The Changling

Meadow

In the olden time,when magic lived and breathed , there was a Queen who longed for a child. She was a sad Queen, for the king was often away, leaving her with little to do but dwell upon her own loneliness,and wonder how it was that her own husband, whom she loved so well, could bear to be parted from her for so long and so often. It happened many years before, the King had stolen the throne from its rightful ruler, the Fairy Queen, and the beautiful, peaceful land of Fairies had overnight become a desolate in which magic no longer flourished and laughter was banished. So wrathful was the King that he determined to capture  the Fairy Queen and force her back to the kingdom. A golden cage  was prepared specially that he might imprison  the Fairy Queen and impel her to make magic for his pleasure.

One winters day, while the King was away, the Queen sat by an open window, gazing out across the snow-laden ground, she was weeping as she sat, for the desolation of the winter months had a habit of reminding the Queen of her loneliness. As she took in the barren winter landscape, she thought of her own barren womb, empty, as ever, despite her longing. "Oh, how I wish for a child!" she cried. "A beautiful daughter with a heart of truth and eyes that never fill with tears. Then need I never be lonely again."

Winter passed, and the world around began to wake. The birds returned to the kingdom and set about rebuilding their nests, deer could be seen once more grazing where the fields met the woods, and buds burst forth upon the branches of the kingdoms trees. As the new season's skylarks took to the air, the Queen's skirt began to tighten around her middle, and by and by she realized she was with child. The King had not been back to the castle and thus the Queen knew  that a mischievous fairy, far from home and hidden in the winter garden, must have heard her weeping and granted her wish by magic.

The Queen grew and grew and winter came once more, and on Christmas Eve, as a deep snow fell across the land, the Queen began to pain. All night she labored, and on the last chime of midnight her daughter was born, and the Queen was able to look at last upon her baby's face.

To think that this beautiful child with pale unblemished skin, and dark, and red lips in the shape of a rosebud, was all hers! " Meadow" the Queen said "I shall name her Meadow." The Queen was instantly smitten and refused to let the Princess Meadow out of her sight. Loneliness had made her selfish, selfishness had made her suspicious. At every turn the Queen worried that someone was waiting to steal the child from her. 'She is mine,' thought the Queen. 'My salvation, thus must I keep her for myself.