said Roman.

Wanda nibbled a small leaf first. ‘Oh, yum!’ she squealed before gobbling up the whole lot. ‘That’s tasty! Is there any more?’ 

Roman laughed then showed Wanda how to find it. She said it was settling her tummy, and he knew it was because the smell was going away.

‘You know Wanda, for a moment, when I was searching the cave above yours, I thought the smell was leading me to the most magical rocks. How silly of me.’ Laughed Roman.

‘Not really.’ Spoke Wanda with a new mouthful of peppermint leaves. ‘It’s a little known secret that wombat farts create magical rocks.’

‘Really?’ Roman was stunned.

‘Really. Generally, we eat what we are supposed to. Grasses and roots. If we do that, there are no farts. I was naughty last night and tried a lolly a human left behind. It was yummy at the time, yet oh it upset my tummy.’

Still stunned, Roman had no words. Wanda smiled at him as her tummy felt not only better, but full. She yawned and headed back to the cave for a nap. Just before she entered the cave she turned and spoke to Roman.

‘Thanks for helping me. Maybe you could come back for a visit? If you do I will show you the other place I had an upset tummy when I ate some human chocolate?’

Laughing, Roman said he’d love to come back and visit. As Wanda disappeared in the cave, Roman headed home to show his father the most wonderful rocks he had ever collected. He also wondered if his father would believe him that farting wombats made the most magical rocks. Roman barely believed it himself.

Oh my, that story had an ending I didn’t expect. Did you? It was nice of Roman to help Wanda. And in doing so she helped him to get out of the tunnels. That’s what we call a win win, because they both got what they wanted.