Talia, 9, Portland, OR
I have a stuffed animal dog named Clifford. He is my favorite stuffy. One day I came into my room to play with Clifford, and he was not where I left him. I looked around and saw him in the corner.
“How odd,” I said, and I left the room.
“Whew,” said Clifford. “That was close. I don’t know how I came to life, but I did, and it’s really fun!”
I thought I heard something and quickly I opened the door, catching an astonished Clifford in the act of dancing. One of his arms was up in the air while the other was to the side, while at the same time he was hopping on one leg.
“Wow!” I said, as I looked.
Clifford dropped to the ground and accidentally said, “Ow.”
“Oh my,” I said and ran to Clifford and put him on a pillow.
I asked, “How are you talking and moving?”
“Well,” said Clifford. “I was lying with you in your bed when I saw a light. It was little and cool. It came closer and closer until it landed on me. Then I felt odd like something was moving inside me that I did not know. Next thing I knew, poof, I could talk and move.”
“Wow,” I said. “That is cool. Was it a fairy? I have always wanted to see one of those.”
“Maybe,” said Clifford. “Now that I’m alive I can be like your dog. I know you have always wanted one.”
“Yay!” I said. And so, we began to play together.
Day after day we played until one day Clifford said, “I don’t know why, but I feel odd, like I am losing the magic inside me.”
“Oh no,” I said to Clifford.
Then something weird happened. I mean even more weird than a talking stuffy— and that is WEIRD. All of the lights went out and I could see a glowing light coming towards us.
“Hello,” said the light. “I am a fairy. I have come to tell you that the enchantment I put on your stuffy is wearing off.”
“But you can fix it right?” I asked.
“I am afraid I can’t.”
“Why not? “I asked in a sad, scared, and mad way.
“Well,” said the fairy. “I was exiled from the fairy realm because I turned your stuffy into a dog. Now I wonder how I can get my wand to keep this going. I think you need to go to the fairy realm and get my wand. You have 24 hours until the spell lifts and he is a normal stuffed animal again. Please hurry and go. You must not waste time. Good luck.”
Then Clifford and I ran off into the forest near my house to look for a big tree where the portal to the fairy realm was. When we came to the tallest tree in the forest, which was in the middle, we said “jujiejujie,” and the portal opened. The fairy had told us were to go and how to open it after we left. Then we dropped into the portal.
The new world around us was so pretty! There was a rainbow sky instead of blue, purple trees and plants instead of green, and a chocolate lake instead of water and gingerbread houses.
“Wow,” said Clifford. “This is so cool!!”
“Mm-hmm,” I said, trying not to let Clifford know that this was the coolest place I had ever seen because we needed to stay focused on the task ahead.
We had asked the fairy where to find the wand, and she had said to look in the house right next to the castle. We set off at a run until we came to the house.
We looked into the window. There were two men sitting in chairs with what looked like a wand. One man was short with bear ears and orange eyes. The other man was tall with a rhinoceros horn on his head and yellow eyes.
“What should we do with this thing?” said the first man. “We can’t break it without the queen’s approval, and she is on a trip but will come back in 23 hours. We should wait until she gets back.”
Then the other man said, “What if the girl whose stuffy dog got enchanted comes and tries to get it? We can’t take any chances. We don’t want the queen to chop off our head! What if it is gone because the girl takes it away?”
As they argued back and forth, Clifford and I took our chance. We snuck inside. The men didn’t notice because they were too busy arguing with each other. I slipped under the table where the wand was and quietly took it and tiptoed out of the house.
Just as I went out the door one of the men saw us with the wand and yelled, “They took wand! The wand that was going to be destroyed at the Queen’s command!!”
The wand catchers started to chase us shouting, “STOP, THIEF! THAT WAND BELONGS TO THE QUEEN. NOW BRING IT BACK!”
But we did not stop running. We ran and ran until the door that led out of the fairy world was in sight. We opened it as fast as we could and ran through it. On the other side the fairy sat on a rock.
The fairy cried: “YAY! Thank you for my wand! In thanks I will give you what you want. Clifford will now be a real dog.”
And with that, Clifford jumped and barked, “woof, woof.”
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