“Please,” said the voice, “my name is Fairy One – Step, and I was sleeping in this old hallow log when it rolled over and trapped me inside.”
“If you are a fairy,” said Jack, “why don’t you just do some magic and escape?”
There was a slight pause, and then Jack heard a little sigh and the voice: “I wish I could, but I'm only a very small fairy and I can only do one spell.”
So Jack turned the log and, sure enough, a little creature the size of his leg toe hopped out and gave him a bow.
“Thank you,” said the fairy. “I would like to do something for you in return.”
“Well,” said Jack, “since you are a fairy, how about granting me three wishes?”
The fairy hung his head and replied: “I’m afraid I haven’t the magic to do that – I’m only a very small fairy, you see, and I only have one spell.”
“What is that?” asked Jack.
“I can grant you one step that will take you wherever you want to go,” said the fairy.
“Would I be able to take one step from here to the tree over there?” asked Jack.
“Oh- farther than that!” said the fairy.
“Would I be able to take one step all the way home?” asked Jack.
“Farther, if you wanted,” said the fairy.
“You mean I could take one step and get as far as London?” gasped Jack.
“You could take your one step right across the ocean if you wanted – or even to the moon. Would you like that?”
“Yes, please!” said Jack.
So Fairy One-Step did the spell and Jack felt a sort of tingle go down his legs.
Then the fairy said: “Now do think carefully where you want to go.”
“I will,” said Jack. Then he thought for a bit, and asked: “If I have only one step, how do I get back again?”
Fairy One-Step went a little red and hung his head again and replied: “That’s the snag. If only I wasn’t such a small fairy.” And with that he flew off, and Jack went on his way to school.
All that day he listened to what his teacher said, he was so busy thinking of where he would like to step to.
“I’d like to go to Africa,” he thought, “but how would I get back? I’d like to go to North Pole, but I’d be stuck there …” And try as he might, he couldn’t think of anywhere that he wouldn’t want to get back from.
That night, he couldn’t sleep for thinking but, the next morning, he leapt out of bed and said: “I know where I’ll go!”
He went out of the house and said aloud: “I’ll take my step to where the King of Fairies lives.” As soon as he’d said it, he felt a tingle down his legs, and he took a step and found himself rising into the air. Up and up he went, above the trees, higher and higher, and, when he looked back his home was like a doll’s house on the earth below, and he could see his mother waving frantically up at him. Jack waved back, but he felt his one step taking him on and on, over hills and valleys and forests, and soon he found himself over the ocean, going so fast that the wind whistled past his ears. On and on he went, until in the distance he could see a land with high mountains that sparkled as if they were made of cut-glass. And he found himself coming down from the clouds … and down … until he landed in a green valley at the foot of the cut-glass Mountains. And there on a hill up above him was a white castle with towers and turrets that reached up into the sky. From it he could hear strange music, and he knew that this must be the castle where the King of Fairies lived.
There was a path leading up the hill to the castle, so he set off along it. Well, he hadn’t gone more than a couple of steps when a cloud of smoke appeared in front of him. When it cleared away, he found himself staring straight into the eyes of a huge dragon that was breathing fire out of nostrils.
“When do you think you’re going?” asked the dragon.
“To see the King of the Fairies,” replied Jack.
“Huh!” replied the dragon, and breathed a long jet of flame that set fire to a tree. “Go back where you came from.”
“I can’t,” replied Jack. “I came by one magic step and I haven’t got another.”
“In that case,” said the dragon, “I shall have to burn you up.”
But Jack was too quick for him. He sprang behind the dragon’s back, and the dragon span round so fast that it set fire to its own tail, and Jack left it trying to put out the flames by rolling in the grass.
Jack ran as hard as he could, right up to the door of the new castle, and rang the great bell. Immediately the door flew open and ogre with hair all over his face looked out and said: “You’d better go back where you came from or I’ll cut you up into pieces and feed them to my dog.”
“Please,” said Jack, “I can’t go back. I came by one magic step and I haven’t got another. I’ve come to see the King of the Fairies.”
“The King of Fairies is too busy,” said the ogre, and pulled out his sword that was six times as long as Jack himself. And the ogre held it over his head and was just about to bring it down, when Jack jumped up and the ogre’s beards up his nose. And the ogre gave a terrible sneeze and brought down his sword and cut off his own leg.
Jack dashed inside, and shut the door. The castle was very dark, but in the distance Jack could still hear the fairy music that he had heard before. So he crept through corridors and down passageways, expecting at any moment to meet another monster. He found himself walking past deep black holes in the wall, from which he could hear horrible grunts and the chink of chains, and he could smell brimstone and the stench of scaly animals. Sometimes he would come to deep chasms in the floor of the castle, and found himself looking down thousands of feet into seething water below, and the only way across was a narrow bridge of brick no wider than his shoe. But he kept on towards the fairy music, and at length he saw a light at the end of the passage.
When he reached the door, he found himself standing in the great hall of the Fairy King. There were lighted everywhere, and the walls were mirrors so that a thousand reflections greeted his gaze and he could not tell how large the hall really was. The fairies were all in the middle of a dance, but they stopped as soon as they saw him. The music ceased, and at the end of the hall sat the King of the Fairies himself. He was huge and had great bulging eyes and a fierce beard and a ring in his ear.
“Who is this?” he cried. “Who dares to interrupt our celebration?”
Jack felt very frightened, for he could feel the power of magic hovering in the air, and all those fairy eyes, wild and cold, staring at him.
“Please,” said Jack, “I’ve come to complain.”
“Complain!” roared the King of the Fairies, turning first blue and then green with rage. “No one dares to complain to the King of the Fairies!”
“Well,” said Jack, as bravely as he could, trying to ignore all those glittering fairy eyes, “I think it’s most unfair to leave Fairy One-Step with only one spell – and that not a very good one.”
“Fairy One-Step’s only a very small fairy!” believed the King of the Fairies, and he stood up and he towered above all the other fairies. Then he held his hands in the air, and everything went deadly silent.
Jack Felt even more frightened, but he stood there as bravely and said: “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Just because you’re the biggest of the fairies, that’s no reason to treason the small ones badly.”
Well, the King of the Fairies went first green then purple then black with anger. But just then a little voice at Jack’s elbow said: “He’s right!” and Jack looked down and found Fairy One-Step standing by him.
Then another voice at the other end of the hall said: “That’s true! Why should small fairies be worse off than big fairies?”
And suddenly another fairy said: “Why?” and soon all the fairies were shouting out: “Yes! Why?”
The King of the Fairies drew himself up, and looked fearfully angry and roared: “Because I’m more powerful than any of you!” and he raised his hands to cast a spell.
But the fairies called out: “But you’re not more powerful than all of us!” and do you know what happened then? In a flash, all the other fairies disappeared and, before he could stop himself, the King of the Fairies had cast his spell right at his own reflection in one of the mirrors. The King of the Fairies shook and trembled, and first his beard fell off, then he shrank to half his size and fell on all fours and turned into a wild boar and went charging about the halls of mirrors.
Then the other fairies reappeared, and threw him out of the castle. And they made Fairy One-Step their King, and granted Jack one more magic step to take him home.
And that’s just where he went.
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