STAR QUALITY FOUND IN HILDA THE FAIRY

Hilda is the sister of Marus, the fairy.  She is the star of the show wherever she is.  She is pretty with golden curly hair and she laughs a lot.  She thought Rosaquet was her friend but that turned out to be a mistake.  I, Delbert, tried to warn her about Rosaquet but Hilda wouldn't listen.  Hilda seems to be flighty and silly but she is really a very good person.  She is also very kind.  She doesn't try to hog attention it just seems to come to her.
I'm sure Hilda will have a lot of adventures in her life.

CAN FAIRIES BE TRUSTED?

Rosequet was like many people.  She could be trusted to do things she thought were good for herself.  Unfortunately she didn't realize that it was good to have friends that were happy, or that nature is a wonderful thing.  She didn't even like flowers all that much.  I saw her sneeze and curl up her nose when Binar showed her a particularly pretty flower.  So, yes she could be trusted, but not to do good for anybody.  Sometimes she would fly alongside me and tell me I was ugly.  I believe I am the most handsome bee ever.  So I thought about stinging her.  But I didn't.  I would just sing a loud buzz song when I saw her.  Many other fairies can be trusted to be kind and helpful.  Not Rosaquet.  She thought she was too beautiful for it to matter.  Well, I had better buzz off and find some real beauty.  Your friend Delbert.

SHOULD FAIRIES LIVE IN CASTLES?

I, Delbert Bee, have never really been inside Windom Castle.  But Lina tells me it is beautiful.  She enjoys going there to visit her grandfather.  He wants her to live there all the time but she really enjoys living among the flowers.  Maybe when winter comes she will change her mind.  Maybe Lord Windom has a room with big windows where flowers can grow inside.  I know the gardens are great.  I fly around in them all the time.  But I hear talk about the caverns that are under the castle.  It is said that mushrooms grow in some of them.  They also say that some are so deep that nothing grows except stalactites and stalagmites.  Well, I won't be going there and you probably shouldn't either.  But you could come and visit me among the flowers.  I'd better buzz off now.

IS WINDOM CASTLE TOO ELEGANT FOR COMMON CREATURES TO VISIT?

Lord Windom was the only nobleman in this distant part of Umberland.  He befriended the band of fairies that moved there to escape a volcano eruption.  He was Lina Thimble's grandfather but it took some time for them to meet each other.  He was a kind man who didn't look down his nose at any person or creature. When the area around Tom Thimble's farm came to be called Thimblewyck every one considered Lord Windom to be part of the group, one of it's citizens.  He has always planted bee-delicious flowers around the castle.  I buzz up there every so often.

CAN SMALL CREATURES HAVE A BIG IMPACT?

I, Delbert, am small.  The fairies are small, about 4 to 8 inches tall at the most.  Zenna the spider is small.  She has done many things with her weaving that are amazing, from making clothes, to stopping violence.  Small creatures should never be dismissed as being powerless.  Sometimes they just have to find out how to use their power.  This may be a big world but all creatures, large or small are important.  I hope all of my readers feel important.  Gotta buzz off now and find some more flowers, or news.

WHO PROVIDED MATERIAL TO REPAIR FAIRY WINGS?

A fairy's wings are precious beyond words.  Not only are they important to a fairy for flying.  They are also part of a fairy's beauty.  Marus was a courageous fairy who flew into a fire to rescue Lina from being incinerated even before she was born.  As a result his wings were damaged.  But Hilda, one of his sisters, had the idea to ask Zenna for some spider silk and she was able to repair his wings with that silk.  In the Thimblewyck stories there are many instances of Zenna's wonderful weaving being important in many ways.

ARE BIRDS BETTER AT GOSSIP THAN BEES? WHAT IS YOUR VERDICT?

Adar the swallow tried to keep up on everything that went on around Thimble Farm.  Then she would sit on Gerda's windowsill and chatter away.  Gerda was lonely on the farm and couldn't talk to any of the animals except Adar.  Communication was hard at Thimble Farm until the big flood.  Then the fairies had to put a spell of enchantment on the farm to help everyone escape.  After that every creature and human and fairy could talk to each other.  Gerda thought of Adar as her best friend.  I think I, Delbert, am better at gossip, however.  Adar pretty much kept her news among the other swallows and Gerda.  I'll tell everyone anything they want to know.  Unless it's a secret, of course.

