A Fenswick Tale

Tell us a story, Father! I can't sleep.

Yes, Father! Tell us a story! I can't sleep either!

Alright. Would you want to hear the story of 'Little Red Striding Boots'?

No, we've already heard that. I want another story.

I know! 'Rakasta in Boots!' 'Rakasta in Boots!'

No! No boots! We've heard that a million infinity times!

Why don't I just read you one of these books? Here's a good one. 'Peter and the Werewolf.'

No! I don't want a scary one. I hate werewolves.

How about this one? 'Flame Red and the Seven Dwarves?'

No! No! No! That's scary too! Dwarves are scary and evil and they smell bad!

Well, what story would you want me to tell you, Audrey?

I'm not, Audrey! I'm Alice!

No! I'm Alice! You're Audrey!

No! You're Audrey! I'm Alice!

Girls! Please! It's bedtime! No more games! What story would you like me to tell you?

Tell us a new story, Father! We've already read all those books! Tell us a new story!

Yes, make one up!

I don't know any stories I can make up.

Why don't you tell us what you know?

Yes, tell us why the moon is sometimes full and sometimes half.

Or tell us why cats hate water.

Or tell us why Uncle Edgar has a raven's wing and we don't.

Or tell us...

Alright, alright. Just give me a minute to think...

And, Father, don't forget to start with 'Once upon a time...'

Once upon a time, there was a Duke who lived in a high tower. The Duke had a wife, and daughter, and three sons. The Duke's wife was a wise and scholarly woman, who loved to watch the sun and the sky, the rain and the clouds, from atop the Duke's high tower. One dreary night, when the Duke's wife was atop the high tower, watching the rain and the clouds, there was a wild thunderstorm, and she was hit by a stray lightning bolt and died.

Now, the Duke's daughter and three sons were still very young, so the Duke took another woman to become a mother to them This new stepmother was a beautiful and charming lady from Belcadiz.

Oh no! Doesn't the Duke know that all stepmothers are evil and hateful?

The Belcadizan must be a witch!

My friend says all Belcadizan women are witches! That's why they wear all that lace.

Oh! But what does this have to do with Uncle Edgar's raven wing instead of an arm?

The Belcadizan was indeed a witch, and she hated the Duke and his daughter and his three sons, simply because she was an evil hateful witch. So one dreary night, in a wild thunderstorm, the witch cast a terrible curse on the daughter and the three sons.

In each of their beds, the witch left a magical black raven feather. When the three sons lay in their beds to sleep, they woke up in the morning, not as three boys, but as three black ravens that flew away into the wilderness.

But the magic of the evil feather token somehow did not work on the daughter. Some say it was because she was no longer a child and she knew who she was. Some say it was because she was a girl and the witch's magic could not work on her. Some say it was because the spirit of her mother was in that thunderstorm, and blew the black feather token away, and saved her daughter from the curse.

Oh, Father, why don't you use magic to tell us your story?

Mummy always uses illusions so we can see the story.

Yes, and we can even dream about it when we sleep!

But I don't know that kind of magic.

That's such a shame. This is a good story.

So what happened to the daughter and the three ravens?

Now, the Duke was so devastated over the loss of his three sons that he was helpless to break the witch's curse, so it was up to the daughter to break it. Now, it was during another dreary night, when there was a wild thunderstorm, that the daughter heard the spirit of her mother, speaking through the rain and the clouds. It told her to visit the Hermit of the Stones, who would tell her how to break the witch's curse, and restore her brothers.

The Hermit of the Stones was an ancient creature who lived in a mysterious stonehenge. The Hermit had the head of a vulture, and squawks and screeches when he speaks. The Hermit also had the heart of a vulture, and was wicked and selfish to the core. Still, the Hermit had more magic and more knowledge than the Belcadizan witch, and he knew how the daughter could break the curse and restore her three brothers.

The Hermit told the daughter to go to the river where the prickly nettles grow, and pick those nettles and weave them into three shirts. When she finished those shirts, she should put them on the three ravens, and they will be transformed into her brothers again. But the Hermit asked for a price for such knowledge. He wanted to sweet voice of the daughter to offer as a gift to a harpy he was courting. The daughter sadly paid the price and went to do her task.

