YRKB
11-30-2011, 11:41 AM
Fiella, The Crows and The Chamber Maid's Son
In a land before time, and over great seas, there once lived a young king. The King desired his land to be the finest of all, his people of the fittest and fairest beauty beholden, and so ordered the ugly and weak to be sought out, and eternally banished, by the kingdom's guards. He ordered these guards that in their work, should they ever hear of, or see, the most beautiful young woman in the land; that she be brought at once to him as his bride.
The guards drove people out of the kingdom for many days, until there were only two little houses left on the edge of the forest. There two young maiden friends had lived, for all their glorious youth, with their families. One, incomparably beautiful and the other a young witch, uglier than ever known.
As the guards dragged the young witch from her home, her maiden friend ran tearfully from her own, and at once the distracted guardsmen hailed her their Queen. The young witch, distraught, turned herself into a crow and flew far away, to the peak of the Northern Mountain overlooking the kingdom.
The beautiful maiden was taken in a pearl carriage to the palace, and there; in days of the grandest festivity the kingdom had ever enjoyed, she became the King's wife.
However, after many days of nights of eating and dancing when the Queen retired to her chamber to change for the last ball, a crow flew in through the window and pecked at her fine gown and jewels. Though the wicked chambermaid tried to beat the crow away, it would not cease; and suddenly turned into the young witch. The Queen and her chambermaid listened, horrified, as the witch spoke:
'Fair friend of years, I was dragged from my home before you and banished forever. Did you you ne'er think of me? Alone at the top of the Northern Mountain while you danced here in your finery before the entire kingdom?''
But the Queen was furious;
'How dare you! Look at my beautiful jewels and gown - look what you've done, wretched witch! I shall tell the King, and you will be killed for returning!'
The witch grew angrier, and before again becoming a crow and flying for the Northern Mountain, she cursed the queen;
'Here is your punishment, for your cruelty and betrayal! Your only child shall be a daughter, more beautiful than any woman, than even yourself. She shall make you appear plain and simple, and win the hearts of all.'
The Queen and chambermaid watched her fly away, before the Queen quickly turned to her servant.
'You shall ne'er speak to anyone what we know. When the time comes that this girl is born, steal her away. Take her deep into the heart of forest and drop her into the wide river.'
The wicked chambermaid rubbed her hands in glee;
'Fair Queen, it shall be done.'
*** *** ***
It soon came to pass that the Queen stopped appearing in court. She complained bitterly of tiered-ness, of ailments, of every kind of discomfort. She asked only for supper to be sent up to her chamber. The King often knocked on his wife's door, worried, but was always told by her chambermaid's that she was in deep sleep.
So it was one thunderous winter night that the Queen gave birth secretly, to a baby girl of the most breathtaking beauty. At once, the wicked chambermaid, disguised in a cloak, stole away with her and travelled through the deep forest to the bank of the swollen river. There, she quickly threw the angel-child into the water, and returned to the palace.
Further down in the depths of the black water, the witch bathed, as she only ever did at night - fearful of being seen by the kingdom's guardsmen again. She soon heard soft cries, like the coo of doves, and, caught in a wreath of water lilies, discovered the little girl.
At once recognising who she was, the witch wrapped the baby into a bundle of her clothes and transformed into a crow again, flying with her between her beak to the Northern Mountain.
*** *** ***
The witch named the little girl Fiella, and so away from the kingdom and all happiness, Fiella grew up on the Northern Mountain in the cold, quiet castle. The witch watched as Fiella grew tall and graceful, with her cascading hair and delicate voice - and smiled to herself.
Soon the kingdom was overcome with excitement! The old King was looking for a new wife! The Queen, now pale and miserly, with white curls had never borne an heir and the King sought a new, beautiful wife. It was said that if he found her, the Queen would be banished from the kingdom forever. As a bird, the witch flew from tree to tree, listening to the kingdom's people talking about the news and returned to the castle in haste. She called Fiella to her dark chamber.
'Young, fair Fiella - it is time for you to leave here and see the kingdom. The King searches for a wife, one of divine beauty - and for that there is no better than yourself. You shall go at once!' With her wicked smile, the witch conjured a dress of black so beautiful, with a veil so vast that it had to be held aloft by hundreds and hundreds of crows.
Fiella, surprised cried out;
'Yet all I have ever known is you, and this big castle. I know not the world, and not how people are - will you not come, Mother Witch?'
The witch shook her head;
'Not yet, fair Fiella, but know this - I will surely attend when you become the King's bride.'
