Cardy's Gardy
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Hello! Welcome to Stories Podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Weldon. Today's story is called Cardi's Gardie, an original story written for you by Daniel Hines, inspired by European garden folklore.

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Once upon a time, really not that long ago, there was an old woman named Carrie Day Garcia. She lived in a big old house with a big old lawn in a big old town. Most notably, though, Carrie Day had a big old garden.

It was a sprawling wave of colors that started in front of her house and washed around to the back. There were daisies and honeysuckle and jasmine and roses and on and on. Anything beautiful and bright, Carrie Day put it into her garden.

Her favorite, though, planted in a special place of honor around the back deck, were her tulips. They were the best in the county, colors so bright they looked painted, bulbs so big and round you could drink tea from them. People from all over town would go out of their way on their walks to admire the garden, which made Carrie Day happy as could be.

In fact, she even had a little sign out front. It said, Cardi's Gardi.

Now, you may find that sign a little strange, but it makes sense once you know Carrie Day. Because for all her life, she found her name a little busy on the tongue, all that Carrie Day business. So as the years went by, she went by Cardi. Which is what her name sounded like when her friends said it fast, anyway. And Gardi? Well, it rhymes better than garden. Cardi's garden? Okay, fine, sure. But Cardi's Gardi? No.

That had the pep and the sparkle that Carrie Day, sorry, Cardi, liked to see. So that was what she wrote on the sign. Yes, of course, she made the sign herself.

So one night, Cardi was sitting on her back porch, watching the sun sink below the horizon, and admiring how the burning colors in the sky matched the deep reds and oranges among her tulips. It was the perfect sort of spring evening out. The air was cool, but not cold. The wind was warm and smelled of green growing things, and of course, the tulips were in bloom.

As Cardi sat there, admiring the beauty of nature spread out around her, she heard a strange little hum. At first she thought it was a bug, or maybe a frog, because they were loud sometimes. As the night went on, though, and Cardi really listened, she heard more and more.

It wasn't just a hum. The noise went up and down, lilting and soaring. It was almost like a little song. No, Cardi realized suddenly, her heart freezing in her chest. It was a little song. There was music coming from her flowers. But how?

Now, Cardi wasn't a superstitious person, and her first thought was that some kids were playing a prank on her. They'd probably hidden a speaker in the garden, hoping to make old Cardi and her guardie go a little crazy. Joke's on them, Cardi said to herself, getting down on her hands and knees to look for the speaker and the tulips. I'm already crazy. She chuckled to herself, and then she heard a small but quite distinct,

Who said that? Cardi said, sitting up and looking all around. But she was alone in her garden. It was getting full dark now, and she could see her neighbor's cheery lights through her windows, but there was no one else outside. Quiet now, you big lout, hissed a little voice. Who are you calling a lout? hissed Cardi right back. This is my garden.

More curious and annoyed than afraid now, Cardi leaned down towards the voice and gently moved aside some flowers. Oh, oh my! As she pushed aside the bobbing bulb of a twilight tulip, she beheld the strangest little thing her eyes had ever seen.

There, leaning over the edge of a big purple tulip bulb, was a tiny woman. She was no more than five inches from her earthy toes to her long banded braid. On her back was a pair of wings. Not the beautiful golden wings Cardi had seen on fairies in movies, but segmented dragonfly-style wings. What are you? breathed Cardi, eyes wide with wonder.

We are pixies, said the little creature. Didn't you know that? You've planted such a beautiful nursery here, we all thought you did it on purpose. We thought you knew the old ways. Nursery? What do you mean? Cardi asked.

In reply, the pixie did the most astonishing thing. She gently pulled back a petal on the tulip bulb and let Cardi peer inside. And there, nestled in the petals and pollen, was a tiny baby pixie. A nursery, Cardi said, louder with surprise, and a dozen voices hushed her this time. And now when Cardi looked, it was like some magic had been lifted.

She could see a dozen, two dozen, too many pixies to count, flitting with their buzzing wings among the tulips. And sure enough, when Cardi looked closer, every bold, bright bulb had a baby pixie snoring soundly. I didn't know the old ways, Cardi admitted, but I'm happy you found my garden. You're welcome to use the tulips just as long as you'd like. I'll make sure to keep quiet.

You're a sweet human, said the pixie. We appreciate it. And in return, all your flowers will always go big and bright and beautiful. Oh, you don't have to do all that, Cardi said.

"'It's our pleasure,' said the pixie. "'After all, we live here, too.' And from that night on, Cardi would go out onto her back porch at dusk. She'd sit just as still and quiet as she could, and from the flowers she could hear the gentle humming, that strange, lilting tune. But now she knew what it was. It was the pixies, all together, singing their babies to sleep.

Cardi went to bed for years with the sound of pixie music in her ears, but as time went on, she got older, as people tend to do. Her big old house became too much for her to manage, and gardening was hard on her hands and her knees and her back, too. Eventually, she decided it was time for her to move in with her daughter, who had been asking her for years.

