Tag: fairy

Storytime: Le Lutin

In this episode of Confetti Park Storytime, we hear about Le Lutin, a fairytale figure and a trickster spirit! Contributor Kathleen Welch shares some of the legends about this hobgoblin who has a knack for pranking.
Le lutin could change his appearance whenever he wanted. So you never know when you are seeing a lutin. But legends say his natural form was a little man with a long beard. He was especially fond of children and horses.
According to the Houma, Louisiana newspaper, “If you’ve ever lost your car keys or misplaced one of your socks, you just may have been pranked by a lutin.”

Some stories are darker. This tale of Le Lutin, from an 1870 text from France called The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Knightly, says:
The other legend named Le Lutin tells how seven little boys, regardless of the warnings of their old grandmother, would go out at night on various affairs. As they went along a pretty little black horse came up to them, and they all were induced to mount on his back. When they met any of their playmates they invited them also to mount, and the back of the little horse, stretched so that at last he had on him not less than thirty little boys. He then made with all speed for the sea, and plunging into it with them they were all drowned.
So, how to get rid of a lutin if one of these little hobgoblins is plaguing you? According to Knightly:
“The best way, it is said, to banish a Lutin who haunts a house, is to scatter flax-seed in the room that he most frequents. His love of neatness and regularity will not allow him to let it lie there, and he soon gets tired of picking it up, and so be goes away.“
Thanks to Kathleen Welch for sharing this bit of French folklore. She gives credit to The Red Housewife Blogspot.
Rosemary The Garden Fairy: The Early Bird

Hi everybody, it’s Rosemary the Garden Fairy, and I’m here to share fun gardening tips and interesting information about the natural world around us.
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘the early bird catches the worm’ ?
For people who like watch birds, the early birder catches the bird!
Between the time the first gray light of day appears and the sun peeps over the horizon, the mockingbirds make some of their most beautiful music. Those who have heard it say the birds are greeting the sun with an anthem of joy. Others say they are singing to mark their territorial boundaries: “Stay off my property!”
There is a great deal of activity as birds fly from their roosts to feed in the cool dawn.
One morning, you should try to wake up very early, with the sun. Go outside into the morning air with your family, and sit quietly.
How many birds do you see? What are their colors, and what are they doing? How many different bird songs and calls do you hear?
“Follow me to the garden! Let’s check out the magic of nature!”
Learn more about bird songs and calls at A Beginner’s Guide to Common Bird Sounds and What They Mean.
Listen to the sounds of the Northern Mockingbird at All About Birds.
Rosemary the Garden Fairy’s adventures and teachings are inspired by Gypsy Damaris Boston and her books such The Rainbow Fairies and Dear Louisiana, Love Gypsy.
Storytime: The Fairy Fox of Bossier by Iran Martin

Grand’s Fairy Tales by Iran and Henryell Martin

In this episode of Confetti Park Storytime, we hear “The Fairy Fox of Bossier” by Iran Martin, from his book Grand’s Fairy Tales.

Father and son are on a walk through the forests of Bossier to gather wood. They leave mother home cooking their supper, and she warns them not to be late.

“I remember mother standing over her cooking pot, as was her custom, spicing a little of this, and a little of that,” recalls the son.

While the men are walking, pushing their rickety cart, the father talks of a place where the limbs drop from trees, making for easy gathering. They continue searching for this place, and keep walking farther and farther, always thinking it is just a little bit ahead.

“Soon we were overcome by weariness, and sat down to rest,” says the son. “The sun was fast sinking behind silvery shreds of dark shadows. And not any wood had been found.”

“Then, unexpected music swelled our senses with harps, flues, fiddles and the like….Suddenly, a wide berth of emerald colored glass appeared…from an open door within a giant majestic tree. We spring from the ground upward, pushing our cart aside, and took thoughtlessly through its opening.”

So begins an adventure of dancing with elves, sprites, gnomes and other magical woodland creatures, all watched over by the Fairy Fox of Bossier.

