Day 9 NaBloPoMo - Fairy Tale Friday

This year sees the 200 year anniversary of the publication of the Grimm Fairy Tales and to celebrate this Philip Pullman has published the Grimm Tales (which is most certainly on my Christmas list Santa!!). To celebrate this and also resurrect a much missed regular spot at Kicking Corners I am going to be dedicating Fridays to the ancient art of story telling and fairy tales.

To kick things off I have fairy taled me, I hope you like it.

"Once upon a time there was a young girl, called Aquine, whose purpose was to travel everyday to get water for her family. The road she travelled was long and ever changing, such was the nature of the land in which she lived. Most days she enjoyed the walk, although there were many occasions when the path became unexpectedly treacherous; the forest path would become dark and scary, the desert path would be intimidating, with packs of laughing hyenas flanking the path.

Often Aquine was blessed to have companions along the way; an angel provided to lift her over the troubled times, a jester to cheer her along on the days she found the travel hard, a fairy to reminder of the magic all around, the wise magus who was there to teach her in that moment or even just the fellow traveller in need of companionship too. Though there were many moments on these journeys when Aquine felt she had lost her way she never failed to deliver water back to her family. Aquine was pure of heart and kind of spirit and always welcomed her companions into her heart, accepting their companionship and teachings readily, offering what she could in return.

Mostly her companions became friends; some remained just for that journey, others she met time and time again. She came to realise each and every person she met was there for a reason and each and every twist in the path lead her to where she needed to be; be it a source of fresh water, a source of healing water or simply the road home. However, from time to time Aquine’s travelling companions turned out to be something different. Some would blatantly steal the water from her after having been seemingly so kind. Others would ask Aquine to carry their wares, along with her own load, for most of the journey, leaving her alone to struggle on when the additional weight left her lying by the road too tired to continue one. Occasionally a cunning fox would cross her path and lead her down the wrong path to suit his own needs. Each and every deception tore a little from her heart.

Being resourceful in nature she found a way to plug the holes in her heart with the left over’s from the evening candle, sealing the hole with melted wax enabling her to function the following day for the sake of her family. Pretty soon Aquine’s now adult heart was becoming more wax than heart and her husband and children begged her to ignore any travellers on her trip, telling her that she was more than capable of facing the challenges of the journey herself, reminding her, ‘we always walk in your heart where ever you go, we are all you need to see you safe! Please keep yourself to yourself.’

Aquine tried to do as her family wished however on her next journey she met a traveller she had never before seen. He was compelling and they walked and talked for the entire journey making shapes from the clouds as they went. They met many more times, almost every journey in fact; opening their hearts to each other as they walked life was grand. Aquine even began to miss him when he was not waiting for her on the path; she had always been so content to walk alone.  He opened her eyes to what she was capable of, showing her how to unlock hidden skills inside herself. Instead of wandering until she discovered a source of water she found she could predict its location, on occasion finding sources of water buried to the naked eye. However on one stormy journey, when they met, Aquine was scared for she had never seen the sky look in such turmoil. He offered to walk with her and see her safely across the mountain path on which they were travelling. Soon the path became more dangerous and began to crumble at the edge. She became stranded on a thin ledge with her friend already safely on the other side. He picked this moment to show his true colours and left her there alone. In that moment she became paralysed, holding the cargo of precious water. She heard her families voice ‘we are all you need’ with this she steeled herself against the driving wind and edged safely to the other side. But this deception was more than her heart could bear, the hole he made tore open old wounds too. Every time Aquine thought the hole was sealed with wax something on her next journey would be a reminder of her time with the stranger, instantly melting the wax tearing open the wound in her heart. She despaired thinking her heart would never be whole again, becoming more and more miserable, her journeys seeming longer and harder than ever before with nothing beautiful or joyous to distract her.

Sometime later, noticing the change in her, Aquine’s friends and family combined their efforts to fashion a new bandage for her heart and act as a permanent barrier to the troubles she would face. The angel plucked a feather from her wing to remind Aquine she too could fly, the jester donated a bell to remind her always of the sound of laughter, each traveller and friend provided something and the magus, using some fairy dust and the love of her family bound the items around her heart, binding it forever in happiness and love, protecting it from further damaged.

Aquine’s heart overflowed with joy as she was constantly reminded of the love bestowed upon her by her friends and family. Even though she always met fellow travellers with an open spirit and kindness whenever they left her alone she continued on with the confidence only the love of those close can give you. And they all lived happily ever after."

 

So what is your favourite fairy tale? You never know it might get featured in this spot ;-)

 

Today's shout out goes to Masked Mum, she is a talented mum and hard worker who insists on never growing up, a lady after my own heart!!