The Dawn Singers awoke 2 hours before Dawn. Awakening in darkness, they began to practice their singing. They were off key though and awoke several of the forest animals, who themselves were quite grumpy.
"Fairy Asher," said Fairy Freaknee, "I don't think this is working out like it should."
"I think you're right, Fairy Freaknee," responded Fairy Asher. "It's dark, it's cold, and frankly, I don't think the bears are liking this wake-up call."
"Yeah, isn't dawn supposed to be a melodious time?" Fairy Freaknee looked puzzled. "I'm not sure how we can get ourselves in tune, Fairy Asher."
"Well, maybe we can figure it out." Fairy Asher and Fairy Freaknee tried and tried and tried for a good fifteen whole minutes to get in tune. But every time that one of the two adjusted, the other one would adjust too--but in the wrong direction. Soon, they were singing almost at random.
"Fairy Asher, I think we'd better find someone to help us, or we're going to be singing here until the afternoon, but it won't really be the afternoon, because there will be no sun and therefore no noon or morning or anything, and it'll just be night and--"
"Calm down!" Fairy Asher shook a dew-wet flower at Fairy Freaknee, and Fairy Freaknee came to her senses.
"You're right, Asher. I think we'd better go find some help. But who's up at this hour of the night? Who?"
"Who! That's it!" yelled Fairy Asher.
"What do you mean, that's it? Do I need to shake a dewy flower at you now?" Fairy Freaknee readied a flower just in case Fairy Asher started to freak out too.
"No, I know WHO's up at night! The owls!" Fairy Asher cheered as Fairy Freaknee groaned at Fairy Asher's bad (bad) pun. But eventually, they put their puns aside and headed off to the Really Truly Amazingly Huge Oak Tree With The Big Hole In It to see the wise old owl of the forest.
When they got there, Fairy Asher and Fairy Freaknee flitted on up to the branches outside the owl's house. They saw a clever little door made out of woven willow branches. Hanging on a hook on the door was a huge acorn on a stick. Fairy Freaknee said, "Fairy Asher, what's the acorn on a stick for? Weird squirrel Popsicles?"
"No, silly, it's the door knocker." With that, Fairy Asher picked up the acorn on a stick and started shaking it vigorously. It made a noise like an unusually loud pair of maracas. Shortly thereafter, the door creaked open, and a crabby looking owl peeked out.
"Whoo? Who disturbs me just as I was scrubbing my beak to get ready for bed! It's dawn soon, you know!" The owl looked around with big bleary eyes, obviously not seeing the two fairies in front of him.
"Mr. Owl," Fairy Freaknee said, "It's just us, the Dawn Singer Fairies."
"Oh! Well, why aren't you out starting to sing? Morning should be coming soon! Why are you bothering me instead?"
"Because we can't sing this morning!" Fairy Freaknee cried. "We've tried, but we just can't stay in tune, and we've only got a few hours to sing the morning, but we can't figure out how to do it, so there will be no morning or noon or afternoon and no one will wake up to eat breakfast and they'll all just get thinner and thinner--"
Fairy Asher sighed and pulled out the flower. *sprinkle* "There, feeling better?" As Fairy Freaknee calmed down yet again, Fairy Asher whispered to the Owl, "She does this every now and then. It's no big deal."
The owl thought for a while. Then he said, "I think I have your solution. You say that you can't sing in tune?" The fairies nodded sadly. "Well, what you need to do is go find the Spirits of the Forest to help you. Find the most musical, magical Spirits you can, and I'm sure they'll help you out."
"Where should we look? I'm not very good at finding things..." worried Fairy Asher.
"Well, that's okay, because I'm great at finding things!" Fairy Freaknee hooked a thumb at her chest in pride. "Just follow me, Fairy Asher! Thanks, Mr. Owl!" With that, Fairy Freaknee took a leap off the branch and started to flutter off into the forest.
"Yeah, thanks, Mr. Owl! Good ni--er, morning?"
"Please find the solution fast, little fairies! I can't sleep with all this dark coming in through the curtains!" The Owl closed the door and trundled off to bed, and Fairy Asher jumped out into the forest after Fariy Freaknee.
When Fairy Asher caught up with Fairy Freaknee, she said, "Fairy Freaknee, where are we off to? I'm getting so lost!"
