Guest interview: “A fairy lives in our house!”

I talk to Jasper, 8, about the little being that has taken up residence in his house. His big brother and sister – Isaac, 12, and Daisy, 16 – joined us too.

So how did it all start? I mean, how do you get a fairy to move into your house?

Jasper: My mum ordered a little door and it arrived in the post with a tiny key and fairy dust and you stick it on the wall and put the key there and pour out the fairy dust in front of it – it’s like gold and silver glitter – and if the fairy dust and key are gone in the morning, it means a fairy has moved in.

Isaac: I didn’t think it would work.

Jasper: But it did, didn’t it? [looks at Isaac, grinning and triumphant].

Did you choose the door?
Jasper: Yes, we got an orange one because we wanted to call our fairy Pumpkin.

Why Pumpkin?
Jasper: Because it was just after Halloween. Daisy had the idea.

Where did you put the door?
Isaac: We decided to put it at the top of the landing because we could check it every time we went up and down.
Daisy: But the fairy's worried about the avalanche of dirty washing there, isn't she?

How long was it before the fairy took the key and moved in?

Jasper: When I came out of my bedroom the next morning, about seven o’ clock, the fairy dust and key weren’t there!

Wow ... then what happened?

Jasper: After a few days we got a letter from her.
Daisy: She wrote us a really long one, didn’t she?
Jasper: Yes. On orange paper with swirly patterns all over it.

And we’d already had a tiny note before that with just “Thank you” on it.

Thank you for what?

Jasper: I’d made her breakfast. Tiny bits of toast and marmite and a cup of tea in a tiny lego helmet with playdough all around to stop it spilling out.

And what did she say in her letter?

Jasper: She said her name is [enunciates clearly] Pumpkin Nixie Fireglow. And she’s a Red Knot fairy.

What’s that?

Jasper: I think it’s a fairy with red hair … she said she had flaming red hair. And she said “Nobody likes a fairy with dreadlocks”.

Has she got dreadlocks then?

Jasper: No, but she said she lost her comb and you have to comb your hair, don't you? She asked us to look for it, but we can’t find it ‘cause it’s so tiny.

Do you know how old she is?

Jasper: 16.

That’s pretty young to leave home, isn't it?

Jasper: She said she’s 16 in human years, but in fairy years she’s 620. It’s the age fairies have to leave home. She’s got a place at tooth fairy training college.

Daisy: She said she’s going to practise on you, didn’t she, Jasp?

Jasper: Yes, [slightly concerned] but I haven’t got any wobbly teeth, have I? She said her mum collected Roald Dahl’s son’s teeth!

Have you written back to her?

Jasper: I’ve written about 15 letters. We have to communicate in letters. I usually write one and she writes back or she writes one and I reply. Like on the 1^st of December she wrote, “Time for you humanlings to eat some chocolate!”

Have you made or given her anything ?

Jasper: She asked me to ask Daisy to knit her a blanket for the winter. But she does have a fire in her house. And I put two lego figures for guards by her door and a flower – not a real one. 

Daisy: You can get stuff on the website too, like stepping stones and things, but we haven’t.

Do you think the fairy’s most interested in you, maybe because you’re the youngest?

Jasper: [Thinks] Maybe, ‘cause she says things like “What’s your sister’s name again?”. And she spelt Isaac’s name wrong.

Isaac: With two s’s instead of two a’s.

And have you ever seen her, Jasper?
Jasper: Well, she does come out but you can’t see her because she said it’s really only between night and morning ... like when the sun’s just come up ... you can get just a glimpse ... like a dot in the air.

And have you?
Jasper: No.

I hear you might get a neighbour for her?

Jasper: Not a neighbour, but we might get a green door and put it in our grandparent’s lodge in Cornwall. It’d be a Cornish pixie and we’d call it Jem.

Why Jem?

Daisy: Jem from Jamaica Inn, the book and the film, because it was filmed in Bodmin.

Have you told your friends at school about her?

Jasper: Yes, I told everybody but everyone else doesn’t believe it.
Isaac: [looking at Jasper]: It’s kind of like Santa. You have to believe in it for it to be true.

Do you believe in it, Daisy and Isaac?

Daisy: [Nods]

Isaac: Well, I wrote one letter and she wrote back to me, so I’m just gonna go with the magic!

Would your children like their own resident fairy? Jasper’s mum got the idea from My Own Fairy website and then bought a fairy door and a tiny key from ebay. See her insightful and wryly written blog Daisysmum.