Firelily, The Bipolar Fairy

Once upon a time there was a beautiful fairy named Firelily. She had a very hard time making friends. The other fairies would fly away when they saw her flying into the meadow. Now she wasn’t a bad fairy. You see, Firelily had Bipolar Disorder. Some days she would get so excited that she would talk so fast that no one else could get a word in. Even her wings would flap excitedly. Sometimes they would flap so fast they would flap in the other fairies faces. This annoyed the other fairies. She flew over to the fairies so she could sit by them on the daisies and they flew away. Of course she chased them. She thought it was a game! Pretty soon it was no longer a game to her and she got very, very angry!! Her face got bright red, her wings got very stiff and she started to scream, “NOBODY LISTENS TO ME!” Pretty soon she started to kick and there was dandelion fluff everywhere! When she started to throw the acorns, all the fairies and the animals hid in fear. Eventually Firelily crumpled in a heap, sobbing until she fell asleep.

The guardian fairy, Flutterjewel, came and sang her a soothing song and reminded her that she is loved. The next day Firelily did not go to the meadow, but the guardian did. She called a special gathering of all of the fairies. She told them about Bipolar Disorder and told them that Firelily’s brain makes her feel emotions stronger than most fairies. Instead of feeling sad, she sometimes feels deep sorrow. Instead of feeling happy, she sometimes feels on top of the world. Instead of feeling scared, she sometimes feels terror. Instead of feeling angry, she sometimes feels rage. Instead of feeling friendship, she sometimes feels love. The guardian also explained that Firelily takes medicine to help her brain balance those chemicals to help her with her emotions.

Now that the fairies knew that Firelily could not help being the way she was they got together and thought of ways to help Firelily. One fairy suggested they could all be kind to Firelily. One fairy suggested they could all say hello to her whenever they saw her. One fairy said it probably wasn’t nice to move away from her when she wanted to sit next them. Another fairy said it would be good to take time to actually listen to what she is saying, even though sometimes she is hard to understand. It would take patience but it was worth a try.

The following day Firelily was back in the meadow. She acted as though nothing had happened. It was like she didn’t even remember her anger from the other day. She was back to her excited self with her wings flapping with each word she said. But something was different. Firelily noticed a fairy said hello to her, then another, then another. First she got really, really excited! Her wings were flapping so fast everyone thought the daisy petals were going to fly away in the breeze! Then she tried to sit down next to two of the fairies, and they actually stayed with her, one even shared her sunflower cookie, her favorite!! Pretty soon Firelily’s wings calmed down as she began to talk with the fairies and they began to giggle about the squirrels and the bunnies playing in the meadow. The fairies soon learned that Firelily was a lot like them, very loving, very funny, and sometimes angry, but always a fairy friend.