LAND OWNERS

Charles H. Grooms

Butterleaf was his normal exuberant self, just having fun and enjoying life. After all, that was what the fairies did best. Ever since he had solved the problem of the humans trying to trap and kill the Little Folk, the Little Folk had all been happy and safe, relatively speaking. So why shouldn't he be happy?

That happy, carefree mood that was so characteristic of the fairies was soon to be shattered.

It was an early spring day and Butterleaf was sitting in his forest glen, leaning against the bole of a tree just soaking up the sun. He was also being amused by a robin chattering away about his prowess as a lover and provider, trying to attract a mate. From a nearby tree a mother squirrel chattered at the robin, warning him to stay in his own tree and not encroach upon her territory. She also warned the robin that her mate was very fierce and thought that robin feathers made very good bedding for the young ones' nest. All in all, Butterleaf thought that the whole thing was very humorous.

Then he heard the other noise, like someone stumbling through the underbrush. Suddenly, a sprite stumbled out of the underbrush and nearly fell. Butterleaf was stunned. The poor thing's left hand was blackened and the arm was fiery red nearly to the elbow! Butterleaf knew of only two things that could cause that sort of thing. The sprite could have held his hand in a fire and caused that sort of damage, but he didn't know of any sprites that were that dumb. Of course, some larger creature could have held the sprite's hand in a fire, but Butterleaf couldn't imagine anyone being that cruel. The only other way that Butterleaf could imagine that the sprite could have incurred that sort of hurt would have been to handle cold iron, but he couldn't imagine any sprite being so stupid as to do that.

Butterleaf immediately jumped up and rushed to the sprite's aid. Careful not to touch the sprite's wounded hand, he helped the sprite to lie down and tried to make him comfortable. Then he rushed to a nearby stream on the other side of his glen and got some water for the sprite. After he had gotten some of the water into the sprite, he asked, "What happened?"

The sprite was hardly able to speak due to the pain. "Cold iron," was all that he was able to say before he passed out.

Butterleaf leapt into the air and with wings flapping furiously headed toward the elven woods. Butterleaf's normal flying speed was about twenty miles per hour, and he could cruise at that speed for hours if need be. With an effort he could get up to thirty miles per hour for a short distance. Butterleaf made that effort. He flew as hard and fast as he could. Ten minutes later he flew to the ground in front of King Sun Splendor's sylvan throne and spent the next minute trying to catch his breath.

When it appeared that he had recovered somewhat from his efforts, the elven king, Sun Splendor, spoke, "I do believe that this is Butterleaf before me. But what dire straits could make you fly so hard and fast that you can't even speak when you reach me?"

"Sorry to disturb you, Your Majesty," Butterleaf panted. "But a young sprite has come to my glen. It is his hand. He has touched cold iron."

"Now that is serious." Sun Splendor raised his gaze from Butterleaf and sought out a young female elf. "Primrose! A sprite has been burned by cold iron. Get your healing kit and tend to him. Butterleaf will show you the way."

"At once!" she shouted as she disappeared through the trees. Within two minutes, she was back with a silken pouch tied at her waist. She approached Butterleaf and said, "Little fairy, I can not run as fast as you fly, nor can you run as fast as I. I think that we will make the best time if you were to ride perched on my shoulder."

Butterleaf really could not argue with her logic, besides he had not yet completely caught his breath and really did not relish the idea of flying back to his glen just yet. He flew up and perched upon her shoulder. As soon as he was comfortably seated, Primrose took off at a run. He had started to say something about being addressed as a "Little fairy." Then he realized that even though, at twenty inches tall, he was not at all little for a fairy, beside her four feet and eleven inches, he was indeed rather short. So, typical of his kind, he promptly forgot about it. Instead, he spent his time hanging on and giving the elf directions. At first he was a bit nervous but quickly became accustomed to the motion and settled down and enjoyed the ride.

Primrose's willowy legs flashed as they ate up the miles. It was true that she could not match Butterleaf's flying speed, but she could and did maintain a very respectable fifteen miles per hour. At that rate, she reached the unconscious sprite in a mere twenty minutes.

Butterleaf jumped from Primrose's shoulder as she knelt beside the unconscious sprite. She looked at the sprite and commented in a surprised tone, "I know this sprite. He lives on the other side of the elven wood. He sometimes brings me healing herbs in exchange for things that he needs. His name is Dipper."

She reached down with the greatest of care to examine his hand. As careful as she was, the pain brought Dipper back to wakefulness. She reached into her pouch and brought out a stoppered vial. "Lift his head, Butterleaf." As Butterleaf complied, she removed the stopper from the vial. Then with her left hand, she forced open Dipper's clenched jaws. She shook just three drops from the vial into Dipper's mouth and then allowed his jaws to close. Within seconds, some of the pain seemed to ease away for the sprite, for his clenched jaws relaxed somewhat and his eyes opened.

"All right, Dipper, what happened to you?" Primrose asked.

"Every year, about this time, I take a trip to see some cousins of mine. As I was walking along the trail, I noticed that some brush seemed to have grown across the path. I thought that it was unusual, but didn't think too much about it. I tried to push the branch out of my way before I saw what it was hiding. The Big Folks had strung some of their iron wire across the trail. Some of the kind that has the sharp barbs on it. I didn't even see it until I had it in my hand and one of the barbs had stuck into my hand. I have never felt anything that hurt so bad. It still hurts terribly, but not as much as it did before you gave me the medicine. I tried to make it back to the elven woods, but I was getting weaker and weaker. I vaguely remember stumbling into this glen and someone giving me some water. That was the last that I remember until you woke me." Dipper's voice was strained and hard to understand.

"This is Butterleaf's glen. It was he that found you, gave you the water and then flew as fast as he could to fetch me."

The sprite raised his head. "This is Butterleaf? Then I guess that I was luckier than I had thought."

Primrose had removed a larger jar from her pouch. She removed the lid to reveal a creamy salve. She scooped some of the salve from the jar with her fingers and gently started smearing it onto Dipper's arm. Butterleaf was amazed that such large fingers (large by Butterleaf's standards) could be so gentle. Slowly Primrose worked the salve in as she moved slowly toward the blackened hand. Finally, she reached the hand. Butterleaf could tell that the ministrations hurt Dipper, even though he stoically remained silent. Butterleaf found himself respecting the sprite. Finally Primrose had a thick layer of the salve covering the hand. She then extracted some silken bandages from her pouch. She gently wrapped the hand and arm with the bandage. Then she used more of the bandage to make a sling for the arm and finally wrapped more bandage around the sprite's body to immobilize the arm completely. Finally, Primrose gave Dipper a sip from another vial. All pain seemed to slip away from him and he closed his eyes and slept.

