Elfin Woods

"There are fairies at the bottom of our garden"

At the bottom of our garden, over a low fence, there is a small wood. Long ago it was part of an immense Royal Forest, home, so it was said, to wolves, bears, deer, squirrels, wild boar and many other forest denizens.

At the end of the nineteenth century the "Developers" moved in. In the following decades the forest was torn down to be replaced with suburban housing. Now there only remains our little wood, known locally as "Elfin Wood."

In Spring the wood is carpeted with bluebells that the children gather to take home triumphant as gifts for mother. It was on a beautiful Spring day that I made my pilgrimage to the bottom of our garden, to the summerhouse to be precise.

Perhaps that does not sound much of a pilgrimage, but I had not visited it for seven months.

It was seven months since my husband, Greg, had died. He had built the summerhouse with his own hands, and in his stubbornness, with the last of his strength. I had harboured a dread of seeing the place since he died, fearing the memories it would evoke.

On the morning of my pilgrimage, I had said to my son, Ivor, as he set out for work, "I shall go to the summerhouse today."

He knew of my fears, so he smiled and said, "Perhaps something wonderful will happen for you there, and a new life after."

With those enigmatic words, he kissed me goodbye and left.

I waited until after lunch to go to the summerhouse. It was a gloriously warm day and I decided to dress as I often did on summer days, and in a manner that used to tease Greg.

It was a garment resembling a sarong that I had designed and of which I had made several versions over the years. It was intended to be revealing of breasts with which I am amply endowed, and sitting in the right position, showed the tops of my thighs and, if I chose, my vagina.

Greg had loved to see me in this garment, and when he arrived home from work on the days I wore it, he often could not wait, but would take me as I sat on the kitchen table. I would part my legs, place my feet up on top of the table so my genitals were exposed to him, and he could enter me standing in front of me.

As our son Ivor began to grow up we had to be careful about this place and method of coupling. He almost caught us a couple of times, and there had to be a hasty and frustrating separations, followed by improbable explanations.

Given my dread of going to the summerhouse, it is strange that in my grief and sexual frustration, during the previousd seven months, I would sit on the same kitchen table and masturbate. Again Ivor walked in unexpectedly, and it was another hasty cover up, as Ivor pretended he hadn't noticed.

Making my way to the summerhouse, I stood for several minutes looking at it, remembering the love that Greg had put into its making. Then, gathering up my courage, I entered.

Given I thought no one had been near the place for months, I was surprised that it was dust and dead leaf free. I thought Ivor must have been keeping it swept and dusted.

There was a low wooden couch, the last thing Greg had made, that was strewn with cushions. I sat on it recalling how Greg and I had planned to come here to make love – plans that were never fulfilled.

As the memories flowed through me, my eyes lit upon a small book lying on a little table beside the couch. Wondering how it got there, I picked it up, and looked at the front cover title. It read, "There Are Fairies at the Bottom of My Garden."

I smiled, remembering those words from my childhood.

"A children's fairy story book", I thought. "How ever did it get here."

I idly opened the book, lying back on the cushions, as did so. The first page was the picture of a young man clad in a tight green garment. He looked beautiful, and seemed to smile at me from the page.

Underneath the picture was the word, "Pertic". "Must be his name," I thought.

I browsed through the pages expecting to find a story, but it consisted only of pictures. There were more young men dressed in the tight green garments, and lovely young girls in diaphanous costumes, through which firm youthful breasts could be seen, and little dark patches of pubic hair were dimly visible.

"Hardly suitable for little children," I thought, and turned back to the first page and studied the picture of Pertic again. I noticed that a large penis was outlined rather in the manner of a male ballet dancer, but, unlike the artificial padding of the ballet dancer, Pertic's projection was clearly the real thing.

I looked at the other pictures of the green clad young men, and they all demonstrated the same powerful sexual organs but each appearing individual in the way they lay or projected against their green tights.

"Lucky fairies," I said softly but aloud, feeling my nipples hardening and my vaginal lubricant beginning to flow.

"Yes, they are, aren't they," said a gentle voice beside me.

I looked up and without surprise saw a tall young man in green standing there.

"Hello, Sally," he said, smiling.

"Who are you," I asked. I was a trifle amazed that I felt no fear at the sudden appearance of a strange young man.

"I am your Elf friend, Sally," he replied. "I've been waiting for you a long time."

"Why have you been waiting for me – how long?"

"I have been waiting for you ever since you started to grieve. I am here to ease your grief."

"But I don't know you."

