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Once upon a time, in a town which was quite un-fairy-like, lived a little girl named Slumberina. She was both obedient and happy… except in the evening, because she refused to go to bed. Once there, she fidgeted for a long time before going to sleep. In the morning, her mother and father always asked their daughter what she saw while she was asleep. But Slumberina could never remember what she dreamed about.

“Oh… I slept for nothing”, sighed the girl.

Her mother hugged and comforted her. “Maybe it’s better that way? If your dream was scary, it’s best not to remember it.”

“I never dream about anything. So should I never go to bed?”, replied the father sadly.

One day, Slumberina’s grandmother came to visit them. That evening, when the parents brought Slumberina to bed, her grandmother wished her sweet dreams.

“Thank you, grandma. But I don’t want to go to sleep. In the morning, I won’t remember what I dreamed about in any case. I won’t know if my dream was sweet or not”, said the disappointed granddaughter.

The grandmother smiled mysteriously. “Sweetie, you should go to Snoozeland, the magical land of dreams, and speak with the Snoozers. They surely know where your dreams go in the morning.”

“Snoozers?!”, exclaimed Slumberina. “Who are they? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Oh! They are small fluffy creatures. The dreams we experience are their doing. When nighttime envelopes the world, millions of Snoozers gather reverie pollen and visit those who are asleep.”

“And what does this pollen do?” Slumberina became quite inquisitive.

“If one believes the legends, Snoozers come to our homes while we sleep and sprinkle us with reverie pollen. We inhale it… and experience dreams.”

“Great! But how do I get to Snoozeland? If it’s far away, my parents won’t let me go.”

“My dear”, smiled her grandmother. “This land is both far away and nearby at once. Close your little eyes and go to sleep. You can only go there while you’re asleep.”

Slumberina kissed her grandmother, adjusted her pillow and climbed into bed. She was eager to see the Snoozers and their magical land. So she dozed off immediately…

***

“Where am I?” The girl opened her eyes in astonishment. “Could this be the realm of dreams?”

Everything around her was so surprisingly aerial – grass crunched softly under her feet. Slumberina approached a small house. Having broken off a tiny piece of wall, she put it in her mouth.

“But it’s cotton candy!”, exclaimed the girl.

Here, everything was made from various colours of cotton candy. The houses, trees, flowers… even a lamp post. Slumberina loved cotton candy, but her parents rarely allowed her this delicacy. Her father said that sweets damage one’s teeth – and her mother that it ruins one’s figure. But this was a dream! Which meant that neither figure nor teeth would suffer. Slumberina began to taste everything. Soon, there was nothing remaining that the girl had not taken a bite from. Everywhere were traces of her tiny teeth.

Slumberina was stuffed with cotton candy. She flopped onto the soft sweet grass. However, all these sweets had given the girl a terrible thirst.

“Where could I quench my thirst here?”

Slumberina barely had time to ponder over this, that she was gliding along in a small boat on a multicoloured river. The cotton candy village remained on one shore – on the other, streams flowed down from pretty mountains and transformed into waterfalls. Each waterfall had its own colour. Slumberina reached the first one, which was bright orange. She used her palms to scoop from it and drank.

“But this is my favourite orange juice!”, rejoiced the girl.

The following waterfall turned out to be strawberry punch. The boat continued on its course, and Slumberina drank from each new stream. To her amazement, there were also soft drink streams here… and even a stream which tasted like the green tea which her mother liked so much.

“Hmmm… some chocolate candy too…”, mused the girl. At that very moment, her boat landed on a shore covered with smooth shiny pebbles.

Slumberina climbed out onto the shore and picked one up. A moment later, the pebble began to melt in her hand. Traces of chocolate remained on her fingers. My goodness! Every pebble was unique – some made of milk chocolate, others of dark chocolate. The pebbles containing nuts and fruit filling were Slumberina’s favourites.

“A surprising place…”, thought Slumberina. “I wonder who would know how to get to Snoozeland?” She had had her fill of this sweet world.

At that very moment, the girl found herself in a forest. Slumberina tried to chew the leaves of a tree, and even sunk her teeth into a branch. But the forest was a real one – the leaves and branches weren’t at all tasty.

“I’ve never seen a human who eats trees”, a voice remarked.

Slumberina turned around and saw a peculiar stout scarlet-blue creature. It looked like a rather cute stuffed animal that one would want to fondle and hug.

“I don’t eat trees. I only wanted to check something”, admitted the embarrassed girl. “And you… you wouldn’t happen to be a Snoozer, by any chance?”

“No!” The mysterious little creature began to giggle. “My name is Fuzzy. Let’s be friends!”

“Let’s. And you’ll show me the way to the Realm of Sweet Dreams?”

“Of course. Follow me.” Fuzzy pushed off and, waving his tiny paws, began to swim through the air among the trees.

“Wait! I don’t know how to do that!”

Slumberina, taking a step forward, unexpectedly began to glide above the ground. As she floundered about in the air with her arms and legs, the girl tried to catch up with her new friend. “At least don’t hit a tree…”, thought Slumberina anxiously. But soon afterwards, she easily passed Fuzzy, and even figured out how to swim on her back.

They continued enjoying themselves until Slumberina had a feeling that they had already passed this tree.

