322. Little Gifts and Big Wishes

 

322. Little Gifts and Big Wishes

“It looks just like everyone else,”said Neferniki, a little disapppointed, for there was nothing  striking about Penny’s baby.

“And thank Shai for that!” said Pedubastis.

“She means the god of fate,” Neferclari whispered to Penny. “He’s a pig with the head of a serpent.”

Penny gulped. Then she sniffed and asked, “Did you think  my baby would have twenty fingers and forty toes? I was afraid it might.”

“Why?” asked Neferviki. “What did its father look like? A pig with a snake’s head? Mortals don’t have forty toes or anything like that. They look just like anyone else.”

“Do you think it might be…like its father?”

“Mortal?” asked Nefernedi, getting directly to the point.

 “What are you going to call it?” asked Neferclari, to distract Penny from thinking her child might be mortal.

“It has to name itself,” said Neferhari.

 “Maybe it won’t be able to. Mortals don’t choose their names. Their folks do that for them,” said Neferniki.

“We can’t tell if it is mortal yet,” said Nefernedi. “The cat  Iset  told me that.”

Iset is the name of the three coloured cat who told the children about mortal and semi-mortal babies.

“Yes. When will we know if it’s mortal?” asked Nefernedi.

“Most kids that are born the way mortals are are practically always rather mortal, aren’t they? They may have some special abilities, but…,” sighed Penny nervously.

“Oh, please! Give it time! It’s just been born, only a few minutes ago!” exclaimed Pedubastis.

“If it’s mortal, it hasn’t got time. It could die any second now,” said Nefernedi.

“Of course not!” cried Pedubastis. “Mortals don’t die the minute they are born. Well, they don’t do it much lately. That’s enough worrying about nonsense! Change of subject!”

“By the way, what is your formal name, Penny?” said Neferclari, wanting to help.

“Pentafloris. The first thing I did when I was born was pick five flowers. I was holding them in my hand when my parents showed up.”

“And you said  that fancy name when your parents found you and you introduced yourself?” asked Nefernedi.

“I guess it does sound more clever than I am,” sighed Penny. “I’ve never been that clever again. My parents call me Penny because of the pennies they find in the sand there at their beach. ”

“Nonsense!” said Pedubastis. “What is wrong with you? Are you having a post partum depression? There was never anything wrong with you and there won’t be about the child. You’re in the right place at the right time right now. We’ll help you.”

“Do you have a family name, Penny?” asked Neferviki.

“I’m Pentafloris Glassywave.”

“Who are your parents, the Glassywaves, Penny?” asked Neferniki.

“My father is a beach bum fairy. He gets up at noon and walks around a beach and maybe goes surfing in the afternoon.Then he plays a zither while the moon is rising. My mom is kind of musical too, in her way. But she gets up early and blows a conch to greet the sun. If I have to give my kid a name, because he can’t give himself one, I think I might call it Sunny. At least I would like to.”

 “Sunny would be most  right, for he was born under an Egyptian sun drawn on a ceiling here at the temple,” said Pedubastis. “Now, whatever your kid is like, he was born with a loaf under his arm. It’s not there, but it exists and I guess it is his.”

“What?” asked Penny, not understanding about the loaf.

“Mortals say babies are born with a loaf of bread under their arms to assure themselves that a way to feed their kids will be found. Pedi told me that.  But where is the loaf, Pedi?” asked Neferviki.

“I was baking when Penny called, and I came to the Magnolia Grove with a loaf of spongy bread in my hands. If it is still there and the ants haven’t eaten it, the baby can have it.”

And we all left for the Magnolia Grove, and the spongy bread was still there, all intact.

“Why, thank you!” said Penny. “Sunny’s first gift!”

And the Atshebies began to look all about them to see what they could give the baby.

“May it bring you good luck,” said Pedubastis.

“Should the baby eat this? The best way for a mortal to become  a fairy is to eat fairy food, isn’t that right?” asked Penny.

“Oh, by the erect questioning  tail of  Bastet! Will you stop asking silly questions? You aren’t going to feed the baby a loaf like that just yet! Milk and honey, well mixed first. Even a mortal child would tolerate our milk and honey. You eat the loaf yourself, dear. Or keep it mummified as a memento of this day. It could work as an amulet.”

And Penny picked up the loaf, and shrank it and put it in her pocket, because she said she was too nervous to eat a thing.

“Are you now going to return to the beach with your parents the bums?” asked Neferhari.

“Oh, by the wrath of Sekhmet! Of course  she’s not! That might come later. For now, she’s going right back to the temple and staying put there for a while. Until we see things more clearly and she knows what she has to do,” said Pedubastis, “because I am seeing she has no idea what she is about.”

“And whether her baby is mortal or not,” said Neferedi. “And if we have to make it fay quickly. She has to know that.”

“Gifts and wishes!” cried the children, who were now ready to bless the child in their little ways.

And Neferclari gave the child the loveliest magnolia flower she could find, so it  would know what beauty is and remember to be always  beautiful  itself inside and outside.

And Neferhari gave the baby a beetle with a special shine, an amulet he had bought at the cat temple’s shop so it would always have the will and the strength to move forward when it faced an obstacle, and turn every disadvantage into an advantage. 

Nefernedi generously gave the baby half the fairy coins from his own jacket pocket, so the child would never lack means from the very start. Penny put them in her pocket because the baby had no pocket but was wrapped up in Penny’s great pink mantle. Penny herself had never claimed her Apple Island gift of pocket gold because she had never lived in the island, and hadn’t even learned about it till that moment,  so she was very grateful to Nefernedi for giving her that information, because if her child turned out to be mortal it would need to be supported,  and Nefernedi wished the baby would always have the knowledge he needed to survive in any situation.  

Neferedi gave the child a fay butterfly, who had agreed to become the baby’s personal steed. The butterfly said its name was Carrier and that the baby would easily get to wherever it wanted to. 

Neferviki gave the child a piece of glass that caught the sun’s rays and made lovely prisms, so the child would learn how to make beautiful things out of anything and be thus useful. 

And Neferniki, who had the loveliest meow and the best singing voice, broke into song, and wished the baby the power to sing splendidly, making up the words and the music and all. And Neferniki’s song was wafted away by the air and cracked a little as it dissolved in it, but his wish must have come through for the baby began to wail most melodiously.