Chapter 1
Elizabeth Bennet wandered through the woods near her house aimlessly, her only purpose being that of cooling down. It was far hotter than it should be in the middle of September, and there was no breeze whatsoever, making it nearly impossible to make the house comfortable.
She had tried placing wet handkerchiefs on her neck. She had even tried hiding in her room so that she only needed to wear her shift. Nothing had worked well enough to allow her to concentrate on the embroidery project she wished to finish.
So, she escaped the house and headed for the woods that straddled the property between Longbourn, her home, and Lucas Lodge.
It was much cooler under the shade of the trees, and somehow there was a breeze there which could not be found anywhere else. Of course, this didn’t make it possible to work on her embroidery, which had been left at the house, but it did make her far more comfortable.
With a sigh of relief and pleasure, Elizabeth began exploring the woods which she had not paid any attention to in six years. In her youth, she, Jane, and Mary had spent many hours in these woods playing various pretend games. At times they were pirates looking for treasure. At times they were knights defending the castle of a beautiful princess.
Jane, the oldest of the three, was always the damsel in distress that needed rescuing somehow, except of course when all three of them were pirates. Mary was the youngest of the three, and she tended to do whatever Elizabeth told her, but occasionally she had surprising and unique ideas. Elizabeth had two other sisters, Kitty and Lydia, but they tended to stick to each other rather than following after the older three.
As Elizabeth strolled through her old stomping grounds, she allowed the memories of those carefree times to roll through her mind. Those days and those memories were both more interesting and more relaxing than her current life.
Elizabeth was nearly twenty-one. Her life now mostly revolved around visiting other people and going to parties. Everything else she did supported those two activities. She shopped so that she could acquire clothing and accessories to present herself to others as a pretty young lady. She embroidered ribbons and handkerchiefs for the same reason. She practiced piano so that she could help entertain the other guests at the various parties she attended.
The only activity she could think of that had nothing to do with any of that was reading. Elizabeth did enjoy reading, but it was not a particular passion of hers. For her it was usually something to pass the time, something to do when her eyes crossed from too much needlework and her mind was numb from talking about the same things over and over.
As she strolled through the woods, remembering that more interesting time of life, she came across a rather unusual tree. It was large with an irregular shape, which looked as though it was three trees whose trunks had grown together. The sight brought back even more memories. This was where she, Jane, and Mary had always gathered to hide their treasures from the local boys who had made it a hobby to tease the Bennet girls relentlessly.
Elizabeth walked around to the other side of the tree. Because of the tree’s shape and the way it leaned, there was a bit of a protected hollow at its base. There, in the hollow, sat the small chest that contained the treasures of the three eldest Bennet girls.
Elizabeth could no longer remember why they had never retrieved the chest. Looking back on it, it felt as if one day they were children all playing together, and the next day they were little women looking forward to coming out in society, their childhood games forgotten in the blink of an eye.
She squatted and pulled the small chest out from the protected hollow. Apparently, they had chosen their location well, because it showed no sign of rain damage. The bottom was a little damp, but it had been sitting on a couple of roots, so it had been kept dry enough that it was still secure.
She lifted the lid and looked inside. There was a collection of toy doubloons, some pretty seashells that Grandmother Bennet had given them after her visit to the seaside, a few ribbons, and a lamp.
Elizabeth picked up the lamp and examined it. It was a brass Arabic-style oil lamp, but the wick was missing. She couldn’t remember where it came from, but she did recall using it to re-enact the Aladdin stories fromOne Thousand and One Nights.Out of a sense of nostalgia, she rubbed the lamp just as she had as a child.
In shock, she fell back onto her behind as smoke began pouring out of the spout of the lamp. The breeze quickly blew the smoke away, but what remained was what could only be described as a fairy.
The fairy was about two inches tall and looked like a tiny, chubby, old woman. On her back were four colorful, gossamer wings that could have come from a dragonfly.
“Ah, little Elizabeth. I’ve been waiting for you to return,” said the little old fairy.
Elizabeth couldn’t speak. Her brain wouldn’t work. It was stuck on the vision of this fairy floating in front of her and could not move on to figuring out what to say. After a few moments of silence, during which the fairy simply stared at her, she managed to choke out, “What’s going on?”
“Don’t you remember? I am Jeanie who lives in the lamp.”
“Genie? But you look like a fairy,” Elizabeth replied.
“I see the confusion. You said the same thing fourteen years ago. Djinns, also called Genies, are inhabitants of the Middle East. Fairies live in England. I am a fairy, but to avoid confusion, my given name is Jeanie.”
“That creates confusion instead of avoiding it. Besides, why would an English fairy live in an Arabic lamp?”
The fairy looked at the lamp in surprise. “It is the perfect size for a little house. Don’t you agree?”
Elizabeth looked back and forth between the fairy and the lamp. The oil reservoir was only a little taller than the fairy herself. “It seems as though it would be a bit cramped,” she said.
The fairy looked a little abashed, but she said, “Well, there may be a bit of magic involved, but it is quite a comfortable home for me. Now, since all those little introductory bits are out of the way, are you ready for your wishes?”
Elizabeth wasn’t ready to move on at all. She was still stunned in confusion. “What?” she asked eloquently.
Jeanie, the fairy, sighed. “It seems you’ve forgotten everything. Very well, I will explain. Fourteen years ago, you found my lamp in these woods. You rubbed it, and of course I popped out. Having heard of magic fairies and genies and magic lamps, you immediately demanded three wishes. I explained that I could not grant wishes to a child, and you should come back when you were an adult. Here you are, clearly grown up. Now we can discuss your wishes.”
Elizabeth couldn’t remember any of this. She remembered playing games and pretending with the lamp, but she was sure she would remember this fairy if she had ever met her before. She shook her head trying to dislodge any missing memories, hoping to make some sense of the situation, but it was fruitless.
