Beck is an animal talent fairy. One day her little hummingbird friend, Twitter, tells her that war has broken out between the hummingbirds and the chipmunks. Beck watched as the hummingbirds worked in pairs. One hummingbird bent back a branch. Another bird balanced a blackberry at the very tip of the branch. Then, all at once, the hummingbirds let go of the branches. A storm of blackberries went flying in the direction of the clearing.
Most of them flew directly at the chipmunk. “Hooray!” A round of cheerful hummingbird chirps rose from the blackberry bush. “What’s going on?” asked Beck. “We have to be able to defend ourselves. Don’t we?” said Birdie one of the hummingbirds. “Defend yourselves?” Beck asked. “Defend yourselves from whom?”
“From the chipmunks, of course,” Birdie replied. “They stole one of our nests! One minute it was here right on one of these very branches. The next minute it was gone! And a chipmunk was seen sniffing around that branch, just about that same time.”
“Those chipmunks probably want to use it in one of their underground rooms for padding or something.” said Birdie. As for the chipmunks, they were just as certain of something else: that the hummingbirds were being mean. “Of course we didn’t take their nest!” said Uncle Munk, one of the chipmunks. “What would we want with one of their nests?”
“Great!” Beck replied. “Then it’s just a misunderstanding. It can all be settled peacefully.”
“Everywhere we go in woods, we get hit with berries,” Uncle Munk said to Beck. “We have to gather the food we need. Otherwise, we’ll starve. We have to be able to defend ourselves. Don’t we?” Beck couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had to put an end to this. She knew there had to be a way. But what was it? The umbrella had been Beck’s idea. So she asked her garden talent fairies for help. They were experts at making flower petal umbrellas. And so, with the umbrella, Beck ventured outside. Almost right away, she heard a berry splatter on her open umbrella. Beck flew quickly through the berry shower. “Oh, excuse me,” came a friendly voice from the midst of the hubbub.
It was a Mole. It took a few moments for Beck to notice that his hat was not a hat at all. It was a hummingbird nest. “Um, Mole?” she called. “If you please,” she said, “where did you get that… thing on your head?”
“What?” Mole said.” Do you mean my hat?” He reached up and took it off. “Isn’t it a fine hat? I found it a few days ago. I strolled by that blackberry bush and this hat was on the ground. So I picked it up and tried it on. It fit perfectly!” He put nest back on his head. “See?” he said. “I’m wearing it out for the first time this afternoon. With all this strange weather we’ve been having, it’s come in very handy,” Mole added. Beck could not believe her ears. She looked over at Birdie and Uncle Munk. They seemed equally amazed. “Well, good day to you,” said Mole as he continued on his walk. The animals watched him walk away with a hummingbird nest on his head. Then, suddenly, Beck and all the animals began to laugh. It was the sound of the end of the Berry Battle.
( Fairy Beck by L. Driscoll )