Once Upon a Faerie Tale

Chapter Twenty

Twenty:

20th August 1990

And that’s when we came through the mirror into this old antique shop in  Miami. I wasn’t expecting to go through by such a magical means. I expected it to be much like Grandma leaving that world, but I guess not. 

The mirror we came through was ornately gold and magnificent with roses engraved along the side. It stood about six feet tall at the top of it’s rounded peak. The gold was dusty and dirty, but it was beautifully crafted. 

I’m glad to be home now, especially after the disappointment with Markus. But I still wonder if he really ever loved me for me or if he only liked the idea that I was going to be the queen of the East Kingdom. Gosh, that’s a strange thing to think. Especially since, on this side of reality I’m just a normal person. And it’s even more strange to think that this world is just as real as the magical one. 

Another strange thing about the magical world, it doesn’t have a name. Grandma said something rather prolific about the name of the magical world when I asked her about it before Nick, Michelle, and I left on our little adventure in Florida. Grandma said that the world has a name, but it’s so powerful that it can’t be brought to light. Strange how a name can be so powerful. It kind of reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin. Grandma told me the story a long time ago. I wonder if I still remember the story:

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a poor miller who had a beautiful daughter. One day, the miller came across the king on his way to town. Absolutely awed by the powerful man’s presence the poor miller wanted to impress the man. He told the king of his beautiful daughter, who had a special talent, spinning straw into gold. The king took great interest in this idea, as he could not satisfy his thirst for gold. Not wasting any time, the king ordered the poor miller and two soldiers to accompany him to bring his daughter to the castle.

When the young girl was brought to the castle she was hurried down corridors with grand portraits and marble floors and taken to a room at the back of the castle with a plain wooden door. The king opened the door and the girl saw only a room full of straw. A spindle was placed in the room and the king addressed the girl proudly, “All this straw must be spun to gold by morning. If it is not, then you will die.” 

Terrified, the miller’s daughter watched, wide eyed as the king closed the wooden door, leaving her in a room with straw. Unsure how to spin straw into gold, having only heard of the technique from travelers returning from distant lands, she began to cry, knowing it would be her last day on earth. 

But as she sat there crying, the door opened and a small man with a long beard and a knitted cap entered. His fingers were long and boney, his nose pointed precisely and his long robes barely covered worn leather shoes. “Good evening my dear!” the man said cheerfully, “ But why do you weep?”

At his query the girl began to cry harder, but managed to find space to mumble out, “I don’t know how to spin straw to gold and I must turn all of this into gold before morning,” she said, gesturing to the straw piled around her, “or I will die.”

The tiny man looked at her will large watery blue eyes and asked, “If I spin it for you, what will you give me as payment?” 

Thinking for a moment the miller’s daughter grasped the necklace that hung around her neck. It was a small wooden charm, but she wore it every day. The man looked it over, put it in his pocket, sat down on the three legged stool and began to spin the straw into gold. The girl stared for a moment until he ran out of straw and handed him another batch. 

This continued through the night. The large stack of spools slowly made their way onto the spindle, each soon containing gold thread until the spools were all gone, and the only straw remaining was a few stray pieces around the room. It was with great relief that the poor miller’s daughter sighed when the first rays of sunlight filtered through the small window facing east and caught the many spools of gold thread.