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Fal_chan
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Interests: I enjoy reading epic fantasy novels, shojo manga, and books like the Hong Lou Meng and the Tale of Genji. I also like Korean and Japanese pop, Visual Kei, Korean movies (especially romances!) and generally being a nerd.
Expertise: Chinese art, particularly Song dynasty painting, Mercedes Lackey novels (I've read almost everything she's ever written!), and conditioners. I have long hair. ^.^
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  XiaoFenni
MSN: fal_chan@hotmail.com
Member Since:
10/12/2005
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| Due to popular demand and my realization that if I don't write this now, I likely never will, here. Have the rest of it. Again, this is straight from brain to blog, and any typical first-draft problems will be compounded by the fact that I'm really tired right now. Enjoy.
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On this side of the river, the path through the woods was very different. Where it had been a normal, friendly, rambling bit of dirt, now it had become a wide and flat avenue, paved in hundreds and hundreds of tiny blue-green stones. Even the trees here were different from those on the other side. These trees seemed to be meditating on deep and secret things. No birds sang or flew among their branches. The little serving maid shivered a little bit.
"Cold, human child?" said a voice. The serving maid looked around for its owner, but saw not a soul, neither human nor beast. "Ah, but I am below you, human child," said the same voice. The serving maid looked down. There, coiled among the blue-green paving-stones, was the little emerald snake whose tail had been caught under the log. "Oh!" exclaimed the serving maid. "Indeed," said the snake, in a rather dry tone, "Your good deeds truly will be rewarded today. I have also heard of your most noble and selfless quest. As you can quite clearly see, I am NOT a feathered serpent. But as you can also quite clearly see, I am still a serpent. I can help you achieve your goal. Come, pick me up."
The serving maid did so. The little emerald snake coiled up her arm and around her neck, so that she appeared to be wearing the most magnificent collar ever lusted after by queen or empress. "Please, can you really help me?" she asked. "I know that, even entirely on my own, I could have climbed over the mountains or swum across the river. But, I do not know how to get to the cave, or how to reach the tree once I have arrived." The snake tickled her ear with his tiny forked tongue. "As to finding the cave, that is quite easy, for the path we are on leads directly to its mouth. But as to reaching the trees..." he paused. "Tell me, little human child, can you hum?"
The emerald snake taught the little serving maid a most peculiar little melody, and gave her strict instructions to hum it continuously while in the cave. "For if you do not," he said, "the feathered serpents will fly at you, and slice you with their sharp feathers, and you shall never see your moonlight prince again. But if you can remember this song, the serpents will be completely entranced, and will not even see you." The little serving maid did her best to learn it completely, and promised to hum it at all times while within the cave.
By now, they had walked all the way to the entrance of the cave. The serving maid adjusted her pack and took a deep breath. She took a step forward. "Ready?" the little emerald snake asked. She nodded. She took the final step into the cave, and began to hum.
Inside, the cave was filled with a thousand scintillating lights, all in the same blue-green as the paving stones outside. All around it were outcroppings of blue-green rocks. The little serving maid suddenly realized that the lights were coming from the feathers of the feathered serpents! But as the emerald snake had promised, none of them seemed to see her. They were swaying gently, as if under an enchantment, and she crept past them silently. Now, she could see a different light, a white light, like sunlight through crystal, or moonlight on snow. It came from the trees at the end of the cave. The fruit on the trees sparkled and shone, so that she could barely see, and had to squint her eyes tight. But, she kept on humming, and the feathered serpents still did not notice her.
Finally, she reached the grove of trees. "Pick as many as you can fit in your pack!" ordered the emerald snake. She nodded, and hummed with all her might. Soon she had not only her pack, but even her pockets, filled with the diamond-white fruits. She turned back towards the mouth of the cave. She had almost reached it when she stepped upon a loose pebble, and fell to one knee. "Run! Run!" screeched the little snake, and indeed: the little maid had stopped humming. Suddenly, the cave behind her was filled with a horrible whirring and rushing noise. The serpents had awoken. "Quick!" the snake cried. "They will try to catch you, and cut you to pieces with their feathers!"
The little serving maid ran as fast as she could away from the cave. She flew down the path towards the riverbank, where the rope was still in place. She flung herself into the river, and swam as fast as she could towards the other bank. The otters swam after her, one dragging the end of the rope in its teeth and looking, it must be said, rather pleased with its bravery. She could still hear the whirring noise of the serpents, but it was rather fainter now. Only the boldest of them dared to cross running water.
There, on the other side of the bank, was the lion. "Come!" he said. "I shall carry you back across the mountains, you and your new companion!" The little serving maid climbed on his back, and the little emerald snake clung tightly to her neck. If she had thought their journey fast before, it was nothing compared to the great leaps and bounds the lion now made. Soon he had left all but the strongest of the feathered serpents behind. As they landed on the path on the other side of the mountains, the lion made a particularly high leap. At the highest point, he reached out one massive paw, and, almost lazily, grabbed the feathered serpent and crushed it into the dirt.