After Primrose had repacked her pouch, she carefully lifted the sprite in her arms, much as a human would carry a baby. "Come along, Butterleaf, Father will want to talk to you."

"Father?" Butterleaf asked.

"Yes. You know him as King Sun Splendor. He is my father. I am quite certain that he will wish to consult with you after this."

"I guess that I am a very lucky fairy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, how many fairies do you know that can claim to have ridden on the shoulder of an elven princess?"

Primrose laughed, "Well, you are the first in my memory. And I am a century or so older than you. At least, you are the first fairy to have ever ridden on my shoulder."

Butterleaf had to jog in order to keep up with Primrose's longer legs, but he had no real trouble. Primrose didn't want to run back to the elven woods because she didn't want to jar Dipper's damaged hand anymore than was absolutely necessary.

"Primrose, will Dipper be all right?"

"Well, Butterleaf, we are lucky that you got to us as fast as you did. I think that we will be able to save his hand. He may not regain full use of it, but partial use is better than not having a hand. And if you had delayed in getting to us, he could have died. I am skilled, Butterleaf, but there are others that are more skilled than I. I think that I could save him the use of his hand. But those that are more skilled than I will care for him, so he will probably be all right."

As has been noted in other narrations Butterleaf was in some ways quite the typical fairy. In other ways, he was most atypical. For instance, the average fairy would probably have set off to fetch help for Dipper. But the typical fairy would be likely to become distracted along the way, and would return hours later or even the next day, if he remembered to return at all. And the typical fairy, having given the problem to the elves, would have forgotten about it and would not have thought to inquire about Dipper's chances. It wasn't that fairies had bad memories, it was just that they didn't like to think about unpleasant things and were too fun loving to remain serious for very long, say about five minutes at the most. So far, Butterleaf had behaved atypically for a fairy. But at Primrose's assurance, he acted in typical fairy fashion and forgot about it. Besides, there was too much to enjoy around them, like the frolicking courting behavior of a pair of rabbits that they passed.

In due course, they reached the elven demesne. As they approached King Sun splendor, Primrose said, "I have brought Dipper, Father."

"So I see," her father answered. Then he lapsed into a language that Butterleaf didn't know. "Eiliathillial duramisthia ramenthewkilillia," and more that sounded like that to Butterleaf, with a lot of "ia's" and "l's" in it.

Primrose responded in a like manner and the two conversed in their unknown tongue for a very brief time. The only two words that Butterleaf heard that he recognized were, "Dipper" and "Butterleaf."

Finally, still carrying Dipper, Primrose left the clearing and Sun Splendor looked at Butterleaf, "I'm sorry, Butterleaf. We did not mean to be rude. That was the ancient elven tongue. It is a very complex language and we seldom use it anymore unless we wish to convey a lot of information very quickly. I needed to know exactly what had happened and did not wish to make the sprite wait for more complete treatment any longer than was necessary.

"As I understand it, the sprite was burned by a new fence that the humans had erected across the trail that the sprite has been using."

"Yes, Your Majesty. He was hard to understand, but he said that one of the barbs on the fence even pierced his hand."

"We have never argued with the human's right to build fences. In the old days, when their fences were made of stone or wood, they were no problem, but in the last hundred years or so, too many of their fences have been made of cold iron, or of an alloy of iron called 'steel.' Dipper is not the first to run afoul of one of their fences." He was quiet for a while. Then he sent a young elf to find Raindrop and Moondance.

In a short time, the young elf returned with Raindrop and Moondance. After telling them all that he knew about the situation, he asked them to go to the nearest meeting place where the humans had one of their "labs" and ask the humans if something could be done to remove the cold iron fences and perhaps use some other material instead.

Raindrop and Moondance left immediately. As soon as the two elves had left, the elven king turned to Butterleaf and said, "Butterleaf, you are not of my kingdom, not one of my people, and therefore not subject to my orders. But all of the Little Folk, regardless of race or type either know you or know of you. And they respect you.

"So I am going to ask you to do me a favor. You can, of course, refuse. But I would like for you to pay a visit to King Spindleshank of the sprites. I would like for you to tell him exactly what has happened and assure him that Dipper is receiving the very best care that the elven people can give. Will you perform this task for me, Butterleaf?"

"Sure. I haven't visited the sprites for a long time. And I have never met the king of the sprites. It might be fun. I'll leave right now. Uh...unless you have something else that you want to talk about first."

"No that was all that I wanted at this time."

With that Butterleaf leapt into the air and flew off to visit the Sprites.

***********************

Butterleaf kept his flight leisurely, after all, there was nothing urgent in his message, and certainly nothing that King Spindleshank could do if he received the information five minutes earlier or twenty minutes later. He flew along at just above the tree tops and enjoyed the forest life spread out below him. He laughed at the antics of a group of adolescent squirrels playing tag in the tree tops while an older adult squirrel eyed them warily.

Several times as Butterleaf flew along, he caught himself on the verge of becoming distracted, but always reminded himself that he was on an important mission that he had willingly accepted. Butterleaf was acting in a much more responsible manner than he had done only a decade ago, or for that matter, only five years ago. And when you think about it, a decade is nothing to a being that has already lived for three and a half centuries.

Actually, there was nothing particularly important in having Butterleaf notify King Spindleshank about Dipper's mishap. Certainly, King Sun Splendor would have notified King Spindleshank, but he could have gotten word to the king of the sprites almost as fast without asking Butterleaf's help. Sun Splendor knew that Butterleaf was behaving in a far more responsible manner that he had before the problem with the Big People not believing in the Little Folk. He was also aware that each crisis that Butterleaf became involved in seemed to result in an increase in Butterleaf's sense of responsibility, which was very unusual for a fairy. The real motive in asking Butterleaf's aid was to test that developing sense of responsibility that Butterleaf was exhibiting.

The flight took Butterleaf just under an hour. Although he had never met King Spindleshank, Butterleaf did know where he lived. He landed in front of a hollow black walnut tree that marked the entrance to the sprites underground headquarters. An armed sprite that he didn't know stood guard at the opening in the side of the tree and challenged him.