With that, Fiella began her descent down the Northern Mountain. Though terrified by the fog, the ghoulish howls and the crackling trees, the kingdom glowed under the clouds below - and she began to feel excitement for her new life as Queen.
Weary, she arrived at the kingdom gates and at once the guardsmen let her in, summoning a pearl carriage to take the mysterious, beautiful maiden to the palace. Dark, howling clouds spread quickly over the kingdom, and torrential rain begin to pour wherever Fiella's carriage passed. Quickly the beautiful young woman began to become frightened.
The old Queen watched with the wicked chambermaid and the chambermaid's handsome, fair-hearted young son from her window as Fiella's procession ascended the palace path. As Fiella stepped from the carriage, looking up at the sky around her, the three saw at once her angel-like beauty. The Queen turned to her haggard maid and handsome child;
'Such ethereal beauty, such youth - how can I ever compare? The King will take her hand, and banish me forever.'
The wicked chambermaid growled;
'And I, your loyal servant of so long an age, will be sent away with you. What will become of us?'
The Queen and chambermaid turned to the chambermaid's son, their evil eyes aflame as the Queen spoke quickly;
'Before the wedding tomorrow, the King will waste no time I know it, you must steal her away. Take her deep into the forest and drop her into the lake. This is the only way to rid myself of such misfortune, as before.'
The chambermaid's son, with love blooming in his heart, said nothing - but the women turned away, continuing their wicked talk, certain the task was at hand.
*** *** ***
That night as Fiella lay in her palace chamber, weeping with terror at her cruel fate upon seeing the old, frightening King to be her husband, there was a knock at the door. When she opened it, there stood the chambermaid's son. Fiella was overcome with love and listened to his tender words;
'Fair beauty Fiella, the old Queen and my mother, her wicked chambermaid, have made a plan for me to take you into the forest and kill you tonight. We must steal away like they hoped, but I will lead you far from here, to safety.'
Fiella, relieved, hugged her handsome saviour and at once they put on their cloaks and fled the palace. Though just as they were about to leave the kingdom gates, the sleeping guardsman's dog awoke and began to bark furiously, quickly rousing all the other dogs. Soon the entire kingdom was awake and in the streets wondering with great panic what had happened. When news reached the palace, the King immediately went to check for his bride, and discovered her bed empty. He sent the guardsmen and all the palace staff to to search high and low for her across the kingdom and his great home. However, the chambermaid's son was nowhere to be found. Furious, the King sent for his wife and her servant. When before him, the wicked chambermaid at once broke down and revealed her cruel mistress's plan. Though they begged for favour, the King ordered them to be taken underground to the palace dungeon to be locked away forever more.
*** *** ***
In the forest Fiella and the chambermaid's son ran desperately through the dark for their lives.
'Where, good saviour, must we go? How will we escape the kingdom and all it's cruel lands?' Fiella cried.
'There is a boat I have hidden in bushes on the river, and when we reach it, fair Fiella, we shall row in darkness until reaching the wide oceans by day. There we shall sail to a new, distant land where the people are good and we are forever happy.' Then, all of a sudden, the chambermaid's son cried out.
Fluttering and cawing; softly, then louder and louder in all the branches of the tall trees surrounding the moonlit grove they had reached were hundreds and hundreds of crows. The witch had multiplied herself with her wicked magic and the birds descended on the frightened Fiella and the chambermaid's son, with one cruel, cackling voice, driving them back the way they had come;
'Fiella - you must marry your father the King! Such an age I have craved vengeance for your family's cruel treatment of an innocent young maiden! You must suffer your time, as did I! Return!'
With terrified cries, Fiella and her companion were driven back to the palace gates where the kingdom awaited. Once again, the crows spoke in unison, furiously telling the witch's tale and cursing years of terror and darkness over the royal family and their kingdom. The king's people, however, moved by fair Fiella and the chambermaid's son's innocence - and enraged by the evil King, Queen and crows rushed to their houses for and lit torches from their burning fires. Upon returning, they surrounded Fiella and fought bitterly against the swooping birds, singeing them with their flames. As the last bird fell dead, it's wings burnt crisp, the witch's scream could be heard echoing across the sky. Then suddenly the darkness cleared, and the most beautiful, bright dawn emerged from behind the clouds.
Cheers and jubilation rang out across the kingdom and Fiella and the chambermaid's son were carried to the palace gates. There the ruined king removed his crown and placed it on Fiella's head before her people. They say the kingdom's merry cries could be heard for years after; echoing across the rolling hills and valleys, as high as the Northern Mountain.
'Forever after, Queen Fiella and her kind King!'
The End.
