Of Shoes and Hearts

shared with dVerse

A silver shoe abandoned on the stair
A token to be followed through the night
Single shoe and lonely heart each pining for its pair
A silver shoe abandoned on the stair
Once the mate was found - there
Two broken hearts would heal and reunite
A sliver shoe abandoned on the stair
A token to be followed through the night

Behind These Doors

Magpie Tale #96

Shared with dVerse

You really want to come in here?
Really?
Are you sure you know what’s behind these doors?


Are you sure it’s only old garden tools
Shovels and rakes and the push lawn mower,
Broken pots nestled among spider webs?


Do you know that it’s not a dragon’s horde,
Gleaming gold and strands of pearls piled above clean white bones,
Rusted daggers and helmets and polished shields?


Are you sure it’s only the beach things,
The surfboard and colored towels
Buckets for sandcastles and shell collections?


Do you know that it’s not a magician’s hideaway,
Where you’ll find him bent over cracked leather spell books
Bubbling red potions and a talking raven for company?


Are you sure it’s only the winter supplies
A green snow blower, ice skates and snow shoes
The toboggans, boots, and sleds?


Do you know that it’s not a doorway to faerie,
A portal to emerald meadows where unicorns roam
An invitation to a dance that never ends?


Haven’t you ever wondered,
What else could be behind these doors?
Are you sure you want to know?

The Gingerbread Man and the Fox

 Magpie Tale #95
 

It is a well-known fact that gingerbread men and foxes are sworn enemies.

It is a lesser-known fact that gingerbread men are the finest shipwrights anyone has ever encountered. This may seem counterintuitive. After all, gingerbread men cannot swim and water or any liquid for that matter, dissolves a gingerbread man into nothingness. But this is precisely why they are such excellent shipwrights. Since they have a healthy fear of water, gingerbread men boats are more watertight and unsinkable than any other kind of craft. In fact, shipbuilding is the backbone of the gingerbread man economy.

Every five years the great Boat Festival is held on the royal island of Zingiberis. There is a contest that lasts weeks to see who has built the best boat. The king and queen of the gingerbread men sail in each boat and choose the best vessel. The builder of that boat becomes the royal shipwright until the next Boat Festival.

One year, two weeks prior to the Boat Festival a gingerbread man shipwright committed high treason. He had sold a boat to a fox. It was worse than that. He had given a boat to a fox.

His name was Rhy Gember. The fox in question had taken his family hostage and threatened to eat them. Rhy reluctantly turned over the boat, the beautiful boat he had meant to in enter in the Festival, in return for his family’s safety. Gloomily he watched the fox sail away laughing. If Gingerbread men could cry, he would have done so. That’s when he noticed his son preparing a small boat.

“What are you doing?” Rhy asked. “This is no time to go sailing.”

The son turned from his preparations. “Yes it is Dad. That fox is up to no good. While he had us captured he said he was going to Zingiberis, to eat the king and queen. Someone’s got to stop him.”

Rhy felt even worse than before. But his son was right. “I’m going with you.”

The fox was long gone, but they didn’t need to follow him. They knew where he was going. Zingiberis was a week’s sail from Rhy’s home, but a storm rose up, blowing them off course and damaging the boat. By the time they limped into Zingiberis, the Boat Festival was in full swing.

Beautiful boats lined the harbor, painted brightly and festooned with garlands. Several were sailing in the waters beyond the harbor. Everyone was having a good time. Rhy scanned the water for his boat. The easiest time for the fox to kidnap the king and queen would be when they were testing his boat. The fox could just sail off with them. But Rhy could not see his boat. “We need to find the royal guard. The fox could have hatched his plan by now.”

After docking their boat they made their way to the headquarters of the royal guard. The guards were horrified to hear that the king and queen were in danger.

“Which boat is yours?” asked a guard scanning papers that listed the place where each boat was docked.

“The Nutmeg.”

“She sets sail now!” cried the guard.

Without wasting a moment they hurried to the guards’ ship. It was not long before they were following the route The Nutmeg had taken.

“We’ll say The Nutmeg has been disqualified.” The head guard decided. “That should give us time to get the king and queen off the ship and arrest the fox.”

“Do you think it will be that easy?” asked Rhy.

“No,” said the head guard and handed Rhy a musket.

The ship was fast, and soon they had caught up with The Nutmeg. They singled to ask if they could board the ship. There was no answer from The Nutmeg. Instead, the boat sailed in the opposite direction. They gave chase and a great navel battle ensued. Afterwards, everyone would ask Rhy what it had been like, to fight for his king and queen. Rhy would never really answer these questions. He would say he was honored to have been there, but that he wished he had been home by his fire. He would say how frightened he had been and how he had wished the guards had left him at the dock. He would say he did it only because he had to finish what he had started. The askers would have to turn to Rhy’s son for the details they longed to hear. He would proudly tell them how they had stormed the ship. He would tell them how close they had come to falling into the water - a gingerbread man’s worst fear. And proudest of all, he would tell them how his father, Rhy Gember, had been the one to force the fox to surrender.

