Today in Imaginaria, even though there may be a little mischief now and again, all the creatures respect and love one another. If a Puddle Jumper wrongs a Far Flyer, the wrong is soon put right. If an Imp teases an Elf and hurts his feelings, she apologizes. All forgive, and each learns from their little mistakes. GOOD is what everyone in Imaginaria tries to be. But it wasn't always that way...
Many years ago—long before any but the Great Unicorn and Tutui, the wise Singerwing can remember—evil dwelt within the borders of Imaginaria. Buburubs were grumpy again—after hundreds of years filled with joy; Faeries became lazy and wouldn't help the flowers grow; Elves told lies—just because— and Demi-Dragons stole from every creature in Imaginaria. COLD snow fell, and heat scorched the beautiful Meadows to a sickly brown dust. How did this come to be? ... And how was Imaginaria saved from the evil that threatened to destroy all The Imaginarian's loving work? Listen well... for here is the tale...
Duncan yawned and curled his head back under the wing he used to cover himself from the cold. He wanted to go back to sleep so he could finish his dream because he had a feeling that something important was just about to happen. No use... "DUNCAN!" screeched his mother. "Don't try to fool me. I know you're awake! Time to get up, you lazy dragon!" Duncan grumbled and peeked from under his deep brown wing, "Warriors don't have to get up when their mothers call," he thought. You see, Duncan just knew he was meant to be the greatest Demi-Dragon of all, because his name meant BROWN WARRIOR. No other Demi-Dragon in his clan had such an important sounding name. His mother didn't seem impressed though, and squawked at him again. "Okay, okay... I'm coming..." And with a quick unfurling of his wings, Duncan swooped down above his mother's head, almost knocking her over.
"I've a mind to make you go without Firstmeal for that, young one," Duncan's mother rumbled. Duncan just wanted to sleep some more, so flew out of the cave, yelling back to his mother, "That's okay, I'm not hungry anyway. See you later," leaving an astonished Mama Dragon in a cold cave.
The Forever Waters to his back, Duncan flew toward the Fire Forest, found a huge Farkleberry Tree that shielded him from Imaginaria's two Suns, and curled himself under it to finish his dream. Duncan began to snort and moan. Swirling sand surrounded Duncan in his dream, and the tough Farkleberry leaves whipped back and forth across his brown scales as he twisted and turned in his sleep. "No, no," mumbled Duncan. "That's not right." The wind soon died down, and the swirling sand that had so troubled Duncan now seemed to soothe him. "I see," murmured Duncan just before he woke up. Duncan couldn't remember his dream, but he just knew it was important, and when he needed to remember, the words would come.
Duncan wasn't the only youngster in Imaginaria having dreams of swirling sand: There was Wibble Toes the Moncat, Trumple the Limb Nibbler, Petalpink, a Faery 'o' the Fern, and Dinkel the Imp; in fact, ALL the young ones throughout Imaginaria were first troubled, then soothed by the dream sand. The Sorcerers of the Sand had begun their most wicked work ever, and as they sent the dreams, they smiled... 
Duncan was HUNGRY. It was time for some food, and then some FUN. He whipped his tail against the Farkleberry tree and hundreds of berries fell into his waiting mouth. He scooped up some cool, golden water from Honey River and then took to the sky in search of his FUN.
Duncan spotted two Dwarf Dragons at the edge of Misty Meadow in Gentle Glen, and swooped down between them. "HI!" bellowed Duncan, knocking over the two smaller dragons. The two startled dragons tried to pick themselves up, but Duncan's eyes, normally bright and clear, clouded over and narrowed as he pinned them to the ground with his gaze.
The words tumbled from Duncan's jaws in a voice so unlike his own, it almost scared him, until he realized that THIS was the important thing that came to him in his dream. THIS was the power of the BROWN WARRIOR Duncan knew was HIS. All of a sudden, the two Dwarf Dragons were fighting as fiercely as any two dragons had ever fought. Duncan watched and laughed as the two tumbled over each other, breaking branches from the trees and crushing the new flowers. When the two small dragons were so exhausted they could barely move, Duncan scorched the meadow and flew away laughing. Though no one could see them, the Sorcerers smiled...
