It was a bright, beautiful day in the land of LovelyLocks and Lady LovelyLocks and her friends were on the Enchanted Island. They had spent a few days there and now wanted to return to the castle to see how things were going in the rest of the kingdom.

Unfortunately they could not leave, because the magic balloon of Lady LovelyLocks had been damaged in a terrible storm. The balloon was on the golden beach, where it had been since the storm. At first they did not care, because it was so nice to be on the Enchanted Island with their friends Maiden GoldenWaves and Maiden MistyCurls. However, after a while Lady LovelyLocks knew that they had to go back to her castle, but repairing the balloon seemed not an easy thing to do. It would take time, skill and effort.

So Lady LovelyLocks called everyone together.
"I know it's fun to play and swim," she said when all of them were there. "But there are also things which have to be done. Our magic balloon lies damaged on the beach en all of us will have to work to repair it."
And so all the maidens and the Pixietails went to work together to repair the magic balloon. And they did not mind, because working together makes the work easier and more fun.

Maiden MistyCurls brought her needles and a lot of silk threads, because the balloon was ripped up at many places. Together with Maiden FairHair and a few handy Pixietails, she began to sew together the tears. Lady Lovely Locks cut pieces of cloth to close the bigger holes with.
While they were sewing, Maiden FairHair sang songs to make the work go quicker.

Let the eye of the needle open wide,
So through it my thread can easily slide.
Let these tears be neatly stitched,
So that the balloon's fabric may be fixed.

In the meanwhile, the maidens CurlyCrown and GoldenWaves went into the forest with a few handy Pixietails to look for thin, straight twigs. They needed those to repair the holes in the basket of the balloon. When they had found enough, they brought them to the Sea Magic Pixietails who dove to the bottom of the lake with the twigs to make them soaked through. When the twigs were supple, the maidens twined them into the basket of the balloon.

All together they continued to work hard and soon the balloon looked as good as new. But when they tried to fill the balloon with hot air, they could not!
"There must be a leak somewhere," said Lady LovelyLocks. But no matter how hard they searched and searched again, they could not find a hole.
"Maybe there's something else behind this," said Maiden FairHair.
"Yes," agreed Maiden CurlyCrown. "Maybe it's magic."
"You could be right," said Lady LovelyLocks. "We repaired the balloon as well as we could. But if the storm damaged the magic, then we need another kind of reparation. ShiningGlory will know something."

And so they quickly send a talking pigeon with a message, in which they explained the situation and asked for advice, to ShiningGlory. When the pigeon had flown away, they could do nothing else than wait until she got back. And so they played on the beach and swam in the sea, because they had worked hard and could relax now.

After a while the talking pigeon returned and everyone gathered around her to hear what she had to tell them. "I've been to the magician and told him your problem," said the pigeon. "To repair the magic of the balloon, you have to do the following. You have to take one hair from Lady LovelyLocks, one hair from a Pixietail, and one hair from the magician (which I have here). You use them as threads and with them embroider a heart on top of the balloon. And if you make the final stitch, say these words then:
"Heart of magic, made of hairs, help our balloon to fare again."

Maiden MistyCurls, who could sew the best, followed the instructions of the magician very carefully. While she sewed on the heart of hair, she spoke the magic words. And she had not finished yet, or the balloon filled with air and was ready to lift off.

Then Lady LovelyLocks and her maidens climbed aboard and said goodbye to their friends on the Enchanted Isle. And as they lifted off into the evening sky, they were glad to go home again, because they knew they would return soon to that wonderful island in the sea.

Translated by Maiden SnowTresses