"Well, I know exactly where we should go! We're going to the Spirit of the Stream! Think about how magically the Stream sings every day! I'm sure that the Stream Spirit will help us find our pitches again." With that, the fairies landed and set off to find the Spirit of the Stream.
"Psst!" whispered Fairy Asher. "How do we find the Spirit of the Stream? I mean, where is it?"
Fairy Freaknee scratched her head. "Well, this is the part I'm not quite so sure on. Maybe we just call." Taking a deep breath, Fairy Freaknee yelled, "Hello, Spirit of the Stream! Helloooo!"
"Spirit! Watery Damp Spirit! Help! Tuneless Fairies Seeking Assistance! Hiho!" Fairy Asher yelled.
Suddenly, the Fairies heard a low rumbling noise. "What is it? Who's yelling?" Suddenly, a damp and cranky figure appeared.
"Are you the Spirit of the Stream?" asked the Fairies.
"Yes. Here I am, safe asleep in my nice waterbed--very good for the joints," the Stream Spirit mentioned to Fairy Freaknee. "And then, all of a sudden, here's a couple of Really Loud Fairies coming over yelling their bewinged little heads off. What do you want?"
"Well, Mr. Stream, we've got a problem," said Fairy Asher.
"What could it possibly be?" asked the Spirit of the Stream. "What's so important that I've just got to be up?"
"Maybe we should demonstrate," said Fairy Freaknee. The two fairies tried to sing their Dawn Song, but it was horribly out of tune, and the Stream Spirit stopped them after just a few notes.
"That's awful. Don't you two ever practice?" said the Spirit.
"Of course we do!" said Fairy Asher, sounding hurt. "But we can't sing in tune this morning, and we don't know why! And I'm so sad, because it's almost supposed to be morning!" Fairy Asher sat down on a nearby rock and sighed. "What are we going to do?"
The Stream Spirit said, "Well, I suppose I can help you out. Come here, Fairies." Both the fairies stepped forward. "I see what part of your problem is. Open your mouths. Let me see your throats." The fairies were puzzled, but did so. "Well, of course I can't see much in the dark. If only the moon were brighter..." the Spirit sighed. "But I can see something wrong. Your throats are dry. No one can sing on a dry throat."
"But I just drank a big glass of orange juice this morning!" cried Fairy Freaknee. "I never start my day without a nice glass of juice! It's got vitamins!"
"Your throats are dry from singing every morning. They're so dry that normal water can't help. But I have something special. Here." The Stream Spirit gave them each a tiny bottle full of liquid that sparkled in the moonlight. "This will take away that dry, itchy throat before you sing. But that's not your only problem."
"What? There's more? Oh, no!" cried Fairy Asher.
"Yep. There's more." When both the Fairies looked crestfallen, the Stream Spirit said, "Well, I'd go ask the Moon for help. The Moon should know about light and singing problems. Whenever you get whatever it is cleared up, drink the bottles down and sing."
"Thank you, Stream Spirit!" the fairies yelled. "We'll come back and sing just for you once we get the morning started!"
"Just go!" said the Spirit. "I'm tired of it being night already!" With that, the Spirit left, and the Fairies started flying up and up and up to talk to the Moon Spirit.
Between breaths (they were flying hard!), Fairy Freaknee asked Fairy Asher, "So how do we *wheeze* get to the Moon Spirit anyway?" "We go *pant* to the top of the *puff* tallest mountain around. *cough* Then we yell." They flew in a wheezy silence to the top of the nearest mountain. It was cold up there, and when they arrived, they folded their wings around them to protect from the chilly frozen air.
"Moon! Spirit of the Moon!" yelled the Fairies.
"Why, hello, beautiful fairies!" The fairies jumped at the sound coming from behind them. When they turned around, they saw a tall, brilliantly glowing woman. "What can I do for you?"
"Oh, Moon Spirit," cried Fairy Freaknee, "we can't sing the Dawn this morning! We're out of tune!"
"We got the Spirit of the Stream to help us," put in Fairy Asher, "but he said that our problem wasn't entirely solved yet. He told us to come see you, so here we are."
"You'd better sing for me, dear fairies, so I can hear what's wrong," said the Moon Spirit. The fairies did so, and again, they were horribly out of tune. "I see the problem. You've lost the melody!" said the Moon with a smile.
