Leila Lizard-Faerie

Ani-mentals and Enviro-mentals: aiding the planet by their good attitudes.
LEILA LIZARD FAERIE (ANI-MENTAL)
It was a rainy day; a day Leila Lizard chose to spend snuggled up inside her cozy house, rather than outside basking on top of the village’s large, white rock (an activity enjoyed not only by Leila but also by every lizard on the block).
While waiting for the sun to break through and chase the dark clouds back home to the north where they belonged, Leila began to daydream. First she dreamed of all the beauty in her world: the trees, the flowers, the sky and the rocks. The next picture to appear was of the little girl with braces on her legs who lived in the stone house a short distance from Lizard Glen. Of course the little girl in her daydream, like the little girl in real life, was attired in a lovely frilly dress made of a shiny fabric. And while the real little girl quietly played alone, never having the companionship of other children, she seemed content to converse with her dolls or watch the butterflies flit from flower to flower and the birds noisily splash in the gray bird bath. Leila thought about the little girl often and always anticipated her appearance on the brick patio of the stone house, anxious to see what beautiful outfit the child would wear next.
By the time the sun finally made an appearance it was mid-afternoon and having missed both breakfast and lunch, Leila was famished. But not so hungry she threw caution to the wind. Slowly she crept out from her home and looked around. Confident that the big, fluffy tabby was shut inside the stone house, Leila made her way to the garden in search of a meal. Seeing movement near the leaves of a young cabbage she was about to make her way to the vegetable when the door to the stone house banged open. Leila slipped in beside a large rosemary plant and watched as a girl with red cheeks and bouncing, brown curls ran out onto the patio. In her hand was a woven basket. Behind her the little girl who lived in the stone house broke free from her mother’s grasp and tried to catch up.
“Wait for me, Helen,” the little girl called as she stumbled after Helen.
When the little girl and her mother finally caught up with Helen they saw that Helen had dumped the basket on its side, spilling out two small dolls and an array of doll clothes.
The mother looked a perturbed by their guest’s wild behavior but instead of
scolding Helen she warned, “No rough housing; remember that Melinda was very sick.”
“I know,” Helen mumbled as she began folding the doll clothes.
“I’m fine, Mother,” Melinda insisted in an embarrassed whisper.
After a moment’s hesitation and a smile at her daughter, the mother returned to the house.
Leila, as still as the concrete statue decorating the bird bath, watched as the girls played dolls until suddenly Helen yelled, “I’m bored!” and scooping both hands full of doll clothes, she tossed them into the air.
Afraid of being discovered if she moved, Leila felt rather than saw something settle onto her back. And it wasn’t until the wind lifted one corner of the white object that she was aware that both girls, the basket, dolls and doll clothes were gone.
Now alone, Leila took the opportunity to inspect the thing covering her and realized that it was a white, knitted sun dress belonging to one of the dolls. Without a thought, Leila slipped the sun dress on and found that it was a perfect fit. She was so deliriously happy with the beautiful sun dress that she nearly forgot to eat. And as soon as she had eaten her fill, she climbed up the bird bath to look at her reflection. What she saw was so wonderful! So lovely! She felt like yelling with joy. Her entire life she’d known that since she couldn’t change her coloring like her neighbor Cary Chameleon,
she was surely meant to have beautiful clothes. It only seemed natural what with her love of beauty and the fact that she’d been born with beautiful green stripes (stripes that caused some of her neighbors to belittle her because she was different). But suddenly here she was, dressed like a princess.
Scampering down the pedestal of the bird bath she was careful not to snag her new sun dress. And on the way to her house she was careful to keep the hem up off the muddy ground. She was nearly home when a shrill whistle stopped her. Looking around she saw Gonwin. A pudgy lizard, Gonwin had long been the bully of the glen.
“Hey! Lizard girl!” Gonwin yelled. “Who are you supposed to be, wearing those fancy duds in this neighborhood?! Woo hoo! Wait ‘til I tell the rest of the glen about how silly you look!”
Suddenly embarrassed by her beautiful dress, Leila began to walk faster and didn’t stop again until she was safely locked inside her house.
“How foolish I’ve been,” she muttered to herself. “Why did I think I could be any different than the rest of my neighbors?”
Leila quickly slipped out of the sun dress and after carefully folding it she put it on a high shelf, out of sight.
That night Leila had a very bad dream. She dreamed that her beautiful stripes had disappeared and her skin was as common as those who had chastised her for not looking exactly like them. She dreamed that just as those same lizards began to treat her well, now that she did look more like them, her beautiful mane of hair suddenly turned blue and once again she became an outcast. It was a great relief when she awoke the next morning, dispelling the depressing dream.
Leila was still shaky from the nightmare but she managed to straighten her little house before going out for breakfast.
Upon entering the garden Leila heard crying and as she moved toward the sound she saw that Melinda, with tears streaming down her face, was sitting on her mother’s lap.
“Please let me go play at Helen’s house,” she sobbed.
“Melinda, darling, you’re a delicate child and I worry about you,” her mother said.
“But I’m well now and I never get to have any fun,” Melinda insisted.
Leila saw movement behind the open patio door and then Melinda’s father stepped onto the bricks. Gently he put his hand on his wife’s shoulder and gently he said to her, “Melinda is right, dear. It was a long time ago that Melinda was sick. Let the child be a child now. Let her do some of the things she wants. Let her have fun.”
Melinda’s mother was quiet for a moment and then she hugged Melinda and said to her, “I’ll go call Helen’s mother and tell her you can go to their house and play.”
Leila, with a smile on her face, watched as Melinda began clapping her hands with joy.
All the way home Leila thought about Melinda. And it wasn’t until she passed the white rock, and Gonwin called to her, that she remembered her own situation and the depressing dream. But this time, instead of hurrying home, Leila stopped and confronted the pudgy lizard.
“Don’t be making fun of others, Gonwin, or they might start making fun of you!” she declared.
“Oh yeah, smarty pants?! Or should I say, smarty dress? And what can you say about me?”
Although Leila had never spoken a bad word about or to anyone, she heard herself say, “I can warn you that if you don’t watch it with the knife and fork you’ll soon be mistaken for a komodo dragon instead of a lizard!”
“Wha…?” Gonwin began to bluster. “Hey! You can’t talk to me like that!”
“I can and I will if you don’t stop being so mean to everyone. It isn’t pleasant when people pick on you, is it? And if you don’t stop being a bully, soon everyone will start talking to you like that. So grow up, Gonwin!””
Leila left Gonwin with a shocked look on his face.
After facing up to the fear of ridicule, Leila experienced a new sense of herself that gave her the courage to do something that she really wanted to do.
Once inside her house she removed the sun dress from the shelf, slipped it on, combed her hair and hurried out the blueberry bush where she rubbed her hair onto the ripe berries until she was certain her hair was as blue as in her dream. Then, majestically she took a leisurely stroll through the glen, smiling and waving to all of her neighbors who, although somewhat shocked, smiled and waved back.
And so it was that the little girl who wanted to be like other little girls, and the lizard who wanted to be different, each got their way just because that’s what they wanted.
Whatever your heart desires, life will find a way to fulfill it.
Ani-mentals: they help the planet through their good attitudes.