Misty Wood was brimming over with excitement. The sun was beaming happily as he stretched his rays out to every corner of the wood. The leaves on the trees were rustling cheerfully. The blooms in the meadows were bobbing their heads joyfully in the breeze. And everywhere you looked, fairy animals were fluttering their sparkling wings and whispering behind their paws.
“Tomorrow is the fair!” they chattered. “Tomorrow is the fair!”
High up in an old oak tree, a pretty little face popped out of a hole in the trunk. The face was followed by a silky red body with sparkly violet wings. Last of all came a bushy golden tail that twitched to and fro. It was Sophie the Stardust Squirrel.
“Tomorrow is going to be the best day of my whole life!” she cried. “I can’t wait, I can’t wait!” Sophie was especially excited because she and her friends had been chosen to perform the opening dance at the Misty Wood fair this year.
Sophie hopped onto a branch and smoothed down her whiskers. Then she flexed her fairy wings and closed her eyes, imagining what tomorrow would be like.
The opening dance of the Misty Wood fair was always lovely. Every year, some clever Bark Badgers made a wooden festival pole, carved with woodland scenes and beautiful swirling patterns. It was placed in the middle of a big, grassy clearing, then brightly colored strands of flowers were attached like ribbons to stream down from the top. Each dancer held a strand and skipped around the pole.
Today the pole would finally be ready, and Sophie and her friends would get the chance to have one last practice.
Sophie jiggled her tail at the very thought and scampered down the old oak tree. She was so excited, she couldn’t stay still! When she reached the bottom, she jumped back up again, imagining that the tree was the pole. As she twisted and turned around the gnarled trunk, she thought of all the other fairy animals, cheering loudly as she and her friends performed the dance.
Just as she reached the top of the tree, she heard someone shouting.
“What’s all that scraping and scuffling?” Sophie’s mom called.
Sophie peered down through the branches. Her mom was poking her head out of the nest in the cozy hollow where they lived, looking this way and that.
“It’s only me, Mom,” Sophie replied.
“Sophie! Whatever are you up to?” asked her mom, looking up at her. “You’re making so much noise that you woke poor Sammy from his nap.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mom!” Sophie exclaimed. Sammy was Sophie’s little brother. He was still very young, so he always had a midday snooze. “I didn’t mean to wake him. I’m just so excited about tomorrow.”
Sophie’s mom smiled. “Yes, I understand. I remember dancing at the fair when I was your age. It was so much fun. But try not to get too excited, Sophie—look at what you’ve done to our tree!”
“Done? I haven’t done anything…” Sophie began. But as she looked around the branches, she clapped her paw to her mouth. The old oak tree was shimmering silver from head to foot! The leaves were no longer green. The trunk was no longer brown. Every single part of the tree was covered in stardust!
Like all the other fairy animals in Misty Wood, Stardust Squirrels had their own special job. Their big, bushy tails sprinkled stardust whenever the squirrels gave them a shake. They were supposed to scatter the dust lightly over Misty Wood so that it twinkled gently. But the oak tree wasn’t just twinkling now. It was glowing!
“Never mind,” chuckled Sophie’s mom. “The next time it rains it will all get washed away. And, in the meantime, it’s quite nice having the brightest tree in the whole wood—at least we’ll be able to find our way home in the dark! Now it’s time you went to your practice.”
“Oh! Is it?” Sophie sat up on her back legs and wiggled her whiskers.
Sophie’s mom nodded.
“Hurray!” cheered Sophie. “We’re going to dance around the festival pole at last!” With two enormous flicks of her tail, she bounded down the tree, scattering more stardust. She looked up at her mom to wave good-bye. “Uh-oh…” she murmured.
Her mom’s head had turned silver now, too. It was hard to tell where she ended and the tree began!
Sophie’s mom laughed and gave her head a shake, sending a cloud of stardust shimmering to the ground. “Good luck,” she called. “And be careful what you do with that tail!”
“I will,” Sophie said with a grin. “See you later, Mom.” And with a flutter of her fairy wings, she flew off to find her friends.