Carmen Gil
Turcios
To the elves on the children’s hospital wards, the ones who fill the air with wonderful things that nobody can see, but which are there all the same. - Carmen Gil -
To my beloved mother Naciza Lavinia, who, despite the distance between us, is always in my air. - Turcios -
The Things in the Air Text © Carmen Gil Illustrations © Turcios This edition © 2013 Cuento de Luz SL Calle Claveles 10 | Urb Monteclaro | Pozuelo de Alarcón | 28223 | Madrid | Spain www.cuentodeluz.com Title in Spanish: Las Cosas del Aire English translation by Jon Brokenbrow ISBN: 978-84-15784-04-3 Printed by Shanghai Chenxi Printing Co., Ltd. xxxx 2013, print number xxx All rights reserved
Carmen Gil
Turcios
The Sparkling Elves loved the Things in the Air, those things that nobody can see, but which are there all the same. With their suits in dazzling colors and their huge glittering grins, the elves spent entire days fluttering from place to place in the Forest of Light, looking for flying surprises.
Early one morning, when the whole countryside looked as if a child had painted it, a lemon-green elf trapped a kiss that was flapping around an oak tree, a kiss that the Rainbow Fairy had blown to the frog living in the lake. It was a small peck of a kiss, sweet and full of life. Another time, an elf wearing overalls chased a lovely aroma for three days. It was the delicious smell of Grandma Sarah’s cinnamon cake! Everyone who’d ever tried this cake claimed that just one bite would make you walk on air.
The elf followed it along the winding paths, through the mountains, and along the banks of the river, until he finally found it tucked under a woodpecker’s wing.
Just a few days ago, a purple elf discovered how words crashed into each other high up in the sky, close to the stars, and new ones were born. He laughed when he saw the word “cowtrain,” which was, of course, a line of cows with people riding them to get from one place to another. A “flowerwig” was a headdress for bald people whose hair would never grow back.
“Flipperslippers” allowed people and elves to jump like frogs! But the elf thought the funniest word of all was “flutterby,” an enormous butterfly that “flew” simply by bouncing along on the breeze. After a few leaps, the purple elf snatched it out of the air.
Perhaps the best thing of all was when the scarlet elf found the basket from the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It had snagged on a branch, and, to the surprised elf’s delight, the air was filled with stories! A frog who didn’t want to return to his life as a prince, a fairy godfather whose spells always came out backwards, and a princess who became a pirate all swooshed past her. It was amazing!
Hidden Pages
The Sparkling Elves loved the Things in the Air, those things that nobody can see, but which are there all the same. With their brightly colored clothes and their bright, gleaming smiles, they’d spend the whole day fluttering around, looking for flying surprises. And when they found them, the elves held them tightly until the Things tickled them inside. But one day, the Snouty Witches appeared, gray and gloomy, to take the Things away!
The Things in the Air is a tale that will fill your air with surprises and fill your child’s face with a huge smile that no one will be able to wipe off — not even the Snouty Witches!