It was a beautiful sunny autumn day and in the Home Woods, the trees were no longer green but bright gold, red and brown and when the wind played in the tree tops, the leaves would drop from the branches and float and tumble down to the ground.
Puff the Pixie sat on a mossy bank and watched a shower of shiny brown leaves being tossed on the playful wind. Sometimes a leaf would suddenly fly upwards again and dance in the air before gliding to the ground. The woods had an exciting feeling and smelled of nuts and all around there were rustlings and bust ling’s ofthe tiny creatures of the Home Woods busy getting ready for the winter. Puff wanted to do something exciting. Just sitting was awful on a day like this when the whole woods was astir with movement and when a specially big leaf came tumbling down on the moss next to the little pixie, he suddenly jumped up.
“I have a wonderful idea” he shouted, so loudly that Milly Squirrel who was high up in the branches of an oak tree, looked down to see what was happening. All she could see was Puff the Pixie who was just beginning to climb up a tall maple tree whose leaves were as golden as the sunshine. Up and up went Puff, singing as he climbed and calling to the big yellow leaves, “wait for me, wait for me”. The little squirrel was most curious and ran along a branch tobe able to watch the pixie. The tall maple and the big oak tree were quit close together and when Milly the squirrel reached the end of the branch, she was close enough to call out to Puff. “Hello Puff Pixie” she said “what are you doing?” Puff looked around him then saw the squirrel, “oh, hello Milly he answered isn’t it a lovely day?”
“Yes it certainly is but what are you going to do?” I heard you shout waitfor me but I can’t see anyone in the tree. “You will see Puff called back, laughing, “Just you watch me, I am going to play falling leaves”. The squirrel shook her head. That pixie was always finding something unusual to do. He was not at all like the others in the Fairy Dell who slept in the daytime and only came out when the humans were asleep.
No, Puff the Pixie liked the daytime best and was very often on his own but all the same he had a lot of fun and many adventures. Milly Squirrel saw that Puff was walking carefully along a branch, looking for something then he seemed to find what he was looking for and that something was a beautiful gold brown leaf.
To Milly’s surprise the Pixie climbed on to the leaf, laid down and holding tightly to the edges, called out “NOW, blow wind blow”. The leaf fluttered in the wind and Puff laughed excitedly. Milly Squirrel stared and stared, what was that Pixie going to do? Suddenly a strong gust of wind tugged and tugged at the leaf and Puff shouted “Pull wind, pull. There we go”.
And sure enough the leaf and the Pixie were sailing through the air, being tossed and turned and if he had not held on very tightly the excited Puff would have fallen off. The playful wind blew them up into the sunny windy autumn air and the little Pixie shouted with pleasure while the squirrel strained her neck to keep him in sight. Then the wind stopped blowing so hard and the leaf began to float gently to the ground. Slower and slower the leaf and the Pixie sailed down between the branches of the trees while all around hem other leaves of red, gold brown and yellow tumbled and danced around them.
Very gently, Puff’s leaf landed on a soft colourful carpet of fallen leaves and the Pixie sat up. “Oh that was wonderful” he sighed “When my wings are full grown I shall do nothing else but fly all day long”. Puff was still very young and although he could fly a little, his wings were not yet strong enough to fly very far. He heard a rustling sound behind him and looking round he saw Milly Squirrel who said, “Puff Pixie, are you alright? I was so afraid that you were going to fall. What ever made you do such a foolish thing”, “foolish Milly?” asked Puff in surprise, “why, it was the most wonderful game that I have ever played and I am going to go back up the tree and do it again”!
The squirrel laughed, “You are the most adventure loving Pixie I have ever seen” she said “and if you really want to have another leaf ride, well climb onto my back and I will bring you back to your maple tree. You have sailed quite a distance and I had a hard job keeping up with you”. “Thank you Milly, I should like that very much. The wind is blowing quite hard again and I just have to have one more ride before I go and tell Topaz about it”.
Topaz was Puff’s best friend and although he mostly slept in the daytime, he never minded if Puff woke him up to go on one of Puff’s adventures. Soon the little squirrel was carrying the Pixie swiftly up the trunk of the nearest tree and springing from branch to branch. “Hold on tightly, Puff Pixie”, she called over her shoulder, “we are almost there”. And with a breath taking jump she landed on a branch of the maple tree and was carrying him higher and higher until they were in the topmost branches.
“Here we are then” said Milly. Puff slipped off her back and looked around him holding tightly to a small branch because the wind was blowing so hard and he did not wanted to be blown away. “Here Puff, here is a fine big leaf for you” said Milly “let me help you”. She held the leaf still until the Pixie was comfortably settled then said “take care now, hold on as tight as you can because the wind is very strong and I don’t want you to fall”. “I will be alright” said Puff “thank you for your help Milly”. “Come on wind BLOW.” The wind fluttered the leaf then it pulled the leaf then “Here we go” shouted Puff as the leaf whooshed into the air and the exciting ride began.
The wind was really strong. Up and up the leaf and the Pixie were blown until the tree tops were far away below them. Down they swooped then up again and Puff held on very tightly indeed. Round and round the leaf twirled and a whole shower of other leaves kept them company on the windy journey. “My goodness” gasped Puff “this is a livelier ride than the first one. I can’t even see where we are”. Over the tree tops, down between the branches, up again and round and round like a merry-go-round. It was a lovely ride. Then suddenly the ride was over. The wind went to play somewhere else and left Puff and his leaf to drift gently to the ground. Oh no, Puff looked around him and was most surprised. The leaf had stopped moving but they were not on the ground. The Pixie looked over the edge of the leaf and began to laugh. Topaz would be surprised too thought Puff because the leaf had come to rest right on the top of his house. In fact he landed right on the top of his chimney.
Before Puff could scramble off his magic carpet, he heard a grumbling and a coughing and the sound of his friend’s voice saying: “please believe me Bose Beetle, I didn’t make the smoke on purpose”, then more grumbling then a then a sudden silence. As quick as he could, Puff jumped off the leaf and pushed it over the edge of the roof. Then he flew down to the ground. Topaz was just going into his house and was very pleased to see his friend Puff. “Hello” Topaz said, “where did you come from?” “From your chimney pot” laughed Puff. “Let’s go indoors and I will tell you what I have been doing today but first tell me, what was all that grumbling just now?”
“Oh that was Bose Beetle, he has been here all afternoon and I did try to do everything I could to please him. I gave him his favourite soup and cowslip crackers and he was almost happy for a change. Then all at once the fire started to smoke, great clouds of smoke Puff and old Bose Beetle started coughing and spluttering and saying that I had done it on purpose to get rid of him. Anyway, he left and the fire is not smoking any more”. Puff curled up in a chair by the bright fire and laughed. “No of course it is not smoking any now; I was sitting on your chimney pot on a beautiful big maple leaf. Now sit down Topaz and will tell you about my afternoon”.
And so the two friends settled down by the fire and Puff told Topaz about his leaf-rides. The Puff said “I shall have to go now Topaz, Milly Squirrel was so kind to me this afternoon and I think I should let her know that I am safe”. “I’ll go with you” said his friend. So they went out into the blustery autumn evening and when they reached Milly Squirrels house in the old hollow tree, she was so pleased to see them that she invited them to stay for the rest of the evening. It was late when they went home and Puff was glad when he was able to curl up in his bed. He closed his eyes and went to sleep and dreamed of swirling and twirling autumn leaves.
Puff the Pixie stories were written by D.L. Hardy-Jesshope and may not be copied or reproduced in any way as they are under copywrite.