MARCH 9, 2021 PROMPT

Write about the mythical or science fiction creatures/beings that could actually exist.

Imagine a world where there was definitive proof of their existence - how would life be different?

I Do Believe in Fairies

I am a big fan of Walt Disney's Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. I've even watched all movies and clips with these characters and I always marvel at how lovely they are even up to this day. Ever since, I believe they existed and were not just a product of Barrie's1 creative mind. Back then at our province, I had found hints of their existence. Located not so far from our house, there is this huge balete2 tree. My parents always reminded us not to come closer to this tree and scared us that there lived an invisible, tall, dark and ugly being who takes away all lost children making them his pets and delectable food.

There was this time when my father, my brother and I went fishing near this tree. It's the best spot for fishing because of the deep and undisturbed river basin nestled right at its foot. I was scared to go there at first but father was with us so we followed him with aplomb. I couldn't believe how huge its roots were. They sprawled freely in to different direction. There were also roots dangling their way down from it twisted and tangled branches. This created a horrendous imagery in my youngest mind. I crawled my way closer to the water and started setting up my line. It was too quiet that I can only hear the sound of leaves and those dangling roots brushing each other every time the wind blows. I looked above and I saw small birds playing, cheerfully switching places and hopping over twigs and branches. After few moments, there was that leaf-like thing gyrated and twisted as it slowly fell down towards my location. At first I thought it was just a tiny piece of fallen dry leaf but it wasn't. It sparkled the moment it passed the tiny light sifted through thick clusters of leaves. I immediately rushed towards where it landed and to my surprise, it's a wing - a very tiny wing similar to that of a dragonfly. But that one was pointed. I had seen different types of dragonflies as we used to catch them to feed my spider pet3 and their wings have round edges. I brought the piece to my father and asked what kind of and whose wing was it. He only said it's a dragonfly wing and then scolded me to focus on my fishing. I threw the wing away and saw how it gyrated down to the running water below.

I went back to my place and something took the bait.

Well, that was just another childhood experience I had. Today's prompt made me remember my childhood curiosity and wondering. I had some other experiences which will somehow prove that fairies do exist. But that would be for another story. If they really existed and would co-exist with us, things would be a lot more different. We could fly with them or perhaps we might be living in a magical world. Thank you for reading this. Cheers!

Footnotes

1 Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (/ˈbæri/; 9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie]

2 Balete tree is infamous in Philippine folklore for being the dwelling place of engkantos or supernatural creatures and nature spirits such as dwendes (dwarves), kapres (tree demons), diwatas (fairies) and tikbalangs (demon horses). [https://www.traveling-up.com/bewitching-balete-trees-around-the-philippines/]

3 Spider fighting or spider derby is a blood sport involving spiders that occurs in different forms in several areas of the world. Among them are the Philippines, Japan, and Singapore. The fights that occur in the Philippines and in Japan are staged between females of various species of web weavers. Female spiders will kill a rival if the loser does not quickly flee or receive the aid of a human handler. The contests that are staged in Singapore are fights between male jumping spiders. The males fight only for dominance, and ordinarily the loser will flee, though sometimes they will lose a leg in the fight. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_fighting]

Image Credits:

Disney

TVtropes