"I am Butterleaf, with a message for King Spindleshank from King Sun Splendor."

"You're Butterleaf? Well, I am sure that the king will want to see you. Will you wait here for just a minute, please?"

In real time, it took the sprite more like five minutes to return. He had another young sprite with him. "Butterleaf? This young lady is Tippsy. She will escort you to King Spindleshank."

Butterleaf thanked the guard and stepped into the tree behind Tippsy. Stairs led downward in a spiral. Light came up the stairs just as the light from above faded out. He soon found himself in a large chamber (large by his standards, a human would not have been able to stand upright in it) that obviously doubled as a throne room and audience chamber.

An old sprite occupied the throne. He had a protruding, knobby chin, a long hooked nose and was bald on top. His ears were large and pointed. Oh yes, he also had spindly legs with knobby knees. Fortunately, Tippsy was a much better looking sprite, but then the female sprites did tend to be much more comely than the males. "So you are Butterleaf. I've been hearing a lot about you. Can't say as how I've ever known a fairy that has shown to have the common sense that they credit you with. What brings you calling on an old sprite?"

"Actually, Your Majesty, I bring you a message from King Sun Splendor."

"Well, at least he has manners. All right, don't stand there with your wings drooping, out with it."

"Well, it is about one of your people, a sprite named Dipper."

"Dipper? What kind of trouble has he gotten into now?"

"He has been hurt, burned by cold iron."

"Cold iron, you say. I thought sure that even Dipper had more sense than that. Well, out with it. What happened?"

"He seems to have been on a trip to visit some cousins. He started to push a branch out of the way and didn't see the iron fence that the Big People had built until one of the barbs on it had pierced his hand. He just managed to make it as far as my glen before he collapsed. I fetched help from the elves for him. He is with the elves now, and King Sun Splendor asked me to tell you that Dipper would get the very best care that the elves could give him."

King Spindleshank was quiet for a few seconds looking at Butterleaf, then said, "If he is getting the best care that the elves can give, he can't get any better care. Still, I need to go visit the elves. After all, if they are caring for one of my subjects, I can, at the very least, show some interest. Besides, it will get me out of this throne room for a while and into some fresh air.

"Tippsy, gather up my official entourage, and get that ring that the pixie king gave me fifty or sixty years ago.

"Butterleaf, it will take about a half hour to get everything and everybody ready to go. Will you join me for a snack and then accompany me and my entourage back to visit the elves?"

"I would be happy to do so, Your Majesty."

Spindleshank gestured and two sprites hurried out, only to return a few seconds later with an assortment of mushrooms, fruit, nuts and some honey. Suddenly, Butterleaf realized that he was very hungry. All of this flying about, running errands and worrying about hurt sprites had made him miss his midday meal and used up a good deal of energy. The sight of the repast that the sprites sat out before him made him realize that he was very hungry. So he did one of the other things that fairies did very well, he dug in.

Spindleshank watched him for a few minutes then commented, "You act like you haven't eaten in a week, Young Fairy."

Butterleaf was immediately contrite, "I am sorry, Your Majesty. Its just that Dipper came to my glen just before lunch and I have been on the go ever since."

"No! No, there is no problem, child. For goodness sake, eat your fill. I like to see someone enjoy a meal or snack that I set out. It is just that I have never known a fairy that allowed himself or herself to get that hungry. Usually, when a fairy feels the first tinge of hunger, they stop whatever they are doing and eat. Maybe some of the things that I have been hearing about you are true after all."

So Butterleaf did exactly that, and ate two more mushrooms, four more wild strawberries, two pecans and drank three more mugs (about the size of a thimble) of honey. About the time that he was finishing his repast, the party was ready to depart, so they left for the Elven kingdom.

***********************

Raindrop and Moondance weren't really hurrying, still the pace that they set ate up the miles and they soon came to the nearest "lab" where the humans and Little Folk studied each other. Actually, the humans were doing most of the studying, the Little Folk had known the humans for a long time and knew them fairly well. Still, some of them did get to know some of the humans on a personal basis. Surprisingly, some of the Little Folk had discovered that they actually liked some of those humans. Contrary to the old stories, some of the humans actually seemed to have personalities.

At any rate, Raindrop and Moondance looked for the Person In Charge. Humans always seemed to have to have Someone In Charge. They didn't seem to be happy unless there was someone about to tell them What To Do and When To Do It. They soon found him, a government bureaucrat that scheduled which scientist could see which of the Little Folk and for how long. The arrangement was one that few found satisfactory, but it worked.

At first, the Bureaucrat In Charge (B.I.C.) had taken the normal course for bureaucrats and had attempted to impress everyone involved with his importance by making them all wait as long as he could. That tactic quickly changed when the Little Folk involved decided that since no one was talking to them, that no one wanted to talk to them and left. That happened twice and the scientists involved explained to the B.I.C. what it would feel like to have his intestines removed without an anesthetic and what it would then feel like to be hanged with those same intestines.

As the two elves approached, he looked up and said, "Ah, elves, yes, elves. I'm sure that we can have someone with you almost immediately. Names, please."

Raindrop said, "I am Raindrop, my companion is Moondance. But we are not here for the normal purpose. We are here at the behest of our king.

The B.I.C. had an immediate and astonishing change in attitude. He became stiff, formal, even guarded in his words and actions. Unknown to any of the Little Folk and to very few humans, his grandfather, with whom he had been close as a boy, had been imprisoned and later executed by a reigning monarch while on a world tour while the B.I.C. was still a boy. He had hated royalty ever since. He was also afraid that some action of his or one of "his" tame scientists had jeopardized his position and consequently his career. "And just what does your king want?" he asked.

"He wants us to meet with a government official and see if something can be done to ban the use of what you call 'barbed wire' for the use of fences."

"And just why would he want such a thing? After all, barbed wire makes a very good fence, it is relatively inexpensive and poses no environmental hazards."

"Actually, what you said is only partially true. To the Little Folk, it poses a decidedly dangerous environmental hazard. It is made of cold iron, which as you know, we do find to be a definite hazard."

"Well, I don't have the authority to do any such thing."

"We know that. But you are our liaison with the world of the Big People in this area. You can put us in touch with those that do have the ability to do what we need."

"Well, it will take some time. I will have to contact my superiors in Washington and then they will have to get in touch with the proper individuals. Yes, it will take some time. Why don't you come back in two weeks at this same time and we will see what we have been able to do?"

