Monday, May 9, 2016

My Fairy-tale for Springtime part 4

Around nine o clock, Queen Rachel went into labor. The fairies appeared in a flash to assist her as midwives. The queen was frightened, but the fairies combed her hair with their fingers and told her soothing things. Soon the baby was born. It was pink and red as a rose. The fairy queen held up the baby to the queen.
“It is a girl, what will you name her?”
"She looks like a rose, blotchy and red, I shall call her Rose Red,”
"She is only that way because she has just been born your majesty, still, it is a beautiful name. We shall announce it to the kingdom in a grand celebration, me and my eleven fairies shall each give a blessing.”
So everyone gathered in the palace chapel for a grand baptism of the baby girl. Once she was blessed by the bishop, everyone brought their gifts to the dais and set them around the cradle. They were lovely and practical things a princess could use. There was a glided chest full of linen, a writing desk with a quill and ink, a bench and throne to use for meals, a spinning wheel, and a magic mirror.
After the mortals gave their gifts, it was the fairies’ turn. They formed a line to the cradle the first to come up was the fairy queen. She tapped her wand on the baby’s forehead and said.
“I grant you the gift of grace, may you win all the hearts around you with your manners and dancing” the next fairy came up and said.
“I give you the gift of youth, so that you will never age past sixteen.” And so forth each fairy gave her gift.
“My gift is that you will always stay beautiful and worries and warts will not never show on your face”
“I give you the power to be brave, for a woman needs all the courage she can in this world”
“I bestow upon you a positive attitude to use as a tool to solve your problems in life”
“I bless you with a creative mind so that you can make your world a more fun place”
“I give you a sense of empathy and charity, so that your heart won’t become cold and selfish”
“I give you the ability to love everyone and forgive, even your enemies
“I give you maternal instincts, which will be useful later in life to help you nurture and care for others”  
“Intuition is a very important thing to have, it can save you from folly”
“I give you nimble fingers, useful for sewing and all crafts.

“I give you a sense of shame and humility so your head won’t be full of air” 

My Fairy-tale for Springtime part 3

The witches flew away and left the fairies and gnomes to ponder what they had just witnessed. They loved the royal family and needed to think of a solution. The fairy queen stood up and said.
“We shall keep an eye on the family. If we see that old witch around we’ll sting her ears”
“But tomorrow will be a festival and a joust, which means the horses will have shoes made of iron as well the knights’ suits of armor, the iron will burn us” said one of the fairies
Right you are, then we will stay where the iron can’t touch us. We can still go to the christening party”
Enough talk! It is a fine night. Let us dance!” said a gnome
 The fairies gathered in a circle and used their toes to burn a ring in the grass. Mushrooms suddenly sprouted from the ring. The fairies danced in a circle holding hands around the fairy queen who waved her wand and ordered music to be played. Some fairies took some strings, reeds and bells and made a music meant only for the ears of fairies. The queen choose eleven good fairies to be her entourage. They each looked and smelled like a different flower. They danced till the sun started to show. The fairies flew away into the trees. The gnome hurried down their hole underground before the light touched them and turned them to stone.  

That day there was a fair on the castle courtyard. The Queen felt sick and stayed in her tower. The evil witch queen disguised herself as a raven and parched on the windowsill. She saw that the woman’s belly was already swollen with child. Down below, there was lots to do and see. Wooden stalls sold goods and sweets to the spectators as they watched the joust of the knights or enjoyed the merry men dancing. There was also the queens garden, where the noblemen and ladies would listen to minstrels sing while gazing into each other’s eyes and holding hands.
On this day peasants and nobles mixed freely and enjoyed themselves equally. In the crowded group of people was the evil queen’s spinner, Carabosse. She darted her eyes looking for trouble, until she spotted Snow White watching the Joust. She looked around and saw the prince and king as well. She went over to them and told them that she was looking for work and was a spinner by trade. The king said.
“I’m afraid we already have a spinner, five in fact and they do very fine work”
“Father” said Snow White “I have always wanted to learn spinning, the others are always so busy. Cant this woman be my teacher?”
“Very well my dear if that is what you wish. Spinning woman what is your name?” the deceitful witch was known far and wide for her wickedness, so she weaved a lie to cover her tracks.
”Helga, your majesty”
“Helga, you will sleep in the chamber next to Snow White’s tonight,” The king turned toward his daughter and said
“And you must get to bed early, for tomorrow begins your training”
“Yes, father.”
As the day drew to a close, people hopped into boats and rowed down the clear and beautiful stream that surrounded the castle like a moat. It was one last bit of fun before the day was over. Everyone came inside for a nice supper. The queen turned to her husband and said
“My dear David, I must tell you something”
“What is it my dear?”  
“I think I’m with child”
“A child?”
“Yes, it’s the fairies’ blessing”
“Are you sure you should play with fairies? They can be tricky”
“I’ll be alright, everything has been going so well, maybe when the child is born they’ll give it a blessing”
“Very well, I trust your judgment, as long as all this joy and merriment doesn’t come at a heavy price.”
Everybody ate well, even the wicked Carabosse. She and everybody else found their room and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a big day. It had been two days since the queen touched the magic flower and the baby would be due the following morning.    



