Pearl was the sweetest, kindest, and happiest little fairy in fairyland. One day as she flew down to the mango grove to pick some ripe mangoes, she saw something shimmering at the corner of the field. Curious, she flew down to see what it was. It was a tiny, silver diary! She picked it up and it was smooth as silk. “Oooh, this looks so interesting”, said Pearl. “I wonder who this belongs to! Maybe I can find out from the diary and return it to them!”
She opened the diary and noticed that it had black pages. And what do you know! Written on the top of the very first page, in bold silver letters, was “THIS MAGIC DIARY BELONGS TO PEARL” followed by Pearl’s address in fairyland! Astonished, she read further. It said –
“This is a magic diary. Write only positive thoughts. DO NOT write negative thoughts!”
“Oh how wonderful!”, thought Pearl. “I shall write my positive thoughts before I sleep tonight!” Then she fluttered away, excited about the little magic diary. Pearl always thought positive thoughts. So she felt happy that now she had this diary to capture them in!
That night, comfortable in her soft bed, she opened the diary and thought about her day. She wrote,
“Dear diary, today was a wonderful day. First of all, I found you! I think you are a very pretty silver-and-black diary! I enjoyed a very nice tea at Shirley’s cottage. She makes the nicest tea cakes! I met Billy on my way back from the mango grove and he greeted me with a nice smile. What a nice fairy he is!”
Then she fell asleep, smiling to herself. It had indeed been a lovely day!
The next morning, as Pearl was stepping out of the house, she bumped into Shirley who said excitedly, “Pearl! You wouldn’t believe what happened this morning! I got invited by Mr. Merryweather to his tea party next week! I can bring a friend with me – and I’d like you to come with me!”
Pearl couldn’t believe her ears! Mr. Merryweather was the wealthiest fairy in fairyland and threw the most lavish parties in town! “Oh thank you, Shirley”, said Pearl. “I’d love to join you!”
Later that day, she ran into Billy.
“Pearl!”, said Billy. “I was just coming over to your house! My uncle visited me this morning from Pixieville and brought me a large crate of the juiciest custard apples! Here, I brought you a bagful”.
“Oh, thank you, Billy!”, said Pearl gratefully. She loved custard apples!
“My, I’ve had a lot of exciting things happen to me today!”, she said to Billy. “First Shirley invites me to Mr. Merryweather’s tea party and now you bring me these gorgeous custard apples!” That’s when she remembered the magic diary!
“Oh Billy!”, she said, her eyes dancing with excitement. “Yesterday, I found this magic diary which asked me to write positive thoughts in it – and I did! I wrote about Shirley and you. And today the two of you get these wonderful gifts and share them with me. It can’t be a coincidence!”
“That’s so exciting, Pearl!”, said Billy. “I wonder what other magical things will happen!”
Little did Pearl and Billy know that the greedy goblin Bigears was eavesdropping on their conversation just then. He was hiding behind a big bush next to them. He quietly slipped away, his mind full of mischievous ideas. Do you know what the naughty goblin did? He snuck up to Pearl’s house and stole the diary from her bedside table!
He quickly ran to his little round cottage at the edge of fairyland and locked himself up. “It sounds like this is a magic diary that grants wishes!”, he said as he greedily opened the diary. All that Pearl had written the previous night had mysteriously disappeared. He didn’t even stop to read what the diary said about writing only positive things!
Bigears grabbed his ink pen and started writing, “I want Pinky the rabbit’s soft white slippers that look so comfortable. I also would love for that boastful Tippy to fall down from the new bicycle that he keeps boasting about! Serve him right! Oh, and I want those custard apples that Billy got! They seem delicious and I see no reason why Billy should get to keep so many of them!”
The magic diary glowed an angry red for a few seconds. You see, it was angry that Bigears had written all those negative things in it. It hated carrying bad, mean, and hurtful things in its pages. It meant to punish the goblin soundly!
The next morning, Bigears woke up to find that his new pair of shoes had disappeared! “Bother!”, he said. “I knew I had put it right here, next to the bookshelf!” He put on his old pair of shoes and went to the market to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. As he rode his bicycle, he didn’t see a large rock on the little road and ran right over it. His bicycle wobbled violently and he toppled right off it! How his backside hurt with the impact after falling on the hard ground! And where do you think he fell? Right in front of boastful Tippy’s house! Tippy came out running and helped Bigears up. “Are you okay, Bigears?”, asked Tippy who was a kind fairy, though sometimes boastful. “Yes”, said Bigears gruffly and rode off without event thanking Tippy! “What a funny fellow”, said Tippy shaking his head in disbelief.
At the market, as Bigears searched for fresh carrots, he heard something whooshing towards him. He looked up and splat – his face was smeared with a ripe, juicy custard apple! Mrs. Applecart, the vendor of the stall, came running forward, mortified at what had happened. “I’m so sorry, Bigears!”, she said in the most apologetic tone. She handed him a piece of cloth to wipe his face. “You see, Billy gave me some of his custard apples as a gift this morning. I was putting them away in a hurry and this one completely slipped my hand – and hit you. I’m sorry!”
Bigears stood there is dismay. He thought to himself, “I know that the diary is definitely magic! Maybe it did nice things for Pearl but it seems to be doing mean things to me! I’m going to return it to her right away!”
Pearl heard someone knocking on her door that morning. Wasn’t she surprised to find Bigears standing there! “Whatever happened, Bigears?”, she asked. Bigears hung his head and pulled out the diary from his bag. “I’m so sorry that I stole this from you, Pearl. I overheard you telling Billy what the diary did for you the other day! So I stole it for myself! I’m sorry I did that. I truly am. Here. Please take this. This diary isn’t good for me. You should keep it”.
Pearl was both sorry to hear Bigears sound so sad and happy to have her diary back. She accepted it graciously. “It’s alright, Bigears! I forgive you!”, she said. Big ears hurried away, happy that he’d gotten rid of the diary and promised himself never to steal ever again! He slept peacefully that night.
The next morning, his new shoes were back. He smiled, relieved. He knew the diary had forgiven him!
They say that Bigears has turned into a nice, sweet, trustworthy goblin these days. Pearl and he have become good friends. That’s rather nice, wouldn’t you agree? 😀