Every spring, the flower fairies awoke from their winter sleep, and they painted the spring flowers. They arranged the petals facing the sun to make it smile, then they danced among the stems to shake the flowers and make them wave to the bees.
I say all the flower fairies, but one is missing. Agaric has overslept. She stayed up late last autumn painting the leaves orange, and forgot she still had the red leaves to paint, but then she was always so easily distracted.
As spring gave way to summer, the flower fairies were busy making ever larger and brighter blooms for the butterflies, but still Agaric slumbered on.
Only when the summer was giving way to autumn again did she stir.
She was bleary-eyed and drowsy after her long sleep, and when she made her flower, she realised she had no green to paint the stem. She had also put the flower on upside down, with the petals facing the ground instead of the sky!
She went to paint her flower with the red paint she still had, but as the paint dried it cracked, making the flower look spotty.
Agaric sat down under her flower and cried. She felt she was the worst flower fairy in all fairyland. As she sat, it began to rain, and Agaric realised that she was still dry, because the flower was like an umbrella, pushing the water to the sides because it was upside down.
She saw a pair of green legs appear in front of her, and Mr Toad addressed her in his croaky voice “thank you Agaric, I’ve been looking everywhere for a comfy seat, and you’ve made me a lovely Toad Stool.
“That’s it!” Said Agaric, “a toadstool!” She made the toadstool so perfectly that she was given her wings, to be a flying fairy. Now every year, Agaric makes Mr Toad lots of toadstools just the way he likes them.
You’ll know which are Agaric’s, they have speckly red tops, and are pure white underneath.
If anyone asks, you can tell them the name of those toadstools is Fly Agaric, and you can tell them why.
Short Story Lady 