The Tale of Yie
Long ago, in the far off forgotten times of the distant past, lived a fairy named Yie.
(pronounced "Eee")She wasn't a very great fairy, to be sure, and she wasn't the most beautiful, or the most powerful, but she was a fairy, and that meant something, even in those days.
In that time, if Mr. Brown wanted to send his humble holiday felicitations (such were the words of Mr. Brown!) to Miss Blakely, it was required of him to go to the General Coop Office and procure the use of a carrier pigeon.
For the small sum of forty-one cents, he could attach his greeting to a little ring secured to the bird's left leg (it needed its right leg to signal), throw the bird out of the window, and hope for the best.
Well, everything was going along just swimmingly (or should I say "flappingly"?),
when all of a sudden disaster struck.
"The pigeons, the pigeons!"
"They are all dying!"
"It's a regular Epidemic!" was the cry.
A great plague swept the land. The birds were falling by the millions. There was nothing anyone could do.
"What will we do? How can we wish each other a Merry Christmas if there's no bird to bring the wish?"
"Help, Oh, help us!" they beseeched the fairies, "Do something, Please!"
The fairy leaders sat down together in thought, to figure out some solution to the problem.
"Aha!" they said, and set about to work.
First, they tried to revive all the dead birds.
Nothing.
Next, the fairies tried to create new carrier pigeons.
No success.
Now, you might have thought that I had forgotten all about our fairy, Yie.
To tell the truth, everybody had. She had been sitting quietly off by herself all this time, watching, and thinking.
Finally, just when everyone was at his lowest, she stepped forward.
"Hmm..." she said.
"Hmmmmm... I wonder... yes..." she muttered, and began to tell her Plan.
"I say!" said the fairy leaders, and began to draw large, complicated diagrams.
"I say!" said the people, and began to talk excitedly amongst themselves.
Yie smiled. She didn't need to say anything anymore. The smartest fairies in the land were working around the clock to finish her Plan.
"Just think," the people said " A Grand Network!" "Unlimited Service!" "Reasonable Rates!" "Plus, absolutely no after delivery clean-up required!"
Finally, on the day before Christmas, it was finished.
"What shall we call it?" the leaders asked.
"Call it Yie-mail, after our dearest fairy, Yie." someone shouted.
"Yes! Yes!" the people responded. "Yie!" "Yie Forever!" "Speech!" "Speech!"
But all Yei did was smile, in her own way, a very little smile.
And boys and girls, after all these years, in your own Yei-mail, you can sometimes see her, still smiling.
=)