Raindrop and Moondance left with the feeling that the visit had been wasted.

***********************

It had been mid afternoon, about 2:30, when the party of sprites and Butterleaf had left for the elven demesne. Traveling at a very brisk (for people their size) three miles per hour, what had taken Butterleaf just under an hour to fly took the party about six and a half hours to walk. King Spindleshank noticed that Butterleaf, typical of a fairy, was often distracted along the way, but that he always managed to catch himself and bring his attention back to the journey.

They arrived at the elven kingdom only to find that they were expected and that the elves had delayed starting their evening meal and songs until their expected guests had arrived. By this time all were hungry and spent a period of time satisfying their hunger, none more so than Butterleaf.

After their appetites were abated, the two kings formally greeted each other and King Spindleshank formally and ceremoniously presented King Sun Splendor with the ring that he had brought for that purpose. King Sun Splendor graciously accepted the ring. He recognized the ring, it was one that he had asked an elven craftsman to make a little over two hundred years ago. It had never been meant to be worn, it had been made for precisely this purpose, i.e., that one visiting monarch could present it to another as a gift. He had presented it to the king of the brownies shortly after it had been made. He was only surprised that it had taken so long to get back to him. There were a few other such objects in circulation. All had the same purpose. Of course, it was considered bad form to present a gift to the same one that had previously given it to you. For this reason, each of the Little Folk monarchs tried to keep two or three "presents" on hand.

After the formalities between the two monarchs were over, they visited Dipper. He was awake, but rather spacey because of the pain killing herbal concoctions that he had been given. An older female elf that was caring for Dipper assured them that Dipper would have at least partial use of his hand, and probably complete use of it.

It had been a long day for Butterleaf, and he had used a lot of energy that day. He fell asleep, leaning against a tree as the festivities went on around him. Sun Splendor noticed him and personally lifted him, carefully so as not to awaken him and carried him to a spot where he could be more comfortable and where it would be quieter. In a sense, he was filled with wonder at this fairy and the changes that were coming over him. He also had a feeling that this fairy, who had already played such important roles in the welfare of the Little Folk had yet more meetings with destiny. He was right.

As Sun Splendor rejoined the festivities, Raindrop and Moondance arrived, back from their mission with the Big People. They reported at once to Sun Splendor, expressing their feelings that their mission had not been successful. After hearing the full report, Spindleshank, who was sitting next to Sun Splendor, agreed that their assessment was probably correct. Spindleshank had a very low opinion for the ability of humans to do anything that wasn't very much to their obvious benefit.

Butterleaf awoke the next morning rather confused. He found himself in a spot that he had not been in when he had fallen asleep. He passed it off with a shrug, deciding that the Little Folk must have moved him out of the way. He quickly oriented himself and headed for the clearing where the festivities had taken place the previous night. There would be room there for him to become airborne, and he could return to his own area and search for breakfast.

Primrose spotted him as he was headed for the clearing. "Butterleaf," she called. "I see that you are awake. Come with me and have some breakfast."

Since breakfast was what Butterleaf had in mind to begin with, he acquiesced and followed her. She led him to an area where he had not been before and showed him an assortment of fruit. They each made a selection and moved to one side to eat. Of course, Primrose had made a larger selection than Butterleaf had, being much larger than Butterleaf, she required more food.

After they had eaten, they visited Dipper. He was awake and a little more coherent than he had been the previous evening when the two monarchs had visited him.

Primrose asked, "Dipper, do you remember meeting this fairy?"

Dipper peered closely at Butterleaf, "It seems that I do vaguely remember seeing him somewhere, but I can't really place him."

"Well, you were in pretty bad shape when you met him before. This is Butterleaf."

Dipper raised up on his good, right elbow and visibly perked up. "This is Butterleaf? Now I remember. I was in pretty bad shape when I met you. They told me what all you did. Butterleaf, I really want to thank you. I guess that I owe you for my life twice."

"Twice?" Butterleaf asked, "How do you figure that? I never met you before yesterday."

"Well, yesterday was the second time that you saved my life. I was one of the ones that had been fading when you solved that problem. I was almost gone. So I feel that I really do owe you. If there is ever anything that I can do for you to even partially make up for it, you just let me know."

Butterleaf was embarrassed by the sincere display of gratitude on Dipper's part. He mumbled something in reply, not even being sure himself what he had said.Spell checked up to this point. 5247 words up to this point.

Brownies set up shoe shops.

Scientists can't understand how faries fly, their wings are too small for their weight. Magic---ask the elves.

Dwarves start making jewelry.

Elves peddle herbal cures... MDs say that they can't work, but they do.

He was just happy that Dipper was going to be all right.

After Butterleaf left Dipper, he quickly forgot all about it, typical of a fairy. After all, embarrassment is an unpleasant feeling, and fairies really don't like unpleasantries in their lives. Instead, he flew back to his forest glen and resumed his life as it had been going before Dipper had stumbled into his glen the previous day. He couldn't believe that it had been only one day, so much had happened.

***********************

Two weeks later, Raindrop and Moondance returned to the lab and looked up the B.I.C. When they found him, he introduced them to a Mr. Forsythe, from the State Department. He did not tell them that Mr. Forsythe was only a very minor functionary in the State Department, in fact, it is very likely that he did not know it himself.

Mr. Forsythe made a great show of shuffling through the many papers in his attache case, and in general making an attempt to impress the two elves and the B.I.C. with his importance. After all, he was a government Bureaucrat. The B.I.C. was properly impressed, Raindrop and Moondance were bored.

Finally, Mr. Forsythe was satisfied that he had done the proper amount of impressing, and looked up at the two elves and said, "I understand that you have some sort of problem with ... fences?" He said it as though fences were something of far too minor importance for him to be normally even aware of their existence.

Moondance answered, "Fences in general, no. Specific fences, yes."

"Could you please be a little more specific?" The State Department flunky made it clear in every gesture, word and tone that he found this entire session to be demeaning in its unimportance and that he had far more important matters to be attending to.

Moondance continued, "Fences in general, your people have been erecting for centuries and have been of no concern to us. But the fences that you have been erecting that are made of cold iron, such as your barbed wire fences and chain link fences we find to be a very real danger to our life and welfare."

The bureaucrat had done his homework. "First of all, we don't make fences, with the exception of some decorative wrought iron fences, out of iron. The material is simply not suited to the task. The fences that you have named are actually made of steel."

