Backyard Garden

The young girl and her father walked hand-in-hand through the back yard to a small garden along the fence line. The girl was a favorite of the house faeries who, at that moment, flitted above and around her, leaving an aura of faerie dust above her head, some of which fell into her hair and along her shoulders and arms. You would have had to be mirthless or cold-hearted to miss seeing the magic in the scene.

She had been born on the first day of Spring, three years earlier. This was to be her first garden. The father, who had his share of faerie dust falling down over his head, had sharpened the end of a stout stick, and he showed his little-one how to make a furrow in the soil. He handed her a radish seed that had been soaking in water overnight. She put the seed into the furrow, covered it with soil, and patted the soil until it was firm. They repeated the task until they had seven seeds planted in the ground. The father showed his little darling a picture of a radish from the packet of seeds, and told her, "In three weeks, we'll have radishes."

Three weeks it was; father and child were standing in front of seven radish plants. The little-one took the pointed stick and loosened the soil. She gently lifted each radish to her father's hand. All was well. The father said that he would wash the radishes, and then they would be ready to eat.

Now, if you know anything about radishes and children, you know that a three-year-old girl is not going to like the taste of a radish, and the father knew this, too. So, during the washing, he substituted ripe cherries for the radishes, and he brought seven cherries to the table. The father removed the cherry stone from a cherry, placed the seed on a plate, and placed the cherry in the little girl's hand. She popped the cherry into her mouth. They did this seven times.

The father took the packet of radish seeds from his shirt pocket and said, "You liked them. Let's plant some more radishes." He was surprised that she seemed to pause, then the little girl picked-up the seeds that he had placed on the plate and added, "Yes, and let's plant some cherries, too!"

The faeries fell all over each other laughing and cheering and throwing faerie dust into the air. That day people reported seeing rainbows in the sky, which seemed odd because the weather service reported that there had been no rain.