5. Iris Has Got Sad Eyes

Learning that loving doesn't mean holding on, and we must respect the space and freedom of those we love.

It is very windy. Sitting inside a tree trunk, Little Celestial Fairy is waiting for the wind to stop blowing so strongly, so that she can carry on searching for her magic wand. Outside, plants and tree branches are swaying in the wind and they seem about to fly off at any moment.

"If I go out now the wind will blow me away!" she thinks sticking her head out through the hole and then pulling it quickly back into the trunk.

Listening to the sounds of the wind and the rustling leaves, Celestial drifts off to sleep.

After a while, the wind dies down, and Celestial, now awake, leaves her hiding place.

“Oh, my legs are beginning to hurt!" she says stretching them and shaking her wings.

And by and by she flies away, wondering where she should go.

But when she starts flying, she soon realises that she doesn't need to move her wings! The soft wind is carrying her away, and Celestial lets herself go like a feather.

"What fun!" she cries.

And going up and down and turning around, the wind carries her further and further away.

Suddenly, Little Celestial Fairy looks down there and sees a girl riding a white horse, galloping fast through the field.

"Perhaps she has seen my magic wand!" she says.

And moving her wings quickly so that the wind doesn't carry her in another direction, Celestial begins to fly after them.

After a while they reach a farm, and when the girl gets off the horse, she sees Celestial sitting on the fence, puffing after having flown so fast.

"Who are you?" she asks the little fairy, amazed.

"Wow, your horse runs really fast!... My name is Celestial" she answers, "and I'm looking for my magic wand. Have you seen it around here?"

"No, I haven't" the girl says. "Are you a fairy?" she asks again.

"Yes... well... no... I don't know... I mean... I've lost my magic wand and I can't go to the Fairies' School anymore..." replies Celestial.

"Well, I think you are  a fairy because you look like a girl but you are very small, and you've got wings but you aren't a bird," the girl says.

"You've got a beautiful horse," says Celestial coming closer to stroke it.

“It's a mare, and it's called Iris. My grandpa gave her to me when I turned five. Now I'm ten, and since I'm a big girl now, I can go out with her whenever I like. We have a lot of fun together. We love each other very much... " the girl explains.

But Celestial looks Iris in the eyes and she realises that the mare is sad.

"I think something is wrong with her," she says to the girl. "Can't you see what sad eyes she has?"

The girl nods her head.

"She has been looking like that for some days, but I don't know what’s wrong. I try to do everything she likes; I give her some apples and carrots; I brush her a long time, I stroke her, I play with her and go riding whenever I can. And when mummy gives me some money I buy her some mints, which she really loves, but she doesn't look as happy as before... I don't know what's wrong with her."

Meanwhile, Iris comes up to the gate and stands still, looking at the field. When Celestial sees her, she approaches her and looks in the same direction. With her fairy eyes, she can see further than a human being. Then she sees them. Far away, on the other side of the field, a herd of horses is eating green grass by a stream.

"Now I know what’s wrong!" she exclaims flying to the girl's side.

"She's sad because she would like to meet those horses."

The girl looks towards the field, but she can't see them. 

"Where are they? I can't see them!" 

Celestial explains to her that they are too far away for her to see them, but Iris can smell them.

"But why does she want to go with them? Doesn't she love me?" asks the little girl, holding back her tears. 

“Of course she loves you!" replies Celestial, "but sometimes animals like to be among their own kind. I’m sure you like playing with your friends, but that doesn’t mean you stop loving Iris, does it?"

But the girl doesn't want to listen to her any more. She runs away, takes Iris and shuts her up in her stable.

"You've got me, and I love you so much. You don't need anyone else. You can't go and leave me alone. What would I do? I would miss you!" she says with her eyes full of tears.

Iris looks even sadder than before. On the one hand, she wants to go and meet the horses, but on the other she doesn't like to see her friend crying, because she loves her.

For a long while, Celestial thinks about how to help them, but she doesn't know what to do.

"If she loves Iris so much, she'll want her to be happy. What can I do so that she’ll let her go?" she wonders.

And then, Sparkly, who is always by her side even if she doesn't realise it, tells her:

"Just go, the three of you... Just go, the three of you..."

When she hears the little voice, Little Celestial Fairy thinks happily:

"I've got it! The three of us must go and meet the horses!"

And hoping her idea will work, she tells the girl:

"Perhaps if both of us go and meet the horses with her, Iris will be happy!"

And the girl, who loves her mare so much, thinks that perhaps this will cheer her up.

"Yes, let's go! I'm sure she will enjoy being with them for a while.”

And both of them mount the horse, which starts galloping happily across the field.

After spending some time with the herd of horses, the girl looks Iris in the eyes and sees they are no longer sad. Then she realises that her beloved mare is happy among these horses, and even though she'll miss her a lot, she decides to let her stay with them.

"I love you, Iris," she says showering her with kisses. "Don't forget it!"

Without turning her head, so that the mare can't see she's crying, she goes back home with Celestial flying by her side.

The little fairy stays by her for some days, keeping her company. One morning, as they wake up, the girl hears a familiar noise.

"It's Iris! It's Iris!" she cries happily, running outdoors.

Iris has come to visit her, but she's not alone. The whole herd has come to the farm.

"You've got a lot more friends now!" says Celestial. "Surely, they'll come to visit you from time to time!"

Iris is happy, and seeing that, so is the girl.

Celestial smiles looking at them. She decides it's time to leave. She's got a long way to go if she wants to find her magic wand. She doesn't realise it yet, but as it happens every time she helps someone, she gets a little closer to it...

Will you go with her on her trip? 

We must respect our loved ones' freedom, so that they can always choose whatever they want to do without worrying that we'll think they are avoiding us  or that we’ll stop loving them.

Love is like the wind: it's very strong, it gets everywhere and we can't ever shut it up. Sometimes we think that if someone who loves us is willing to do something without us, it's because he or she doesn't love us enough.

We must learn that everybody needs their space and freedom so they can do what they want to do. Sometimes people need to be alone for some time, enjoy some activity without any company,or just meet other people. The ones who really love us will continue to do so wherever they are, whether they are alone or with other people. And they will even feel more comfortable with us if we let them do some things without us "sticking" to them all the time.

Iris loves the girl very much, but she also likes to be with other horses. The girl gets sad because she thinks that if Iris goes, the horse will stop loving her. Later on, she realises that this won't happen and she enjoys seeing that her horse is happy.

Our loved ones won't always be by our side, but all of them are in our life for some reason. Sometimes people come into our life and after some time we don't see them any more. We are close friends, we share a lot of things, but suddenly we stop meeting them, because they move, they change their telephone number and we can't reach them or, in the worst case, they die. 

Of course we will miss them, especially at the beginning, but we must learn to keep the beautiful memories of everything we shared. During the time we were together, we surely learned something from them, or they learned from us, or perhaps we helped each other in some way... or we just had fun together! Some people go, but other people will come, and we'll share beautiful things and times with them. 

The girl misses Iris, and this is absolutely normal, because she had a lot of fun with her. Now they can't do the same things together, but instead, now and then she can enjoy spending some time with all the horses of the herd, and she couldn’t do that before.