Wibble Toes dreamed of the swirling sand as he shivered in Moncat Grove. He woke up HUNGRY as could be, but was in no mood to climb the big bananco tree and tussle with the other Moncats for the fruit. Wibble Toes watched as his father, White Paw, worked to gather food for the family. He thought, "I don't want to climb, but I WANT my banancos!" Wibble Toes had decided that ALL the banancos in the tree were HIS, and just knew that the dream had made it so-he could have whatever he wanted and would never have to work for it again. His round eyes became little slits as he stood and pointed at his father, saying:
All the banancos White Paw had spent so long gathering for the whole family dropped down in front of Wibble Toes, who greedily ate every one. Soon all the Moncats were squabbling, and the Sorcerers smiled...
"FOOD!" thought Trumple. He woke up from his dream of the swirling sand hungrier than he could ever remember, and didn't want to wait for the Elders to eat. Trumple thulumped over to The High Lands where the fattest Chuckle Trees grew. By the time the other Limb Nibblers of his Kinship Tribe awoke, Trumple's long snout had stripped every branch bare of its tickly leaves. As the other Limb Nibblers wandered up to the High Lands, they saw Trumple knocking over the Chuckle Trees and stomping on their tender trunks. They began to snootle at Trumple to stop. "Look what Trumple's doing to the Chuckle Trees!" wailed the smallest Limb Nibblers who knew there would be no feathery leaves for them to eat this morning. "My stars," tisked Biddle, Trumple's embarrassed mama. Before Papa Snootle could give him the scolding he deserved, Trumple's long nose stretched out like a snake and twirled 'round and 'round. No one could look away as Trumple's eyes squinted almost shut while he tooted:
And the Limb Nibblers who were known far and wide for having memories as long as their lo-o-o-o-o-ng noses, FORGOT! No one scolded Trumple, and in their gloomy caverns, the Sorcerers smiled...
Petalpink sat under the mushroom umbrella, eating one strutelberry after another. Her hands and face were as pink as her name, and she was still HUNGRY. She sneaked past the other sleeping faeries, slipped into her Bittleleaf boat and floated down Dewdrop Ripple. Petalpink wanted to dream some more of the dry, swirling sand. As she slept, the winds pushed her boat. Every time it seemed it would tip over, the boat magically righted itself, until the winds pushed it to the banks of Morning Glory Mark and Petalpink woke up. By this time, the other Flower Faeries were hard at work helping the plants to grow. Petalpink, being very young, was supposed to put dew on all of the tiniest pink flowers in the Fern. Sienna, teacher of the youngest ones, spotted Petalpink eating strutelberries and told her, "Come, little bits. We have work to do." Petalpink was annoyed at being disturbed, and ignored Sienna's calls. Sienna flew beside Petalpink and was about to remind her again, when Petalpink's mouth curled from her usual sweet smile into a twisted grin.
Sienna blinked once, then twice, then flew away. As Petalpink stretched out to nap some more, the Sorcerers watched... and smiled...
Imps are famous throughout Imaginaria for their sweet music, melodious whistles and loving warbles. But on this day, Dinkel didn't want to sing any of the sweet Imp songs. The swirling sand in his dream told him he was going to do something different from all the other Imps; he was going to make different music—IMPORTANT music. As he stretched his arms over his head Dinkel thought, "I'd even eat a yucky old Teasel, I'm so HUNGRY. Food before my new, important music."
Dinkel picked Tandel Nuts and Lemon Flutes (and even a prickly Teasel or two) and shoved them by handfuls into his greedy mouth. All the while he was eating, he could still imagine the sand that swirled around him in his dream. After gobbling his food, Dinkel started hitting the shells of the Tandel Nuts together making an awful racket. "BOOM! BA-BOOM! BOOM-BOOM! BA-BOOM!" they seemed to shout. The Elders called to Dinkel to stop the terrible noise. It was hurting their ears and made them feel so jumpy. Instead of stopping, Dinkel just banged them louder, and called to the young Imps to join him. Dinkel somehow knew that Elders hadn't dreamed of the swirling sand like he and the Young Ones had. But Dinkel was still alone in his noise-making. He looked at all the young Imps, and a cold fire of anger flew from his eyes as he shouted:
Soon, all the young Imps were shouting, "Say, HEY!" with Dinkel and the frightened Elders didn't know what to do. And as the noise grew louder and louder, the Sorcerers just smiled...
Imaginaria was turning from a beautiful, friendly place into one of fear and darkness... The changes happened little by little, every day, sneaking in unnoticed, until no one could remember ever being nice to each other. The worst part was that most didn't realize what was happening, and the Elders who tried to warn the rest were laughed at and ignored. No one was polite any more; everyone was becoming angry and mean to each other. The Buburubs, who had not been grumpy for five hundred years, were starting to fight again. They no longer sang their happy work songs, and were being mean to one another. It was always someone else's fault when bad things occurred. And soon, something even worse happened... Some of the creatures trying to stop the meanness and the noise and the anger started disappearing from Imaginaria. Although their families were frightened at first by their disappearance, they soon began saying things like, "Oh, well...These things happen." And all the while the sadness spread, the Sorcerers just smiled...
