8. An Arrow with a Girl's Name

Boys and girls, men and women, if we want to, we can all lean and do the same things.

“Have you ever seen such a strange body?

“No, and what long legs!”

“Well, I like her hair...”

“I have never seen one like it.”

“You mean she's like us?”

“Somebody told me that we can have many different shapes and colours... Maybe she comes from far away and they all look like that...”

“Girls, don't shout so much. You'll wake her up!”

Lying on a flower petal and still half asleep, Little Celestial Fairy hears the whisper of someone speaking in a quiet voice. When she finally manages to open her eyes, she discovers a lot of colourful butterflies surrounding her and looking at her curiously.

“You are a very strange butterfly,” says one of them that has blue wings.

“Oh, no, I'm not a butterfly “ says Celestial. I'm a fairy and I'm looking for my wand. Have you seen it around here?

“Oh, it's very difficult to find anything here,” replies another with yellow and black wings. “There are so many trees and plants that when you fly you can hardly see the ground. On the other side of the river there is a village of humans. Maybe they can help you.

“Well I'll go there now,” says Celestial “but I think I'll take a bath first. It's very hot!”

And saying goodbye to the butterflies, Little Celestial fairy takes off to go for a bath.

At the river's edge, she begins to take off her dress, but suddenly an arrow flies over her head and sticks in a log that is being swept away by the current. With fright, poor Celestial slips and falls in the water with her clothes half off.

“Someone help me!” she shouts trying to get up.

With the only arm she has free she tries to remove the dress away from her face, but as it is wet it sticks everywhere and it proves impossible. But then someone pulls her dress up and manages to get her head out from under her clothes.

“What happened?” she asks. “Who are you? What a fright you gave me!”

“I'm so sorry”, answers a girl with very dark skin and long black hair. “I was practicing with my bow and wanted to see if I could hit a log as it moved.”

“Well, I think you got it right!” says Celestial. “You know a lot about shooting arrows. Who taught you?”

“I learned all by myself,” says the girl. “No one wanted to teach me.”

“Why not?” asks Celestial not quite understanding.

“Because they say that this is only for men and that women must learn to cook, make necklaces, pick fruit and take care of the little ones.”

“And don't men need to learn to cook?” Celestial asks her again not quite understanding.

“No, they go hunting and the women cook,” answers the girl. “It has always been done this way.”

“Well, I think it would be good if the men also cooked and the women also went hunting, that way they could all help each other when needed,” says the little fairy.

“Yes, I think so too. Last year many men got sick and we spent a week eating only fruit because they couldn't go out hunting... Oops! I'm late and I have to go. Please don't tell anyone you saw me shoot the arrow. If they find out, they will take my bow and never let me go out alone again!” explains the little girl.

“Don't worry, I won't tell,” Celestial reassures her.

And getting up from the water, she says goodbye to the girl, who runs off into the forest.

After drying her clothes in the sun, the little fairy gets dressed and continues on her way to the village. She soon sees a wisp of smoke rising.

“It must be there” she thinks.

In no time she sees a clearing with five or six mud huts with thatched roofs. Before going down, she decides to sit on the branch of a tree to observe the village.

A group of women sit around a small campfire. While some peel cobs of corn, others prepare food or make necklaces with pieces of bark, pebbles and seeds. They seem very happy. There is one that sings and from time to time the rest join in as if answering her.

A baby begins to cry, and his mother, a very young girl, brings him close to her chest and feeds him. On the edge of the village, five small children are playing, throwing stones into a clay bowl.

“Hmmm!” thinks the little fairy. “There is not a single man! They must have all gone hunting!”

Suddenly, a very loud scream interrupts this peaceful scene. The women get up quickly and start running to see where the scream came from. Little Celestial Fairy starts flying behind them.

Not far away they discover what has happened. One of the older children, who was playing hide-and-seek with his friends, has put his foot in a hunting trap and is now hanging upside down from a tree branch, like a bat. The rest of the children are jumping up, trying to grab him by the arm and bring him down, but they can't manage it. The women try too, but they're not very tall and they don't succeed. The boy screams and screams in fright, and the women start to get very nervous because they can't see how to get him down.

“Now it would be necessary for one of the men to be here!” thinks Celestial. “These women don't know how to do anything but cook and make pendants! They need help! What can I do?”

All at once she hears Sparkly's voice, which tells her:

“Go and find the girl with the arrows. I'm sure she can help them!”

“That’s right!” she exclaims and flies off to see if she can find her.

She sees her immediately, while she is about to hide the bow and arrows in a small cave near the village.

“Good job I found you! Come quickly! They need you!” shouts Celestial.

As they set off, the little fairy tells her what happened.

“But I can't do it!” says the girl. “If they discover my secret they won't let me shoot anymore!”

“Forget about that, now!” says Celestial. The important thing is that someone needs you! If we have to wait for the men to return, this child may die!”

The girl decides to do as she is asked. When she finally sees the boy hanging from the tree, she takes an arrow, places it in the bow and aims at the rope that had caught the boy.

Suddenly everyone is silent and they look at her in surprise. Before anyone can say anything the girl lets go of the arrow, which goes straight to the rope and cuts it.

Luckily, the boy falls on some plants that act as a pillow and is not hurt. The women and children start shouting with joy and clapping their hands.

Then the girl takes advantage of the fact that no one is looking at her and runs away. Celestial follows her, and when the girl finally stops, the little fairy realises that she is crying.

“When I go back to the village they will punish me! They will take my bow and arrows and I will never be able to practice again!”

“Maybe or maybe not,” says Celestial. “You won't know that until you get back. If you’d like I can accompany you, so you don't feel alone and between the two of us we can try to convince people that you haven't done anything wrong.”

The girl nods yes and they both go towards the village. When they arrive, the men have already returned from the hunt and everyone is gathered in front of the door of the tribal chief's house.

When the little girl and Celestial appear, they look at them in silence. The chief gestures to the girl to come closer and they all move aside to let her pass.

When she gets close to him, the girl lowers her head expecting him to scold her, but instead the chief bends down and gives her a hug. The child she had saved was his son.

Suddenly everyone bursts into applause and laughter. After a while the chief quietens them down and says out loud:

“This girl has disobeyed the rules of our tribe and she deserves a punishment to learn the lesson, but thanks to her my son is alive. She has risked punishment to help him, and that shows her big heart. Maybe the rest of us need to learn a lesson. From now on, boys and girls, men and women, you can choose to do what you like the most, because that way we can always help each other.”

And so, Little Celestial fairy sees that thanks to the little voice she has found a way to help the girl and the rest of the tribe. She hasn't even thought about her wand. After saying goodbye to the girl, she takes off and goes into the forest, determined to keep looking for it and convinced that one day she will find it.

Do you want to know what happens next?

Although it may seem strange, for a long time it was believed that women could not do the same things as men and they were treated as if they were inferior. Fortunately this has been changing slowly, but even so there are still many people who continue to think so, especially in some cultures. It is true that as much as we want to be equal, men and women are different in many things, but that does not mean that if we want to we cannot do or learn the same things.

Whether you are a boy or a girl, always respect people of the opposite sex and the fact that both sexes have the same abilities and can develop them if we want to. And no matter what, we can always help each other without thinking that we are better or worse.

If the girl had not learned to shoot arrows there would have been no one else to help the boy. Luckily the chief of the tribe understood and did not punish her.

Sometimes in order to help someone it is necessary that we forget about ourselves, our likes and dislikes. Whatever we have to give up, it is never as important as helping someone who needs us.

The girl is afraid that she will be punished if they find out that she knows how to shoot with a bow, but Celestial helps her to see that it is much more important that she helps the boy.