Author Information
Wine Tasting Ceremony.
Folder:
Bern's Fairy Tales.
- Wine Tasting Ceremony.
- I have been invited to a wine tasting ceremony. The ceremony will take place on the twenty-first of this month when there will be a full moon. All will be there with their home made wines. The wise old fairies make the best wines and what with Parsnip and elderberry wine I am sure that there will be a few bottles of exquisite champagne. The ceremony takes place every ten years and is something that one has to see to believe all that goes on at such a wine tasting.
- I also take a few bottles of my homemade wine also lots of ginger biscuits. The Fairies love ginger biscuits and it is surprising how many such a small person can eat. I am wondering what the Pixies will get up to this year, as they are always good for a prank or two. Many Leprechauns also come to the wine tasting and many I am afraid drink too much. Her Majesty always brings many bottles of parsnip wine and parsnip wine is my favourite among the many wines that will be on show for tasting.
- The twenty-first came around and I wrapped up my bottles in newspapers and then laid them on to straw that I had placed in my old wheelbarrow. As soon as the sun goes down I will push my wheelbarrow to the open clearing where all such wine tasting ceremonies take place. I was not the first to be there, all of the Fairies and Leprechauns were present; Just the Pixies were nowhere to be seen.
- The moon shone bright and what with the fireflies there was plenty of light in the clearing. A long wooden table was placed in the middle of the clearing and soon was covered with bottles of all shapes, colours and sizes. Then Her Majesty appeared in her usual way a bright blue flash, a small whiff of smoke and she stood in the clearing wearing a most beautiful dress of what looked like pure silk. On the dress was embroidered some lovely small flowers. The Queen looked a real treat.
- Her Majesty then declared the wine tasting ceremony as open and small hands pulled corks from bottles and soon the wine was being tasted. The wines from the wise old fairies took first prize as they usually do. My wine was declared to be of vintage quality and I received from Her Majesty a royal blue ribbon on which was the words excellent quality. After the wine tasting a small orchestra of Leprechauns tuned up their instruments and dancing got under way. Still no sign of the Pixies, I wondered whether they had forgotten about the ceremony.
- Above the music from the Leprechauns we heard a low rumbling. It was the Pixies coming late as usual. They were pulling an old two-wheeled cart on which were bottles and bottles of homemade wine. The Pixies were having a real good time and when they were in the clearing they banged down bottle after bottle on the table. The dancing went on and then it happened the wine that the Pixies had brought with them was too young. Wine has to ferment before one can bottle it. This the Pixies had failed to do, and the bottles on the table started to explode. One cork after another went sailing into the air with a loud bang. Wine gushed out of the bottles and soon the table and the floor under the table was wet with wine.
- The Pixies were very unhappy; some cried out in anger others shouted out that someone had bewitched their wine. It was quite a shambles; at each plop of the corks exploding, the Orchestra of Leprechauns stood up and gave a loud fanfare on their instruments. This made the Pixies even unhappier and some even began to cry. Her Majesty had been watching all that happened and with a smile on her face she waved her magic wand and the bottles of exploded wine turned back into ordinary bottles of wine and it was as if nothing had happened. This made the Pixies happier and when the wine that they had brought with them was tasted at the end. Her Majesty gave them a blue ribbon with the word Quality Wine written on it. I was watching Her Majesty and could see that the exploding corks had filled her with amusement and she was having difficulty to keep a straight face.
- At the break of dawn the clearing was back to normal and most of the guests were in agreement that the Pixies had made their evening for them. It is not often that something like this had happened at the wine tasting ceremonies of previous years. What I should tell you is that wine in Fairyland has no alcohol in it and is drunk by one and all to quench a thirst. I went back to my home with my wheelbarrow full of wine that I had been given and my cellar is stocked with some excellent fairy wine.