“Are you certain you know the way to where the Snoozer’s live?”, the girl asked warily.

“I thought I knew… but it seems I don’t”, sadly admitted the small scarlet-blue creature. “You’ll still be my friend, won’t you?”, it asked with a hopeful voice.

“Of course I will. But I really need to find the Snoozers. Otherwise, when I wake up, I won’t be able to remember you or this magnificent forest.”

“Then I’ll lead you to Moonwise. He’ll help you find the way to the Realm of Sweet Dreams. The only thing is, where he lives, it’s quite cold. And on the way, we’ll have to wear butterflies.”

“Why butterflies?” Slumberina was puzzled.

“Let’s go. You’ll see for yourself.”

Fuzzy landed on a path and continued into the forest depths as if all was normal. The girl followed him.

The friends reached a clearing in the forest which was bathing in sunlight.

“Stay here quietly and don’t move”, instructed the small furry animal.

Slumberina stood obediently in the centre of the clearing and tried not to move. Soon afterwards, tinkling all around her, were millions of brightly multicoloured butterflies which launched themselves from the forest vegetation.

“How pretty!” The girl couldn’t help herself. “But how are we going to put them on?”

“Imagine that you’re a tall beautiful flower”, replied Fuzzy.

Slumberina closed her eyes and imagined she was a delicate flower, slowly swaying in the wind. The sun shone. She could feel the gentle touch and barely audible fluttering of tiny wings. When she opened her eyes, she saw that both herself and the little furry creature were covered from head to toe in butterflies, as if they were wearing some type of exotic costume.

“Fuzzy… and how do we get to Moonwise now?”, asked Slumberina, imagining a vast frosty cavern with long icicles hanging from the ceiling.

The girl barely had time to catch her breath that she found herself inside the cavern in question with her friend. It was so cold here that steam escaped from their mouths. But the butterfly costumes kept the friends quite warm.

“Thank you, butterflies! I’m so comfortable and warm!”, rejoiced the girl.

“Moon-wise!”, Fuzzy called out loudly.

“Moo-oo-oo-oo”, could be heard in response.

“It’s an echo. There’s nobody here”, remarked Slumberina, disappointed.

“Let me make an observation: The fact that you cannot see me is insufficient cause to claim my absence”, could be heard from the frosty cavern.

“Oh! Pardon me. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Moonwise”, intervened Fuzzy. “Slumberina is my best friend. She’s searching for the Realm of Sweet Dreams, where Snoozers live. Nobody but you can help her.”

“This is true. None know how to reach it. Not even myself”, stated Moonwise.

“So I’ll never find Snoozeland. And when I wake up, I’ll forget Fuzzy, you Moonwise, and this magnificent butterfly costume…”, the girl concluded sadly. The small furry animal sniffed along with her.

“I said no such thing”, replied Moon, tinkling the icicles. “Did you fail to notice that as soon as you think of something or wish for something, it immediate comes true since this is your dream. All will be as you desire.”

It was true… The cotton candy town, the waterfalls made of various beverages, and the chocolate sprinkled shore – all were the girl’s desires. Followed by the forest with the furry Fuzzy, the flight above the trees, the clearing where Slumberina imagined herself as a delicate flower… to then dress up in a multicoloured butterfly costume. And finally, Moonwise in the frosty cavern. Slumberina realized that as soon as she wished it, she would find herself in the land of the Snoozers – since in a dream, all her wishes would come true!

The girl began to imagine what Snoozeland might possibly look like. Leaving Fuzzy behind with Moonwise, she flew to a large tree where instead of leaves, sat tiny fluffy balls with eyes.

“Here they are… the Snoozers!”, exclaimed the girl.

“Hello, Slumberina”, one of them greeted her.

“You know me?”, the girl replied, astonished.

“Yes. I’m the one who flies into your home at night and sprinkles everyone in your family with reverie pollen. Everyone except the big guy. He snores so loudly that I’m quite afraid of him.”

“He’s my daddy. Now I know why he never dreams about anything”, sighed Slumberina. “My dear Snoozer, please tell me where dreams go to in the morning and what must be done to remember them.”

“You don’t have to do anything in particular. Only, before waking up, say ‘goodbye’ to everyone you dreamed about. Then you’ll surely see them again”, replied the Snoozer. It then whispered, “If you ever have a nightmare, rub your face promptly. By removing the reverie pollen, you’ll quickly forget what happened to you.”

Slumberina thanked the Snoozer for its advice, and bidding farewell to Fuzzy and Moonwise, woke up.

***

“Mommy, daddy, and you grandma, you won’t believe this! I remember everything I dreamed about today”, exclaimed a joyful Slumberina while waking everyone up.

“You managed to see the Snoozers?”, asked the grandmother, smiling.

“Not only saw, but I also learned how to remember dreams. If daddy stops snoring, he’ll also be sprinkled with reverie pollen, and his dreams will come.”

“If daddy stops snoring, dreams will come to the entire town”, said the mother jokingly.

From that moment on, when it became dark, the girl went to bed on her own and fell asleep quickly. Since now in her dreams, she was expected by Fuzzy and many other new friends with whom she played and ate sweets. Slumberina tenderly named the world inhabited by her friends, ‘The Realm of Loved Dreams’. And what about you… do you have any friends in your dreams?

© Asa Guves, 2012

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