Raindrop spoke up, "And as I am sure that you are aware, steel is mostly iron with a small quantity of alloying material. The effect is the same as far as the Little Folk are concerned."

"But we simply can not tell landowners that they can't fence their land."

"We are not asking you to do that. We simply want them to use some other material, any other material."

"But steel is relatively inexpensive, in fact, it is probably the least expensive material that they can use. And it is environmentally safe."

"I'm sure that it is inexpensive, and it may be quite environmentally safe to you, but it certainly is not to us. Just recently, a sprite nearly died in agony from contact with a barbed wire fence that your people had put up."

"Well, I'm afraid that you are going to simply have to learn to avoid them. I really don't see how we can afford to not use the material, or how you can expect us to do so."

"How would you like it if we started erecting fences made of uranium?"

"Now wait a minute. That stuff is dangerous."

"You could walk up to a fence made of uranium, look at it, even touch it and walk away unharmed. Only prolonged contact with it would cause you any harm. On the other hand, a single touch of cold iron is excruciating to us, it can even kill us."

"Well I'm sorry, there is simply nothing that we can do. You will just have to learn to live with it, after all, it is your problem, and not one of ours." He started repacking the papers in his attache case, signifying that the interview was over. After Raindrop and Moondance left, he said to the B.I.C., "You see how it is done? You should have been able to handle that minor problem."

***********************

Butterleaf was munching on a beefsteak mushroom that he had found when he heard a noise. It was either a human trying to be quiet or one of the Little Folk making some noise so that he would know that they were coming. He was instantly alert. As it turned out, it was two of the Little Folk. Raindrop and Moondance to be precise. They had taken a short detour on their way back to the elven demesne in order to come by Butterleaf's glen.

"Yo, Moondance, Raindrop. Share a beefsteak mushroom with me?"

"No thank you, Butterleaf," Moondance answered. "But we think that you should come with us. We have been talking with the Big People and we think that you should be aware of what we have found out. Besides, King Sun Splendor would probably want you to know as well."

Since Butterleaf wasn't really doing anything else, and felt that the diversion would probably be interesting, he agreed. Little did he know what was in store for him. If he had known, he probably would have flown away.

Butterleaf's shorter legs had a hard time keeping up with the normal walking stride of the two elves. He had to jog in order to keep up and would occasionally fly a few feet ahead and rest until they caught up with him. Finally Raindrop said, "Butterleaf, Primrose told us how she gave you a ride on her shoulder. Why don't you fly up here and perch on my shoulder? That should make the trip easier for you. Butterleaf agreed and was soon perched on Raindrop's shoulder. Although Butterleaf never mentioned it to anyone that he had ridden on any elf's shoulder, he was soon to acquire a nickname among all of the Little Folk except the elves. He became known as Butterleaf the elf rider, or simply Elf Rider.

The party soon arrived at the elven demesne and reported to King Sun Splendor. When Sun Splendor saw Butterleaf perched on Raindrop's shoulder, he merely smiled. Sun Splendor had been born in England in 1246, the second son of the reigning king and queen of the elves in England. In 1353, he had led a group of elves to the North American continent, although it wasn't known as that at that time. In all of those centuries, Butterleaf was the first fairy that he had known of to ride perched on the shoulder of any elf, and now he had done it twice.

"Raindrop, Moondance, I see that you have brought Butterleaf with you. How did the meeting go?" He had a feeling that the meeting had not gone well, else why would the two messengers have gone to the trouble of bringing Butterleaf along?

Moondance spoke up, "Your Majesty, the Big People have adamantly refused to do anything at all about the use of cold iron for their fences."

Raindrop added, "Yes, they say that it is our problem, and not one of theirs."

For a moment, King Sun Splendor's eyes flashed dangerously, then he calmed. It would not do to start a war as he might have done three or four hundred years ago. The Big People were absolutely far too numerous now and far too well armed. All of the Little People would be hunted down and annihilated. Besides, back then most of the Big People in this land were the Native Americans, and although they sometimes warred, they did respect the land and did not despoil it. Nor did they have the technology that the Europeans had. They had been no trouble.

Sun Splendor questioned the two elves quite closely to make certain that he understood exactly what had happened at the meeting, and then looked at Butterleaf.

"Butterleaf, do you understand exactly what we have been talking about?"

"I think so. It seems that you have asked the Big People to stop using cold iron for their fences and that they won't do it. Even though they know that those fences are dangerous to us, they are going to continue to use them, and will be building more."

"Precisely. And at the rate that they are going, they will eventually have all of the land that they have not cleared off, fenced off into small parcels. You won't be able to walk a quarter of the way from here to your glen without running into their fences. Worse, it seems to me that it is only a matter of time until they cut down all of the forests.

"Butterleaf, it looks to me as though our entire way of life is doomed, only a matter of time." He didn't mention that fences would not be as much of a problem to fairies as to the other Little Folk, they could simply fly over them.

Butterleaf's normal exuberance fell away as he became more fully aware of the problem. He thought of Dipper, who was now undergoing therapy by the elves to regain the use of his hand. Slowly, he turned and walked away. The elves were all silent as he left. They understood that Butterleaf had recognized the problem and was in deep thought about it. Done dared to disturb him.

Without even being aware that he had gotten there, or even that he had been headed there, Butterleaf ended up back in his glen, and was perched on his stump. It seemed that he did his best and most profound thinking while sitting on that stump. After all, that was where he had been when he had solved the last two major problems that had faced the Little People.

Butterleaf mulled the problem over in his mind, rolled it around and over so that he could inspect it from every side. As he remembered it, there was a time when the Big People made their fences out of wood or stone. That had not been a problem. The Little Folk could simple climb over or through the fences with no problem. But these cold iron fences, well he remembered Dipper's hand.

When they had first started putting up these cold iron fences, you did have to give them credit, they didn't believe that the Little Folk existed. But now they do know about the Little Folk. Just as their ancestors did. And they know that cold iron is dangerous to the Little Folk. Rats and trolls! What was wrong with the Big People? Didn't they care at all about the welfare of others?

Butterleaf had arrived back at his forest glen at about five in the afternoon. Unknown to him, he had been followed by the elves. The elves had posted a guard around Butterleaf's glen, they didn't want anyone to disturb him. By now, they recognized and respected Butterleaf's cognitive abilities when he accepted a problem. And it was obvious to them that Butterleaf had accepted this problem. It was the only explanation for his actions.

