Title: A new career in a new town

Rating: G

Fandom: labyrinth

Parts: one

Disclaimer: I don't own labyrinth or the storyteller and his dog from that

henson series.

Summary: retelling of the many-furred creature with labyrinth influences

He sits by the fire, warming himself as he gets ready to practice his

trade, his gift. It is the reason he was brought to earth, to merge the

realities and the fantasies of our times into one place. Though he

looks old and wizen with a mongrel for his company, he possesses a

wisdom and a spirit few have ever known...

            "Ah...you are here. I've been expecting you...you are one of those

listians, aren't you? Yes, I thought so...well, here then, is a tale I

think you might like. It is one of the rarely-told stories of the

Underground, the place that you know so well. Are you curious?

Good...because a curious mind is one that welcomes the fantastic...and

this story is nothing, but fantastic. So come, sit by my fire and warm

yourself, both body and soul as I spin for you the tale of Garielle,

the princes...I believe it is quite like your tale of Allerleirauh."

            "Allerle-what?"

            "Be quiet...silly dog...Allerleirauh...maybe that is a bit

difficult...well, for the sake of this tale, we'll just refer to her as

Garielle...something simple and eloquent, for eloquent she was, even if

she was anything but simple."

            Now Garielle was the daughter of a king and queen in a land

neighboring the Underground. The king was a kind man who doted on his

wife constantly, and never was there such a beauty as his wife! No one,

absolutely no one in the Fae or mortal realm possessed such shimmering

blond hair as the queen. Many a song was sung about her beauty and

generosity. But, this queen contracted an illness and died when her

daughter was very young, and great was the king's sorrow...he was the

only one allowed to be at her side as she passed into the great

beyond...

            That evening, he knelt by her death bed, looking at his love for what

he knew was the last time. Her eyes were quickly draining of the happy

light they once possessed and with the death of that light, the death

of the king seemed to come also...he grew very sad and was conscious

only of his beloved wife.

            "My love...." she whispered, and even this was very hard for her. "You

must...promise me that you will not make another queen when I am

gone...unless she is just as beautiful as I and have such golden hair,

just as I have. Promise me...."

            "Of course...of course...I shall have no other wife unless she has the

qualities you say, my dear one," he whispered, his own voice barely

heard. As soon as the oath was uttered, the beloved queen closed her

eyes and passed on.

            For many years afterword, the king mourned and didn't even dare think

about taking another wife. But, at last, his councillors barged into

the throne room one morning, knowing that the topic must be discussed.

            "My king," one particularly tall advisor said, bowing respectfully,

"we know that it is hard for you...but you must marry again so that

this land may have a queen." The king nodded sadly upon remembering

his late wife, but decreed that messengers be sent out to seek for a

bride equal to his former queen. After weeks of searching the

messengers returned, but empty-handed, for there simply was no maiden

that beautiful.

            Now on the day the messengers gave the king and the councillors the

bad news, the king happened to look out into the court yard and see his

own daughter, who was now blossoming into a young woman. She was very

lovely, indeed, and did resemble her late mother, specifically

possessing the exact same type of golden hair. Turning from the window,

the king whispered quietly words that no father should ever speak, but

it was the only way he could see out of the situation. "I will marry my

daughter, Garielle, for she is just as beautiful as her mother.

            The advisors were horrified and forbid it, saying, "Man is forbidden

by God to marry his own daughter...no good could ever come of this and

the kingdom would fall to ruin because of such evil." But the king

persisted and the daughter was brought before him.

            Now Garielle was indeed very pretty, but she was also of a fine

spirit. She was completely shocked when her father's intentions were

made known, because although she did love her father dearly, she just

could not go along with it and quickly thought of a way to postpone

his plan. "Father...before I do your will I must have three dresses:

one as golden as the sun that shines in the day, one as silver as the

moon that glows at night, and the third as shining and magical as the

crystals that the Fae use to weave their magic. I also must have a

cloak that is made of a thousand different kinds of animal skin. Every

animal in the kingdom must give a piece to it." Leaving the throne room

to go to her chambers, she felt quite pleased, for surely there was no

way such tasks could be possible.

            But the king was a persistent man and soon the royal weavers made such

dresses and the huntsman found the skins throughout the kingdom

Finally, when all was prepared, the king called for his daughter again

and told her that the next day would be the wedding day.

            Now the princess Garielle was quite clever and she knew that there was

no way to change her father's mind. So during the dark of night, she

took some of her most prized possessions and fleed the kingdom. Among

the things she took was a crystal ring, a tiny crystal spinning wheel,

and a crystal reel. She packed her dresses into a crystal ball that had

been a gift from a godparent at her christening, put on her cloak of

many skins, dirtied her face and hands with soot, commanded herself to

the magic that guided all in the lands of those days, and set off.

