A modern winter fairy tale for adults and children
Listen to the song written for this part: enchanted.
The forest is now completely covered in snow, glistening in the warm light of the sun. Snowflakes are floating past Mina, but not only are they falling from the sky, they move in every direction. In the thicket of the woods Mina makes out a few deer. They lift their heads and look at her friendly. The birds, who usually keep their distance, hop a few twigs downwards and watch her expectantly. And Mother Oak seems to have grown immensely and where Mina has rested a few moments ago the roots have formed some sort of portal. But most surprised is Mina by the light. It’s so different from everything she knows. Light and warm, golden and silver at the same time. It paints the snow with all the colors of the rainbow. Everything looks straight out of a snow globe or a corny advent calendar pasted with glitter, but a hundred times more beautiful. Once again Mina starts turning her body in all directions, but this time very, very slowly. She looks around and can’t even start to describe how wonderful the forest looks right in this moment. A thought crosses her mind: “It must have been a very strong snowstorm. I should be going home before it gets dark and I get too cold.” But strangely she isn’t cold at all, on the contrary the light seems not only to warm her from the outside but also from the inside. One of the robins sitting on the branches of the oak and observing Mina curiously, spreads its wings, pushes away from the branch and lands gently on Minas left shoulder. Mina is awestruck. Can it be?! She barely dares to breathe, but the little robin doesn’t seem to be bothered by her. It starts cleaning its feathers and then rests its head beneath one of its wings.
Suddenly the forest starts to move as if Mina’s robin has given a sign. Where all the woodland creatures just have stood still watching Mina, they now take on their usual demeanour again. The deer lower their heads in search of something to eat. The birds start singing again and the squirrels go about their nut-searching business. Only the robin keeps sleeping on Mina’s shoulder, who doesn’t dare to make any moves. Once again she notices the cool tickling of a snowflake on her nose and doesn’t believe her own eyes when she sees that every snowflake floating by has a tiny little face. They all smile at Mina, but don’t stop dancing. Mina looks around again as quietly as possible. Not only do the snowflakes have friendly little faces, they look like fairies dressed in ice crystals. Each of them is different, unique and gorgeous. Mina can hardly get enough of the sight presenting itself to her. Some of the snowflake fairies fall from the sky like normal snowflakes, others float horizontally to the ground and then there are some who seem to be standing on the forest floor and moving into the air with a little jump. A few especially curious ones fly closer towards Mina, some even sitting down on her for a little while leaving an echanted glittery trace. Mina can feel that a soft and cozy calmness is spreading from every spot touched by the snowfairies. It feels so good and if she hadn’t been so surprised still, she probably would have lied down on the spot and let the snowflakes pet her into a deep sleep.
But instead Mina starts to get a little nervous not knowing what has happened here with her and this forest. She remembers that she already has had a similar experience in this forest a summer ago. Back then in a moment of desperation she has landed by the creek, which was full of water nymphs and other strange creatures. And even though it was a beautiful and important, albeit magical, experience in Mina’s life, she had forgotten about it. But now being surrounded again by magical creatures, Mina starts doubting her sanity. Her fantasy is too vivid for her taste and she feels fear creeping in. I have to go, wake up from that daydream!, she shouts to herself in her mind. Before she can act a short, but strong pain on her left ear pulls her out of her thoughts. The robin must have pinched her in the ear. It looks at her seriously and accusingly. A moment it seems to contemplate its options, but then it flutters skywards, stays afloat for a while in front of Minas face and flies towards the oak. Just as it reaches the root portal at the base of the tree it turns around to once again approach Mina, take a turn in front of her face just to steer towards the root portal. There it places itself in front of the entrance and turns its little head towards Mina. She believes to have understood what the little bird wants to tell her. Still not completely sure whether she’s dreaming or not, she hesitantly steps forward. The robin waits until Mina is standing right at the entrance to the inside of the tree. The portal is bigger than she expected. Without having to stoop down, Mina takes a step. She turns to the robin behind her, but it is nowhere to be seen. “Ok, apparently I have to go on alone”, she tells herself and thinks about her last experience with the creek to encourage herself. Back then everything seemed strange as well and she remembers being afraid and doubting her sanity. But in the end her curiousity won and she simply followed her impulse. Even though she dismissed the journey with the creek as nonesense and as a dream, it still had a lasting positive effect on her by gifting her her sanctuary in the woods. And so she decides to once again trust her intuition that has shown her the way to the inside of the oak in the shape of a robin. Another deep breath and Mina steps inside.
Do you like my Advent story? Please feel free to share it with your friends, loved ones, your family and the children in your life.