He gave a merry chuckle. "Yes you do, Sally, you were admiring my picture, especially one particular part of me."

"Pertic?"

"Yes, Pertic, your Elf friend."

He extended his hand to me and said, "Come with me Sally, we have things to see and do."

Without hesitation I took his hand, and he led me outside and we began to walk to the fence that separated our garden from the wood, except now, there was no fence. There was not even a garden, only a meadow abutting the wood.

As I looked with some amazement at the transformation that had taken place since entering the summerhouse, I noticed that the wood, instead of stretching for a few hundred metres in either direction from what had been our garden, it now stretched out of sight.

"What's happened?" I asked, now feeling somewhat shaken at what I was seeing.

Again Pertic laughed. "Nothing has happened, Sally. Everything is as it always has been for thousands of years, the only difference is, you once saw it with human eyes, now you see it with fairy eyes."

"But…but…I'm not a…a fairy," I stuttered.

"Are you not, Sally?" he responded. "Look at your garment."

I glanced down at my sarong, but it was no longer a sarong. I wore the diaphanous garment the fairies wore in the pictures.

"Come a little way with me," said Pertic, "and you will see yourself."

We went into the wood – or forest as it now seemed to be – and after a little came to a clear pool of water.

"Look into the water," said Pertic.

I looked, and the water was like a mirror, only clearer than any mirror I had ever seen before. I saw reflected back myself, yet not myself. I looked younger, the marks of my grieving gone, and a loveliness that I knew did not belong to me.

"Pertic!" I exclaimed, "the water deceives. That is not me."

"Yes it is, Sally," Pertic said, seriously this time. "It is you as you really are. It is you as the husband you have been grieving for saw you. It is you as your son Ivor sees you. Did not one of your famous poets and playwrights say, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'? You are now privileged to see yourself as those who love you, see you. You are seeing not only what is on the outside, but also the depths of your soul.

Taking my hand again, Pertic said, "Come, there are those whom you must meet."

He led me deeper and deeper into the forest, and as we went I began to see other young men in green and girls – fairies – dressed as I had seen them in the little book.

I recalled fairy storybooks from my childhood and the pictures they contained. Lovely though the pictures were at times, most of the fairies and elves looked alike. Now, in reality, I saw they were as individual in appearance as humans, but were all beautiful in their own way.

Many of those we passed greeted Pertic and called out to me, "Welcome, Sally." Some came to me and kissed me on the lips very tenderly.

Finally, we came to an avenue of trees. The surrounding trees seemed to spread their branches to form an aisle.

I looked along the aisle, and saw at the far end two figures seated on seats that seemed at the same time to be flowers and thrones.

I hesitated, but Pertic said, "Come, the king and queen are waiting to greet you."

He led me down the long aisle of trees, and as we approached the two seated figures, they rose and stepped forward to meet us.

I saw the two fairest beings I had ever seen. Both were stately in their movements, yet were not stiff or formal.

The female wore only a transparent cloak that left her upper body exposed. Her breasts were like twin domes, firm with nipples a soft pink in colour that were circled with a deeper pink. Her slender body swelled gently out at the hips, and at the top of her rounded thighs her vagina, naked of pubic hair, was firmly cleft.

The male looked like the elves in the picture book, but he seemed to glow from some inner light, and his male organ was clearly huge.

Pertic went down on one knee before the king and queen, so I followed suit.

"Rise," said the king, so we both stood again.

"Greetings, Pertic," he said, addressing my companion. "Thank you for bringing the fair Sally to us."

He looked at me, and I felt a shiver of delight thrill through me. "Most welcome Sally, to our Forest Kingdom. You have had much pain, but here you will find love and peace again."

The queen stepped forward and kissed me on the lips. I smelt her female fragrance as she said, "I salute you Sally. Enjoy our kingdom, and find new-sprung life among us."

She turned to Pertic; "You are her Elf Friend. Comfort her well."

Pertic bowed to her and said, "I willingly obey, your majesty."

The king spoke to Pertic. "Sally has suffered much grief, and it is our royal wish and command that this be lifted from her and fullness of life be restored to her. Go now to the place prepared for you, and be tender with her."

Again Pertic bowed and said, "As you command, majesty, I go happily and will be most delicate."

The king and queen smiled upon us, and the queen said: "Go now with our love."

Pertic and I back away three paces, then turned and walked back down the aisle of trees.

After going a little distance back into the forest, Pertic said, "We are here."

He pointed to a summerhouse, then led me inside. There was a low couch strewn with pillows.