            Now, you may ask why would such a beautiful girl want to make herself

ugly? Well she knew that there were many types of beauty. She certainly

didn't want anyone to fall in love with her for the reason why her

father had: because she was physically beautiful. No, if that was going

to cause that much trouble, then she would simply eliminate the

problem.

            The princess walked all night until she came to a very large forest

that lay right outside of a certain labyrinth. Too tired to continue,

she crawled inside a hollow tree and fell asleep. Even when the sun

rose, still she slept.

            Now two goblin hunters and a fox knight came along, for it was their

duty to keep away the forest beasts that sometimes feasted on their

population. Upon passing the tree, the knight, Sir Didymus, sniffed the

air and growled for something was not familiar. He turned to the

goblins and commanded, "Thou must go into yonder tree and see what lies

within." Nodding, for they really didn't know how to respond to that,

the two goblins walked up to the tree, then promptly came back.

            "Duh...there seems to be some sorts of animal in there...but we ain't

never seen nothing like it!" one replied.

            "Then seeist if thou can catch it alive and we shalt take it with us

to the castle!" the knight replied, happy to be able to bring back

something to please the king in hopes it would smooth over any harsh

feelings due to a recent part he had played in aiding one who was

supposed to solve the maze, but that is another story.

            Upon trying to catch the "animal," they awakened Garielle who was

frightened and pleaded them, "Please, I am just a poor orphan...take

pity on me and let me go with you to the castle." Now, the knight

thought this was a fine idea, and so did the goblins. They had never

seen a human as dirty and ugly as they, and they thought it was quite

funny. On the way to the castle, though, Garielle kept her head tall

and ignored their jeering as they called her names, like many-fur, and

ugly. When they reached the castle it was decided that she would be

good only to work in the kitchen. So she spent her days there, carrying

water and wood, poking the fire, washing vegetables, cleaning meat,

sweeping the floor, and doing all the hard, diry work. At nights she

slept underneath the staircases in a great room filled with many of

them, hidden away from anyone of importance in the castle, for she

certainly wasn't important.

            Now the goblin king, Jareth, was fond of holding great balls...ah, I

see the gleam in your eye! I do not mean balls of that sort, eager

listener...I refer to elaborate dances that entertained the populace of

their realm.

            One day it so happened that there was a ball held in the castle and

Garielle quietly asked the cook, "Please, might I go and watch for a

bit? I will stand outside so no one sees me."

            The cook was tired and didn't really care, being a goblin and all, so

she replied, "Yes, but just fer half an hour! Ya gotta be back here to

sweep up the ashes!" Nodding, the many-furred creature went to her room

underneath the staircase, took off her cloak of fur and washed the soot

from her face so that her beauty was able to be seen. Opening the

crystal, she pulled out the gown that was golden as the sun and dressed

before going to the ball.

            There were many people there, indeed, all dancing and making

merriment, but all suddenly stepped out of Garielle's way when she

entered. Her green eyes took in all that was there, for never had she

been in a place so magical. Suddenly, from among the crowd came Jareth,

himself, for he was greatly intrigued by this newcomer. Never had he

seen anyone so beautiful, and suddenly any memories of another that had

broken his heart suddenly seemed to fade away. He came forward, and

giving her his hand, lead her in a dance, all the while captivated with

her lovliness. When the music ended she smiled politely to him and

curtseyed. But when Jareth looked around for her again, she had

vanished. He thought to himself that surely she must be magical for no

one had ever alluded him so quickly, especially when he was so good at

the trick, himself. Unable to shake his mind away from the girl, he

summoned the castle guards, but they couldn't remember anyone like her

leaving the area. He supposed that could be true, but he wasn't quite

sure, given the knowledge of the goblins' low IQs and attention spans.

            Garielle, on the other hand, ran to her room and quickly dressed in

the cloak and dirtied herself, and became the Many-Furred Creature. She

returned to the kitchen to sweep the ashes, but the cook insisted she

had to cook the king's soup, for she was much too busy. "But ya better

not gets it as dirty as ya or I'll beat ya with the broom!" The cook

then went away and Garielle cooked the soup for the king, unable to

shake her thoughts from him, or his amazing features. Shaking her head,

she knew it was wrong to judge someone on appearances...maybe he wasn't

all he seemed, but still, she was curious. So, discreetly, she dropped

the crystal ring into the tureen and gave the soup to be served to his

majesty.

            When the festivities finally ended, Jareth made his way to the dining

room and had the soup brought before him and ate it. And he then

declared that he had never tasted anything so good before in his life

and called for the cook. She was quite frightened when she was brought

before him, for Jareth did not hold a fondness for the goblins. She

vowed if the creature had dirtied the soup she would beat that hideous

beast!