Two hundred elves took up posts in a large circle around Butterleaf's glen. They posted themselves about fifteen feet apart in a circle that was about nine hundred fifty feet across. Their purpose was to make sure that Butterleaf was not disturbed. Had it been necessary, they would have killed any Big Person, Little Folk or animal that attempted to cross their line if that was the only way to stop them. They were all armed. Which says a lot about their determination, the elves were really a very non-violent people who preferred to live in harmony with everything around them.

Of course, Butterleaf knew nothing about all of this, he hardly even knew that he was back in his glen. He only knew that he was thinking about a problem. He sat and thought about the problem as it grew dark. He didn't even notice when the moon rose. Nor did he notice when it started to grow light with the dawn. He was far too involved with the problem that he had undertaken to solve. Shortly after the sun rose, an elf was stationed just outside of the glen, where he could watch Butterleaf without disturbing him. Butterleaf didn't notice that either.

As he saw it, the Big People had started building fences in order to define property. They could say, "Everything on this side of the fence is mine and helps to define what I am. That which is outside of the fence is somebody else's and defines them." The fences also helped to protect their crops and controlled their livestock. Then as time went by, the Big People had made their system of fences more complex, even dividing up their own property in order to help them define it more completely in their own minds, that is, they would fence off their "south forty" from their north pasture or field. Eventually, it got to the point where they would fence off their front yard from their back yard even though their entire yard might not be more than fifty feet wide by a hundred feet deep. The whole idea seemed to be one of control.

But the main thing was that by building fences, one of the humans could say "This is mine, I control it."

By ten in the morning, Butterleaf felt that he understood the problem, and its causes. As he thought about it, he could only see the problem getting worse as more and more Big People felt the need to more closely control the land. Although there were more and more of the Big People being born every day, the amount of land remained fixed. As a result, they were dividing it up into smaller and smaller parcels. That meant more and more fences, and also that they would be cutting down the forests in order to give them more control over their property. He really couldn't see them changing their ways and that meant more and more danger for the Little Folk. Rats and trolls, maybe they would have been better to have simply faded away. But then he remembered that Moondance had told him not to believe that. Since he respected the elves, he cast that thought from his mind.

About one in the afternoon, Butterleaf started to get a glimmering of what might be a solution to the problem. He really concentrated his entire attention on it and by a quarter after three, he straightened up and stretched. He felt that he had come up with a way to solve the problem. Now if he could only convince the rest of the Little Folk...

But now, he realized that he was starved and needed to find something to eat.

When Butterleaf had stretched, the elf that had been watching gave a signal. The elves knew that he was going to be very hungry when he "came back to the world" and felt that if he was going to spend that much time and effort on solving a problem that affected them all, that they could certainly try to make things easier for him.

As Butterleaf walked over to the stream that ran through his glen to get a drink, Moondance and Raindrop came into the glen carrying food. Primrose was right behind them with a container of nectar. There was fruit and mushrooms and nuts.

When Butterleaf saw them, and what they had, he greeted them happily, now he wouldn't have to search for food. "Yo, Moondance, Raindrop, Primrose, what brings you to my glen?"

Raindrop answered, "You do, Butterleaf. We have watched as you worked on the problem that faces us all. We knew that you would be hungry when you finally solved it, so we have brought you something to eat."

"Thank you, will you join me?" Secretly, he hoped not. He had already appraised how much food there was, and although there was more than he could eat, he knew that there was not a sufficient quantity for them all.

"No, Butterleaf," Primrose answered him. "We have already eaten, this is all for you, and if it isn't enough, we can bring more."

"But I won't be able to eat all of that," Butterleaf said sincerely. He really meant it. But he was surprised to find how close he came to doing it.

As Butterleaf was finishing up his repast, Sun Splendor himself walked into the clearing. "Well, my young friend, I understand that you have been working on the problem that I told you about yesterday. Do you have a solution for us?"

"Well, I think so, your majesty." Butterleaf spent the next hour explaining to the elven king what he had come up with.

Sun Splendor and the other elves present were amazed at the simplicity of the basic solution, as well as with the degree of complexity that Butterleaf had worked out all of the details.

***********************

A week later there was a meeting in the elven demesne that was attended by the kings of all of the Little Folk in the land. Messengers had been sent to other lands detailing the results of Butterleaf's efforts and meetings were being held in other lands as well. The meeting in Sun Splendor's demesne was large as all of the kings present had brought their retinues with them.

Sun Splendor opened the meeting by greeting each of the monarchs by name and welcoming them to his kingdom. He then outlined the latest problem that was facing the Little Folk in some detail just to make certain that all of them understood exactly why they were gathered together. Then he asked Butterleaf to come up to the special podium that had been set up and explain to them all exactly what he had come up with.

Butterleaf mounted the podium and bowed, first to King Spruceslip of the fairies, and then to the rest of the assembled monarchs. He felt quite nervous. He had talked to monarchs before, Spruceslip, Sun Splendor and Spindleshank, but it had always been one at a time. In fact, he had never seen more than two Little Folk kings together at the same time before in his entire life. And here he was, just an ordinary fairy (in his mind) addressing not just one or two kings, but the assembled kings of all of the Little Folk except the goblins and trolls. Add to that the various retainers of each of the kings and it was an impressive audience indeed that he had to address.

Butterleaf started out by describing in detail his deductions about why the humans felt it necessary to build fences in the first place, and their choice of cold iron for economic reasons. Then he went into detail what each of the kingdoms would have to do and of the cooperation that would be necessary between them.

It says a lot for the esteem in which they held Butterleaf that none of the monarchs argued with him, dismissed what he had to say or rebelled, even though most of them did not understand the plan fully, at least not to begin with. Some of them never did understand it completely, only their parts in it. They all did ask many questions, which Butterleaf answered as carefully as he could. In all, Butterleaf was on the podium for four hours and fifteen minutes before the assembled monarchs felt that they understood enough that he was allowed to step down. He was asked not to stray too far in case they had more questions.

As soon as he was allowed off of the podium, he spotted Primrose who beckoned to him. When he came up to her, she asked with a smile, "Hungry?" Butterleaf realized that he was and she led him to the same place where they had eaten just three weeks ago. Somehow it seemed like much longer, so much had happened.

As they arrived, a group of elves were carrying platters of food away. Butterleaf looked at them quizzically and Primrose explained that they were taking it to the meeting so that the assembled monarchs and their parties could eat without having to break up their meeting and break the flow of discussion.

