New Fairy Tales

The Kingdom fell silentand for a time even the windabandoned it for the placeswhere it was welcome tobluster and shriek. The seapulled its tides away from theKingdom’s shores so that thewaves could not crashagainst the rocks. And notree ever fell in the forest;they stood past their time,clinging to the ground withancient roots. Years passedand the only sound in theKingdom was the falling rain(try as they might the WiseMen could not banish therainclouds) and as thePrincess, now grown into ayoung woman, lay on hersilken bed she lifted hergolden earmuffs, just a little,so that she could hear thepitter and patter of rainknocking at her window,calling her out into the world.Each drop hammered throughher body till she tingled withdelight and she knew she hadto escape.The old King was by nowvery old and his age and hisworries were too heavy forhim to cart around so he tookto his bed. And as theservants fussed silentlyaround him the Princessslipped out unnoticed.She wore her goldenearmuffs and a thick woollencape with its hood pulledtightly around her head butshe needn’t have worried, thepeople of the Kingdom hadbeen scared into silence.Sshhpolice mounted on satinslippered horses patrolled theblanketed streets as thechildren played silently in therain.It was the children shewas drawn to watching. Shefollowed them as theyventured from the city streetsout into the open fields. Theylooked at her questioninglybut they did not object.She followed them to thewoods where they tumbledand rolled in the carpet ofleaves and she lifted hergolden earmuffs, just a little,so that the delightful soundcould rustle through her.She followed them to thestream, where they paddledin the icy water, kicking andsplashing and she lifted hergolden earmuffs, just a little,so that the delightful soundcould bubble through her.And finally she followedthem to a cave. They werecarrying lamps and basketsof sticks and they turned andsmiled at her before theyentered; inviting her to jointheir secret.The cave was cold anddark and it seemed toswallow the children upahead of her. But as thePrincess’s eyes adjusted tothe lamplight she saw thatthe children were untyingeach other’s gags. She felttheir voices, heard theirlaughter spinning throughher, despite her earmuffs.And slowly the childrenstarted to tap their stickstogether and drum on rocks;the rhythm beating,throbbing, pulsing; theyhummed in sweet, gentlevoices and the music rose tothe roof of the cave until thePrincess could bear it nolonger: she threw her goldenearmuffs into the darkness ofthe cave and lifted her voiceto meet theirs for oneecstatic moment.Then she shattered intoa thousand shards.Heaped on the floor ofthe cave each shard sang asingle note in the Princess’sclear, beautiful voice and thechildren gathered up theshards in an old wickerbasket, where they shoneand sang and the childrensang too. And carrying thePrincess’s voice they walkedout of the cave into sunshine.Illustrations by Claire Massey and Graham DeanIssue 1 www.newfairytales.co.uk 21