Quizzical

What’s happening? She thought. A noise murmured in the night, voices whispering, almost below the level of hearing. Then… A tapping noise, but quietly, hidden.

In the morning, on the little footstool, a small pair of red shoes, deftly tacked together, leather and small nails and stitching. Where had they come from…?

That night she tried to stay awake, ears straining. She let her eyes get used to the dark. She saw, a tiny old man, an elf? sitting on the footstool. There was a shoe last in front of him. He was expertly turning blue leather around the last. In a few minutes a new left shoe was finished. It shone like sky blue. He laid it down and created a second shoe, righthanded, crystal blue as was the first.

The girl sat back, she was entranced, impressed by the skill of the tiny fairie. She fell asleep in wonderment and amazement. In the morning the blue shoes sat proudly on the footstool, a label pinned to them. ‘for Lucy, with love, we shall not visit again’. She never wore the shoes.

So here we are again

The woman with green eyes stared at her, there was something intense about the gaze. Powerful, insightful. She seemed to look right through the young girl.

Come here, it was an order not a request.

Timidly she stepped across the carpet. The sides of the big tent bellowed in the breeze. Your hand! The girl placed her hand, palm up in the womans larger one.

I see your future, you will marry, you will be happy. But first, you will have pain and worry.

The girl shrank back. Her eyes averted. The woman cupped the girls chin in her free hand and pulled her face gently upwards. The light caught the girls deep brown eyes.

Your sisters are jealous, they will not let you rest. But one night on the strike of midnight your fate will be sealed, and healed!

The girl shook her hand free, it was too much to think about, too much to dream about. Thank you, she had to say it.

The woman smiled, goodbye Cinderella, she said.

How did she know my name?thought the girl.

Copper Tears

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Now there once were giant people throughout the lands. The Southern Giants were strong and smart, they were made of copper and bronze and shone in the sunlight. But the Northern Giants were also strong, and as they lived in the winter lands they were made of ice as hard as Iron. They could breath ice and snow when they fought. Because of this they were known as the Ice Giants.

After many years of war, Ralf, King of the Southern giants went to fight with them. He knew that if he did not win his lands would be forfeit and his wife would be killed by his enemies.

Lora, his wife, was scared when he told her his plans, but she knew he would have to go to save their fellow giants.

She watched him leave and cried tears which fell into her lap and made a huge pool of liquid copper, each tear making a ripple many feet high.

As she waited she thought she heard him calling her, she stood up and the copper spilled onto the ground, making a lake of copper at the base of the mountains where they lived.

Meanwhile in the North the Giants fought each other to a standstill. Ralf was winning, but as the battle came to an end one Ice Giant hit a fatal blow against him. He was dying but he hit back and felled the last Ice Giant.

His wife foresaw his death and started to weep again, she could not bear his loss. Her tears flowed over the land. Then the wind strengthened from the North. Forcing Lora to stand and start to run from its freezing grip. She was so tall that her tears fell from such a great height that they froze solid and shattered as they hit the ground.

It is said that there is a land in the south where her tears sit like trees in a forest, they are so many. And if you are far away you see the autumn colours of their copper and bronzes glinting in the sunlight.