“Where’s it gone!” cried Princess Pearl.
“Outside! Look!” shouted Prince Joe.
From the window they watched the last page float over the castle wall and down into the woods. Just then the King and Queen appeared in the doorway.
“It’s stopped raining – shall we go for our walk now, children? Before it gets too dark?”
“Good! We can look for the missing page!” the children said and hurried to put on their boots.
They went into the woods and walked under the tall silent trees. Suddenly Princess Pearl stopped.
“What’s that noise?” she asked.
“Just a bird,” said the Queen.
“No, the other noise.”
“A deer?” the King suggested.
“No, that other noise.”
“It’s a rabbit burrowing among the tree roots,” said Prince Joe.
“No! Listen-”
They all listened.
“Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!”
“It sounds like babies,” said Prince Joe
“Such tiny voices, they must be very tiny babies,” said the Queen, looking puzzled.
“Maybe its fairy babies,” said Princess Pearl.
“There’s no such thing as fairies,” laughed the King but the children began to look very carefully around them.
“That tree… hmmm,” Princess Pearl pointed. “It looks just like the tree in the book…”
“What book?” asked the Queen.
“Maybe the babies are under it,” said Prince Joe and ran over to look.
Sure enough, there they were! Princess Pearl picked them up in her hand.
“My goodness!” exclaimed the Queen.
The King stared.
“The Fairy Mummy must be stuck in the tree,” said Prince Joe.
“Tree? What tree? What Fairy Mummy?” asked the King and Queen.
The children gazed up at the gnarled old trunk and twisted branches.
“There she is!” cried Princess Pearl
“That’s just a lovely butterfly,” said the Queen.
“Or maybe a piece of silk scarf,” said the King. “It must have been blown there by the wind.”
“No, it’s a fairy,” said Prince Joe.
They went very close to the tree.
“Help!” shouted the poor trapped fairy. “Help!”
“I’m coming right up,” said the King and started to climb, but the tree was too high for him.
“Oh dear, what shall we do?” said the Queen.
“Let’s ask the elf,” said the Princess Pearl.
“Elf?” said the King and Queen.
“Let’s try and find his toadstool,” said Prince Joe.