The downs were bathed in the warmth of the June sun and even the bees not as busy as usual. The smell of wild mint and thyme filled the air and Puff the Pixie was filled with lazy contentment. It is not usual for fairy folk to be about in broad daylight but Puff loved sunbathing and in spite of many warnings from the fairy Queen and the elf King he just could not resist it. “The downs” he would say, are so far away from the nearest human village that there is almost no chance of anyone seeing me. So in spite of advice and to the worry of his friends, for he was really the most lovable Pixie. Puff would spend many long summer afternoons sunbathing and dreaming, he had a very special dream.

Puff was fascinated by the fleecy white clouds which sailed and tumbled along high over his head. Little woolly ships sailing on a sea of summer blue, and he longed to go sailing on one of them. It is no secret that Pixies and Fairies can fly but Puff could fly but not very far and not for very long because he was still young and his wings were very tiny.  He knew that the birds could fly higher than any Fairy or Pixie but even the birds never flew as high as the little white clouds.

Suddenly Puff was awakened from his day-dreaming by the sound of human voices, he crept under a nearby wild rose bush to be out of sight. Two boys appeared and one of them said “let us sit down here, I am too warm to go any further”, and they both flopped heavily to the ground where, only a moment ago Puff had been laying.

Poor Puff did not dare to move from his hiding place, everything was so still and quiet that he was sure to be seen if he tried to slip away. How he wished that he had listened to the good advice of his Queen now – he would have given anything to be safe in the heart of the Home Woods with his friends. Now he could only wait and hope that the boys would soon go. Curled up in the grass in the cool shade of the sore bush, Puff fell asleep. But not for long, one of the boys began shouting excitedly “a breeze, a breeze, come on”, and Puff sat up carefully to see what had caused the excitement. There was indeed a breeze blowing, coming in from the sea on the other side of the downs and setting all the grasses and flowers dancing. Puff crept a little closer to where the boys were and saw that they were busy with a large paper toy which looked like a strange bird.

This bird had a long tail, longer that any tail Puff had ever seen before and on this tail were hundreds of pieces of coloured paper. Well, it looked like hundreds to the pixie. The two boys stood up and Puff fearing they would tread on him, flew swiftly from the ground and, landing on one of the brightly coloured tail papers, held tightly to the string. The tail was trembling in the breeze as one boy held the paper bird high above his head and began to run, very fast along the top of the downs. The other boy ran behind carrying an enormous ball of string which he began unwinding as the paper bird was thrown into the air and was carried upward by the breeze.

Puff was so astonished by the sudden movement that he almost let go, then he squeaked in amazement as the kite (for of course that is what the paper bird was) flew higher and higher until the two boys looked no bigger than toadstools. The pixie settled himself more comfortably in his paper nest and then he looked below him again – why he must be miles above the earth and the only sound was the rustling whisper of the paper tail in the wind.

Higher and still higher went Puff the Pixie and in his excitement he quite forgot to be afraid. It was a magical feeling to be soaring upward like a bird in the blue air full of summer sea breezes. Before he could begin to think what the end of this adventure would be, there was a sudden snap. The string had broken and the two boys far away below were looking sadly up to the sky where their kite, now free, danced and swooped upward and out of sight.

Breathless with excitement, Puff could hardly believe his eyes when he saw a little white cloud sailing toward him!  Oh, if he could – if he only dared he could drop from the tail of the kite as the little cloud passed under him. Could he? Taking a deep breath he waited till he was sure to land right in the middle and he jumped! On the delicious softness, the cool fluffy whiteness – what a story to tell when he got back to the Home Woods, an almost unbelievable adventure.

Laying on his stomach, he looked over the edge of the cloud and saw that he was being carried away from the downs. Suddenly Puff the Pixie was very frightened “oh my goodness” he cried “how am I ever to get down again, the Home Woods are almost out of sight and I can see water – oh, oh, oh – it’s the sea”.

Poor Puff was very upset, he called out loudly, “little cloud, little cloud can you hear me?” “Mmm, I hear you little Pixie” said the white cloud sleepily “what are you shouting for? Are you not comfortable on my soft back?” “Oh yes thank you” answered Puff politely “most comfortable and I am almost enjoying myself enormously – but you are drifting away from the Home Woods and I don’t know how I shall ever reach the ground again. Oh please, please help me”.

The little cloud thought for a while then said, “I know what we shall do little Pixie, we shall go for a nice long ride, them when the sun goes down I’ll have the wind blow me back here and I’ll go down as low as I can then we can ask one of the birds to carry you the rest of the way”.

Now hold on, we are going to catch up with my cloud friends. And a strong wind blew them on and on across the warm blue sky. Puff was so happy, he thought he would burst, he sang and he waved to all the other little clouds who tumbled and danced along beside him. It was a lovely ride, Puff had never been so far away from the Home Woods and when he saw the sparkling sea below he clapped his hands with pleasure.

Slowly the afternoon ended, the sun began to sink and all around were the beautiful colours of the sunset red and violet blue and gold, turning all the little white clouds into shining jewels. Puff was getting sleepy and, curling up, he closed his eyes as the little cloud slowly began to drift back to the Home Woods. “Little Pixie, little Pixie, wake-up, you are nearly home” called the little cloud when they were as low as it could go. Puff sat up rubbing his eyes – it was going to be dark now and he would be glad to be back among the other Pixies.

A skylark came by and Puff called to her, “please skylark, would you take me to the Home Woods?” The skylark came close so that Puff could climb on to her back, “Goodbye little cloud, and thank you”, he called. “Goodbye little Pixie, hurry home now” answered the cloud as with a gentle movement it began to drift up and away again. Soon Puff was back in the Home Woods where all the Pixies and Fairies, and even the King and the Queen were so glad to see him safely home after his adventure that they quite forgot to scold him. Puff told them of his wonderful day but before he could finish, he had fallen fast asleep..

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.