 Oh! But nettle is so prickly! It has all these tiny thorns that make your finger hurt!

And how can she make them into shirts? That must be so hard!

That Hermit is just as evil as the Belcadizan witch!

How did the daughter break the curse, Father?

The daughter went to the river where the prickly nettles grow, and picked the nettles, and started to weave them into shirts. And although the nettles pricked her hands and her fingers, the daughter wept silently, because she could not cry, for she had no voice. The daughter worked silently and lived alone in the wilderness. Her only companions were three ravens who were her brothers, who visited her everyday, and brought her nuts and berries in their beaks.

Now the Duke did not know what happened to his daughter, who had not returned from her visit to the Hermit of the Stones. He went out to look for her, and found her in the wilderness, silently weaving prickly nettle into shirts, and weeping to herself without any voice.

The Duke saw her wild and sorry state and thought that she had gone mad. He tried to bring her home to his high tower, but she refused to leave the wilderness or to be parted from the prickly nettle and the woven shirts.

Oh! Why couldn't she speak? Why did the Hermit have to take her voice?

How long did the daughter stay in the wilderness, Father?

Uh... three years?

Three years? That's so long! I'm only six years!

I'm also six years!

That's because we're twins, mundaner!

I am not a mundaner! I'm going to be a powerful weather mage like Aunt Judith and cast all sorts of spells and magic!

But you can't cast spells now, can't you? So that makes you a mundaner!

Does not!

Does too!

Alice, Audrey, would you like me to finish the story?

The Duke was able to bring his daughter home to his high tower, but only if he brought her the prickly nettle and the woven shirts. He kept her locked up in a room, so no one could see her wild and sorry state, but the daughter was pleased with this, because she could continue her task of weaving the nettle shirts, to break the curse and restore her brothers. The three ravens who were her brothers could also visit her at the high tower, and bring her nuts and berries everyday. And sometimes, when the night was dreary and there was a wild thunderstorm, the daughter could hear the voice of her mother speaking to her in the rain and the clouds.

But the Belcadizan witch was not done with her evil, hateful deeds. She spread a rumor in the Duke's realm that the daughter was a cleric, and she was practicing some evil clerical rituals with her prickly nettle and woven shirts. And the people of the Duke's realm believed this and wanted the daughter to be burned at the stake for being a cleric.

Oh no! Why are people so stupid? I bet they're all mundaners!

But was she really a cleric? Clerics are more evil and hateful than witches! If she was, she should be burned at the stake like all clerics!

But if she was burned at the stake, she can't weave the shirts, and the curse can't be broken! And the brothers will always be ravens!

Why doesn't she just tell them that she's not a cleric?

The Duke had no choice but to present the accusation of clericism his daughter. But the daughter had no voice and could not defend herself to say she was not a cleric. And because of that, the Duke had no choice but to have his daughter burned at the stake as a cleric.

Now, the daughter had not finished her task to break the curse, and even as she was being carted to the bonfire, she was still weaving the prickly nettle into shirts. The three ravens hovered above her, urging her to work faster at her task. But the people of the realm believed that her silence, and her wild and sorry state at finishing her task, and the three raven hovering above the daughter was a sure sign of being a cleric!

Finally, as the daughter was being lead to the stake, she threw the woven shirts of prickly nettle to the three ravens, and the curse was broken, and her three brothers were restored. They spoke up to defend their sister and to say that she wasn't a cleric, and the daughter was not burned at the stake.

Now, in her rush of weaving the prickly nettle, the daughter was not able to finish one of the shirts. It was missing a sleeve, so the youngest brother had a raven's wing instead of an arm...

 And that is why your Uncle Edgar has a raven's wing instead of arm.

And is that why Aunt Judith doesn't speak.

That is why your Aunt Judith doesn't speak.

And is that why Uncle Robert is afraid of ravens.

Yes, that is why your Uncle Robert is afraid of ravens and crows and blackbirds...

So why does Grandfather hate Mummy?

Yes, why does Grandfather hate Mummy?

Well, because Mummy is from Krondahar and... Alice, Audrey, it's late. That is another story altogether.

Well, tell us Father. Tell us!

Yes! Tell us that story. And don't forget to start with 'Once upon a time...'

Author: Kit Navarro