Once upon a time in a faraway land, Ricky the pixie lived in a little house on Gumdrop Lane. Everyone in Pixieland agreed that Ricky was the happiest and nicest pixie they had ever known. He always thought of others and helped the elderly, and never once used a bad word or hurt anyone.
Ricky was the postman in Pixieland. Every day he would get up very early and deliver letters and parcels for all the other pixies. Sometimes the post was very heavy and Ricky could hardly manage to pull his little postcart, but the other pixies would always help him if he needed it.
One day Ricky was delivering letters in the crop fields when he saw that the farmers were wearing strange pointed hats, rather than their normal pixie hats. Ricky was very curious, and complimented the farmers on their special new hats. The farmers said that the hats were a gift from Vizrael the Wizard, who lived near the fields. Ricky was happy that Vizrael was such a kindly wizard, and went on his way.
The next day Ricky was surprised to find that everyone in Pixieland was wearing one of Vizrael's hats! And when he got home from his rounds, he discovered a brand new hat waiting on his doorstep for him, just like all the others. Ricky was very pleased with the hat as it was shiny and splendid, but he felt a little sad because every single pixie was wearing one. Previously, pixie hats had been all sorts of colours, a different shade for every pixie. But all of Vizrael’s hats were exactly the same. Ricky decided not to wear his new hat, but to keep on his Postman's hat so that everyone could see when the post was coming.
The following day was Thursday. Ricky liked Thursdays because there was very little post to deliver in the middle of the week, so he could take things more slowly and chat to his friends as he did his rounds. But as Ricky started out, he noticed that there was nobody in Pixieland! He was very confused, but delivered the letters and packages anyway.
When he reached the fields near Vizrael’s castle, he saw that all the pixies were building a big wall! He ran over to his friend Peter and asked him what was happening. Peter said that Vizrael had asked the pixies to help him build a wall around his castle. And because they were grateful for the hats he had given them, the pixies agreed. At first, only a few pixies were going to help. But Vizrael said that whoever built the most wall would get a special crown to wear! Now all the pixies were helping, because they all wanted the crown.
Ricky was worried because everyone seemed to be working for Vizrael. But he expected that the pixies would come back when the wall was finished, and Pixieland would be the same as ever.
Pixieland was deserted the next day as well. This made Ricky sad, because his posthag was very heavy that day and there was nobody to help him.
After he had delivered the first few letters, Ricky noticed something strange. Everybody in Pixieland had a letter - each in identical envelopes! He searched through his bag and, sure enough, there was a letter for him at the bottom. He opened it up and was shocked at what he saw.
The letter had Vizrael's seal at the top, and had lots of brightly coloured pictures of crowns. It said that the pixies who work very hard for Vizrael, and put his needs before those of the other pixies, would be rewarded with all sorts of special crowns to wear. And if you have a crown, you don't need to work any more and can tell the other pixies what to do.
Ricky was furious! He realised that the other pixies were being tricked into working for Vizrael, who was making them greedy and selfish. He threw his postbag to the floor and ran towards Vizrael’s castle.
When Ricky reached the wall the other pixies were building, he was shocked. It not only went round the castle, but the whole of Pixieland! It was as if Vizrael owned the whole place!
Ricky tried to tell the other pixies what was happening, but they wouldn't listen. They were scared of him because he wasn’t wearing the same hat as the rest of them. Several of them ran off to find Billy, the pixie who used to make the roofs for the pixies' houses.
Billy was wearing a shiny golden crown, and was telling everyone what to do. When he saw Ricky he said that he was a subversive criminal who wanted to take away all the nice hats. The pixies hissed at Ricky, and threw stones at him until he ran away.
Peter looked on sadly as the other pixies threw stones. He wanted to help his friend Ricky, but he knew that he would just have stones thrown at him as well.
Ricky was very sad indeed. He saw that there was nothing he could do on his own, and that Vizrael now insidiously controlled all of Pixieland. But Ricky had an idea. What if he spoke to the king of the elves? Or the goblin chief? He knew they would see through Vizrael's scheme and help to reclaim Pixieland.
Ricky packed up his belongings and set out to leave Pixieland. He carefully avoided the wall and set off towards the forest of the elves.
But Ricky did not realise just how powerful Vizrael had become. The wizard was keeping a careful watch on the postman, as he suspected that he might try to get help. Vizrael wanted to take over all the lands he could, and things would become difficult if the elves and goblins were alerted. He knew they could be made to want pretty hats too.
Ricky made it less than a mile away from Pixieland before Billy caught up to him, with two of Vizrael's evil dogs. The red eyes of the beasts glowed brightly as they snapped and bit Ricky, until they succeeded in tearing out his throat.
Billy returned to the castle, where Vizrael rewarded him with a lovely golden crown encrusted with rubies and sapphires.