CreativeCritters Blog: Melina the Mushroom Sitter

Melina was a pretty little fairy, only about 6" tall, with soft chestnut brown hair and bright green eyes. She had large green wings with yellow spots that were able to carry her long distances across the meadows and streams. Melina was friend to all amongst the plants, flowers, and animals in her territory. Papa Mushroom often requested her help "mushroom sitting" his 3 rambunctious children. They were very active little fungi, scrambling hither and yon. Papa Mushroom didn't move quite so fast any more and preferred to stay on his moss covered rock. Melina enjoyed chasing the youngsters around, playing tag and hide and seek. And the young mushrooms simply adored Melina. They always fought over whose turn it was to be gently rocked to sleep by the fairy at the end of the day. They loved to listen to Melina's tales of her adventures, and her other friends in the meadow. One of their favorite tales was that of Feival the Fairy and his pet dragon. They were still undecided as to whether or not they believed that one. A dragon? As a pet? For a Fairy? Maybe Melina was pulling their stem with that one. The little mushrooms had never even seen a dragon. For all they knew dragons didn't even exist. Of course, Papa Mushroom knew better. Melina had brought Feival and his dragon for a visit a long time ago, when the dragon was still small. These days Feival and his dragon traveled the realm together, having many exciting adventures. Another of Melina's friends was Mervin the Mouse and his wife Melody. They always had lots of little mice to keep an eye on. Melina helped out there as well. She just adored the tiny furry bundles of energy. They were very envious of her ability to fly and watched in awe as she swooped and twirled in the air above them.
Today Melina planned to take the Mouse family to visit the Mushroom family. On her way over to the Mouse den she gathered up some especially sweet berries for the young mice, and some seeds for Mervin and Melody. As soon as she landed all the young mice gathered around her, chattering for attention. "Now, now, calm down everyone. If you all sit nicely I'll give you a present," she said. That was all it took to calm the exciteable rodents down. They quickly sat back on their haunches, front paws clasped in front of their chest. "Now that's better," Melina commended. She gave each of the 7 mice a sweet black berry, which dissappeared nearly instantly.
After some preparations, the entire family set off for the Mushroom demnses. It wasn't a long trip, but it was the first time the juvenile mice had been away from home. They scampered back and forth across the trail, under leaves and over sticks, tripping over each other in their excitement. Melina kept a careful eye on them, as did Mervin and Melody. Before long they reached their destination and were greeted by Papa. The 3 young mushrooms suddenly became shy at the site of 7 scampering mice. The hid behind Papa's thick stem and peeked out at the newcomers. "Come on out and meet the Mouse family," Melina cajoled. They're really very nice children."
"Oh, we are, we are!" the mice squeaked. Curiosity soon overcame shyness and before long the youngsters were all happily playing together. The adults sat under Papa's large cap and nibbled grasses while they talked of the comings and goings of the meadow's many denizens. Melina fluttered between the youngsters and the adults, making sure all was well. As the smallest mushroom tired herself out Melina held her and gently rocked her to sleep. Before long the rest of the young ones had gathered around Melina and begged her to tell the story of Feival and his dragon again. And so ended another sunny day for Melina and her friends.