"Lie there that I may comfort you," he said, and as he spoke his garments seemed to melt from him, and he stood before me naked. I looked at his beautiful body, and saw his huge erection, glistening with pre-cum.

As I looked, I suddenly felt my own garment melt from me. I too was naked.

I felt no embarrassment, and Pertic stepped forward to take me in his arms. I felt his hard male organ pressing against me as he carefully lifted me on to the couch.

He lay beside me looking at me.

"You are most fair, Sally. I shall comfort you very gently, so lie quietly and at peace.

His lips closed over mine, his tongue opening them to enter with his exploring tongue. At the same time his hand began to embrace my breasts, oh so tenderly!

My nipples were hard and my vagina discharging my female fluid.

His hand ceased touching my breasts and moved down to stroke my mound, then his fingers parted the lips of my vulva, and entered my vagina. I felt what I thought was his thumb begin to circle my clitoris, and I was beside myself with longing for him to penetrate me.

I cried out, "Pertic…Pertic…come into me."

He lay over me and I felt the crown of his penis seeking my opening. I took his shaft into my hand and guided him to the inner lips of my vagina. He began to enter me.

As he began to penetrate me, everything seemed to grow misty and indistinct. I tried to cling to Pertic, but he was fading away. What had been his hard throbbing organ was becoming insubstantial.

I cried out, "Pertic…Pertic…don't leave me like this, I need you…I need you…"

All had dissolved into nothingness, and a voice was saying in concerned tones, "Wake up, wake up, mother."

I opened my eyes and saw Ivor bending over me. A look of anxiety on his face…his face? It was the face of Pertic.

"I'm sorry to wake you mother," Ivor said, "but you were calling out. You were asking someone called Pertic not to leave you."

I had now become fully awake, and to my horror saw I was naked and the fingers of one hand were in my vagina, while those of the other hand were closed over a breast.

"Where are my clothes?" I gasped, removing my hands from my reproductive organs.

"There aren't any, mother, you were lying here naked, and there's no sign of any garments."

"Oh God, Ivor, I'm so ashamed," I burst out, tears of humiliation beginning to course down my cheeks.

"Don't be ashamed, mother," Ivor said, sitting beside me on the couch. "You've had a bad seven months, and you are entitled to give yourself comfort. Was it a bad dream?"

"No darling, it was lovely. It was another world…a new world…a world where I could have found comfort."

"Let me give you the comfort you need, mother," Ivor whispered, as his fingers began to caress my vagina.'

"Would you, my darling," I breathed. "You know I love you, don't you?"

"Yes, I know, and I love you, passionately. I've loved you like that since I first became sexually aware, but I would never have said so while father was alive. I've even been too afraid to say anything since he died, but seeing you now, looking lovelier than ever…"

"It's all right my love," I said, "I know, I've always known from the moment I saw you getting erections in my presence. It's all right now…please comfort me."

He came over me, his penis searching for me and I guided him in.

As he entered me I whispered, "You won't leave me, will you…you won't vanish?"

"Not ever," he said, smiling down at me.

After we had finished our first coupling, and I was lying back in his arms, I asked, "Have you see a little book lying around here?"

"You mean this one?" he asked, reaching beside the couch to retrieve the small volume.

He grinned, "I'm surprised at you reading fairy stories at your age."

I looked at the book, and sure enough, it had the title, "There Are Fairies at the Bottom of My Garden."

I opened it to the first page, and there was the picture of an elf, but it was not as I had seen it before. It was a picture of a green clad mischievously grinning leprechaunish figure of no great beauty.

I opened to the next page, and instead of another picture, there were words. They began, "Once upon a time in County Clare…"

I read no further because Ivor had started to kiss me in a rather importune manner that held promise of much, much more to come in the future.

When, a little tired from our passionate couplings, we left the summerhouse, I with Ivor's jacket wrapped round me, I could not but help noting the garden with its low fence were back in place, and the wood was as it had always seemed to be.

In the weeks and months that followed, I sometimes thought I caught a glimpse of a huge forest, but it was only momentary.

The memory of my dream, if dream it was, has never really faded as most dreams do, and sometimes as I look at little Patrick as he suckles at my breast, I wonder. I have heard that a woman can get pregnant with only the slightest penetration by a man, and without any full ejaculation, only the pre-cum. My baby looks very like Pertic, but then, so did Ivor as I woke from my dream.

I shall probably never know the answer to my question, and perhaps it is just as well, for I now have my lover son to comfort me, very often.