Submission Sixty-Seven

“Welcome to the Fairie Worlds festival”.

I was there, it was my sixteenth birthday, and I could not wait for my day to unfold. I thought about the coming hours, the people that would come, the music that was to play, and more than anything else I looked forward to meeting Brain Froud, an artist’s inspiration.
The gates opened, and people from all over the world came pouring in. It was amazing to see how they wore their creative souls on the outside. Elaborate hand sewn costumes, giant wings, painted bodies, men on stilts, and simple smiles stretched across the crowd. Each one a work of art, telling you a thousand untold stories as they soaked it all in.
Somewhere in the distance music began to play, it started out soft and low, drawing me nearer to make out the lyrics. “Hear the howling of wolves, provoking the night, wild dances in the full moon light...” Every able creature was linking arms and moving to the music without a care as to what waited upon their Monday desk or what anyone told them they should be. Complete freedom overtook the night with every beat of the drums.
When at last my feet could no longer take it, I braved the line of the goblin market. I have long admired the work of Brain Froud, his drawings and paintings have been the inspiration for my own art many times. He, along with his wife and son, had flown in from England to be at this festival. It was not too long before I was there standing in front of him. We shook hands and he wished me a happy birthday as he drew a small fairie on the inside page of my favorite book, Good Fairies/Bad Fairies. I can’t honestly tell you what I said to him or his talented wife, as I was struck so speechless from the reality of it all, that tears had formed in my eyes.
It was silly to cry, I know that now, but at the time the whole day made me feel like a part of something bigger than myself. It felt as if anything that you dared to dream of, could and would manifest into an attainable reality.
I met some wonderful people; I am still in touch with a few of them, others I wish I could find again. I danced to the most amazing music sung straight from the heart of poets. I was able to meet the artist whose work got me seeing fairie art in a whole new way, I was sixteen, and it was the happiest day of my life.

Submitted and Written by: Kamea Black