            "Cook, who made this soup?" the king asked, glaring at the goblin.

            "I did, sire," she lied, hoping it would save her from being

drop-kicked across the room.

            "That cannot be, for never has a goblin cooked something so

delicious...you must tell me or I'll throw you in the Bog of Eternal

Stench before you can blink!"

            The cook replied, "Yer Highness...it was the creature that works in da

kitchen!"

            "Then bring her before me," Jareth replied, frowning at the thought of

a beast making his dinner.

            When the Many-Furred Creature came before the king he gazed at her

steadily, as if he could see right through her. "Who are you?" he

finally asked, breaking the silence.

            "I am an orphan, your Highness. I work in the kitchen and am nothing

at all...I ought to be thrown into the Bog of Stench." Jareth

considered her speech and slowly held up a gloved hand, which held the

crystal ring.

            "What do you know about this?" he asked quietly.

            "I have no idea, sire. I no nothing about it at all." So Jareth found

out nothing and sent her away.

            Sometime later there was another ball and again the Many-Furred

Creature was allowed to look on, but be back in a half an hour to cook

the soup the king had taken a fondess to. Running to her room, she

changed and dressed in the gown that glowed like the moon. Then she

entered the ballroom and Jareth found her, ecstatic to see her again.

He insisted they dance together, but after the music ended she rushed

away so quickly that he couldn't find her. Garielle ran back to her

room and transformed into the creature, fetching the crystal spinning

wheel and put it in the dish so the soup was poured over it. Jareth

feasted upon it again and enjoyed it just as much, but was again

confused when he found the spinning wheel. He asked for the cook, who

then had the creature brought before him, but she said she knew

absolutely nothing about the crystal spinning wheel.

            Sometime after, Jareth decided to hold a third ball because he had to

see this beautiful girl again. But in the back of his mind he thought

just as much about the mysterious kitchen servant as he did the

mysterious girl. He had to admit that he was torn between the two...but

why? One was beautiful and the other....was not. But her spirit! Such a

humble and loving soul he had never encountered before and she

intrigued him. Pushing his mind away from her as best he could, he

concocted a plan.

            Again, the creature begged hard to go and watch the ball, and was

allowed, only if she would be back in a half hour. Quickly, Garielle

changed into the dress that shimmered like magical crystal and washed

so that she nearly glowed. As soon as she entered the hall Jareth

spotted her and proceeded to dance with her. When her attention was

diverted, though, he slipped a ring onto one finger and had the

musicians play longer than what they usually did. When it finally

ended, he tried to keep her in his embrace, but she backed away quickly

and disappeared. Because she had stayed too long, though, Garielle only

had time to throw the cloak on over the dress and didn't get herself as

dirty as usual, missing the finger on one hand.

            The creature ran into the kitchen and quickly made the soup, dropping

the crystal reel into it. When Jareth found the reel, he had the

Many-Furred Creature brought before him and all the goblins laughed,

sure that after getting into trouble so much she would surely be

dropped into the Bog.    

            Slowly she stepped into the throne room that was vacan except for the

goblin king.

            "Three times now I have found items in my dinner, and three times you

have been brought before me. Have you no idea how these things

appeared?"

            "No, sire. I do not," she answered softly, keeping her eyes on the

floor, scared she would feel a hand slapped across her cheek. This was

the life she had decided upon, though, so she had to accept what came

with it.

            "I think you might be hiding something, Many-Furred Creature. What is

it?" he asked, suddenly right in front of her. Gasping slightly from

surprise, she lifted a hand to deflect the blow she thought was sure to

come...but both the king's hands stayed at his sides. That is, until

his eyes spied the one clean finger that wore the ring.

            "It's you!" he whispered, grabbing her hand instantly.

            "No, I don't know what you mean..." she replied, struggling to get

away. Amidst her struggles, though, the cloak was undone a bit and the

gown shown through. His eyes widening, Jareth immediately grabbed the

ties of the cloak and undid them, watching silently as the fur slid to

the floor and exposed the exquisite gown. Her hair tumbled down from

where she had tucked it, and she knew she couldn't hide any longer. She

told him the tale of what had brought her to his kingdom, crying at the

memories, her tears washing away the soot that covered her face,

exposing her true beauty.

            Jareth stood silently for a few moments, holding Garielle tightly in

his arms. "You will be my bride," he finally said. "For not only are

you beautiful, but you are the kindest soul I have ever encountered.

For years I have watched girls come and go, yet you are a rarity and

the only one that I will call my queen." Silently he brought his lips

to hers and stopped her tears with his kisses and gentle arms.

            So, the two were married and never was there such a celebration in the

Underground. And I can truly say that because they each had a mate that

was not only good to the eyes, but also to the soul they both lived

happily ever after, which really isn't that long at all.

The End.