Weekly News from the Wacky World of Fairy Tales. The Once Upon A Times keeps you up to date with all the goings-on in the fairy tale lands, from the Pleasant Kingdoms to the Seven Seas of Despair.
Priestess Transcends Bonds of Earth; Turns Into Swan
Crystal Mountain, Pleasant Kingdoms - Sister Effemera Fethers, a priestess at the Temple of the Crystal Mountain, shocked pilgrims yesterday when she suddenly transformed into a swan. After several hours of meditation, Sister Fethers levitated off the ground for several seconds before bursting out the temple window in a flurry of wings and feathers.
"Oh, this happens every few years," says Brother Izdom, head monk at the Temple. "She has achieved a higher state of being. Literally--look, she's flying around the peak."
Temple records show at least six previous instances of enlightened shapeshifting in the last decade alone. "Usually, the enlightened ones turn into swans," explains Brother Izdom. "Occasionally doves. Sometimes, it's not a human turning into another creature--it's a beast or a fish that transcends their form and turns into a human. Take Brother Limby over there. He used to be a giant squid at the bottom of the Crystal Sea, but after plumbing the depths of the ocean and the depths of his soul, he crawled onto the shore in human form--albeit with a few extra arms."
Instances of enlightened shapeshifting have significant theological implications. "It does get us reflecting on what makes humans similar or different to other creatures," Brother Izdom muses. "Were different creatures all created separately? Or, in the beginning, was there only one type of creature that has shifted and evolved into others over time? It generates considerable debate."
The Temple hopes Sister Fethers' transformation will also generate considerable profit--all of which will contribute to a scholarship fund. "We take the feathers she left behind," says Brother Izdom, "and we put them in a commemorative pillow. Then we auction it off and the proceeds go toward educating new members of the temple--like Brother Limby. He was very enlightened when he arrived last year, but he only spoke squid. His English is really starting to come around now."
Such funding could be the first step--or flap--for new initiates on their own path to transcendence.
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Inspired by "The Swan Maiden" by Joseph Jacobs (1916), who based his tale on various earlier oral versions from around Europe.
