Fern the Green Fairy

**Fern the Green Fairy** is the fourth fairy in the Rainbow Fairies.

## Plot

The seven Rainbow Fairies are missing! Rachel and Kirsty search for one in each RAINBOW MAGIC book. Read all seven books to help rescue the fairies and bring the sparkle back to Fairyland!

Fairyland is home to seven colorful sisters. Together, they are the Rainbow Fairies! They keep Fairyland dazzling and bright. But when evil Jack Frost sends them far away, the sisters are in big trouble. If they don't return soon, Fairyland is doomed to be gray forever!

Rachel and Kirsty are sure that the garden maze holds a special secret. If they make all the right turns, could it lead them to Fern the Green Fairy?

## Profile

*Green is a symbol of life, and growing things. Fern is the eternal optimist - she knows that after every winter, spring will come.*

## Appearance

Fern has dark brown hair tied in loose bunches and green eyes and wears green leaf-shaped earrings and a green leaf pendant. She wears a light green long-sleeved stretchy top with leaf shapes around the neckline and around the waist, gold cuffs, and an emerald and gold wand. She also wears light green stretchy trousers with leaf shapes at the bottom of the legs and tan coloured curly-toed elf shoes. Her wings are pointy and green-tinted.

## Story Summary

Rachel’s parents have brought her and Kirsty to the ruins of an old castle garden for a picnic. Both girls admire the lush plants and the crumbling old tower, although they’re disappointed to discover the tower door locked. Rachel softly calls out for Fern, reasoning the Green Fairy must be nearby among all the moss and leaves. Kirsty spots a perfect circle of ivy, then Rachel discovers a rock covered in green fairy dust when she sits down to tie her shoe. More fairy dust, smelling like fresh cut grass, sparkles in the air and leads the girls through an orchard, then a hedge maze, to a tree in the center of the maze. A tapping sound from the tree turns out to be Fern herself, trapped in a knothole behind a window of ice. The girls melt the ice with the warmth of their hands, and Rachel retrieves Fern and warms the fairy with her breath.

Fern is happy to hear that three of her sisters are safe, and explains she’d hidden from goblins in the knothole only to become stuck when it froze over. Just then, a cold breeze blows away the trail of fairy dust, leaving the girls and Fern lost in the maze with goblin voices approaching. Fern turns the girls into fairies so they can hide in the tree as two goblins begin to search around the trunk. A shy grey squirrel appears in the tree, and the girls and Fern offer him a nut from the tree. He introduces himself as Fluffy and agrees to give them a ride out of the maze. After several jumps, they’ve reached the edge of the maze, but not anywhere they recognize. Kirsty retrieves a small sparkler from her magic bag, which Fern uses to spell out a message for help in the sky. Unfortunately, this alerts the goblins as well, who can soon be heard in pursuit. A line of lights - fireflies sent by the other Rainbow Fairies - appears showing the way out of the orchard, but the goblins have spotted Fluffy and Fern. A hedgehog who has heard the commotion offers to help, and rolls into the goblins’ path, pricking their feet and giving Fluffy a chance to escape as the firefly trail fades. Next, a fawn leads them to the edge of the orchard, where Fern and the girls bid Fluffy goodbye and hitch a ride to the pot on a blackbird’s back.

Under the willow tree, Fern turns the girls back into humans and greets Bertram first, before reuniting happily with Ruby, Amber, and Saffron (who introduces her to Queenie). They’re surprised to see her so soon after sending the fireflies, so Fern explains how the various animals helped them, especially Fluffy - who it turns out has decided to follow them and move to the willow tree to be near his new friend. The girls bid goodbye to the four fairies and their animal friends and hurry back to the garden for their picnic.

## Trivia

* Her fairy dust is green leaves.
* In the movie *Rainbow Magic: Return to Rainspell Island*, she is voiced by Teresa Gallagher.
* Fern's best friend is a grey squirrel named Fluffy.
* In the UK version, Fern is trapped in a hazelnut tree. The US version describes the tree as an oak, but the leaves illustrated are not oak leaves.

### Etymology

Fern's name comes from the fern, a vascular, flowerless plant that is green in colour.