Once upon a time, there was a small fairy, who watched a flying competition. She was called by little Darla, because her body was smaller than the other fairy at her age. She was mesmerized by a beautiful fairy who could fly so fast and beautifully. That fairy always won the flying competition because of her skill was above the average. Little Darla dreamt that one day she could be just like that beautiful fairy.

Little Darla joined the flying school, in order to be able to fly just like the fairy that she adored. As she was smaller than others and her tiny wings were also smaller, she used to be the slowest among others. The other fairy even called her with “Darly the Snail” as she was the slowest. She practiced so hard but she didn´t improve much. She was so sad because of it and thought about giving up. Her coach knew about it and she also knew Darla had something that the other didn´t have, that was persistency. So her coach spoke to her, “I know you feel sad because the others are faster than you, and maybe you consider to give up now, but let me tell you something. Sometimes what we need to reach success, are patience, hard work, and also opportunity. While we are waiting for our opportunity to come, we have to improve our selves by practicing and being patience. I am sure that everyone could be a winner, you just have to believe in your self, as I believe in you.” Those words were just like a mood booster for Little Darla. She kept it in her mind and she trained harder everyday.

Day by day had passed by, Little Darla grew up, but unfortunately she was still the smallest among others, but her flying skill had significantly improved. She wasn´t the slowest anymore, even though she wasn´t the fastest, either. She kept believe that one day she could be the winner of the next flying competition. As her age was enough to join the competition, she gathered all of her courage to apply for the next flying competition. There were so many other fairies who were skillful and bigger than Little Darla who also joined the competition. Her coach knew how hard Darla had trained herself, so she said to Darla, “be focus, just concentrate on your goal, you can make it.” Carla nodded and she understood.

The time had come, the flying competition began. The competition had 3 rounds and each round was an elimination round. If she didn´t passed the first round, she was not able to join the next round. The first round would be a beauty flying round. Each fairy should show their best ability in flying beautifully. This was Darla´s strength point. Little Darla flew so beautifully just like she danced while she was flying. The judges was amazed by Darla´s performance, so Darla passed the first round with a very good point.

The next round was a fast flying round. Each fairy should fly as fast as they can to reach the finish line and they would collect some points by evaluating their time. This point would be accumulated with the point at the first round and it would determined which fairies who would pass to the final round. Darla tried to give her best, she knew that she wouldn´t be the fastest, but at least she tried not to be the slowest, and she did it. By her points, she could pass to the next round and she was so glad to hear that good news.

The final round would be the hardest round. Each fairy should fly above the sky to reach the top of the highest tree and they should take the medal which had been hanged on the top of that tree. It would be so difficult since the wind blew so strong. There  were only 10 fairies left in the final round, included Darla. The other fairies were bigger and stronger than her. Darla felt afraid actually, but her coach kept supporting and believing her. It gave Darla strength and energy to keep giving her best.

As the final round started, the sky was so cloudy, the sun was hiding behind the cloud, so the wind blew stronger. The other fairies flew as high as they could, but unluckily some of them gave up after they dealt with the strong wind. They were not able to bear it and some of them decided to give up. Some of them kept trying, but not for a long time. Little Darla decided to fly as slow as she can. When she reached the elevation where the wind blew so strong, she was almost swept away by the wind. So she decided to hang on the tree´s branch, as long as she could. She believed that there would be a moment when the cloud moved and the sun would shine again, and the wind would not be so strong like now.

She kept hang on, while other fairies felt down one by one. She was the last participant that kept surviving. Darla hanged on the branch as long as she could. She prayed that the moment would come soon and she patiently waited for her opportunity. The nature granted her wish. After some times, the cloud moved, the sun shone, and wind blew not so strong anymore. Darla used her opportunity to fly as fast as she could, before the wind blew stronger again. She reached the top of the tree and took the medal. None of the judges and the spectator had predicted Darla to be the winner since she was the smallest among other fairies, but she did it.

Darla finally got her fist gold medal as a winner in flying competition. Her coach was so proud of her and so did her self. Darla realized that everyone had its own time to shine. Some might take longer like her, some might take short time, but what really important was kept giving her best and kept being patience until the opportunity came. Those things would lead us to reach success.