Once upon a time there was a fairy named Sparkle. Sparkle lived in the land of the fairies, but her favorite thing to do was go and spy on the humans. There was one house in particular where she liked to watch. This house had a little girl, about five years old, that fascinated Sparkle. Every morning, after her chores, the little fairy would fly through the leaves of the forest, flitter over the little creek and settle herself on the windowsill ouside the little girl's room.
Sparkle was a young fairy and, as such, was not quite old enough to be a fairy godmother. She knew that when she came of age she would be assigned to a human that she would watch over. Sparkle desperately hoped that she would be assigned to the little girl in the house she liked to watch, but for now all she could do was wait and hope. She desperately loved this little girl, whose name was Violet. She would laugh as Violet played around her room and would cry when the little girl was sad.
One day, during one of her visits, Sparkle noticed something new in Violet's room. It was a shiny little jewelry box. When the lid was opened it played a tiny, tinkly little song and a delicate little ballerina twirled on the spot. It was obvious that Violet loved her new treasure. She was squealing with delight at the ballerina and kept winding up the knob to play the music over and over. Now, as you may know, fairies are so small that they can only feel one emotion at a time. Sparkle saw the little ballerina in the jewelry box and was taken over by an emotion she had never felt before: jealousy. Jealousy consumed the little fairy until the tips of her little pointed ears turned green. She wanted to be beautiful like the little ballerina. She wanted to dance to the little song. But most of all, she wanted to be loved by little Violet.
In a stormy mood, Sparkle rose up and flew back to the fairy village. Up, up, up one of the surrounding trees she flew until she reached the highest branch where she plunked herself down and sat to stew. After a while, the jealousy was replaced with sadness and Sparkle flew back down to the ground. She went to see her friend, the oldest fairy in the village, to see if the older fairy could help her with her problem.
After Sparkle explained her plight, the old fairy said, "Sparkle, you know that fairies are magical creatures. I can see that you are very distraught and I can offer you help, though it will come at great cost."
"What can be done?" asked Sparkle.
"If you are willing to give up your life as a fairy and give up your wings, you can trade places with the little ballerina in the jewelry box."
Sparkle was very excited and, being so small, could not be anything but excited so she quickly agreed. The old fairy said some magic words and Sparkle felt herself start to change. Everything was dark and she felt her wings drop away. Suddenly, she saw a thin crack of light, that grew wider and wider. She realized that she was inside the little music box inside Violet's bedroom. The music began to play and Sparkle's feet, rooted in place, began to turn around and around. She had become the little ballerina and she was happy.
Years passed and Violet grew too old for the little jewelry box. She played with it less and less until one day, she stopped playing with it at all. The box got dusty and was finally moved up into the attic for storage. Sparkle sat in the dark, her feet rooted to the base of the jewelry box and a permanent smile pasted on her face. There was nothing to be done. Her wings and her fairy magic had left her when she wished to become the ballerina. Forever she would be fated to wait until some other little girl was presented with the, now antique, jewelry box.
Be careful what you wish for.
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