Dear Honeysuckle,
I really must urge you to carry on regardless, no matter how great the task we all face. I myself, owe a huge debt of thanks to the members of The Tea Time Club. I wouldn’t be sat in a health spa in Baden Baden without the swift action of the group and I wouldn’t be free to continue my work for women’s right to vote.
To be blunt, I would be dead. (Although you meant kindly, I am not sure breaking me out of prison was the correct procedure but still, here I am. ) You all saved my life and I will never forget it.
I understand you feel helpless to affect change but what you are doing is not futile. It may be small but small things can move mountains. Keep the faith, Honeysuckle! One small step at a time. Peaseblossom must be stopped, it will only get worse, I fear, if she isn't. Hedgehogs need support, tiny creatures need homes, birds have to sing at someone and the bees and butterflies need freedom to roam without persecution or slavery. Imagination and magic needs to be revered, not trodden down. And those who are different from ourselves, must be treated with respect not locked up. Indeed our whole world needs to be protected for generations to come. That is what the Tea Time Club is all about, grouping together to defend the small, magical things in our world against the forces of constraint.
You need a plan Honeysuckle and as we now know you to be Fairy (with or without wings) surely you, of all people, can come come up with one of those.
Small deeds not small words, Honeysuckle, remember that.
Fondest regards
Milicent
Dear Millicent,
You have given me the inspiration I needed to keep going. I think of what you have been through, in the name of what you believe in and it gives me strength to carry on, indeed it does.
At the last Tea Time Club meeting the others didn't seem at all suprised when I confessed that I was a Fairy. In fact, Violet said 'That's nice.' while she gave a morsel to a recalcitrant Polecat perched on her shoulder, Percy said 'Marvelous!', Percival said ' I see, that explains. the tea pot' and the Professor banged the table and said 'Aha!'
They were rather terrific about the whole thing. And you are right, we have achieved somethings - saving you, saving the eclipse, spreading the word in the village about the Truth. And actually, I have now come up with a plan to bring The Peaseblossom down!
The idea came to me when I was watching a Daddy Long Legs in the bathroom. He was struggling to get out of the bath poor thing, he had no business being there, so I showed him the door. What a strange name he has I thought, derived from folklore I presume, just as Fairies, are all named after wildflowers. Take my name for instance, Honeysuckle Harebell. Obviously with a name like that it gives one a clue to one's identity. But what is in a name? Then it hit me! What's in a name? Peaseblossom! Peaseblossom is a Fairy name, is it not? Mentioned in Shakespeares’ A Midsummer Nights' Dream , (more factual than I realised) So, where did her family come from? Could she possess a smattering of Fairy blood? If so, the whole Magic Denier thing could be blown apart. I needed to do some Elving. I needed something to prove she isn't human!
On Thursday evening, there was a meeting at the Town Hall when all the villagers from surrounding areas had to turn up and swear allegiance to the Commander in Chief, Peaseblossom, who would be there along with all the newspapers to cover the event.
I told the The Tea Time Club to assemble in their finest and we arrived en masse, arm in arm. We expected trouble but we’re determined to go about it as peacefully as possible. The plan was, we would all try to enter the Town Hall without being stopped by L.I.C.E. Professor Ruckenfigur would stay outside, hiding under a nearby tree with a jam jar. No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t cover his ears.
I wasn’t sure the plan would work but we had to try. The L.I.C.E. Agents stood at the door with long lists of folk who didn’t fit the bill and were hauling them out before they had got up the steps.
Percy and Percival the twins, went first, standing together, shoulder to shoulder very bravely, staring the agents down. When the brutes laughed at their red hair, Percy bristled, but Percival held them back and they went through. Violet was next. She had brought Mice. I told her not to, but she insisted and had them buttoned them up in her pocket. The agents once again looked at their lists.
A mouse squeaked
“Did you say something?” The masked agent demanded.
‘No.” squeaked Violet.
“Weren’t you the girl that tied herself to that tree?” Another agent sneered.“Learnt your lesson now have you?”
Violet nodded, head down, blushing.
