I wouldn't consider this fanfiction, but it's strongly influenced by a poem by John Donne. It's called Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star. It really is quite a pretty poem, even if it doesn't make sense. Also, this story has large influences from Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones (the Studio Ghibli adaptation was quite spectacular as well) and Stardust, by Neil Gaiman (the film adaptation was also brilliant). Songs that really inspired this are both by Matt Cardle: The Stars and the Lovers, and Starlight. You should listen to them, thy are beautiful. And I just love Matt Cardle. Hooray for long authors notes. Special thanks to my supermegafoxyawesome beta reader, LittleMissCali. You da bomb, girl!! Feedback welcomed. Enjoy! xx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are, or who cleft the devil's foot
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep of envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind."
Nathaniel had been repeating the first verse of this spell for the past hour as he had searched the sky desperately for shooting stars. It was a clear summer's night, not a cloud in sight, and the sky was twinkling with thousands of tiny diamond-like stars. But not one of them had moved.
It was crazy. It was insane. But, Nathaniel was almost sure that Samuel Markham, the wizard he was apprenticed to, was crazy and insane as well.
First of all was the spell. Nathaniel knew almost nothing of the Other World, where they had magic boxes called computers and television, and comunicated to each other with strange chunks of metal called telephones, but he knew enough to know that this so-called spell was actually a poem written my an Other World poet. The poet's name was John Donne, and it was actually a very famous poem.
But Wizard Markham had insisted, "It's a spell, Nathaniel. It takes strong magic to work it, but it's most certainly a spell."
"What does it mean by 'go and catch a falling star'?" Nathaniel had asked, resigned to the fact that his master was crazy.
"Go and catch a falling star." Wizard Markham looked at the boy like Nathaniel was the crazy one and not himself. "The whole spell is quite self-explanitory."
"But falling stars are far to quick!" Nathaniel protested. "I should need a speed spell, or something else if I wished to catch one. And besides, you can't even properly see stars here, it's far too cloudy!"
The boy was right; the small town of Whitecliff, in which they lived, was often clouded with fog and marine layer.
"So go out to the Upper Midlands, or Hillside Valley. The sky is plenty clear there."
"But what of the rest of the spell? None of that makes sense either!"
The wizard sighed. Nathaniel was a good boy; he had loads of potential, and was polite, obedient, and extremely intelligent. But he was sorely lacking in imagination.
"My dear boy, the entire spell is very self-explanitory, as I said before. Just follow the spell as if it were a recipe, like baking a cake."
"The second verse is even more confusing. 'If thou be'st born to strange sights?' What does that even mean? And the bit in the middle about riding ten thousand days and nights? I would have to ride for almost twenty-seven years if I wanted to complete that spell!"