IS THIS THE NAUGHTIEST BOY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD?

Karl Thimble was a grandnephew to Tom Thimble.  He was so rowdy and apt to run away that his mother and grandmother finally had to put him in a large basket-like trunk to make sure he stayed with the family as they traveled to Thimble Farm.  His mother, Bettina, gave birth to his little sister Tamara as soon as they arrived at the farm.  His grandmother had the burden of driving the cart as fast as she could. Neither had been able to handle Karl and make sure he was safe.  When Lina helped Tom get Karl out of the basket it took a lot of Tom's energy to make sure the boy didn't run away again. At first Tom was upset that Karl had been locked in the basket but after chasing Karl around a bit he came to understand the reason for that. Karl's name for Lina was 'Doll Lady'. Karl was just four when he came to Thimble Farm.  He became a very important part of Thimblewyck.

SACRED SANCTUARY REVEALED AT LAST!

Camber is a wood sprite who protects all trees, especially a small forest at the edge of the first Thimble Farm.  He is Tom Thimble's best friend as well as being close to the fairies.  He can do two kinds of illusions.  He can appear to be human.  He impersonated Tom several times to help him out.  He can also look like whatever a person or creature fears the most.  Evil fairies could never follow into the wood to eavesdrop on matters that concerned Lina.  Messages can be sent from trees far away to and by Camber carried on the wind.  He just has to listen to the rustle of the leaves.

CAT VICTIM OF WOMAN WHO THREW MULTIPLE BREAKABLE OBJECTS

I, Delbert, have a hard time finding this cat anytime I want to interview him.  He stays away from the cottage at Thimble Farm.  He doesn't want to anger Gerda ever again.  The night Lina came into the world, cradled in the bloom of a flower, the cat jumped up on the sill of the open window and ended up landing on the table where the flower pot was sitting.  He knocked over the flowerpot and Gerda started chasing him.  The handiest thing to throw at him was her big pile of cookies.  So she threw them, one by one.  You can read about in in Thimblewyck:The Origins.  Remember, you heard the buzz here first.

WHO RESCUED LINA FROM KIDNAPPER BY SKIN OF THEIR TEETH?

The evening of the day Sara and family came to live at Thimble farm Lina was snatched from the window sill, where she was eating supper in order to be safe from Sara.  This evil frog snatched her to force her to marry the frog's son.  The frog glued her to a lily pad with stinky horrible frog phlegm.  But the fish in the pond used their teeth to gnaw off the stem of the lily pad so Lina could float away.  They tried to wash Lina off first by splashing with their tails but the smell remained for some time. Every one at Thimble Farm,including the fairies, searched for Lina but she was gone for a good long time.  Now you know about the evil frog sent by a villain, as yet unnamed, and you learned it from me, Delbert.Bee, source of the best gossip in the hive.  Gotta buzz off now.

WHO HAS A NOSE FOR THE BEST NEWS?

I am Delbert Bee and I have my nose into everything.  I think it was a shame that Binar didn't know he was a prince, a wonderful fairy prince, until Lina found out for him.  But his parents died when he was a baby and the proof he was a prince was stolen.  Like all fairies he has his own individual  power. All fairies can fly, be invisible and create illusions.  But apart from that their powers are different for each individual fairy.  Some will share some of the same powers but each fairy is unique.  Like all magical creatures.  Binar's special power is that he can influence plants in wonderful ways.  I like that because sometimes he influences a whole hillside of flowers in a special way so my hive can make loads of magical, wonderful honey.  Keep looking here for the latest buzz.

IS THIS COTTAGE HAUNTED?

This was the original cottage at the first Thimble Farm.  The evil flood that caused people to move may have left misfortune behind.  I don't like to fly there.  I think it's a scandal that the original lilac bush wasn't kept up.  But Gerda did have the sense to put a lilac bush by the new farm house.  This cottage is where Lina came into the world, cradled in a flower.  The seed was given to Gerda by the fairies.  Lina was saved from being incinerated in an evil fire by the fairies, who snatched her from Heaven on her way to Earth.  They had to infuse the soul into a seed so it wouldn't just spread out into thin air. Because she was born from a seed Lina was as small as the fairies even though she was a human child.
Keep up with my buzz and learn more here. Delbert Bee.