Tales from Gryphon Beach: The Smallest Giant

Once upon a time, there was a land called Gryphon Beach, where all manner of wild and unusual creatures lived. There were fairies, and panthers, and angels and trolls and of course gryphons.

One day, a great sailing vessel came to the shores of Gryphon Beach. None of the fairies or angels or trolls had ever seen one before, and so they all went down to the water to stare at it very curiously.

For a while, the great ship did absolutely nothing at all. This wasn't very interesting, and Melody the glitter fairy started whacking people with her glitter wand, just to give herself something to do. ZOT!

As a result, by the time the ship did something interesting, everybody was covered with glitter and sneezing getting glitter in their noses, which was quite a strange way to greet the tall creature that came off the ship.

The creature that came off the ship seemed to be shaped mostly like a woman, a grown-up woman, which there weren't a lot of, at Gryphon Beach.

Only mostly, though. Instead of a proper face, she had a magical feathery mask, with peacock feathers and an owl's beak nose. Beneath that were lips, pretty usual lips, nice and red and with a friendly smile. And she was very very tall, much taller than a usual grown-up person would be.

This tall lady got off the ship, and everyone sneezed greetings to her, which made her smile. Melody the glitter fairy went zipping over and nearly ZOTted the lady with her glitter wand, but she stopped at the last moment, because the peacock feathers had their own sort of glitter.

So, instead, hovering there right in front of the lady's nose -- Melody is a very small fairy, remember, only about four inches tall -- Melody asked, "Who are you?"

The owl-masked lady blinked in surprise at the tiny fairy, and then leaned forward to look carefully at her. "I don't have a name," she explained, "but you are Melody, and I have been looking for you a very long time!"

Melody was very surprised by this. "You have? Why?"

"Well," said the owl lady, "you see, I am the mother of the giants, and I lost you a very long time ago."

Melody looked quite skeptical about this. "I'm four inches tall," she pointed out to the owl lady, just in case the owl lady had missed it. "I'm not a giant."

"You are! You are the very smallest giant!" exclaimed the owl lady.

Now, Liralen the Soccer Angel was listening to this conversation, and she came over and looked up at the owl lady. "How can Melody be a small giant?" she asked.

"There was a magic spell cast over Melody when she was born," explained the owl lady. "It took her very far away, and changed all of her giant magic into tiny glitter fairy magic."

Melody lifted both her eyebrows at the owl lady. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, yes!" said the owl lady. "Let me show you." She lifted her hands, and unrolled a long silvery piece of cloth that sparkled in the sunshine. The sun always shines at Gryphon Beach, you know, except for when it rains.

Melody and Liralen, and all the others, gathered around the silver cloth. The owl lady shook it, once! twice! three times! and then pictures appeared in the silver."

The pictures were of Melody, but they weren't. In the picture was quite a tall girl, with blue eyes and blue hair, just like the glitter fairy had, but no wings, and very long , strong legs. She ran about on Gryphon Beach, playing with her friends, and no longer needed Liralen the Soccer Angel to carry her around so she could keep up.

Melody said, "Oooh," very softly, as she watched the pictures. "That's me?"

The owl lady nodded. "That is you. If you had not had a spell cast over you, you would have grown up tall like this! I can take your wings away, and make you tall now, so that you can be as you were meant to be."

Melody startled back. "Take my wings away?"

"Oh, yes," said the owl lady. "Giants don't have wings, you see, only long, strong legs."

Tiny Melody bit her lip, and looked over her shoulder at her lovely glitterwings. "But they're a part of me," she said slowly."

All the other Gryphon Beachers stood in a circle, looking at the owl lady and at Melody, wondering what would happen.

"They were not meant to be a part of you, though," the owl lady said.

Melody fluttered her wings, to make sure they were still there. "But I like them."

"You would get used to being without them," the owl lady assured her.

Melody zipped around in a little circle, quite nervous, and frowned at the owl lady. "They are a part of me!"

The owl lady started to look impatient. "But they shouldn't be."

Melody put her tiny hands on her tiny hips, and frowned up at the owl lady. "Maybe they should be. Maybe I'm supposed to have a magic spell on me."

She flitted around in many small circles, looking angry. "My wings are part of me! I can be the world's smallest giant and keep my wings both. I don't have to be big, to be a giant!"

Melody flitted right up to the owl lady's nose. "I am a perfectly good giant just the size I am! And I have wings, which you don't!"

Melody took her glitter wand, and hit the owl lady right on the nose with it. ZOT! With a satisfied little nod, she zipped right back over to Liralen the Soccer Angel's shoulder. "And my friends like me just the way I am, and will give me rides on their shoulders, so I don't have to have great long legs like you have."

The owl lady looked quite startled, and sneezed just as much as any Gryphon Beacher had done. "Well," she said, "if you're quite certain."

Melody nodded, her pointy little chin set. "I am. I'm a perfectly nice giant just the way I am."

The owl lady rubbed her nose, where all the glitter was at, and nodded. "Well, all right. If you're certain. I can only offer to make you real-giant sized one time."

Melody didn't even hesitate. She just nodded one more time. The owl lady inclined her head, and turned back to her enormous ship, and sailed away, never to be seen again.

And all the Gryphon Beachers let out a great cheer, because they knew Melody as a tiny glitter fairy, and liked her just exactly that way. And besides, they told each other, it wasn't everyone who got to be friends with the world's smallest giant!

Melody beamed at them all, and flitted around and hit them all on the head with her glitter wand. ZOT! ZOT! ZOT! And so the day ended the same way it began: with everyone glittering and sneezing, and the glitter fairy just exactly the right size.