Once there was a little child named Eva. She was a good little girl with peering eyes, like droplets of amber which never seemed to be vacant of thought. Her cuiousity sometimes got her in scrapes, but all she need to do was show her white teeth, and flip her raven hair over her sholder, and all would be forgiven. Eva enjoyed wandering by herself in a little peice of forest behind her parent's home. Her mother would always warn her: "Don't go alone in those woods, Eva, not even in the day light! You are a pretty little girl. I am afraid someone would take you from me!" But Eva never worried. She built mud towers, and played in the streams without fear in her heart. One day, as she played by the roots of a great tree, she heard a noise. As she listened, she began to make out a song with words something like this: Little child in her tree, follow me, follow me By the secrets of flower and of bee, follow me, follow me I'll teach the tune the wind whistles you'll sleep on a bed of downy thistles I'll protect your youth from tides of time swear to be mine, swear to be mine Eva looked up to see that the tree which she was seated under smiling down at her with the most paternal air. The expression was so kind, that Eva reached up her hands in delight, and the tree gather her up into its limbs, and lifted her high above the ground. Just as Eva's mother had feared, Eva had been carried away by the Tree King. If ever there was a fine place to grow up, the tree tops are that place. Eva grew up with the tiny tree faeries, and climbed with the dexterity of any brown squirrel. By the time she was a teenager, Eva could whistle like the birds, build a home in an hour, and jump as long and as lightly as any little faerie did hold its breath to see. She was clad in a gown as soft and green as tree moss, but as durable as a million spider's web spun fast together (for, indeed, that was how her dress was made). One day as she sat up high in a tree, singing with a fairy choir, a handsome elven prince happened to passing by. He heard the sweet melody, and his heart softened at its tenderness. When he looked up into the branches, and beheld her face, he fell in love with her. "Lady" he called up into the tree in a way which lured some of the birds in attendance of the performance to perch at his feet. "Lady, what be you name?" "Eva." she whispered, wondering who he was, and why he was so big and strange. (Eva was only used to tiny faerie men, not big elven men). "Eva" he whipsered back, and smiled. "And who is your father?" "The Tree King is my father." Eva replied. The prince's pleased expression faded somewhat. "Where might I find him?" Eva gave him a puzzled look and replied "Find the largest tree in the forest, and climb up it." She beheld him for a moment longer. "What is your name?" she called. "Liorden." "I hope you find what you seek, Liorden." Liorden nodded and moved deep into the woods, his heart burning. He strode on into the darkest, most dense part of the wood, and said secret words and did many strange deeds which I cannnot, here, relate. At last, he reached the great, twisted, black tree at the heart of the forest. He swung himself up into its branches, for his strength was great. Every time his pace faltered, he hummed a strain of Eva's song, and he found the strength to go on. After about thirty feet of climbing, his hands bleeding from the rough bark, a great vulture took the Prince in his claws. "Why," it rasped "shouldn't I kill you?" The Prince did not have breath to answer. "What buisness do you have with the Tree King to brave Awiern, the first and greatest of his gaurdians? What be your name, elfling?" "Liorden." the Prince gasped. The bird gently put the Prince down. "You shall find what you seek." he muttered, his deep raspy voice showing reluctance. It spread its wings and flew away, leaving the Prince to catch his breath. Liorden croutched a moment on the branch to catch, then began to climb once more. Thirty feet higher, he found himself, suddenly unable to move. He found that he was stuck by irridesent ropes woven carefully around the tree.. "A juicy little elfling for my lunch." wheezed a throaty voice. Liorden gazed over his sholder to see a great black widow, its mouth dripping with venom. He heart quelled, but his courage held. "What is the name of my dainty dish? On whom does Yueime sup?" asked the great spider leaning close. "Liorden." the Prince replied, his voice strong and unquavering. The spider shuddered, and cut the ropes from around the prince. "May you find what you seek." Yuimen hissed, and scampered away up his web. Carefully avoiding the silken ropes, the prince continued up the tree for yet thirty more feet. From there further assent was impossible. The tree was covered with great thorns for many feet, so that he could not see, even with his sharp eyes, where they ended. At this sight, Liorden called out in anguish. "I have not the strength, nor the ability to climb past these thorns," Liorden wept, tears spilling down his fair face, and he reached with a fair hand to the nearst poision thorn. "And yet," he cried out in wonder. "my love is so great, I can not turn back. I shall die here, for I must go on." As these last words issued from his lips, the thorns drew back, and he was able to use them as a ladder to pull himself up the last thirty feet to the top. At last, Liorden arrived, bloody and disheveled, at to a the highest limb of the tree. The great tree groaned as it swayed dizzily in the slight breeze. "Princeling." said a great voice which thundered around him."What do you seek, that you were able to surpass my gaurds and my thorns?" With his heart consumed in love he called out: "I seek the hand of beatiful Eva to take her to my castle, and marry her there." "Eva." the voice sighed, echoing out into the sky.. "Coming, Father." came the quiet reply. Eva appeared, like a green bird flying through the sky, landing lightly on the a branch near Liorden. "Child, what think you of this prince among elves?" Eva looked upon him, her eye opening wide, as full of light and questions as ever. "He is fair to look upon father, and his voice is sweet enough to charm the birds from the trees." "Would you marry him?" questioned the voice, gently. Eva was silent, and she whipered a reply that only the wind and her adoptive father could hear. For thier wedding, every flowring plant burst forth in bloom, and the forest floor was a carpet of sweet green grass. The happy couple swore to love each other always, under the great tree, as Eva had requested. As the crowd cheered, and the priest raised his hand in blessing, a song could be heard, just under the commotion: Pretty lady under me, now I see, now I see By the truth of love and young hearts free, now I see, now I see I know the tune the wind sings When love throughout a heart rings If his love came bare you half as well time will tell, time will tell

Treedaughter

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