One day, The Imaginarian looked down on Imaginaria and cried. He knew that his children had moved so far away from the love and joy he meant for them to have, it made his soul and heart ache. He realized that if he waited much longer, his precious creatures would be lost forever. The Imaginarian knew they needed a Special One to teach them how to love one another again. Many thousands of years had past since the last Special One had been sent, but Imaginaria needed help badly, and needed it very soon.
The Great Unicorn stood before The Imaginarian. "Is it time?"... The Imaginarian nodded, "Yes, a Special One must again go to Imaginaria." You see, The Imaginarian knew that nothing would change until someone showed the others how to behave. They had to see goodness before their own eyes before they understood they could really be different than they were.
"You must prepare the Elves, for that is where the Special One will be born. The Sorcerers of the Sand will not be able to touch her dreams. She will first teach the Elves not to lie and cheat. She will show others how to be good and kind. A Singerwing will come to learn the most important lesson she will teach... how to sit still and be peaceful and full of joy. This Singerwing shall teach the Ways to Behave to others for many generations, and Imaginaria will be happy again."
And so it went... The Unicorn appeared to Aurelia, the Golden Elf and her husband, Hubright. "You will be honored with one you will call Elspeth, who will be the Special One to lead Imaginaria back to the Light." Hubright and Aurelia had hidden their goodness inside, living simply and quietly in their little corner of the Elven Woods, and The Imaginarian knew they would be good parents to the Special One, who would grow up quickly, like all elves do. That is why The Imaginarian chose the Elves... Imaginaria didn't have time to wait for a Faery or Far Flyer to grow old enough to teach the others. Although the Sorcerers of the Sand didn't know it, they didn't have many more suns and moons to play their bad games; so they just kept smiling...
Elspeth lived happily and grew quickly with Aurelia and Hubright, who lovingly cared for her in every way. Unlike the other Young Ones, Elspeth was not troubled by the dreams of swirling sand, but every night her sleep was filled with beautiful music and light that made her tingle with happiness. She soon began teaching the Elves the Ways to Behave, showing the Young Ones how to quiet the swirling dream sand so it could not make them restless any more. Little by little, the Elven Woods became a better place to be.
The changes did not go unnoticed by the Sorcerers of the Sand. They were puzzled... everything had been so easy up to now. They tried to peek into the dreams of the Young Elves, only to be chased away by bright rainbows of light and sweet music that made them cringe. For the first time in a long time, the Sorcerers did NOT smile...
It was time for Elspeth to leave her pretty rainbow mushroom house, and go to other places in Imaginaria to teach the Ways to Behave. Aurelia and Hubright kissed and hugged Elspeth, told her they loved her and would miss her very much. Elspeth touched her parents' foreheads, and said, "If you close your eyes and look right here, I will be with you always."
Everywhere Elspeth went, there was confusion and noise and meanness. She didn't know how she would be able to teach all the creatures the Ways to Behave, but knew that somehow she would. Every morning and every night, she would sit alone and quietly listen to The Imaginarian, who sent love and guidance whenever she needed it. She knew that she must teach not only the Ways to Behave, but how to sit quietly and listen to The Imaginarian. Both were important if those in Imaginaria were to be truly free from the evil of the Sorcerers of the Sand.
One day, a beautiful Singerwing came to Elspeth. "I am Tutui. I have flown ever so far to find you. The Imaginarian told me to come and learn from you." Elspeth had been expecting someone, although she didn't know who, and thanked The Imaginarian for sending the Singerwing. She taught Tutui all the Ways to Behave, and especially how to sit quietly. One day Tutui said, "Sitting still, I can hear a whispering wind." "When you feel you're INSIDE the whispering wind, not just feeling it inside you, then you shall go teach the animals far from here how to sit very still," said Elspeth. "In this way you will help to heal Imaginaria."
The day came for Tutui to leave Elspeth and teach others. He flew to the land of the Limb Nibblers and Snow Leapers, and taught all the animals there the good rules Elspeth had taught him. He also taught them how to sit very still, and soon the animals began to call their home, The Land of the Whispering Wind. Tutui sent these good thoughts to Elspeth, who was happy that more and more creatures in Imaginaria were learning the Ways to Behave. The Sorcerers saw Elspeth and Tutui, and did NOT smile...
