Once there was a blackberry who grew on a blackberry bush at the edge of a pathway that lead to a meadow. He was unlike any other blackberry around. This blackberry dreamed of leaving
his long thorny branch and exploring the world around him.
All his berry brothers and sisters thought he was crazy. “You are not
meant to be running around seeing the world. You should be looking to the sun
and letting it’s warmth change you from hard and green to a luscious juicy blackberry.” “You want someone to come and see your deliciousness, pick you and eat you.”
He ignored them all and stayed slightly hidden behind some leaves. He wanted
to delay his change as long as he could.
On the other side of the meadow, a little seed faerie was floating around looking for a great place to land and make a home. She wanted to grow into a tall strong beautiful
flower who would have her own seed faerie children. They would grow up,
catch a gust of wind and float away to find homes of their own. She could already
see her children becoming tall strong beautiful flowers with little seed faerie children
of their own.
As she was floating along, she spied a big green bush of blackberries. The berries
were still green and small. As she drifted by one of the berries peeked out and smiled at her. She floated over to where he was and landed on a leaf beside him. He immediately
asked her “What is it like to be so free? I am stuck here on this branch on this bush
for my whole lifetime. All I see are the humans and animals going back and forth,
back and forth. It must be so wonderful to float around like you do seeing everything.” The little faerie seed thought for a minute. “This is what my life
is...floating around to find a lovely place to call my home so I can become
a tall strong beautiful flower who will have children that float away and make
there own homes. I cannot say what it is like to be free because this is who I am.”
The little blackberry frowned slightly. “Haven’t you ever wanted to do or be
something else? I dream of being able to get off this branch maybe for a day, or even
an hour, just to see what else is out there.” The little blackberry’s brothers and sisters
scowled at him.They whined, “He goes on and on. Where is that guy going? Look at the little girl skipping down the path with her little brother.
What is that song they are singing?
Wouldn’t it be lovely to skip down the path with them? All day long. He is driving
us crazy. You would think that becoming a beautiful lush ripe blackberry for someone
to enjoy would be enough, but not him. He will learn though, this is our life and he
should be happy with it.”
The little seed faerie looked sadly at the little blackberry. Suddenly she smiled.
“You know what? I have some time
before I need to have a home picked out. I could float around and see what is going
on and come back and tell you stories about what I see. Would that make you
feel a little more free? A little more happy?”
The blackberry smiled a huge smile. “If I can’t grow wings and float around with you
I guess you coming back here to tell me wonderful stories of all the adventures that
you see would make me happier.”
The little seed faerie agreed.
“I will be back tomorrow. I promise.” And the little seed faerie floated away.
True to her word the little seed faerie returned every day and reported on grand and
fantastical adventures of the world around them. At first she couldn’t understand
why these stories meant so much to the little blackberry but as the days went past
her excitement grew. She realized that she had come to love the little blackberry.
This made her sad because she knew that one day soon she would have to leave
him on his branch and find herself a home.
The little blackberry was becoming very handsome and had turned a beautiful shade of red. Next he would change to a shade of really dark purple and than he would be ready to eat. Some of his brothers and sisters had already
started to turn and were being eaten by humans and birds. This panicked the
little blackberry because he didn’t want to be eaten. He had fallen in love with
the little seed faerie. He hid as best as he could by staying as far under a leaf as he possibly could.
A few days later, as the seed faerie was floating over to her little blackberry, she saw a
human reach in and pluck a berry of the branch next his. She was very upset when she
landed on leaf next to the little blackberry. “What will I do when you are taken from me?
I have come to love you and don’t want us to be apart ever.” She leaned over and rested her head on his. She felt him move. “You have become so beautiful and ripe that you are almost falling off your branch.”
And then it came to her. “I could take you off this branch myself and carry you away
with me. We could be together forever.” The blackberry was ecstatic. “Yes” he said.
The little seed faerie did just that. She nudged and nudged and he came loose.
She was able to carry him a safe distance away.
It was a wonderful place at the edge of the meadow away from the path. They settled there and they both took root and prepared for winter. When spring came the next year they grew together
tall and strong and both had children. They told all their children the story of how they met and how they had made their dream of being together forever come true. As the
years passed they watched their children grow and have grandchildren, than great grandchildren and on and on. Every year on their anniversary they would remember the story of how they met.
They continue to live on at the edge of a meadow somewhere to this day.
The End.
thanks, Suzanne
this story belongs to my imagination. not to be used without my permission