The men, who are enchanted by the music, pass a thrilling time dancing. But they do not realize that in this magical place, time has no meaning. They do not realize that ten years of mortal life have passed by! Only by petitioning the all-knowing and all-powerful Fairy Fox of Bossier will the men be able to return to the wife and mother, who was last seen cooking their supper by the wood fire.

Their eyes are opened by their adventure to the meaningfulness of family, domesticity, and creature comforts. Also revealed: the precious gift and strange nature of time.

Iran and Henryell live in Bossier City, in north Louisiana. They are native New Orleanians who moved to north Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. “The Fairy Fox of Bossier” and all of the tales and fables in Grand’s Fairy Tales are steeped in Louisiana folklore and imagery of the forests, bayous and other water ways of our beautiful state. And many of them offer a moral for the reader to take away.

Also: Listen to Iran Martin read “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed.”

Buy Grand’s Fairy Tales on Amazon.

Iran & Henryell Martin
Storytime: The Beaver’s Tale of Greed narrated by Iran Martin

Grand’s Fairy Tales by Iran and Henryell Martin

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” by Iran Martin, from his book Grand’s Fairy Tales. This is an adapted version of a Grimm’s fairy tale called the “Fisherman and his Wife.”

In the older version of the tale, which was first written in Germany in the 1800s, a poor fisherman and his wife are blessed with wishes by a magical fish in exchange for releasing it. However, the wife becomes greedy and the husband, who wants to please her, goes along with her ever-more selfish demands to the fish.

In this version, adapted and narrated by Iran Martin along with his wife Henryell, the main character is a trapper who saves the life of a magical beaver, and the story takes place in a forest.

“I plead with you. Let me live.”

The old trapper stared in disbelief. Never had he trapped a talking beaver before!

Iran and Henryell live in Bossier City, in north Louisiana. They are native New Orleanians who moved to north Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” and all of the tales and fables in Grand’s Fairy Tales are steeped in Louisiana folklore and imagery of the forests, bayous and other water ways of our beautiful state. And many of them offer a moral for the reader to take away.

You can look forward to more stories from Iran and Henryell Martin on Confetti Park!

Buy Grand’s Fairy Tales on Amazon.

Iran & Henryell Martin
Rosemary the Garden Fairy: The lovely, giving amaryllis

“Follow me to the garden! Let’s check out the magic of nature!”

The amaryllis bulb is a wonderful thing to have inside your house in the wintertime. They grow large, brightly colored blooms, even when it’s freezing outside! and the blooms can last for months and months.

They are EASY to grow. You can even grow amaryllis bulbs in nothing more than stones and water.

The amaryllis bulb is a great holiday gift, because it is the gift that keeps on giving, again and again. It’s always a wonderful surprise to see what color your bulb will be.

Red, pink, white, orange, or even striped!
Rosemary the Garden Fairy: Grow a time-telling garden

“Follow me to the garden! Let’s check out the magic of nature!”

Rosemary the Garden Fairy shares gardening tips and natural lore with children.

Did you know that some plants can tell time?

A wonderful project would be for you to plant a time-telling garden, full of morning glories, four o’clocks, and moon flowers. You will see that your beautiful morning glories open their temper purple blue petals at dawn. The four o’clocks uncurl their bright pink faces in the afternoon, and guess when the moon flower blooms?

Something amazing: these flowers can even be placed in a dark closet and still bloom at the right time for several days.

A four o’clock plant in full bloom.

A gorgeous moonflower blooms at night.

Climbing morning glories greet the early sun.
Introducing Rosemary the Garden Fairy’s gardening segments for kids!

“Follow me to the garden! Let’s check out the magic of nature!”

Introducing Rosemary the Garden Fairy, a new contributor to Confetti Park! We found her flitting about our beautiful corner, and realized she had much wisdom to impart about the natural world.

In this segment, Rosemary teaches us about air plants.

Have you ever heard of an air plant? It can grow without any soil!

The scientific name for air plants is “Tillandsia.” Lucky kids in Louisiana have seen one species of this plant called Spanish Moss, growing in our beautiful oak trees and throughout our swamps and bayous.

There are over 650 species of air plants, and some of them bloom pretty little flowers. You can try growing an air plant in your house…. You can even pin it to a curtain and it will grow!