Random short story's

Songs of Dawn

Hey this is for an English compatition at school and I thought why not, I'll most it on here? I hope you like it, we had to write a rewite for a fairytale.

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Once upon a time a beautiful young woman was sitting in a small simple crocked cottage, sat in a small rocking chair crying; it was a forlorn cry that would have heard for miles around if there had been anybody around. It so happened that on the fourth day of crying an old woman was walking past the cottage and heard the sound, she came over to the cottage and knocked on the door, the woman opened the door and the old woman looked her up and down before offering her a small loaf of bread. The woman accepted and soon she was telling her troubles to the old lady; of how her new husband had been kidnapped by robbers who wanted his skills to meet their every need; of how she dare not go to the village for fear that the kings solders might misunderstand the situation and arrest him and of how the wolves in the forest came every night and howled at her windows.

“I can help you.” The old woman said. “I know a little magic I could locate him and bring him back but of course at a price.” The woman was apprehensive at first of the old woman’s magic but asked of the price. “Pay me one gold coin a month for three years.” The old lady replied, “It is simple magic and not at all dark.” The woman thought the offer through before agreeing, her husband was good at his job so they were rich – they could afford it – and the magic was not dark and send her to hell.

The old woman performed her magic and almost instantly the husband returned the woman thanked and thanked the old woman who just smiled and said: “Remember our arrangement. I’ll be back in a month.”

The woman explained the arrangement to her husband and he agreed with her that they could pay it and so every month the old woman came and they paid her until the last year when a famine struck the land and a disease struck the woodland trees that were their livelihood, this was also the year that the woman became pregnant.

“We will pay you next time.” The husband would say every time the old woman turned up. “Next time.” And so it went on, until the day that the woman went to give birth, the husband had used his remaining money to get a healer from the village to help him when the old woman showed up demanding for all the money they have not given her.

“We cannot pay!” the husband cried. “My wife is giving birth, we cannot pay!” The old woman walked past him and into the bedroom where the wife lay being attended to by the healer.

“You cannot pay?” She asked. “Then you must pay another way.” She brushed the healer aside and grabbed hold of the wife’s hand.

“I curse your child.” She said ignoring the wife’s gasp of horror. “Of whom you are about to bring into this life. I curse thee to turn on thy eighth year of birth and ever after into a ferocious beast, a monster, from the songs of dusk until the songs of dawn.” A glow emitted from where their hands met and after a second it vanished and the witch obeyed, walking out of the door past the shocked husband and healer. Five hours later a pair of healthy twins was born.

A boy and a girl.

The two children grew up happily. They had a loving family and – after the famine had passed – lots of money. Their parents loved them dearly but as their eighth birthday approached they became worried. The night before they stayed up into the early hours of the morning, the two children were delighted when they woke up and thanked their parents for their gifts, the day couldn’t have gone more perfectly for them and they went to bed content. Their parents decided to go to bed early as well after their late night the night before, they fell asleep as the birds started to sing at the glowing sunset and a beautiful white dove flew past their window to land on the ledge of the children’s. They were tossing and turning in their sleep – changing as the last rays of the setting sun vanished over the horizon and an ugly black crow perched on the window ledge watching and waiting as the two children sat up and looked at it.