The Fairy Palace

Published: July 28, 2015, 6:25 p.m.

The Fairy Palace, a story from China, is one of those quest stories about going on a trek to retrieve or obtain something of great value. It also features another common motif: someone with extraordinary skill in weaving, spinning, or sewing. And it really does involve fairies. And a palace. In our case, it also contains a few references to other stories, including Jack and the Beanstalk, The Emperor's New Clothes, Harry Potter, and the film Casablanca.

We come to you from Delaware Seashore State Park, as we take a rare 4-day break in the middle of this, our second-busiest summer ever. We're wrapping up our July appearances at 33 Delaware libraries and 5 Maryland libraries, before going on to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

On the way out here from Arkansas, we were able to stop at a log cabin in Tennessee that we've mentioned many times over the years in our popular story about the legendary hero who was born there: David ("Davy") Crockett. It looked very much as we'd pictured it, only more so. It really is right beside the Nolichucky River, which really does exist.

We then spent Independence Day at Kiptopeke State Park on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, hiking and kayaking and exploring the terrain in quest of something else that rhymes with those two things – a futile quest since we don't have bikes at the moment. But we did discover a fleet of concrete ships (we'll pause for a moment while that sinks in) that served during World War II when steel was hard to come by. Evidently they worked okay, because they're still afloat now, just waiting for double-takes.

We've also been on a mission to put our feet on almost every board on almost every boardwalk on the East Coast, including those in Ocean City MD, Rehoboth Beach DE, and Bethany Beach DE. We especially enjoyed Ocean City because of Trimper's Rides, an old-fashioned amusement arcade that's been a fixture since before your grandfather was a grandfather.

We hope the rest of your summer is as charming and memorable as a boardwalk (not a bored walk).

Happy Listening,
Dennis (Merchant, Son, Passerby, Second Fairy, Third Fairy) and Kimberly (Narrator, Mother, Old Woman, First Fairy)