"How can we have lost the melody? We've been singing it for years!" said Fairy Asher.
"Trust me, you both have a different version of it now." As the fairies started to argue about who had it right, the Spirit of the Moon said, "You're each singing the wrong song! Lucky for you, I know how to help you."
"How? How?" cried the fairies together.
"Well, at least you can yell in unison," chortled the Moon Spirit. "I have a magic flute for you. If you play this flute, it will play the Dawn Song for you, and then you'll be able to remember how to sing the song."
"Great!" said Fairy Freaknee. "No problem! ...But wait, who's going to play the flute? It takes both of us to sing the Dawn Song! It's a two-part melody!"
The Moon Spirit laughed. "You'll just have to get someone to play the flute for you, won't you?"
"But who? Who?" asked Fairy Asher.
"If you say the owl again, I'm going home. I don't think I can handle that pun again," groaned Fairy Freaknee.
"No, it's not the Owl. It's the Spirit of the Grass! She'll help you out. So go find her!" said the Moon Spirit. "Now, I've got to go. Good luck, Fairies!" With that, the Spirit of the Moon floated back into the sky where she belongs.
"Let's get out of here, Fairy Freaknee; I'm freezing!" said Fairy Asher.
"Yeah, let's go!" replied Fairy Freaknee. They flew down from the icy mountaintop, and as they went, they kept picking up speed. It was almost the normal Dawn Song time! Just as they were starting to get nervous, they cleared the edge of the forest, and found the plains.
The fairies started calling, "Grass Spirit! Spirit of the Grass! Help! Help! We need you!"
Just then, the fairies heard a strange sound, a sort of dry whispery sound. "What's that?" squeaked Fairy Asher.
In front of the fairies, blades of grass twisted around in the air until a person made of woven grass stood in front of them. "Fairies, what's all the fuss?" said the Spirit of the Grass. "Wait, aren't you two the Dawn Singer fairies? Shouldn't you be singing right now?"
"Well, we would be, Grass Spirit, but we've got a problem. We can't sing in tune. The Stream Spirit gave us this water to drink to help us, and the Moon Spirit gave us a flute, but she said you need to play it. Will you help us?" Fairy Freaknee looked up at the Grass Spirit pleadingly, holding out the flute in offering.
The Grass Spirit smiled. "Of course I will, Fairies. Give me the flute." Fairy Freaknee gave the flute to her. "Now drink your water." Fairy Asher gave one of the bottles to Fairy Freaknee, and they both drank one down. "Now I'll start playing. Start singing when you recognize the tune."
The Grass Spirit put the flute to her lips, and a beautiful melody poured forth. But the melody was just a melody, until Fairy Freaknee and Fairy Asher nodded at each other in recognition and began to sing. Their song was full of colors, silvery pinks, luminescent oranges, and deep cool purples. Their song was full of the smell of forget-me-nots and dandelions. It tasted of honeydew and well water and iced tea, and when all these things collided the very air grew softer against the skin.
Gradually, a little bit at a time, the colors and smells and tastes and textures of their song began to creep over the horizon in a brilliant burst of liquid color, and these beautiful things filled the world. Suddenly the world had become a living place again, full of beauty and joy. When the bottom rim of the sun had come over the horizon, the fairies' song ended, their voices and the flute fading away into the warm sunrise. Their job was done; the sun could take it from there. The new day had started.
"Thanks, Spirit of the Grass," said Fairy Freaknee. "You really helped us out. This day would never have started without you!"
The Grass Spirit smiled back at them. "It's your song, Fairies; all I did was give you a little bit of a hand. Now it's time for me to get back to the plains! See you later!" With that, the grass unwove itself and settled back in the ground. The Spirit of the Grass was gone.
"Hey!" yelled Fairy Asher. "She took our flute!"
"Oh, like we'd need it anymore," said Fairy Freaknee. "Come on, I'm hungry. That was a lot of hard work before breakfast! Let's go find something to eat." So, Fairy Freaknee and Fairy Asher, having saved both the Dawn and the day, flew off towards home, hoping that they'd left some muffins and strawberry jelly left from the previous night's midnight kitchen raid.
Story by Fairy Freaknee and Fairy Asher