The last time that Butterleaf had eaten here, it had been breakfast and only fruit was available. This time, since it was not breakfast, there was also a wide selection of other foods, assorted vegetables, assorted nuts and assorted mushrooms. They each made a selection and took a seat. Just as they were sitting down, Moondance and Raindrop came into the area with another female elf that Butterleaf didn't know. They also made selections and joined Butterleaf and Primrose. The lady elf was introduced to Butterleaf as Lilac.

The four elves and Butterleaf ate their meal and talked for a while before Lilac assured Butterleaf that she was very happy to have had the opportunity to meet him and excused herself saying that she had to get back to her duties in the herbal gardens that the elves maintained. A human would not have recognized the gardens as such, elven concepts of gardening did not include plowed areas with everything laid out in rows.

About three hours later, Butterleaf was playing with a friendly Monarch butterfly when word came that the assembled monarchs had unanimously agreed to accept Butterleaf's plan with only a very few, very minor modifications, just a few kinks had been worked out.

***********************

The next day, several attorneys that were known to crusade for causes or to work for underdogs were contacted. These specific attorneys also had reputations of being successful. Meetings were set up between these attorneys and elves. Certain legal proceedings were started. These proceedings took place all over the world and varied according to the various nations and states in which they took place according to the prevailing laws.

Two weeks after the meeting, shops started appearing near most cities. Signs on the shops read:

BROWNIE SHOES

SHOES CUSTOM MADE TO YOUR FOOT

At first visitors to the shops came out of curiosity. In the shops they found a rather unusual setting. Unlike the normal shoe store, they did not find a lot of shoes in stock so that they could try on a number of shoes. Instead, they would find only a few shoes on display, only enough to show styles available. In the shop, they would be greeted by an older brownie. The conversation might go something like this.

"Good afternoon, Lady. How might our humble shop serve you?"

"Well, I thought that I might get a pair of shoes."

"And what style would you like, Ma'am?"

"Perhaps something with a flat heel that would be comfortable to walk in, but would also be attractive?"

"Ah, a slipper for the lady. Something like this one, perhaps?"

"Well, yes, except that I would like it cut across here instead," she might explain, gesturing at the shoe as she spoke.

"Very good choice, Ma'am. And what color would you like your slippers to be?"

"Black?"

"Black it shall be. And will you have a seat here, please?" And then he would whistle whereupon two younger brownies would hurry out of the back room, carefully remove the woman's shoes and start making numerous painstaking measurements of the customer's feet. The customer's feet would be measured much more thoroughly and extensively than had ever been done before.

"Now, then, Ma'am, your shoes should be ready in about four hours."

"But, don't I even get to try them on now?

"Of course not. They haven't even been made yet."

"How much is this going to cost me?"

"Only forty dollars. But we will need a twenty five dollar deposit before we can get started on them."

Or it might be a man looking for some dress shoes or work boots. The prices varied according to the style and amount of material and work that went into them, but in all cases were slightly cheaper than the nearest comparisons in the commercial market.

Some customers balked at the deposit, but the brownies were adamant, no deposit, they didn't start work on the shoes. And the deposit was non-refundable. That was not their idea, it had been suggested to them by the attorneys. Those customers that did pay the deposit were more than happy to pay the remaining bill once they tried on their new shoes. They also recommended the shops to their friends and returned themselves for more shoes and boots.

Some of the shops eventually developed a backlog of work. Even though they brought in every available brownie and work went on twenty four hours a day, waiting periods of two to three weeks became common and some of the busier shops sent some of their work to some of the less busy shops. It didn't matter where the work was done, the proceeds all went to the same fund.

Occasionally during the foot measuring, something like the following might occur.

The customer might comment, "I have a problem finding shoes that are comfortable, you see, I have these corns on the sides of my feet and any pressure at all on them is painful."

Whereupon the head brownie would say, "That is because you have been wearing shoes that didn't fit you right." And he would whistle again.

At this time, an elf would come out of the back and ask the customer to let him or her see the corns. If the customer were a man, he could simply remove his socks, if it were a woman wearing panty hose, she would be shown to a private room where she could remove her panty hose.

The elf would then carefully examine the corns, remove a jar of salve from the sack at his or her waist and carefully massage the salve into the corn. In a very few minutes, the corn would soften up and would simply rub away with the massaging motion of the elf's fingers. Soon, only healthy skin would be left showing.

A small extra fee would be added to the cost of the shoes, one that few objected to. Commercial shoe manufacturers and shoe stores started complaining about the "unfair" competition from the little people. Money rolled in.

Some of the shoe manufacturers and shoe store chains tried to get restraining orders from the courts to stop the competition, or at least to cause the brownies to raise their prices in order to make the hand made shoes less attractive. The little peoples' attorneys fought that action successfully.

Shortly after the shoe shops opened, another type of store opened on the outskirts of several cities. The signs over the doors of these shops read:

DWARVEN JEWELRY

JEWELRY HAND CRAFTED BY DWARVES

Again, curiosity seekers were the first to enter the shops. They generally had no intention of buying anything. But when they saw the quality of workmanship and most of all, the prices, most of them bought something.

A certain amount of jewelry was on display in each store, and it could be purchased if the customers desired, but the biggest drawing card was custom designed jewelry.

And when customers discovered that they could buy an intricately carved, one ounce, 18 carat gold bracelet for only about $250, they really got interested, after all, that was slightly less than the cost of the gold alone. Of course, the dwarves had their own source of gold, one that the Big People had not discovered. Or they might purchase some jewelry containing gem stones. Again, the price would be considerably less than comparable jewelry purchased through normal sources. The Little Folk also had their own sources of gem stones.

The jewelry manufacturers and jewelry store chains soon realized that they had some real competition on their hands and tried to take legal action to stop what they called "unfair competition." Even DeBeers got involved because the Little folk were selling diamonds that were not controlled by them. Again the Little Folks' attorneys were successful in forestalling that action.

Then there were claims that the Little Folk were using inferior quality gemstones that were not worth what they were charging for them. The attorneys quickly brought in their own gemologists who examined some of the stones and proclaimed that most of them were "first water." They also proclaimed that even those stones that were not first water were worth more than had been charged for them.

The jewelry shops soon had a backlog of work. The money rolled in.