There, Cardi could have her own little room with her own little porch and be closer to her grandkids. It was a good thing, really, but she hated to leave the Pixies. So, that meant that Cardi had to sell her home. She had lived there for more than 30 years, had raised her daughter there, but it was time to move on.

This was a house for a big, young family, and that's who she wanted to sell it to. So Cardi listed her house for sale, and after looking through the offers, she found a nice young family who was looking for their first house.

Cardi gave them a tour, and she told them that the tulips meant a lot to the local ecosystem, and that they should consider leaving them in place. She didn't tell them exactly why, because who would believe an old woman talking about pixies? But she told them, and they agreed. So Cardi moved in with her daughter peacefully, sure that her pixie friends were in good hands. But they weren't.

The family that bought Cardi's house was nice enough, but the dad, a man named Mr. Mower, had lied about the flowers. He hated gardens. They always looked so messy, so bright, so eye-catching. It was garish, which is a word that means overly bright and showy and not in a nice way. So, no gardens for Mr. Mower.

Instead, he liked a nice, sprawling green grass lawn. A green lawn looked good. It looked proper. It said to your neighbors, here is a family who keeps things tidy. Here is a family who knows their business. Here is a family you can trust. A big field of floppy flowers? That screamed, I'm fancy and festive and free, and that? It just wasn't Mr. Mower's style.

So despite his promises and kind words to Cardi, the first thing the new owner did was rip out the gardens. Mr. Mower went in with a weed whacker and cut all the tulips down to the dirt and ripped the roots. Once he had a big pile, he then gathered up the flowers and threw them in the compost bin to rot. Not finished there, Mr. Mower finally ripped out all the garden edging.

and laid down new strips of green grass sod. Inside of a week, the flowers were all gone, and grass dominated what was once Cardi's Gardie. In fact, a week or so later, Cardi drove by her old house. She just wanted to see how it was faring. Maybe the new family painted it a fun new color or added a new window or something like that. But no, it was the same.

Except her garden was gone. Cardi couldn't help it. She started to cry just a little. She was still crying when she got to her daughter's. And she explained that she knew it was silly, but it really bothered her. Of course, she didn't mention the pixies.

To make her feel better, Cardi's daughter showed back up with a big bag of gardening supplies. Together, the two of them made a new little garden outside of Cardi's window. They planted tulips in all the colors of the rainbow, and Cardi felt a little better. They'll take a while to grow, she said, hugging her daughter. But eventually, I'll have my garden back. Back at Cardi's old house, Mr. Mower was having a lot of trouble.

He considered himself a lawn expert, but he couldn't keep his grass alive. His neighbors on either side had bright green lawns, but his grass was sad and brown and dry and drying. No amount of fertilizer worked, no water helped, and he was going nuts. What was wrong?

Of course, what was wrong was that he had broken his promise to Cardi. He had destroyed the Pixies' nursery, and this was their revenge. Since Mr. Mower had killed their flowers, they killed his grass, using their magic to make sure it would never grow again. And then, mischief completed, they left for, quite literally, greener pastures. That same night, Cardi was sitting outside at her new home.

She had a little porch outside her door, and her daughter had brought out her favorite rocking chair. She sat a little sadly, looking at the bare dirt of her garden. She knew it would grow soon enough, but she couldn't help but feel bad about selling the old house and leaving the pixies to find their own way. It got darker, and Cardi felt herself getting tired.

She wasn't ready for bed yet, so she just rested her eyes in her rocking chair. And as she did, she must have drifted off, because suddenly, she heard it. The low, whispered song of the pixies. The same one they sang to their babies. But that couldn't be. She had no flowers and the pixies were gone. It must just be a sweet dream.

But when Cardi opened her eyes, the bare dirt of her garden was gone, replaced by a sprawling yard of full-grown tulips. They were all the colors of happy bright things bobbing in the breeze. And the pixies were there, flitting on their little wings, singing their lullaby to the little babies nestled in the bulbs. You found me, said Cardi, so happy she could cry. And you brought me flowers.

"'Of course,' said the same little pixie she had talked to before. "'Our home is Cardi's Gardie, and no matter where that is, it's still home.' "'Well then,' said Cardi, with a big teary smile, "'Welcome home.' And the pixie stayed, and every night Cardi went to sleep with their tulip song shimmering in her ears and a great big smile on her face."

And together, they all lived happily ever after. The End Today's story, Cardi's Gardie, was written for you by Daniel Hines and inspired by European garden folklore. It was edited and produced for you by Andrew Martin and performed for you by me, Amanda Weldon.

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In case you missed it, Dan and I have a new show. On Stories RPG, we play games just like Starsworn with all your Max Goodname friends and Giga City Guardians featuring the brilliant Firefly. Click the link in the episode description or go to patreon.com slash stories RPG to get ad-free episodes, play along games, and coloring books. We've already got a bunch of episodes over there, so check them out now. Thanks for listening!