Mrs Green & The Tiny Garden

A Sanctuary Story from the library 2008 about a child, an entity and a remarkable gift.

A few days ago, an entitity turned up and knocked on my door.

It was a lady dressed in green, who told me she was the Green Lady and had come to look after my gardens.

I have a new fairy garden and a wintergarden with classic SFX-style magic plants (just don't get me started on THOSE! So many different useful types, and many are just so tasty :-) so I was happy to see her as especially a wintergarden takes a lot of care that must never cease.

To the human servants and inhabitants, she looks like an ordinary little old lady with short curly white hair and spectacles; if you shift your point of view, she is a huge green goddess type creature, a real nature spirit. She tells people to call her Mrs Green.

And as most folk in Wintergreen, she does her own thing and doesn't ask me for permission.

The little child came running to me and shouting at the top of her voice, "Come look at this mummy! Come look at this!!! See what Mrs Green gave me!!!"

I went to see and there on the big window seat in the child's room there was a kind of fishtank and inside it were the most exquisite miniature plants - tiny, tiny trees and bushes, the most incredible array of tiny flowers, a whole garden on a windowsill.

I've never seen anything like it.

It was completely magical, and there were also teensy flower fairies there which came with these tiny delicate plants.

There was a little lake, the size of the center of my palm in the glass case that was extremely clear and didn't get in the way at all, and open at the top so you could reach into it and touch the plants quite easiely.

The child explained to me very seriously that the little plants were so delicate, they didn't like huge rushes of raindrops on them and in nature, would mostly grow under mushrooms which protect them from the rain and also from the sight of those who might not have their best interest at heart; the small lake was there for their roots to go in and drink as much as they wanted.

The child said Mrs Green told her that it was her job to keep an eye on the level of the lake, and to top it up carefully with fresh rain water if it fell too low.

I was fascinated with the incredibly beautiful tiny little garden and both the girl and I were looking at it when the girl said very quietly, "Can I tell you a secret?" I nodded and she said even more quietly, "I can wish myself into this garden and walk there if I want to."

I looked into her serious eyes and just nodded because I knew exactly what she meant, and also that this was one of the reasons the Green lady had given her the garden in the first place.

We exchanged another glance, then we held hands, looked deeply into the tiny garden, and both of us stepped across, and so we walked there, together.

SFX 2008