Soon, another type of establishment appeared across the land. Discreet signs read:

ELVEN REMEDIES

NATURAL HERBAL CURES

Again, the curious were the first to enter. Inside, they were met by an elven receptionist and were invited to have a seat until they could be seen privately. Plants were abundant and it was almost hard to believe that they were indoors. Soft, eerily beautiful music could be heard in the background. Eventually, they would be invited to a private audience with an elf. That meeting might go something like this:

"Yes, Ma'am. Come right in and have a seat. Now, how may I help you?"

"Well, I have this problem..."

"Before you continue, Ma'am, let me make something clear. I am NOT a doctor as your people know them. I have been to no medical school and I can not prescribe any drug to you. What I can do is this. You describe your problem to me, and I will tell you what herbs or herbal salves and ointments that we would use for a similar problem. Then, we will be glad to sell those same herbal products to you if you wish to use them. If you should decide to try the same remedies that we would use, we can not guarantee that they will do you any good, but we have seen them work for the Little Folk and for some humans in the past. Now about your problem?" In some cases they would inform the client (they refrained from calling them 'patients') that they could do them no good and would suggest that they visit a human doctor.

They had been well schooled by their attorneys in an attempt to prevent them from running afoul of the AMA. Even so, the AMA and their lawyers were soon after them "like a duck on a june bug."

The publicity increased their business even though medical doctors assured their patients that the elves' herbal remedies could not possibly work. The fact that they did work was a fact that most MDs tended to ignore. Their business increased to the point that even though they opened for business at 8:00 AM and didn't close until 9:00 PM, they had to set up a waiting list, and a two week wait was not uncommon except in cases of emergency.

The money rolled in.

Eye catching ads also started appearing in local newspapers.

LIVEN UP YOUR NEXT PARTY.

At first, only the very rich called the phone numbers given in the ads. The people who answered the phone calls were human employees who made it quite clear to the prospective clients what the ground rules were if any fairies were to attend any parties.

First of all, there could be no exposed iron or steel anywhere that the fairies might come into contact with it. That included no stainless steel dinner ware. The very rich had no problems with this as they had intended to use silver ware anyway. The not so wealthy did have a problem as they had intended to use their best stainless steel dinnerware. But the agents for the Little Folk were adamant, either rent silverware or use plastic. Those who wanted the fairies at their parties enough acquiesced. Secondly, an easy means of exit had to be maintained for the fairies at all times. This was basically in case the party got rough, or in case someone might decide that it would be nice to have their very own pet fairy. Third, no fairy was to be mistreated.

For those that agreed to the terms, they found that they were not disappointed. Just having the fairies at the party added some excitement. Once the party got going, it was not unusual to see a fairy perched on someone's shoulder giggling at some shared joke. Then they would flit around the area looking for a bite to eat or someone else to visit. They always worked in groups of five, as much for safety's sake as anything else.

They became very popular and more money rolled in.

In certain circles, particularly college campuses, another ad caused a lot of attention.

PRACTICAL JOKES

The practical jokes were all harmless. Many of the victims of the jokes found themselves enjoying the joke as much as anyone else, and some even started hiring the imps to play practical jokes on themselves. On college campuses, it became something of a status symbol to have a practical joke played on you by an imp when there was a large audience to witness it.

While phase one of Butterleaf's plan was still in full swing, a certain threshold of funds was reached and the attorneys for the Little Folk discreetly started making certain real estate purchases. For the most part, these pieces of real estate that were being purchased were in undeveloped areas, such as forests. Occasionally, they would have to pay a rather exorbitant price when one property owner would hold out, but they were always successful. On occasions, a property owner would refuse to sell until it was pointed out that his or her property was now completely surrounded by property that the prospective purchasers had already acquired, and that no access to the land was available anymore. Phase two had started.

Soon, Big People workers started removing steel fences from the real estate that had been purchased. They were closely supervised to make certain that not a single nail or staple was dropped and forgotten. Besides their pay, the workers were allowed to keep all of the iron and steel that they removed as salvage.

Soon, thousands of acres of land, including six mountains, had been purchased in the U.S. alone. At all times, the attorneys making the purchases had been very careful to obtain the mineral rights as well as the real estate. Finally, all of the land had been obtained.

Phase three of Butterleaf's plan began. Incidently, phase one continued as finances would be needed until phase three had ended.

Human surveying crews arrived and carefully surveyed the perimeters of the areas that had been purchased. These were closely followed by other humans constructing new fences. In most cases, the fences were simply split rail fences, but in some special places, the fences were made of stone. In cases where metal might be needed, such as nails or reenforcing rods, special bronze parts were used. As the fences went up, signs appeared on them stating that the land on the other side was private, and that no hunting or fishing was permitted.

In only one place was the fence not complete. One of the areas that had been purchased shared a perimeter with a Native American reservation. That common border had no fence.

As the fences were being constructed, there was always one special area also constructed. A gate led into an inconspicuously fenced area that contained a number of buildings. Most of these buildings were shops, much like the ones that had appeared around the various cities. As these shops opened for business, the shops in the nearby cities closed their doors. There would also be an information center. Also one restaurant and a picnic area. The Little Folk were setting up tourist centers. They were charging admission to enter the tourist centers as well as selling souvenirs and other items, such as shoes and jewelry. The idea of charging admission had come from the attorneys.

After all of the fences had been erected and posted, after all of the tourists centers had been constructed and opened for business, the attorneys began the final phase of Butterleaf's plan. Congressmen and senators from all fifty states were approached. It was suggested to them that a bill should be introduced and passed that would make the holdings of the little people totally sovereign nations. Attorneys for various Native American reservations joined the little folks attorneys. They felt that this action could only help the Native American reservations case. Some of the representatives and senators were immediately for the action. Others were more reluctant. To those that were reluctant, it was hinted, not promised, that there might be some sizeable campaign contributions. The attorneys were very careful not to actually offer anyone any money.

As a result of their actions, almost identical bills were introduced both in the House of Representatives and the Senate that would declare the little peoples holdings to be sovereign nations. As an election year was quickly approaching, both bills passed and soon a common bill was hammered out and sent on to the White House. The President was facing re-election and he wasted no time in signing the bill into law.

Naturally, all of this made the news. It also made the news when two hunters, deer hunting out of season, were arrested by the little folk and incarcerated for six weeks before being released without their weapons. That sort of thing didn't have to happen too many times before would be trespassers got the idea that it wasn't a good idea and gave it up as a bad thing.

It wasn't long before all of the little fold could relax in their own demesne.

For his own part, Butterleaf was just having fun again.

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