Queen of the Night

What does the dark hold? What mysteries and wonder might be hidden in the shadows where you fear to look?

Nox was the ‘Queen of the Night' fairy, but when she was small, she was afraid of the dark.

The night was a scary place. The shadows hid monsters and when she closed her eyes, the darkness pressed in close like a suffocating shroud.

Early one evening, curled cozy and safe in her mother’s arms, she said, “mummy, how can I be guardian to Queen of the Night when the dark is so scary?”

“It’s okay to be scared, my little Nox,” her mother replied, “We’re all afraid sometimes. Fear can keep us safe, and protect those we love from harm. It makes us careful around things that might be dangerous. But do you actually know what it is, that you are afraid of?

“How can you know what the dark holds, what mysteries and wonder might be hidden in the shadows, if you fear to look?

“Did you speak to the badger, the fox or the owl? The hedgehog, the bat or the moth? For they love the night and the mysteries she holds, and could tell you their stories, if you’ve the courage to ask.

“Come with me, and I will take you on an adventure that the other fairies have never seen.”

So Nox ventured out, afraid but determined, holding tight to her mother’s hand.

As they flew, the shadows lengthened and the dusk surrounded them, there appeared a tiny shape, darting back and forth through the air.

Her mother squeezed her hand, “ask your questions, my little Nox, and see what answers you find.”

So Nox called out to the bat as she flitted and zipped through the darkening sky, “Tell me of the monsters that hide in the shadows, is that why you fly so fast and so fickle?”

“There are no monster here”, said the bat, “I delight in the dusk, so silent and still, where my calls paints the pictures of all that’s around me, the beauty I see has no need of the light.”

They flew on through the twilight, further into the night, and they heard a soft rustling down under the trees. They settled to the ground to find badger and her cubs frolicking in the leaves.

Nox looked at her mother, then taking a breath, asked, “tell me of the dangers that are shrouded in the dark, is it those fears that keep you so close to your mum?”

The cubs laughed and giggled as they gamboled around, “we love the dark and all we unearth, the smells are so rich and the discoveries exciting. We’re not scared of the night, we stay close to share together whatever we find”.

As the night crickets chirruped and they wandered still further, Nox dropped her mother’s hand and peered into the dusk, where the fox stepped quietly out from her den.

Feeling now curious of what she would hear, Nox moved closer and spoke to the fox, “will you tell me please, fox, are you not afraid of the night?”

“Why no,” said the fox, “there is nothing to fear in the soft velvet darkness. I feel her around me as close as a hug, keeping me company as I explore her secrets.”

With the dusk slipping away and the night slowly growing, from overhead came a gentle rush of feathers, as the owl glided past.

Now eager to learn, Nox flitted into the sky, calling out as she flew, “please will you tell me, as you drift through the air, do you like to be out in the dark of the night?”

The owl spread her wings wide and turned with the wind, “in the dark I find calm, I can float with the breeze, the night is so peaceful as I soar through the trees.”

A faint murmur of voices drifted to Nox from below, so she fluttered back down to her mother, where hedgehog and her hoglets were quietly snuffling.

Excitement and wonder filled Nox as she asked, “what do you love of the night and her darkness?”

“Why, there is so much to love,” said the hedgehog in reply. “She keeps me safe with my babies where only I see, and the worms are most tasty when they come out at night.”

Nox looked around at the night, eyes wide with wonder. “Come”, said her mother, “you must meet the moth, for her story is the best of them all.

“She visits the flowers when the bees are asleep, we may find her back home if we hurry there now”.

They flew to the garden where Queen of the Night bloomed, and found the moth drinking sweet nectar within the tulip’s purple petals.

“Please will you tell me”, asked Nox, “what is the most wonderful thing to be found in the dark of the night?”

“Look up in the sky”, the moth whispered back. “Do you see how the stars twinkle and how the moon glows? Have you ever seen something so lovely and pure? They glimmer and glitter and sparkle so bright, but can only be seen in the dark of the night.”

“So you see, my dear Nox", said her mum, with a smile, “sometimes the things we fear will not hurt us, but the fear can keep us from discovering wonders that we were born to see.”