2nd Tuesday Flash Fiction

Choto pran, choto kotha
Choto choto dukkho betha
Nitantoi shohoj shorol
Shohosro bisriti rasher
Prottoho meteche bhashi
Tari du-chariti oshrujol
Nahi bornonar chota
Ghotonar ghonoghota
Nahin totto nahi upodesh
Ontore otripto robe
Shango kori mone hobe
Shesh hoyeo Hoilo na shesh [Little lives, little tales, the little simple sorrows & pains lingering beyond the thousand forgotten moments of everyday life, nothing too ornate nor heavy advices, it will leave you unquenched in the heart, knowing that the story continues after the end]–
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) on the short story.
Badly translated from the original Bengali by me. I did search for a translation, but Google offered all of Tagore’s quotes except this one.

Bittu’s Fairytale

Bittu was watching clouds, outlining winged horses and warriors amidst them, when a little downy bit began descending. It dropped right down to his window and squeezed in through the grilles, settling on the floor like oversized candyfloss. The room was suddenly filled with the fragrances of a garden. Then a girl no taller than his knee popped out of the fluff.
“Mummy-Daddy are at office. Please come when …” He broke off on spotting her wings. They were pale blue, the same colour as her dress.
He dismissed thoughts of shouting for his TV-watching nanny. He was dreaming. Lucky his classmates couldn’t spy into his sleep!
“Adi is a nasty boy,” the girl spoke in a tone that suggested she didn’t consider the manner of her visit anything out-of-the-usual. “You should stand up to him. I’m Gunja the fairy, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
She flew up to his study-table and sat down cross-legged atop the globe, wrapping the gossamer wings around herself like a shawl.
“You…you can’t be real!” Bittu said. How the hell did she know about Adi?
Gunja raised an eyebrow.
“I thought you believed in us?”
He didn’t answer. Adi’s taunts still rang in his ears. Fairytales were for babies and little girls, he said. Boys watched Roadies.
He looked away from her and saw the candyfloss.
“Why do you travel on clouds when you can fly?”
She laughed.
“Why do you need buses and cars? You can walk!”
Oh! The stories didn’t say fairies used clouds for long-distance travel.
“How far are you going?”
“As far as it takes to return to Parital, our homeland.” She stretched and closed her wings again.
“But where is it?” He asked.
“Up in the mountains. You won’t find it here,” The globe glowed as she tapped it lightly, “It was a beautiful place before the demon usurped it. He ruined the flowers, killed the birds, poisoned the lake that contained our magic and put the fairies to sleep with his silver wand! Only a few of us could escape. He has a golden wand as well, with which he wakes them whenever he wants, forces them to do his bidding and then curses them back to sleep again. Our only hope now is people like you.” She gazed into his face, her eyes shining.
“Me? But how?” How could he fight a demon who had defeated so many fairies? He was thin and small; he didn’t have Adi’s strength.
“You don’t have to fight, you’ve already done your bit,” she assured him, pulling out her necklace of glass beads. Its locket was a tiny crystal bottle. Something neither wholly liquid or air shimmered within it, changing colour as the light fell on it, “These are dream fragments, collected from people who believes in our magic. One day we’ll have enough dreams to rain down on Parital and revive the lake. Then we shall be free again. But I came here today to tell you something else.”
“What’s that?” He asked.
She flew down to his shoulder.
“Adi the bully is scared of cockroaches. I peeped into his dream last night and saw. Just say there’s one in his hair the next time he bothers you.”
Cockroaches? He always acted such a hero!
“Thanks!” He grinned at Gunja.
“You too.” She shook the pendant once, and sailed out of the window on her cloud.
Bittu followed her with his eyes as far as he could. She was right about standing up to Adi. Not because of the cockroaches, but because he knew that fairies were true.
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This post is for the 2nd Tuesday blogathon, and this month’s topic is Flash Fiction. My story is a bit, silly? Sorry, I was planning to write another rone but didn’t get the time.
©Ruchira Mandal
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