... ‘Has something happened to Mrs Elton?’ whispered Mrs Weston in shocked tones.
‘No, of course not,’ said Emma. ‘My dear Mrs Weston, you must have eaten something that disagreed with you.’
‘Yes, I think I must,’ said Mrs Weston, ‘for Jane Fairfax looks like a hag and is speaking in a voice like a toad, Mr Elton has just swept Harriet Smith off her feet and has set off with her towards the rectory, and Mrs Elton is a donkey!’
‘Emma!’ I said. ‘What have you done?’
‘It isn’t my fault!’ she protested. ‘How was I to know there were fairies at the bottom of the garden?’
I looked at her in exasperation, but I had to agree with her.
‘Then we must find them again,’ I said.
We excused ourselves and returned to the strawberry beds, calling out as we did so, ‘Come back! Put it right!’
There was a tinkle of laughter and the tiniest flurry of wings.
‘You knew that wasn’t what I wanted!’ whispered Emma to the unrepentant fairy.
‘Of course it was! I saw it in your mind,’ the fairy said.
‘But I only wanted it in my mind! It was fun to think of it, but not to actually do it. You must put things back the way they were.’
to be continued
~*~
Mr Knightley and the Fairies
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7 - end
*guest post from Amanda Grange, author of Mr Knightley's Diary
* image source donkey
* part of Mr Knightley's Picnic