Wednesday, May 4, 2016

1345 Courtiers


My Fairy-tale for Springtime part 2

 so then the fairy said


“Then your wish shall be granted, now listen here. There is a flower that grows close by. If you touch its silky petals you will become swollen with child the next morning. I will guide you to the flower if you promise to honor us with dance and food.
                Rachel agreed to the terms and followed the fairy. It was not long until they found the lone flower growing in a patch of dead grass. The fairy said  
                “Just one touch and your child will be born in two days”
Rachel reached out her finger and pressed it against the velvet petal. It felt soft and billowy. The fairy protested against savoring the flower too much.
“One touch is enough for a mortal, even a queen. You must stop or the child will be more fairy then human.”
Rachel gathered her composure. The fairy spoke to her again.
“Now, go home and bring your household here. Tell the ladies and knights to tie colorful ribbons to the trees. Tell the cooks to lay tables of cake and milk. Tell everyone there is to be a dance around the maypole. How hurry and we will have a beautiful pole by the time you come back”
Rachel ran out of the forest as the fairies used their magic to turn an old dead tree into a elegant pole. So the queen brought back all the fairy told her into the woods. The tables where laid out. The queen and king sat in their own special area. The courtiers and royal family brought baskets of ribbons to decorate with. The fairies took hold of the ribbons and flew way up high to the very top of the maypole and tied them way around until they were good and firm.
The ladies grabbed hold of the ribbons. They danced alone in a circle, winding back and forth. Then the prince took hold of one the ladies’ hands, the lady he secretly adored and danced with her while they both held to a bit of the ribbon. Soon the other gentlemen followed his lead and everyone was dancing as a couple. The fairy magic had burned love onto people’s hearts and the simple dance became a courtship ritual.
The king and queen sat under the canopy and watched the lovely dance. Snow White stood at the benches pouring milk and cutting cake for both humans and fairies. The fairies danced in circles in midair or riding on the breezy ribbons, their silvery wings glistening in the sun. As the day grew to a close, toadstools and other fungus formed on the grassy lawn and the fairies sat down with some gnomes. While every human left, they stayed behind to see what would happen after dark.
Up in the sky, ugly old witches flew over the forest. Most rode on brooms, but some were on shovels and pitchforks. One witch rode on a griffon, she was their queen. They descended down on the ground and gathered in a circle. The other witches helped their queen dismount the griffon. She had with her a skinny, breaded man with her. She and he sat down on a log. It was time to make the announcements.
“It is a fine turnout on this Walpurgis night, there are several new developments. First of all we had a new recruit into our coven” she pointed to the skinny breaded man beside her.

“This is Luigi Galvani. In his native land he was a scientist and the head alchemist, but now he has decided to turn over to the black side. He can be of very good use in our fight against the queen and her kingdom, he will be our spy, and he’ll blend in with the royals and discover their weaknesses. As you know, Nasseria has retired form black magic for a while, so we’ll need a new key to the royal family’s undoing

Our next topic of great importance is the founding of a new school. Tonight we will go to the witch mountain and lay the foundations for a academy of magic. If you help me and we use all our powers together then you all will have positons here as teachers and administers. It will be a life of safety and comfort away from the eyes of those treacherous witch hunters.

      One last bit of news and then we will fly away and start building our future. Luigi has told me that the queen is expecting a child. The birth will weaken her a great deal and then will be the perfect time to strike. Luigi and I have devised different ways of disguising poisons. The queen could eat a lime or comb her hair and she’d be dead in minutes. I need someone I can trust to deliver the poisons. Who wants to volunteer?”

                All the witches raised their hands, it was a tough decision. The evil queen thought of the person she could trust the most, her loyal spinner with her golden thread and her needle like spindles. Like Luigi, this old woman could pass undetected though ordinary people’s lives. The queen pointed at her with a sharp claw like nail.        

“Carabosse, my dear spinner, you shall go and offer your services to the royal family. Then I can go forward with my plan, soon I will be queen of the mortals and the witches. This unholy Sabbath is at an end. Let us fly to the Witch Mountains and set up camp there.”

The witches flew away and left the fairies and gnomes to ponder what they had just witnessed

  

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

My Fairy-tale for Springtime

                
This tale started in the year 1330 and takes place in a land not unlike the English countryside  

  Once upon a time there was a happy family. The mother was the queen and the father was the king. They had a prince and a princess for their children. The prince was handsome and polite to people, but the parent’s favorite child was their daughter. She had long beautiful black hair and skin was pale as snow they called her Snow White.
                One day the Queen was walking in the woods. She was enjoying the sun and the fresh air when she spotted something in a bush. As she looked closer she discovered it was an egg, covered in a shiny film. She picked it up from the tangled branches and soon dropped it after feeling its slimy texture.
                The egg broke in two and hundreds of little fairies flew out of it like hornets from a hive. They buzzed around the queen’s head, until one of them hovered over her and said.
                “What is your name?”
                “I am Rachel, Queen of this land, I beg your pardon for destroying the egg, lovely miss.”
                “Nonsense, we should be thanking you for releasing us. Today is a very important day, it’s the first of May and there is lots of work to do. You must start the festivities right away. There will be a grand celebration, everyone must come. We want to give you a token of our gratitude. Tell us what you want most in the whole world and we will give it to you.”

Rachel should have put more thought into her answer before blurting out that her children are all grown and will leave her soon, the thing she would want most would be a little baby to hold and feed.

To be continued....

December Seascape