Ralph and the Pixie

She was suddenly crestfallen and sullen. Pran gave her a fatherly squeeze. ‘It’s all right, I will tell this tale. I should not burden you with such things.’

‘I will tell it,’ she said, as though coerced. ‘Even if I don’t like sad stories.’ She sighed unhappily.

‘Bad Pixies like to cause pain. They like to hurt things. I have seen them steal . . . little ones.’

‘Little ones?’ echoed Ralph.

Éha’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Little Nymphs. Little Pixies. Little . . .’ she glanced askance at the other Elves about.

‘What do they do with them?’

To Ralph’s embarrassment, Éha began crying. Pran put his arms around her protectively. ‘Shush, little one. That is enough.’ To Ralph he said, ‘I found this one wandering alone when she was very small. Not knowing what else to do, I took her to Malina. But to answer your question, bad Pixies do what bad Elves, or Goblins, do. They lure away the young and either abandon them, or worse. Often they will kill and eat them.’

‘Malina told me,’ Ralph muttered.

‘Yes,’ replied Pran, ‘I daresay she did. What she did not tell you is how many times she and others like her followed the evil Pixies and Goblins, trying to thwart their efforts. They didn’t often succeed. More often than not, things ended tragically, while Pixies like Malina could only watch.’ He sighed. ‘That is just one more thing we’ve got to put a stop to, if ever we can.’