A Few Things About Lunch

Magpie Tale #94

shared with dVerse
 

The best meal of the day is lunch

Lunch is the books you never lend

Sugared words to gleefully munch

To which breakfast and dinner are bookends

Lunch is the books you truly esteem

Breakfast is the books full of laughter light

Dinner is the books with solemn theme

Lunch fills your soul with sunshine bright

Lunch makes you a magpie

Born on wings in the air

Flying high above the sunrise

While you sit curled in the armchair

Interworld Traveler

Magpie Tale #93
 

Paige checked her packing list again. Extra socks, check; hiking boots, check; camera, check; dwarf-made dagger, check.

“Paige…” her mother came into the room and frowned. “Do you really need the dagger?”

Paige patted her shoulder reassuringly. “I shouldn’t. But I’d hate to need it and not have it.” She zipped her suitcase shut.

Her mother shook her head. “I’m never going to get used to your other world traveling. Where are you going this time?”

“Trezdon. I’ll be in a jungle; traveling by foot or beast, there are very few roads that allow for wagons.” Paige grinned. “I’ll send you lots of pictures.”

“Well, I guess it’s time I took you down.” Her mother picked up the suitcase and carried it to the garage.

Paige followed, “You should come with me again sometime. I bet you’d love the sculptures on Aiolos.”

“Oh, no! Not until they come up with a non-magical way to get there. I am not going to stand in a fake pumpkin patch in the rain waiting to disappear into thin air. And I can’t stand feeling when you change worlds! It’s like being on a rollercoaster without a seatbelt!” Her mother shuddered at the memory and put the suitcase in the back of the car. “Never again! I don’t know how you stand it.”

Paige slid into the passenger seat, “You get used to it. Besides, they have good medicine for it.”

After her mother dropped her off at the subway station, Paige looked at the itinerary.

10:00 Transport from Earth to Trezdon. Madison Subway, Green Park Station. Your transport is the red sofa.

Red sofa, Paige thought. That’s better than the pumpkin patch.

Curse: Part 2

My father was a whimsical man and that made him a dangerous king. He had twelve sons, my brothers. He was never quite pleased with them, for he feared they would fight amongst themselves for his throne. Daughters would not be troublesome, he was sure. So he took it into his head, that if he ever had a daughter, he would slay his sons and leave the kingdom to her. That was when he had three sons. Nine sons later, I, the daughter was born.

Before my birth, my brothers discovered my father’s plot. They fled and waited fearfully. When they heard I was a girl, they knew they could never return to my father’s house.

My father banished my brothers and ordered that anyone who met them was to kill them. He also declared I should never know about my brothers, lest I should show them kindness when I was on the throne. I discovered this history from my maid when I was seventeen. I then set out to find my brothers.

After I found them, foolishly picked the lilies, banished them and found them again, they told me this tale.

They were traveling after they fled our father when a fierce storm arose. They chanced upon the home of twelve sisters who gave them shelter. The following morning, one brother saw twelve lilies by the door. He thought it would be fitting for each brother to offer one to each sister, in thanks for their hospitality. Imagine their horror, when after plucking the lilies, they discovered the beautiful maidens were now hideous trolls.

At first they believed the girls had been enchanted and were determined to return them to their proper forms. The sisters only laughed and told them the truth. The girls were indeed trolls. They took human forms in order to catch unsuspecting humans and eat them. My brothers were to be the next victims, and the trolls attacked. My brothers fought bravely and overcame the trolls, but they did not come away unscathed. They all had many wounds, but worst of all, the trolls had cursed them before they died. Twelve new lilies were beside the door. If anyone picked them, my brothers would vanish.

They had little choice but to live in the house and guard the lilies, though they would have preferred to keep traveling. They were not angry with me for picking the lilies, however. Because the lilies were gone now, they had no fear for their lives and were their own masters.

Curse: Part 1.

Curse

Magpie Tale #91

Find your brothers’ chairs. Find the chairs, you find your brothers.

I’ve never even seen my brothers. Not, that is until last night. And it was too dark to see them really.

Twelve brothers, forced to flee my father’s wrath before I was even born. I am the thirteenth child, the first daughter, my brothers’ curse.

It was only a month ago I found out I had brothers and began searching for them. It was only last night I found them. This morning I plucked twelve lilies as gifts for them before they woke. And because I took those twelve lilies from the ground, my brothers are gone.

I searched for them once and now I must do so again. All these chairs are alike. Wooden, rough made for peasants; like the chairs in my brothers’ home were they lived simply. I strain my eyes for any difference, any hint. They are a king’s sons, will I find gold on their chairs? Last night my brothers had spoken of the thrones they once hoped to have and the joy they found far from them. Now the chairs are thrones, all like the one my father sits on. I reach for one, but stop. My father drove my brothers out; would they have chairs like his? Now the chairs are still thrones, but different. One is lined with red velvet, another is solid gold, one is round, another square. So they change to match my thoughts. I picture my mother’s sitting room, instantly the chairs are wicker with flowered cushions. Roses, asters, daffodils, sunflowers, chrysanthemums, dogwood, cherry, lilies, bachelor buttons, petunias, magnolias. Lilies. Only twelve chairs have lilies.


This is a very short retelling of the Grimms' fairytale The Twelve Brothers. In this fairytale a king has twelve sons, but decides that if his next child is a girl he will kill them all so that the daughter will inherit everything. When the brothers find out they flee. The daughter eventually finds them, but picks twelve lilies that turns her brothers into ravens and she has to save them. It is also similar to the Grimms' The Six Swans and Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans.

Check out Part Two.