Image from: maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com

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Once upon a time, in a little forest up on a hill there was a little fairy village. The tiny, winged inhabitants were creatures of the forest. They helped flowers to bloom and grass to come out of the soil. They brought the morning haze and let it rest upon the leaves of trees and bushes and branches alive or dead.

One day a little flying lady, Amanita, was resting underneath some tree leaves. With her angelic voice she started singing a song of the woods, a lovely lullaby her mother used to sing her every night. When her song was over, the fairy flew off to finish her work around the forest. As she was leaving, her wings touched a bright green tree leaf. 

The leaf shook for a while and as it turned over for an instant, the bright sunshine fell on some very small balls. What were they? They looked so sparkly, golden yellow and perfectly round. Oh! Some butterfly had hidden her eggs down there. Let's take a better look! Can you see the baby caterpillars growing inside? The eggshells are so delicate, almost transparent and those cute babies need some more time to grow before they come into the world of the forest.

Time passes by quick. And the fairies never stop taking care of the woods. The butterfly eggs finally hatch and the little larvae start spreading around to find food and grow even bigger before they are ready for their final transformation. 

Amanita is taking a break again. This time she has just finished helping some mushrooms out of the ground. Their tiny "hats" need all the extra help they can get to push the soil above them. And Amanita loves this task more than others. She is now sitting on a leafy branch singing her lullaby again. Right next to her, a colorful caterpillar is having lunch under some leaves, but she suddenly stops munching as soon as Amanita's song is spread in the air.

- I think I know this song. The melody sounds all too familiar!

-Oh! Who's there? Amanita's singing was interrupted.

- Hello, I'm just a caterpillar, no need to be afraid.

- Hello there! You scared me, you know!

- I'm sorry, it's just that the song you're singing... I am sure I've heard it before, but I can't remember when.

- I don't think it's possible. This is my secret lullaby. My mother used to sing it to me every night. But she is not around anymore. We lost her in a terrible forest fire many years ago. Amanita's voice was sad.

- Oh! I am really sorry about that. My name is Mariposa.

- Nice to meet you, Mariposa! I am Amanita!

- Nice to meet you! You know I have always been jealous of fairies! You are so beatiful and have these wings that can take you anywhere around the forest. I am just an ugly worm that eats and crawls all day.

- Don't say that for yourself, Mariposa! You are not a worm! You are a caterpillar that one day will turn into a pretty butterfly with colorful wings and everyone is going to be jealous of your beauty.

- I don't think so! Everyone keeps telling me that I will be a butterfly someday, but this days seems to be taking way too long. I believe they only say so to make me feel better, but trust me, I don't. Mariposa was disappointed.

- You know what? I do think so, because all the caterpillars I have met in this forest turn into butterflies eventually. And from what I've seen, I believe you are going to be the most beautiful butterfly of all when your time comes.

Mariposa's face seemed to brighten up,

- Do you actually believe it?

- Of course I do. Now, allow me to finish my song before I leave you to get back to work, all right?

- All right!

And Amanita sang again. And when she finished, she said goodbye to her new friend and went back to taking care of the forest. The two girls met every day. Every day Amanita would sing during her break and Mariposa would keep picturing herself as a little forest fairy, with delicate wings and hair decorated with flowers and plant roots. 

As the time kept going by, Mariposa kept growing bigger and bigger. And when the right moment came she crawled up a branch and started building herself a safe cocoon to hide in.

- Amanita, I feel really tired. I don't know why, but I want to rest for a while. I will see you again when I wake up.

- I will be waiting for you, Amanita said as she clapped her wings and sang once again for her little friend to fall asleep.

While Mariposa was resting inside her cocoon, Amanita and the other fairies kept on with their chores. Spring was coming and the forest creatures were too busy getting everything ready for the great regeneration of Nature. They were going to have a big festival to celebrate the upcoming rebirth. The fairies had their mushroom circle ready for the big night, a fairy ring they called it. All of them would gather to sing and dance for Mother Nature in their sacred circle. Their songs would awaken her and life would be reborn once again, like it does every year.

That night the whole forest was celebrating! The crickets and the cicadas were there playing their music. The fireflies were flying above everyone's heads lighting up the night. Frogs and squirels were sitting around the mushroom circle waiting for the fairies to begin their spectacular show. The spiders were all hanging from the trees and their beautiful and delicate webs were decorating the nude branches that would soon be filled with fresh, new leaves. 

The hedgehogs started banging the tortoises' shells like drums and then the fine fairies started slowly coming out of their bushes. Their wings were spinning, making a buzzing sound that matched the music the rest of the forest animals were playing. Dressed in heir colorful clothes, with their hair in beautiful braids, the ethereal creatures stepped inside the fairy ring. Amanita was with them. Their leader, wise Daldinia, gave her signal and the dance began. 

You could not help but being amazed by their gentle moves, they were almost floating in an oneiric choreography that was accompanied by their divine voices. Yes, the fairies were now singing hymns to Nature, odes to regeneration and glorifications to life. And when their singing peaked, Amanita came to the middle of the circle to sing the ultimate hymn of Life. 

All the other fairies joined hands and when the notes started coming out of her mouth, right above her head a forgotten cocoon started breaking open. Crack after crack, the creature that was hidden inside it managed to get out. At first, it felt a little numb and dizzy, but it managed to hold onto the branch. The music echoed in its ears. It stretched its wings, wet and soft. Amanita's hands were raised to the skies as her voice kept singing. It spreaded them wide to dry and right before Amanita sang the final verse, the beautiful butterfly took her first flight. It was Mariposa who had finally made it! She was not a crawling caterpillar anymore.

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*Original story by @ruth-girl - Steemit 2018

Off to the science part - Are fairy rings for real?

Those mushroom circles are very very real and they are indeed called fairy rings. Read below to see how and why they're made:

Image from: geograph.org.uk - Creator, Graham Horn - License

A spore of a fungus makes it to the ground and starts spreading in all directions in the form of the mycelium. The mycelium of the fungus, its vegetative part, comprises of many many tiny threads the hyphae. Those spread underground and feed on nutrients from the soil and other plant's roots. The mycelium secretes enzymes that break down those nutrients and then absorb them through the walls of the hyphae. As the soil in the center slowly loses the ability to supply food, the mycelium grows outwards. The "dead zone" created in the center, depleted of nutrients, will end up in discoloration of the grass all over it. When the fungus decides it, the mushrooms, the fruit of the fungus, will pop out in a circular arrangement called a fairy ring (you know, marking the circle for the fairies to dance in). The mushrooms carry the spores that allow for the fungus' reproduction.

Sometimes the rings of the mycelium can be observed even without the mushrooms themselves. They are the darker green, circular shapes around patches of dead grass. The color is the result of phosphorus and nitrogen that are released from the decomposition of the grass thanks to, whom else? The mycelium, of course. 

About 60 fungus species grow in fairy ring formations which are divided into two categories, depending on where they grow. Tethered fairy rings are found in the woods and are formed by symbiotic with trees fungi and free fairy rings grow in meadows and are not connected with any other organism. One of the biggest fairy rings ever was found in France, had a diameter of 600 meters and is believed to be more than 700 years old.

References

wikipedia.org
mushroomexpert.com
earthsky.org

PS: If you love to learn more about fungi, @dber is the guy you shoud be checking out!

Thank you so much for your time!

Until my next post,
Steem on and keep smiling, people!