CHARLIE AND THE ELVES

by Mary M. Cushnie-Mansour

Dedicated to all the “little people”

Once upon a time, in a small town in Southern Ireland, there lived a little boy named Charlie. Now everyone in town knew of Charlie’s great imagination, but none quite so much as the grandmother with whom he lived.

Every day, Charlie would trip down off to the nearby woods and upon reaching the heart of the massive redwoods he would begin to sing his song:

“Come out, come out, come out to play,
For the sun does shine so brightly today.”

And out from behind the massive trunks, and the huge rocks, and the tiny shrubs would come the little elves. Charlie and the elves would romp and play all day. Their favourite games were tag and hide-and-seek.

When Charlie’s tummy began to grumble, he knew it was time to leave for home. He would say his goodbyes to his little friends and head for the small cottage where he lived.

Upon reaching home, his grandmother would ask him every night, “Where ‘ave yu bin, me Charlie boy?”

And Charlie would reply: “I ‘ave bin to the woods to play with the elves.”

Grandmother would put her hands on her hips and tell Charlie there was no such thing as elves and that he should put that foolishness out of his head. But, Charlie insisted, for every day when he went down to the woods and would sing his song:

“Come out, come out, come out to play,
For the sun does shine so brightly today.”

all the elves would come out to play.

So it was that, one day, his grandmother said she was going to settle this foolishness once and for all. She would accompany Charlie to the woods and prove to him that this thing with the elves was all in his head.

When they reached the heart of the wood, Charlie sang his song:

“Come out, come out, come out to play,
For the sun does shine so brightly today.”

Nothing happened.

Charlie repeated the lyric, this time with an anxious note in his voice:

“Come out, come out, come out to play,
For the sun does shine so brightly today.”

Nothing.

Charlie’s grandmother took him by the hand and led the devastated child home. He was distraught. “I told yu, Charlie, there was no such thing as elves. Now maybe yu will get on with things and forgit the foolishness of the old tales ’bout little men in the woods.”

But, the next day, Charlie was determined to check out the situation again. He could not believe that all the days he had romped in the woods with his friendly elves were just figments of his imagination. When he arrived at his destination, he sang his song:

“Come out, come out, come out to play,
For the sun does shine so brightly today.”

And the elves came out from behind the tree trunks, the huge rocks, and the tiny shrubs. Charlie was very indignant indeed as he approached the King of the elves:
“Henry,” Charlie began, “Why did yu not come out yesterday when I called?”

Henry looked up at Charlie. “We couldn’t, Charlie me boy.”

“But why?”

“Cause there was one with yu who did not believe,” Henry replied stiffly.

“Oh, I see,” said Charlie with a tiny smile on his face.

So Charlie and the Elves romped and played all day long, and when Charlie’s tummy began to grumble, he headed off for home. As usual, Grandmother greeted him at the door.

“Where ‘ave yu bin all day?” Grandmother asked.

“Oh, just down to the woods to play,” Charlie replied.

Grandmother never again asked Charlie what he’d been up to when he went down to the woods. And the subject of elves was never again mentioned in the cottage where little Charlie lived––that is until Charlie grew up and named his first-born son, Henry.