My Own Fairy Tales

Yurie and the Garden

Yurie and the Garden

Once upon a time a rich girl named Yurie lived with her uncle Kiyoshi in a big mansion. Yurie was a good and sweet little girl but she was unhappy most of the time. The truth was Kiyoshi was away from home all the time and Yurie hardly ever saw him. Yurie thought it was because he hated her. The reason for that was because her mother, Yumie, was her uncle's elder sister. Yumie died after she gave birth to Yurie eight years ago and it made Kiyoshi very upset when she died. Yurie believed that her uncle blamed her for her death. Of course this was not true; the real reason was Kiyoshi feared that loving Yurie as much as he loved Yumie would make him lose her but Yurie didn't know that yet.

The servants knew it wasn't Yurie's fault that Yumie died and they all cared for her like she was their daughter. They taught her how to read, write, sew and play two stringed instruments called the kokyu and the shamisen. But Yurie's favourite thing to do was learn how to tend to gardens. Yurie loved being in the gardens outside the mansion. The flowers and trees always made her smile. The servants always said that she got the love of gardens from her mother. They always told her that Yumie would spend hours in the gardens every day. Yurie loved it when the servants told her stories about her mother, but there were times that she would cry from listening to them because she missed her mother.

One cold winter day Yurie was taking a walk out into the garden with her doll, Sakura. Sakura was a gift to Yurie from her mother. Yumie made the doll for Yurie just before she was born. She looked like a little girl, with short black hair and was dressed in a pink kimono. Yurie had always kept Sakura with her day and night, she thought of her as a sister. It was near the end of winter, no leaves or flowers had sprouted yet. Yurie didn't like it when there were no leaves or flowers. It made gardens look dead.

Yurie walked over to a big wall with a door attached to it. She had once heard the servants say that behind the door was a garden that Yumie and Kiyoshi used to spend a lot of time. Yurie had always wanted to go through the door and see the garden her mother and uncle loved so much. But the door was locked and no one knew where the key was. Apparently Kiyoshi had the garden locked up and the key buried somewhere ever since Yumie died. The garden reminded him too much of his sister. After just staring at the locked door for a while, Yurie went straight back to the mansion.

That night Yurie was in bed with Sakura lying beside her. She was just about to go to sleep, when she heard voices from outside her room. She sat up in bed and listened to what the voices were saying. "Did you clean that room again?" asked a servant. "Yes I did" another servant answered "I must ask you though. Why does master Kiyoshi keep that room cleaned, locked up and never shows it to Yurie? It is her mother's room after all". "It's because he has been upset since she died and doesn't want to upset Yurie with it. He doesn't want it dirty which is why he asks us to keep it clean." Then the voices died down.

Yurie got out of bed, came out of her room and walked to her mother's room. It was five rooms away from Yurie's room. She had always wanted to look in there, but since it was kept locked up tight she couldn't. But tonight luck was on Yurie's side. The servant, who cleaned the room, left the key in the lock. Yurie took the key out of the lock and went back to bed. She thought it was too dark to go in there now, so she would go in there tomorrow when the sun started to rise. Then she fell asleep, holding Sakura and the key close to her.