The raindrops, like white diamonds, pure and glistening, rolled off the silken leaves of the forested trees. The wet floor, a rug of fallen leaves, felt soft and cool to the touch on the bare feet of the young native boy as he ran and jumped; his bow and arrow strung across his back.
Kupono loved the jungle with its exotic animals and birds, and the rare flowers he found for his mother. It was more of a home to him than the small Ameridian village where he lived with his family of the ancestral Arawak tribe. The rains he always welcomed, for he had a great fascination with rainbows, drawn like a magnet to their heavenly splendur.
He closed his eyes for a few moments as the rain eased to a drizzle, and as he opened them, like magic, a rainbow appeared beyond the mountains. Kupuno exclaimed with glee; like the many times before, he set off in his own robust style, the boy he is, to find the end of the rainbow. He wanted not the pot of gold fabled to be there, but he felt in his young heart there was something there, richer than gold.
Kupono had a wild imagination, talking often to the unseen beings of the forest, the fairies and the elves; wanting them to come out and play with him. Along the way as he hurried, he shouted greetings to his animal friends, the howler monkes, squirrels and rabbits. The more he ran, the further away the rainbow seemed to be and it started to fade from the sky.
“Oh no,” he cried, “Don’t go!”
At that very moment, he heard a small cry, “Help!”
Kupono stopped and looked around, but he saw no one. What he saw was a part of the forest he had never seen before, a small waterfall, a gushing stream with small gold fishes and the most exotic birds and flowers he had ever seen. He looked around in wonderment and spread his arms,
“What is this place? How have I never seen it before?”
He knelt to pluck flowers and heard the cry again, from a little distance away. He followed the sound and there lying on a bed of flowers was a golden winged fairy. The fairy had a broken wing and looked so helpless in its tiny form.
He gazed in amazement. This couldn’t be real.
“What is happening to me today?” he wondered.
Kupono had learnt from his grandfather how to heal wounds, using nature’s medicine. Kneeling down, he said to the fairy.
“I can help you.”
The little creature looked up at him and nodded her consent. Kupono picked her up with gentle care and his little hands worked deftly. The fairy’s wing was soon as good as new and it flew away and disappeared.
The rainbow, Kupono noted, had also disappeared; another adventure lost. But as he walked back, he felt not disappointed but rewarded, for he had seen something he always knew in his little heart was real, a fairy.
He laid in bed that night, listening to the sounds of the forest, a symphony orchestra in play, and as his eyes closed, he wondered.
“Was this all a dream?”
In the quiet of the night, a small voice called, “Kupono, come with me.”
Kupono rose from his sleep and followed the voice through the forest, until he came to a cluster of tall trees where beyond he could not see, until the fairy, its wings shimmering with a golden hue in the night, flew to the trees and magically a path opened for Kupono to walk. He entered a courtyard and stared incredulously at the Golden Castle, the King and Queen, and all of the fairies, pixies and elves. The paths were paved with gold and gold nuggets like pebbles were everywhere. The night lit up with the golden wings as the fairies, elves and pixies danced and played with him, as though he was one of them.
At dawn, Kupono’s eyes opened at the sun’s gentle kiss on his face, not sure he had been dreaming. He sat up in his hammock and a tiny gold nugget fell to his feet making him realize it had not been a dream at all. He picked it up and smiled, knowing it had not been a dream at all, but as real as the gold nugget in his hand. The fable that at the end of the rainbow there is gold was true but richer and more precious was the Kingdom of the Fairies.
Kupono searched for the place he had seen in his dream for days, but he could never find it. One day he sat down, dispirited and the Golden Fairy appeared.
“Why are you sad?” she asked Kupono
“I have been searching for you, I’ve always wanted to be your friend,” he replied.
“We have played with you often, because you believe in us, only you couldn’t see us then. You helped me and for that you have been rewarded. You always chased the rainbow to see what was at the end, now you have. We will always be your friends.”
Kupono laughed happily, for this was certainly an adventure of a lifetime. Forever in his mind he would marvel at what he saw at the end of the rainbow, and even more wonderful, the Golden Winged Fairy was now his friend.