“The Fairy Who Couldn’t Fly”

First written in 2001 for a Year 5 story competition 

There was once a fairy who could not fly. Her name was Felicity. All of her family could fly, even her little sister who was only two, and had such tiny wings that you could hardly see them. 

Her mother said, “Of course you can fly, every fairy can fly; that’s what your wings are for.”

Felicity tried very hard indeed, but no matter how much she fluttered or flapped, she never left the ground. She was six years old and she went to school like you do. In fairy school, when you are six, you have something called a flying test. It’s like driving test, I’m sure you’ve heard of that, except that you fly instead. Felicity was worried about this test. How could she be tested if she couldn’t do the thing that she was meant to be tested on?

She felt very sad and worried. She tried to talk to the other fairies in her class, but they were unkind. Most of them didn’t like her because she was different, and the few friends that she had just didn’t know how to help her. 

She couldn’t talk to her teacher about her problem either. Every time Felicity tried to fly in lessons, he just sighed and said, “Pigs might fly if Felicity could.” (And I think teachers should know better than to make nasty comments like that, don’t you?)

For a long time Felicity thought she would never be able to fly, and by the night before the test she had lost all hope of ever passing, but little did she know that something wonderful was about to happen.

She had just fallen into a troubled sleep, when a fairy came and woke her up. She was no ordinary fairy. She was incredibly beautiful and she wore a cape of silver. This fairy was so important that a trumpet sounded before she spoke! Dah ditty dah ditty DAH.

“I have been sent by the Fairy Queen. She would like to see you,” she said, before she disappeared into a cloud of fairy dust.

‘Oh no!’ thought Felicity. ‘I’m sure the Queen will tell me off because I cannot fly! I don’t even know where she lives, how will I get there? Oh dear, what shall I do?’

Then, something amazing happened. There was a BANG, BOOSH, BOOM, and her bedroom disappeared as she was swallowed up in a silver mist. 

When the mist cleared, she realised she was standing in a large hall, with high ceilings, and golden pillars. She searched around her, and sitting there, on a golden throne, was the Fairy Queen.

“Oh, please don’t be angry with me!” Felicity said as tears filled her eyes. “I’ve tried so hard to fly, but my wings just won’t work!”

The Queen stood up, and came over to hold her hand. “There there!” she said. “You’re not in trouble. Now, I’ve heard that you do not have many friends, why is that?”

“Because I’m different from everyone else,” Felicity wept. 

“There is nothing wrong with being different; life would be boring if we were all the same,” the Queen replied. “Anyway,” she continued,“would you like to know the reason you cannot fly?”

“Oh, yes please.”

“It is because you do not believe that you can.”

“Oh…” said Felicity. (She wasn’t really sure what the Queen meant.) 

“Give it a try.” 

“…I believe I can fly,” said Felicity, as she flapped her wings, but nothing happened. 

“No, you must really believe it!” said the Queen. “Here, this might help!” She clicked her fingers and the room was filled with tiny fairies, and they began to chant as they flew around Felicity’s head. 

“You can do it. You can do it. Yes you can. Yes you can!”

‘Yes I can fly!’ thought Felicity. 

She really believed in herself this time, and when she flapped her wings, her tiny feet left the ground. 

“Oh thank you, thank you!” she cried.

“You’re most welcome,” said the Queen. “Now, you had better get back home; you’ve an important day tomorrow.” 

The next morning Felicity took her test and passed with ‘Flying Colours’ (that’s the highest mark for a flying test, you know).

The magic of believing in yourself is so important that fairies need it to fly. And do you want to know something amazing? It’s a type of magic that we humans can use too, and always remember that it’s never bad to be different, for that’s another little piece of magic that humans can use to make our world wonderful.