“Off you go then missy.” The agent waved her through, but one of the guards shouted after her ‘Timber!’ which made Violet jump and scuttle as fast as she could to a seat next to the others.
It was my turn. The L.I.C.E. agent looked at the list.
“Honeysuckle Harebell? That’s an odd name. A bit too flowery for my liking. Where were you born luv?"
I summoned as much height as I could possibly muster and replied,
“I was born on a bank where the wild thyme blows,”
“Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” - do you know it, it's not far from here?”
The agent didn’t know what to say to that but suspected I was teasing him.
“You're very small aren’t you. Too small if you ask me, and you look a little green.”
Oh dear. Drastic action was required. I had in my pocket a pine cone filled with powdered mustard seed, something Nanny Duckeggs showed me how to make when I was young. (By the way, I didn’t think it strange at the time but Nanny Duckeggs was indeed a Duck. I thought everyone had one.)
I pulled the pin. A tiny cloud of billowing mustard seed blew into the guards face. He coughed and spluttered and rubbed his eyes as I nonchalantly walked past to take my seat inside. He would be fine and recover in a few days, none the wiser. I don’t normally hold with violence Millicent as you know, but needs must.
We watched, as villager after villager stood before Peaseblossom their hand held aloft swearing allegiance, reciting The Affiliation Code. We had all been sent a leaflet about it and had been told to learn the code by heart but of course The Tea Time Club refused. At last, I was ushered forward to stand on stage in front of Peasblossom herself .
“ Good evening dear ...” I began.
Peaseblossom stared at me.
“You! What are you doing here? She's not one of us. Guards ! Guards! This person is a suspected magical being, get her out of here!” she screamed.
Before the guards could take hold of me, I whispered urgently into Peaseblossoms’ ear,
“If I could just ask you to look over there by the door if you will, and tell me who you see?”
There at the doorway was Professor Ruckenfigur holding a jam jar by a string. The jar glowed with a little bright green light.
Peaseblossoms face fell- further.
“You know who that is and I know who that is and I am sure the newspapers would be delighted to know who that is, but I don’t want to put you in a difficult situation” I said. “So why don’t we drop all this Magic Denier thing right now and let everyone live in peace no matter who they are, shall we?”
Peaseblossom choked and nodded. “Alright, alright! Enough, enough!’ She called off the guards, made her excuses and left the stage. Exit, persued by a Fairy!
Then, in what I thought was a brilliant move, Violet let loose the mice !
There was chaos. Screaming and shouting, people standing on chairs, running from the hall. While all that was going on The Tea Time Club with jam jar , retreated back to my abode for some tea and biscuits.
The L.I.C.E. agents didn’t know what to do with themselves. Last I saw they were sitting unmasked outside the local public house ‘The Old Spitting Feathers’ you know it, partaking of beverages and singing old sea shanties.
You may be wondering, Millicent, what was in the jam jar?
Well, during my Elving, I uncovered Peaseblossoms’ family tree and it went way back and there dangling on the end of one particular branch was Hairy Tare ( the oldest Fairy who ever lived) who I had previously interviewed during my gruelling research for my pamphlet ‘Fleabane’. I had no idea Hairy Tare had twenty seven children and that she was in fact great, great grandmother to a certain Miss. Pansy Peaseblossom! The wizened old Fairy had been in hiding in an old conker shell by a babbling stream, in fear for her life, poor thing. She said she was so ashamed of her prodigy bringing the family name into such disrepute, she was willing to risk all by making an appearance that night. She gladly jumped into a jam jar and Professor Ruckenfigur kept her under wraps before carrying her safely to the Town Hall. When Peaseblossom saw her, she knew, we knew, she had Fairy blood.
It seems the plan has worked for now. Peaseblossom is nowhere to be seen, Hairy Tare has returned to Loosestrife to live out her days in peace and I am de-fronding my fennel. Small steps Millicent, small steps.
Best wishes
Honeysuckle Harebell
X
p.s. I may well write to Peasblossom, after all, we have a lot in common.
p.p.s. still no sign of the cat.
©Honeysuckle Harebell 2025 All rights reserved.
Read the last letter from Honeysuckle Harebell. Visit the Honeysuckle Harebell website
