This is an original story to capture young imaginations about fun at the beach with a subtle message about beach safety and what to look out for.
Fairies do not live at the beach. They live in the cool mountains under the eucalyptus trees and in leafy towns under big river gum trees, hidden away from harsh elements like the blistering sun and strong harsh ocean waves.
The beach was bright. The sun burnt. The waves were merciless. There weren’t many places to hide and it was extremely busy with thousands of people everywhere. Little children making sandcastles, mums and dads, grandparents, surfers, people playing all kinds of games, football, handball, frisbee. There were the runners and the walkers and the skaters. The beach was manic. It was not a place for fairies, and the fairies knew it. Fairies from the towns and mountains would never take a trip to the beach. That would just be careless, wouldn’t it?
But little did people know, there were a group of beach fairies that had moved into Bondi Beach. Real-life fairies living in the huge pine trees right next to the beach, so close to the ocean that they could smell the salt water and it turned their hair into crazy curly curls.
Yellow was a tiny little fairy with bright yellow curls, who lived at Bondi Beach with her older brother Red, who had a head of bright red curls. They got on with each other most of the time…. and then they didn’t.
Yellow loved nothing more than to play on the sand or in the rock-pools, whilst Red liked more adventure. He would spend hours playing with the dolphins, swimming through the surf on their noses and jumping over waves as the dolphins dived through.
Red and Yellow were kind, friendly fairies but they didn’t have many friends, which made them sad. You see, there weren’t many other fairies living at the beach, and none of them were the same age as Red and Yellow.
Now you should know, Bondi Beach is a large beach with special areas for different activities. Surfers on hard surfboards had to surf on the Southend, where no swimmers were allowed. Surfers on soft surfboards had to surf in the middle and the Northend. The most important rule you should know when you go to Bondi Beach is to swim between the red and yellow flags.
Red and Yellow made it their duty to make sure that people know this. They whispered in the wind to tell people to move between the flags. They guided people to the beach signs so that they would see the instructions. Not only that, but they even used their magic on humans to help people to remember to only swim between the flags. It was against the fairy code, but to them it seemed like a perfectly good reason to use magic.
One morning, they woke up as the sun peaked its head above the water, turning the sky shades of pink, orange and yellow. The beach looked like a dream or another land, far far away.
“Let’s go swimming Yel, come on it’s perfect out there” said Red excitedly.
“The waves are pretty calm and the sun is warm already so the water will be warm too”.
“OK, let’s go. It does look nice out there today” said Yel seeing reflections on the waves of a few fairies dancing in the sunlight.
So, the two fairies flew out of their big pine tree, across the promenade, across the sand and above the ocean. The surfers were out in the ocean, little specs of black sitting on their boards, waiting to catch the perfect wave. Just ahead of them, a pod of dolphins swam in the morning sun, laughing together and having fun.
“Hey Dibi” called out Red to his dolphin friend.
Dibi jumped far out of the water to catch Red and they flew through the sky together, bouncing on the water all the way across the beach.
Now, as you heard earlier, there are different areas of the beach with different rules and different dangers. This is when they bumped into Rip.
Rip was a naughty fairy that lived on Bondi Beach too. She was so sneaky you wouldn’t believe the things that she got up to. Rip’s favourite trick was to get people into trouble in the ocean. To grab hold of them and take them out to sea. To pull them under the water so they couldn’t breathe properly. She laughed wildly whenever she got an unsuspecting swimmer into the rip and away from the beach.
But Rip was extremely beautiful and people liked to go in the ocean wherever she swam. She was the darkest blue, as dark as the deepest ocean and her skin was as smooth as silk. The waves broke on either side of the rip currents, making it look like the safest place to swim, when it wasn’t at all. She liked to swim in the rips to go far out to sea on the fast, dangerous slide and then fly back and do the whole thing again. Which sounds super fun, unless you’re a human and can’t fly out of the rip when you need to.
This particular morning, it was the summer holidays and many people were already on the beach. Children and families at the water's edge, running in for a swim in the warm ocean.
“Come this way, come this way” cooed Rip luring swimmers into the water. “Come and swim with meeeeee”.
Red heard the call and yelled out to Yel, who by this time was playing on the edge of the sand.
“Hurry Yel, Rip’s up to her old tricks again”.
Yel could see the little girl and her father stepping into the rip, diving into the water. It wasn’t long before the rip caught hold of them, carrying them further and further away from the shore. Yel used her magic to create sparkles in the water. She waved to the lifeguards, willing them to see the swimmers, but the swimmers hadn’t noticed they were in danger yet. They hadn’t put their hands up for help. Yel used her magic again to help make the swimmers see, but then they panicked. The father waved his arms for help. The girl was struggling.
“Red, Dibi, they need your help, quick’’.
Red flew over and cast a spell of magic on the rip to calm it down but it was strong and his powers hadn’t fully developed yet. Dibi the dolphin saw the girl struggling and swam to her under the water, gently putting her onto his back so that she was floating like her father. This seemed to calm her down.
In the distance, Red saw the lifeguards running into the ocean with their rescue boards. Thank goodness, just in time. The lifeguards swam out fast, pulled the dad onto one board and the girl onto the other. They looked at Dibi and nodded. The lifeguards and the dolphins were good friends. Red was sure one of them looked right at him but he knew that adults couldn’t really see fairies. What was he thinking?
Back on the beach, the pair were reunited with the little girl’s mother. Through her tears, the little girl exclaimed “Mummy mummy, I saw two fairies, real ones with yellow and red curly hair…and a dolphin carried me on his back.”
Yel smiled, children really were very special. They had the right kind of magic in their hearts to see the fairies that lived right beside them.
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Be beach safe
If you’re off to the beach soon, here are some useful resources to help keep you and your family safe.
What is a rip and how to spot one.
Sun safety and how to protect your skin from damaging rays
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More stories
Find out more about the mother and son duo who wrote this story for sharing with you on Kids Dream Stories.
Read other free children's stories on Kids Dream Stories.
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