'The Girl who Sings to Snails' -a short illustrated story

The girl who sings to snails

by Ophelia Fu
Overnight the plants in the garden had their leaves nibbled and munched so much that they now resembled paper doilies.
Lucy’s mom was in despair at the sight of her veggie patch. ‘’Something has to be done about those pesky snails’’ she declared as she stomped inside the house to search through the pages of her gardening books for tips on snail removal.

Lucy looked at the leaves, she thought they looked rather pretty and held one up to the sky. The light shone through the holes and danced on the palm of her outstretched hand. She could hear her mom inside the house slamming down books and grumbling on about greedy snails.

From over the fence the sound of giggling was being carried. A group of girls were playing in the back garden, building a den from blankets and bean poles. Even though they were the same age as Lucy they didn’t ask her to play with them, in fact no one really played with Lucy. There was no real reason for this apart from Lucy was new to the area, and in their eyes this made her a little odd.

Lucy walked over to the patch of dandelions and picked the largest silver one she could find, as she twirled around in a circle scattering the seeds she began to sing a little song to herself. All over the garden little pairs of eyes on the end of tentacles looked up, peeking over the edges of leaves and plant pots. Something had caught the attention of the snails, a beautiful sound was creating mesmerising vibrations. Slowly glittering tracks of silver began to appear all across the garden, they shimmered as they wove from one shady spot of the garden to the next. A spiral of hundreds of glittering trails began to form, leading straight towards Lucy. At the front of each trail was a snail, and hundreds of snails were heading towards the hypnotic sound vibrations.

Lucy stopped twirling and looked down at her feet, 300 little pairs of eyes looked up at her. The dandelion slipped from her hand, scattering its seeds as it fell to the ground. The first feathery seed floated down and touched one of the snails, his tentacles retracted quicker than Lucy could blink, and like a domino effect around the garden the other 299 pairs of eyes disappeared too. 300 colourful shells lay at her feet like pebbles on a beach. Lucy bent down carefully and placed her index finger next to one of the shells.
‘’Hello’’ she said softly.
The skin of the snail quivered slightly and a pair of eyes popped out and looked up at Lucy. Slowly he slid on to Lucy’s finger, and Lucy stood up bringing him to her eye level.
‘’Hello’’ she said again, ‘’I’m Lucy it’s nice to meet you’’.

The little snail raised the front of his body off her finger and then curled his head downwards, as if greeting her with a bowed head. Lucy gave a curtsy, as she did so the other 299 snails at her feet followed the same actions of the first snail, raising their bodies and bowing their heads. They had found their snail queen, and Lucy now had 300 new friends.

Lucy could see her mom inside the house going through the kitchen cupboards, she was frantically gathering supplies. A bottle of beer and several jam jars were being lined up on the kitchen counter, it was everything needed to make several snail traps. Lucy decided that is might be wise to move the snails from the back garden, and with some haste.

Carrying her new friend on her finger she hopped between the other snails, as if she was completing an assault course. She was heading for the garden gate, the other snails turned themselves around and began to follow their new leader. Lucy reached the gate and turned around to see 299 snails still in approximately the same place she had left them. Their idea of fast was not very fast at all, she would need a plan.

She wriggled the rusty bolt on the shed door, it reluctantly moved to the side after a little force. Inside was her mom’s old wheelbarrow, it had a wonky wheel and squeaked like an angry mouse, it was perfect for the job! She pulled it out, toppling over a few stacked plant pots on the way. She pushed it to the centre of the lawn and carefully started to place the snails inside.
When she had finished the wheel barrow was full, many of the snails had come out of their shells to look at where they were being taken. Little eyes peered over the sides with nervous anticipation, like passengers on an amusement ride. Using all her strength Lucy pushed the wheelbarrow out of the back garden through the garden gate and towards the neglected patch of hostas on the front garden. Lucy thought the shaded undergrowth and fallen tree branches would make the perfect home for the snails, but the snails had another idea.

Lucy gently lowered the front of the wheelbarrow to the floor, snails tumbled and crawled out. Lucy lay down on the grass and had a rest, as all that pushing had made her tired. She closed her eyes, though she was still awake. The sunlight made the inside of her eyelids phase from orange to red, tiny veins of colour danced across her vision. As the sun warmed her skin she drifted off to sleep.
The snails set to work, slowing forming a circle around Lucy and weaving a fine layer of silver. They climbed up higher and higher, forming walls of snails, shell upon shell. Translucent walls of shimmering silver were forming around Lucy. With each layer the walls became more and more ornate, until a beautiful castle began to emerge.
The snails climbed down, and admired their hard work. They had created a beautiful castle for their queen Lucy.
Three pairs of eyes peeked through the garden fence, something had caught the curiosity of the girls playing next door. They strained to see through the holes of the wooden fence, balancing on their tiptoes they wobbled back and forth. Something glittering in the sun was catching their eyes, something strange and yet magnificent! They abandoned the blankets and beanpoles next to their half built den, and went to explore.

When Lucy woke up the sky had disappeared. She was now looking up into a dome of twinkling lights, as the sun was peeking through the lace like holes of the castle roof. She could hear whispering voices on the other side of the glistening walls, she stood up and walked outside of the structure. The three girls from next door were now stood on her lawn, they approached her shyly, staring up at the gleaming castle in front of them. They had realised that being different wasn’t always a bad thing, and that new people brought with them new opportunities and new adventures.
Lucy’s mom was confused about the silver castle that suddenly appeared on her front lawn, but was happy that her veggie patch remained intact, even though her snail traps remained empty.
Oh, and what about Lucy the Snail Queen? Well she always remembered to sing when she was in the garden and the snails were happy to follow her wherever she wanted to go, near or far. She also now had 303 new friends to play with, and was never lonely again.

Words and images by Ophelia Fu