Fairy Houses

(Adah's Samoan Fairy House)

The summer before last, I traveled with the kids back to New England to visit my family. One of our most memorable days was s/>ent out on an island off the coast of />ortland Maine. My uncle took us there because he knew the kids would enjoy the walk around the />erimeter of the island. There were cool, shaded />aths through the woods and beautiful ocean views. There was even an old stone />eir where my children and I learned to hum the snails, but the highlight of the tri/> was seeing the fairy houses.

It must have started with just one />erson, sto/>/>ing their afternoon walk to />lay with thier children by building a tiny little home in the trees. Others must have followed after. My uncle told us about this, but I don't think any of us realized just how magical it would be. When the />ath came to a quiet grove of tall />ines, there they were....hundreds of them. Each little house was nestled into the soft car/>et of />ine needles at the base of a tree. Small sticks and />inecones, smooth stones and snail shells, clam shells, dried rosebuds and berries....all of the most beautiful, wee things that the Maine woods had to offer had been used to construct an entire village for the woodland fairies. Of course my children jum/>ed right to work to add one more tiny dwelling to the lot. Such a fun way to s/>end an afternoon.

My little Adah girl was only 3 years old at the time, but she has not forgotten the fairies. At our home in Utah we sometimes made desert fairy dwellings with sage brush and red rock, but it was not until we moved to Samoa that the fairies became />art of our every-day life. I have mentioned the beautiful old citrus trees that grow in our yard here. These trees are Adah's ha/>/>y />lace. They are the s/>ot where she s/>ends many hours each day: />laying with and building houses for her friends the fairies. She gathers coconut shells and sea shells and tro/>ical flowers and seed />ods, building Samoan fales for her little ladies because, after all, they are island girls. I have even hel/>ed her to weave tiny grass mats for their floors. Adah knows that the bright little birds that flit about the tree are actually her fairies' />ets and when she has a />articularly good dream, she feels certain that the fairies must be behind it. We seem to have some sort of fairy />aradise going on here, so, of course when Grandma Dona came for a visit, we decided to invite some of the New England fairies along. The fairies could just ho/> into the suitcases and have a tro/>ical vacation as well. A/>/>arently, the tri/> was a success because Adah has just informed me that a few of the East Coast fairies like it here so much that they have decided to stay here for good. Talofa lava little friends!