Sunday, April 3, 2011

A Bedtime Story

Well... There once was a boy: half man, half god. He lived in a cottage in the middle of the woods. His father lived in the caves that twisted within the mountains that edged the forest. His father loved him very much and couldn't bear to have his son never see the sun, so he sent him away into the woods. His father kept the mountain at peace, and he wished for his son to water the grass and feed the deer that lived among him.
Once the boy asked his father, a god, who his mother was, and the god responded, "she was a woman, she was beautiful, and her heart was greater than any god's.. but she died because the price of a great hear is a mortal life." The boy loved his father, so he did as his father asked and sustained the animals and vegetation of the woods. He did this daily, and once, he came across a stone...
It was a girl of stone. The stone was beautiful like he imagined his mother, and it leaned against a tree, as though the tree was protecting her from something. The boy asked the trees who the stone was and they replied, "We never learned her name. But something sad happened to her, so she turned into stone."
"How can I free her?" the boy asked.
"That is a question for the deer."
So, the boy walked through the forest and asked a fawn, for children were the last that knew of ancient magic. "How can I free the stone?"
The fawn stated as a matter of fact, "A demigod such as you can not. You must find a great heart."
"Where may I find a great heart?"
The fawn looked to the mountain. His father knew where to find such a heart. The fawn cautioned him, "But, beware of the answer you may find."
The boy crawled through he caves and found his father waiting. "You are here about the stone, aren't you?"
"Yes, Father. How can I free her?"
"The great heart you seek is within you. You must give it to her... Your mother was a river. A glorious river, and I too wished to free her. I myself was not fully man or fully god, and my father told me what I will tell you. You can free her, but you must give her your only connection to humanity... You will be without blood and eternal, and your heart will be hers. The choice is yours whether she will see you, but she will love you as long as she lives, but think of this... She will be a fraction of your time and you will miss her."
_________________

The ending is only yours to know.