[ WP ] A fairy tells it 's children a human tale before bed

They began the chant of night that would coax the stars into shining and make the sprites cry out the dew in rapture, but before the first verse had ended, the fairy child was bored. 
 
 `` Instead of the songs,'' whispered Piliffa, `` will you get out a Book?'' 
 
 `` Our somber little Pilly!'' 
 
 Piliffa pouted. `` I'll put my head in the clouds for you tomorrow, if only you'll read to me.'' 
 
 `` A sensible story for you, dear heart, of course, of course,'' they hummed, as the volume tumbled into their arms and opened to the one they liked the best. 
 
 `` Once upon a time, there lived a dog in a cage. Like some of the other dogs, it had been there so long it did n't remember where it came from. The dog was afraid of the long-legged smelly furless ones who always walked past and looked at it. Those were called humans, and they did n't have wings, but sometimes they fed the dog and opened the cage to touch it, so that it became less and less afraid. 
 
 `` One day a small human was very glad to see the dog. The others made small worried eyes at the child and talked while the child sobbed and raged. But they talked until the noises changed to laughter. The cage opened. They took it out of the big boxy building full of doors and the dog saw the sun and leapt in the fragrant grass with joy. 
 
 `` But the leash hurt the dog's neck when it tried to run and play. And long before it was done relishing the beauty of the new air, the humans got out an even smaller cage and led the dog toward it. Fear flashed in the dog. It bit and clawed and desperately howled! The small one was in the way of its escape and its familiar cries joined the howling and raving as blood flew from veins to earth. 
 
 `` The screaming humans dragged the dog away from the silent child and back to the building. One of the others took it to a new room with no dogs and no locks. This human used to pet the dog gently and speak to it so softly. But now it was making a new kind of face with wide eyes and pressed lips and the dew came dripping while it strapped the dog down to the table. The dog yelped when the human stabbed its leg with a flask full of sleep, and that was the last sound it ever gave to the world.'' 
 
 `` Do n't forget the last part,'' yawned Piliffa, now buried under the gossamer. 
 
 Grinning, they sang, `` And the moral of the story is!'' and they chanted it til the dawn.
