Imogene, the Moon Fairy

In Fairyland there is a special job for everyone. Each fairy trains for a vocation and apprentices under a master practitioner of that trade until she or he is ready to work independently in their field. It used to be that fairies were born into their professions. Entire families would work exclusively in the various guilds for centuries on end. If your mother was a starlight fairy, you were a starlight fairy and that was that. Only under very rare circumstances was a fairy ever allowed to reject his or her birth-guild and join another.

However, in modern times, the rules have loosened. Now the elders of Fairyland like to think that any fairy is free to follow his or her heart and join the guild of her or his choosing. Of course the unspoken expectations of one's family do come to bear on the fairy's decision. All fairies would like to make their parents and their ancestors proud of them and at the moment of their coming-of-age, often the tacit pressure to carry on the tradition of the family guild can be almost unbearable. Every fairy, at that crucial moment in his or her maturation process, must weigh the expectations of family against his or her desires (and skills) and come to a decision.

So it was that Imogene was faced with a dilemma. Her Aunt Selena had just given notice that she would be retiring in one year's time. Imogene had to decide whether she would continue to train in the house of the moon-fairy, her family's trade, or whether she would choose another guild. Someone had to take over for Aunt Selena.

For years and years, centuries, even, the moon fairies had been accomplished sewers. They did all the sewing and tailoring for all of fairyland. They designed and made all the fabric-based items that fairies needed: clothing, towels, sheets, drapery, pillows, upholstery, you name it. The moon fairies with lesser talents were given simple jobs like handkerchiefs and tea towels, while the very expert sewers trained to become champion curtain-makers. Traditionally, becoming a champion curtain -maker was the hope and desire of every moon fairy. The fairy with the best sewing talents and the most precious gift of design attained the calling of preparing and operating the moon-curtains.

He or she had to be very intelligent and punctual as well as being a brilliant sewer and a gifted designer. That fairy had to manipulate the moon-curtains every night, pulling them up and down to exactly the right level according to the specific day of the 28-day moon-cycle. He or she had to memorize the lunar eclipse calendar. He or she had to be very diligent the night of the new moon and keep the luminous orb completely covered all night long, without letting even a splinter of light show through. He or she had to design curtains out of appropriately-dense material that would not admit light. But the material could not be so heavy as to make it difficult to raise and lower the curtains, because, after all, this was a one-fairy job.

There was only one problem. Imogene hated to sew.

While Imogene was the natural choice for the next moon-curtain fairy, having been trained by Selena herself, she was only an average sewer and the council of elders was reluctant to give the job to a less-than-brilliant sewer for fear that the job would be done shoddily and would bring disgrace to the entire moon-guild. Imogene herself was in agony at the thought of taking over from Aunt Selena. She was very aware of the awesome responsibility that accompanied the position. Besides, she had set her sights on another profession altogether.

Secretly, at night, when her aunt was working the moon-curtains, Imogene had been training with another guild. Matergabiae, the mistress of the baking guild, had taken a special interest in Imogene, and had seen the potential for great talent in the young fairy. For weeks now, Imogene had been spending her nights working in the kitchens of the yeast-fairies, in the house of the baking guild. Matergabiae watched her closely and delighted in the girl's progress. However she knew that the girl's family was an old moon-fairy family and that Imogene was the sole heiress of the moon-curtain job. Matergabiae loved Imogene for her soft, gentle laughter, her wide serious eyes, and her white fleshy palms, that worked the dough with love and purpose. She knew the girl should be a yeast-fairy but it wasn't her decision. And she didn't want to incur the wrath of another guild. That was a big no-no in Fairyland. If Imogene wanted to switch guilds, she had to come to that decision on her own. For the time being, Matergabiae would keep her secret and continue to let her train under the yeast-fairies.

Finally the day came when Imogene was summoned to the council of moon-fairy elders and asked what her plans were. The young fairy was beside herself with angst. She dearly wanted to please her aunt, her grandmother, the elders and all the ancestors by carrying on the tradition of her family. But she was torn. She was a terrible sewer, and for centuries now, the sewing guild had held the moon-fairy position. How could she tell them that what she really wanted to do was bake?

She bit the bullet and told the council that though she really wished she could please them and take on the moon-fairy position, she had to follow her heart and her heart lay with the baking guild. She asked for permission to leave the moon-fairy guild and join the baking guild. When the news swept through Fairyland, everyone was atwitter. Matergabiae was relieved and pleased, but she, like many older fairies, was also worried about the future of the moon-fairy guild. What would happen if there were no moon curtains? And no one to work them?

In one month's time, Imogene was again summoned by the council to hear their decision. She was granted leave to join the baking guild. When Imogene heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief and felt her shoulders relax. However, there was a condition attached to the permission. The council of elders had apparently been in touch with Matergabiae, mistress of the baking guild, and they had consulted her on a radical new idea. They wanted Imogene to carry the role of the moon-fairy with her to the baking guild. The audience in the room gasped. The sewing guild was giving up the moon-curtain job? But how could this be? Even Imogene could not believe her ears.

"For one year, up until the time of Selena's retirement, you are to specialize in the making of griddle cakes, breakfast pies, pancakes: those types of things." Imogene's heart leapt. How did they know pancakes were her favourite dish to bake? "And at that time," the council elder went on, "you must come before council again and prove to us that you have perfected the creation of the breakfast pie to a tee. You must develop a recipe for a large round pancake. Large enough to cover the moon." Once again the audience gasped.

And so it was that the care of the moon was entrusted to a new guild. And while the curtains on the moon used to be let down and pulled up every night according to the lunar schedule, looking like a giant eyelid closing over an eye, now the moon is covered and uncovered, according to its schedule, by a huge pancake. If you look up in the sky tonight you will see that a massive circular breakfast pie covers the moon, allowing only a portion of its brightness to shine through on any given night. When you look up and see the moon, think of Imogene, baking a fresh pancake every day, large enough to cover the moon. And on the twenty-eighth day when no pancake is necessary, Imogene, the moon fairy, rests.

Although this story written by one of our special customers is longer than usual, we so enjoyed reading it that we wanted to pass it on to all our fairy fans in it's entirety. Enjoy!

Imogene, the Moon Fairy

By Win Mellor-Hay, Ph.D.

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