The Enchanted Woods

I was over to my grandparents’ place during my summer vacation. After I had read every book in their large library, I decided to explore the dense woods near our house.

I took some snacks and was off the very next morning. There was nothing much to see, actually. Sure, there were some pretty birds and the pleasant sound of leaves rustling, but apart from that, nothing interesting was present. “So old-fashioned and boring”, I thought. How wrong I was.

As I walked on, I realized that I had come to the same spot where I had been a few minutes ago. I have been walking around in circles! I tried finding my way back but in vain. I was now hopelessly lost. Unknowingly, I wandered deeper and deeper into the forest.

Someone appeared in front of me. A funny bearded man with a pointy red hat. And yes, he was about half a foot tall. Also, he seemed to be shouting something. “Hail to the Queen!’, he screamed at the top of his voice (well, actually his ‘top of the voice’ was barely audible to me). Then he addressed me directly, “Greetings my Highness. I am very glad to see you have returned.” “Who are you?”, I questioned. “Why are you calling me your queen?” At this, the little man looked hurt. He said “I see that you have forgotten about us. I am Gary Gnome, one of the many Forest People.” Now I was really confused. “Who are these Forest People?”, I asked him. I saw realization dawn on Gary’s face. “You are not our Queen. But you look exactly like her”, he said slowly. Then he ran off and came back with a photo. He showed it to me.

It was a photo of a young girl. Gary was right. She looked exactly like me. Unless… “Is your Queen’s name Sameera?”, I asked. Gary looked surprised. “Why, yes! You know her?”, he asked. “Of course I do, she is my mother!”, I replied with excitement. To my surprise, Gary kneeled down in front of me. “Then you are our rightful Queen now, Your Highness.” At that instant, I suddenly became surrounded by…creatures. Fairies, brownies, angels, genies, dwarves, goblins, pixies, phoenixes, fire birds, trolls, unicorns and others that I had read about in books. There must have been thousands of them, all on their knees, bowing to me. I could not believe what I was seeing. I even pinched myself to check whether I was dreaming.

I was not. I mean, how can such creatures even exist? Meanwhile, Gary was introducing me to everyone. “These are the Forest People I was talking about, my Queen”, he said. I asked Gary the question that was pestering me. “If my mother really was your Queen, how come she never told me about it? Why would she keep it a secret from me?”

Gary began explaining, “Your mother met us when she was your age. She knew that the common people would not be able to digest the fact that we exist. And once the humans did get to know about us, they will start misusing our powers. So, Queen Sameera became our Keeper, our Protector, our Queen. She kept us safe and hidden in this forest.” “You have still not answered my question”, I prodded him. He began again, with a touch of sadness in his voice, “That is because once you become an adult when you turn 18, you will stop believing in us and will not be able to see us as well. When your mother turned 18, she too would have forgotten all about us and thought that we were nothing more than her imagination. That is why she never told you anything.”

I put my hand on Gary’s shoulder (I had to bend down to do that, you know, the height difference was a big problem). “Well, now that I am your Queen, you need not worry anymore.”

I turned to face the Forest People, put my hand on my heart and started saying the Queen’s oath, written on a piece of paper that Gary gave me. “I am henceforth the Protector of all the Forest People. I will always keep them safe, no matter what…..”