Nelly was the star singer in the school choir. She had a beautiful voice, clear and strong. When she sang, people would stop whatever they were doing and simply listen! She enjoyed singing—in the house, at school, in the bath, in the garden. You could hear her humming even when she did her homework or helped Mother clean the floor!
But one day Nelly woke up and found she could just whisper. She had lost her voice! She was in tears. They took her to a doctor who gave her some medicines. She had all the medicines but something was wrong. Her voice had vanished!
Nelly became very depressed and sad. She would sit in the garden and listen to all the birds singing and the sound of the breeze in the trees. She felt everyone was singing, except her.
One day as she sat in the garden, a leaf fell out of a tree. It was a very pretty maple leaf. Nelly picked it up and saw it shimmering in the sunlight. She looked closely and found a small beautiful golden fairy sitting on the leaf.
“Hullo, Nelly,” said the golden fairy.
“Hullo!” said Nelly in a whisper. She signalled that she couldn’t speak.
“I know!” said the fairy, “I’m the fairy of the golden voice and I know all about you. I think I can help, but you must follow everything I tell you and keep it a secret.” Nelly nodded.
“You see, Nelly,” instructed the fairy, “doctors don’t believe in fairies. So, we will keep our medicine a secret. Come out tonight when the stars shine.”
So that night, Nelly came out into the garden. The fairy was waiting on a petunia. She called Nelly and showed her the dew inside the petunia. “Drink this!” she said. So, Nelly drank the dew.
Then the fairy brought rose petals rolled into a cup. Inside it was something golden. “This is special honey mixed with the nectar from flowers. Drink it up and eat the rose petal too,” explained the fairy. Nelly did all that the fairy told her.
“Come and sit with me,” she said. Nelly sat down beside her and the fairy said she should try to hum something.
Nelly tried to hum. Silver starlight scattered around her like magic dust. The fairy gave her a handful of starlight and Nelly’s voice was back! She gave the fairy a hug! As the fairy vanished, Nellie ran in to tell her mother that her voice was back!
