When I came down for breakfast this morning, I found Suki the Pixie sitting in my chair. I went over to see her, and I saw that her wings were drooping and she was sobbing uncontrollably. I wasn’t quite sure how to comfort a one foot high pixie, but I asked her what was wrong.
‘I was thinking about our h… h… home,’ sobbed Suki. ‘The sun shone every day, and we’d drink sunlight out of golden cups. The flowers were all friendly, and every day they would watch as we danced with the fairies.
‘We heard that a wicked witch had seized power and declared herself Queen, but we took no notice until the ghouls and spectres began arriving in our land. One night they slipped unnoticed into my house, and I found myself cornered, just as I was going to bed. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t taken a cup of sunlight with me, to drink if I woke up during the night. I threw this at the ghouls and spectres, and of course they can’t stand the light, and they scattered.
‘The next morning, we pixies decided that it wasn’t safe, and we would have to leave. We packed enough sunlight for a week, and a few belongings, and we left. After a long journey, we arrived here. Our sunlight was all gone, and the sun here is weak. We could drink your sunlight but it gave us no strength. We looked everywhere for something we could eat. When we were near starving, we found that we could get strength from thistles.
‘They are horribly prickly, but they keep us alive.’ At this point, Suki became completely inconsolable, and I didn’t get to hear any more of the story.