The Twelfth fairy

Author: Jake van der Kamp

Let us have a fair hearing at last for the Twelfth Fairy who has so long been accused of sending the Sleeping Beauty to oblivion on her sixteenth birthday. The Lady Melicia never denied that she played a part in this unhappy affair but in her defence always had one question for her accusers: Do you really believe in fairies? This retelling of a classic fairy tale is set to a background of a religion founded on twelve fairies who confer miraculous gifts as proofs of God’s existence. Things go wrong when the twelfth turns unbeliever and declares that fairy gifts are nonsense. The trouble grows as all twelve are called on to present their gifts to the newborn princess of the realm. Surely, no heretic fairy should ever be allowed such a privilege. But will the wretched Spindle rebels then not claim that the absence of a fairy at the formal bestowal of gifts is proof of a flawed succession to the crown? A religion that claims hard evidence of God thus faces a threat to its core beliefs.