The Sorcerers tried to send more dreams of swirling sand, but the wind blew every grain back into their faces. This made the Sorcerers very angry. They just knew if they could stop Elspeth, they could fill Imaginaria with sadness again. This Special One was ruining their wicked game. The Sorcerers thought their evil thoughts, and as they spun their evil plans, they began to smile again...
Aurelia's face filled Elspeth's eyes and she could feel her mother's fear. She shook her head, thinking it couldn't be real, but it was. Aurelia and Hubright needed her help! Elspeth nudged Gwynyth awake and asked, "Will you fly me to my home in the Elven Woods? My parents need me. I know they're in danger." Gwynyth's wings opened up and made a place for Elspeth to sit. It was a good thing that Gwynyth was a Dwarf Dragon, for she was just the right size to fly the little Elf homeward, which she did.
The winds had turned Imaginaria's colorful skies into a dark, scary, starless night. You couldn't see the two suns, and as real night fell, not even ONE of the seven moons peeked from behind the swirling dark clouds. Elspeth wasn't frightened, for she had gone very still inside, and knew The Imaginarian would protect her, but she knew that the Elves were terrified. It was up to Elspeth to stop the bad thing—whatever it was—from happening.
The Elves were huddled together, shivering. Gwynyth sat and rested as Elspeth asked Hubright what had happened. "The evil ones appeared above us in the sky and said we mustn't follow the Ways to Behave any longer or they would destroy Elven Woods. See there?" Hubright pointed to his left, "Their bolts of anger dissolved all the mushrooms in the Grove, and they said they will do worse things if we do not obey them. What can we do? They're so much more powerful than we are. How can we stand up to them? How can we ever defeat them?"
Elspeth nodded her head and sat down. She closed her eyes and sat very still so she could hear the voice of The Imaginarian. Instead, evil sounds rumbled through her. She knew they came from the Sorcerers of the Sand. She stilled herself even more, and asked The Imaginarian to help her. Love swelled up inside her, and she sent it to every creature, but especially to the Sorcerers of the Sand. After all, the evil Sorcerers needed this Special Love more than anyone. Elspeth, by becoming even more quiet and loving, was making the winds and darkness disappear. The Sorcerers could not bear all the love that Elspeth gave them, and could not even look at her when she smiled her sweet smile.
"You see," Elspeth said, "You cannot make evil and anger go away with more evil and anger. It must be replaced with Love and Kindness." Suddenly, the Unicorn appeared before them all and brought a light that filled the skies, blinding the Sorcerers, but causing the hearts of all the other creatures to overflow with goodness. "The Special One is right," the Unicorn sang. "You must ALL follow the Ways to Behave and learn how to sit very still. THAT is how you will learn to do what she has done. You can all do it, but you must practice every day."
The Unicorn turned to the Sorcerers of the Sand, who were covering their eyes from the Light surrounding them. "You may live in Imaginaria no longer. The Imaginarian has made a special place for you to learn the Ways to Behave, and will help you, but you must be where you cannot be tempted to use your evil powers. There will come a time when you will be called on to return, but it will not be for many, many hundreds of suns and moons. Until that time, you will live apart from the rest of Imaginaria."
And with that, the Sorcerers disappeared. Although the Sorcerers were not happy, Elspeth and the Unicorn smiled, for they knew that the Sorcerers would one day smile REAL smiles for everyone to see.
Elspeth looked around her, closed her eyes and looked up. She reached her arms toward the sky and made a special wish for Imaginaria. When she opened her eyes, the darkness had vanished as though it had never been. The Elven Woods was beautiful again. The mushroom houses in the Grove were good as new, and everything was sparkly again. The Elves and all the creatures that had disappeared during the troubles were home again, just like magic, returned to their rightful places in Imaginaria. The Lands harmed by the Sorcerers' evil were all made whole again.
Elspeth turned and spoke, "I have finished my work here, and it is time for me to go. The Imaginarian wants me to live beyond Elusive Lake for the rest of my days. I will not miss you, for every day as I sit very still, I will think of you all with Love and Kindness, and see you all right here," and with a smile, Elspeth touched her forehead.
The Unicorn knelt down and Elspeth climbed up on its back. And although the Great Unicorn has no wings, it flew away, taking Elspeth to the secret place beyond Elusive Lake where the Imaginarian lives. Every creature in Imaginaria saw them sweep past the Suns and Moons, and the rainbows they left in the skies are still there today.
The Whispering Wind
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