Copyright Yafeu-Khamisi Rodway-Brown
In a land before time, and over great seas, there once lived a young king. The King desired his land to be the finest of all, his people of the fittest and fairest beauty beholden, and so ordered the ugly and weak to be sought out, and eternally banished, by the kingdom's guards. He ordered these guards that in their work, should they ever hear of, or see, the most beautiful young woman in the land; that she be brought at once to him as his bride.
The guards drove people out of the kingdom for many days, until there were only two little houses left on the edge of the forest. There two young maiden friends had lived, for all their glorious youth, with their families. One, incomparably beautiful and the other a young witch, uglier than ever known.
As the guards dragged the young witch from her home, her maiden friend ran tearfully from her own, and at once the distracted guardsmen hailed her their Queen. The young witch, distraught, turned herself into a crow and flew far away, to the peak of the Northern Mountain overlooking the kingdom.
The beautiful maiden was taken in a pearl carriage to the palace, and there; in days of the grandest festivity the kingdom had ever enjoyed, she became the King's wife.
However, after many days of nights of eating and dancing when the Queen retired to her chamber to change for the last ball, a crow flew in through the window and pecked at her fine gown and jewels. Though the wicked chambermaid tried to beat the crow away, it would not cease; and suddenly turned into the young witch. The Queen and her chambermaid listened, horrified, as the witch spoke:
'Fair friend of years, I was dragged from my home before you and banished forever. Did you you ne'er think of me? Alone at the top of the Northern Mountain while you danced here in your finery before the entire kingdom?''
But the Queen was furious;
'How dare you! Look at my beautiful jewels and gown - look what you've done, wretched witch! I shall tell the King, and you will be killed for returning!'
The witch grew angrier, and before again becoming a crow and flying for the Northern Mountain, she cursed the queen;
'Here is your punishment, for your cruelty and betrayal! Your only child shall be a daughter, more beautiful than any woman, than even yourself. She shall make you appear plain and simple, and win the hearts of all.'
The Queen and chambermaid watched her fly away, before the Queen quickly turned to her servant.
'You shall ne'er speak to anyone what we know. When the time comes that this girl is born, steal her away. Take her deep into the heart of forest and drop her into the wide river.'
The wicked chambermaid rubbed her hands in glee;
'Fair Queen, it shall be done.'
*** *** ***
It soon came to pass that the Queen stopped appearing in court. She complained bitterly of tiered-ness, of ailments, of every kind of discomfort. She asked only for supper to be sent up to her chamber. The King often knocked on his wife's door, worried, but was always told by her chambermaid's that she was in deep sleep.
So it was one thunderous winter night that the Queen gave birth secretly, to a baby girl of the most breathtaking beauty. At once, the wicked chambermaid, disguised in a cloak, stole away with her and travelled through the deep forest to the bank of the swollen river. There, she quickly threw the angel-child into the water, and returned to the palace.
Further down in the depths of the black water, the witch bathed, as she only ever did at night - fearful of being seen by the kingdom's guardsmen again. She soon heard soft cries, like the coo of doves, and, caught in a wreath of water lilies, discovered the little girl.
At once recognising who she was, the witch wrapped the baby into a bundle of her clothes and transformed into a crow again, flying with her between her beak to the Northern Mountain.
*** *** ***
The witch named the little girl Fiella, and so away from the kingdom and all happiness, Fiella grew up on the Northern Mountain in the cold, quiet castle. The witch watched as Fiella grew tall and graceful, with her cascading hair and delicate voice - and smiled to herself.
Soon the kingdom was overcome with excitement! The old King was looking for a new wife! The Queen, now pale and miserly, with white curls had never borne an heir and the King sought a new, beautiful wife. It was said that if he found her, the Queen would be banished from the kingdom forever. As a bird, the witch flew from tree to tree, listening to the kingdom's people talking about the news and returned to the castle in haste. She called Fiella to her dark chamber.
'Young, fair Fiella - it is time for you to leave here and see the kingdom. The King searches for a wife, one of divine beauty - and for that there is no better than yourself. You shall go at once!' With her wicked smile, the witch conjured a dress of black so beautiful, with a veil so vast that it had to be held aloft by hundreds and hundreds of crows.
Fiella, surprised cried out;
'Yet all I have ever known is you, and this big castle. I know not the world, and not how people are - will you not come, Mother Witch?'
The witch shook her head;
'Not yet, fair Fiella, but know this - I will surely attend when you become the King's bride.'
With that, Fiella began her descent down the Northern Mountain. Though terrified by the fog, the ghoulish howls and the crackling trees, the kingdom glowed under the clouds below - and she began to feel excitement for her new life as Queen.
Weary, she arrived at the kingdom gates and at once the guardsmen let her in, summoning a pearl carriage to take the mysterious, beautiful maiden to the palace. Dark, howling clouds spread quickly over the kingdom, and torrential rain begin to pour wherever Fiella's carriage passed. Quickly the beautiful young woman began to become frightened.
The old Queen watched with the wicked chambermaid and the chambermaid's handsome, fair-hearted young son from her window as Fiella's procession ascended the palace path. As Fiella stepped from the carriage, looking up at the sky around her, the three saw at once her angel-like beauty. The Queen turned to her haggard maid and handsome child;
'Such ethereal beauty, such youth - how can I ever compare? The King will take her hand, and banish me forever.'
The wicked chambermaid growled;
'And I, your loyal servant of so long an age, will be sent away with you. What will become of us?'
The Queen and chambermaid turned to the chambermaid's son, their evil eyes aflame as the Queen spoke quickly;
'Before the wedding tomorrow, the King will waste no time I know it, you must steal her away. Take her deep into the forest and drop her into the lake. This is the only way to rid myself of such misfortune, as before.'
The chambermaid's son, with love blooming in his heart, said nothing - but the women turned away, continuing their wicked talk, certain the task was at hand.
*** *** ***
That night as Fiella lay in her palace chamber, weeping with terror at her cruel fate upon seeing the old, frightening King to be her husband, there was a knock at the door. When she opened it, there stood the chambermaid's son. Fiella was overcome with love and listened to his tender words;
'Fair beauty Fiella, the old Queen and my mother, her wicked chambermaid, have made a plan for me to take you into the forest and kill you tonight. We must steal away like they hoped, but I will lead you far from here, to safety.'
Fiella, relieved, hugged her handsome saviour and at once they put on their cloaks and fled the palace. Though just as they were about to leave the kingdom gates, the sleeping guardsman's dog awoke and began to bark furiously, quickly rousing all the other dogs. Soon the entire kingdom was awake and in the streets wondering with great panic what had happened. When news reached the palace, the King immediately went to check for his bride, and discovered her bed empty. He sent the guardsmen and all the palace staff to to search high and low for her across the kingdom and his great home. However, the chambermaid's son was nowhere to be found. Furious, the King sent for his wife and her servant. When before him, the wicked chambermaid at once broke down and revealed her cruel mistress's plan. Though they begged for favour, the King ordered them to be taken underground to the palace dungeon to be locked away forever more.
*** *** ***
In the forest Fiella and the chambermaid's son ran desperately through the dark for their lives.
'Where, good saviour, must we go? How will we escape the kingdom and all it's cruel lands?' Fiella cried.
'There is a boat I have hidden in bushes on the river, and when we reach it, fair Fiella, we shall row in darkness until reaching the wide oceans by day. There we shall sail to a new, distant land where the people are good and we are forever happy.' Then, all of a sudden, the chambermaid's son cried out.
Fluttering and cawing; softly, then louder and louder in all the branches of the tall trees surrounding the moonlit grove they had reached were hundreds and hundreds of crows. The witch had multiplied herself with her wicked magic and the birds descended on the frightened Fiella and the chambermaid's son, with one cruel, cackling voice, driving them back the way they had come;
'Fiella - you must marry your father the King! Such an age I have craved vengeance for your family's cruel treatment of an innocent young maiden! You must suffer your time, as did I! Return!'
With terrified cries, Fiella and her companion were driven back to the palace gates where the kingdom awaited. Once again, the crows spoke in unison, furiously telling the witch's tale and cursing years of terror and darkness over the royal family and their kingdom. The king's people, however, moved by fair Fiella and the chambermaid's son's innocence - and enraged by the evil King, Queen and crows rushed to their houses for and lit torches from their burning fires. Upon returning, they surrounded Fiella and fought bitterly against the swooping birds, singeing them with their flames. As the last bird fell dead, it's wings burnt crisp, the witch's scream could be heard echoing across the sky. Then suddenly the darkness cleared, and the most beautiful, bright dawn emerged from behind the clouds.
Cheers and jubilation rang out across the kingdom and Fiella and the chambermaid's son were carried to the palace gates. There the ruined king removed his crown and placed it on Fiella's head before her people. They say the kingdom's merry cries could be heard for years after; echoing across the rolling hills and valleys, as high as the Northern Mountain.
'Forever after, Queen Fiella and her kind King!'
The End.
Copyright Yafeu-Khamisi Rodway-Brown