The little serving maid ran as quickly as she could back to the palace, where the king and queen were waiting for her. "You have returned just in time!" they cried. "The prince is on the very doorstep of death! Quickly, where are the fruits?" The little serving maid gave the king and queen all the diamond-white fruits she had collected, and even in their haste the king and queen were amazed by their beauty. They piled the fruits in a bowl and took them to the bedchamber of the moonlight prince. There, standing over his sickbed, was the sunlight princess. She was a thousand, no, ten thousand times more beautiful in person than in her portrait, and even in a sickroom her presence was like honeyed sunlight. "I will give them to him," she said, in a voice filled with violets and birdsong. The king and queen gave her the bowl, and she tenderly fed the fruits to the dying prince.
As she fed him, the pallor that had been on his face disappeared. His breathing eased, and his lips smiled. He opened his eyes, and oh! what joy! as he gazed on the face of his beloved sunlight princess. The little serving maid felt her heart shatter within her.
As soon as the moonlight prince was enough recovered to leave his bed, he and the sunlight princess were married. The little serving maid did not go to see the ceremony, nor the feasting and dancing that followed. Instead, she took her little pack, and the little emerald snake, and with the wedding bells ringing in her ears, she quietly left the palace. "I know that they will live happily ever after," she thought to herself, as she walked away down the path into the forest.
The End | | |
| Yeah yeah I know, I got to part 4 and stopped writing. Here, have some more. Be warned, this is now the first draft (as in, straight from brain to blog) so if there are bizarre and odd things, that's probably why. Thanks for your comments on the previous bits, hopefully this will not disappoint excessively.
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The little maid stood for a moment on the banks of the great river. It seemed to be deep, and moving awfully fast. She looked up and down, but there were no bridges anywhere, and she didn't think she could swim across it. "Well," she thought, "nothing for it but to try and ford ahead." So she went to the edge of the water. As she was about to step in, there was a splash. She looked up. There, inches away from her, was the biggest otter she had ever seen. "Little maid little maid!" the otter said, talking very fast. "You you you have done a very very kind thing today!" Several more otters popped their heads out of the river, and the maid recognized one as the little otter whose foot she had freed from the tangle of rushes.
"Yes yes yes!" said the big otter, as the other otters began playing a rather complicated game in the shallows, "this this this is the one you helped helped helped! We we we want to say thank you thank you! We know know know you need to get to the other side side, but the river is strong strong strong. Do you have any any rope?" The serving maid looked in her pack. Whoever had done her packing had done a very good job of it, for there at the bottom was a long coil of thick, sturdy rope. "Good good good!" all the otters cried. "Tie one end around a tree tree tree and give the other end to us us us! We will swim swim swim to the opposite bank, and tie it fast fast fast! Then, you can cross cross cross the river safely!"
The little maid thought this was quite a sensible idea. So she tied one end of the rope tight around a tree, and gave the other end to the otters. Quick as could be, they had it across the river, and tied around another thick tree. The serving maid clung to it, and was able to get across the river, although the otters almost tripped her once or twice, as they were playing tag around her legs. When she got to the other side, she looked back. How was she to untie the rope? "Leave it leave it leave it!" said the biggest otter. "You will have to come back back back, won't you?" it asked. The otter was right, of course, so the little serving maid left the rope tied across the ford, and continued on her journey.
To be continued~
(Xposted from Facebooku~) | | |
| By now, the road had started to go through much more mountainous terrain. The land was rocky, and covered with scrubby trees and brushes. The serving maid started to have a hard time climbing, so she decided to take another short rest, this time by a spring. But as she sat down, there was a loud noise in the bushes above her. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a huge lion sprang out and landed in front of her. She was terrified!
But the lion did not attack her. Instead, it sat down and curled its tail around its front feet, just like a cat. Then, it opened its mouth. The serving maid winced, expecting to hear a huge roar. Instead it said, in a deep velvet rumble, "Little maid, I am the king of the cats in this land. You have done me a great service. This foolish little one is my queen's favorite page." The serving maid started. There, clinging to the lion's mane, was the very same kitten she had rescued from the tree earlier that day. The lion continued. "In thanks for your kindness to him, I wish to do you a kindness in return. We know that you are traveling to the cave of the feathered serpents. But, just ahead, the road becomes very rocky, and you will find it most difficult to traverse. If you climb on my back, I shall take you over the mountains, to the bank of the great river. From there, you must make your own way. Come!" the lion ordered.
The serving maid was nervous, but she dared not disobey. So, she climbed on the lion's back. "Hold onto my mane," he ordered. His mane was coarse, and when a bit of it tickled the serving maid's face, it smelled of oranges and sandalwood. The lion bounded away from the spring and across the rocks. His pace was much quicker than the serving made could ever have managed on her own. She felt a small vibrating thing snuggle up next to her. It was the little kitten, purring with all his might. "I seem to have made a new friend!" she said. He purred even harder, and blinked at her as though to agree.
The lion carried her over huge rocks, and slippery paths, and wide gaps that she would never have been able to cross. Soon, his leaps had carried them completely over the mountains, and to the bank of the huge river. "Here is where I leave you," said the lion. She quickly slid off his back, and onto the ground. The kitten purred at her once more, and then the lion and his tiny passenger were bounding back into the mountains, leaving the serving maid alone on the riverbank.
To be continued~
although I should note that this is as far as I got scribbling notes during classes/meetings, so from here on in I will actually have to be self-motivated to write this stuff. Gasp. Shock. | | |
| This serving maid was not pretty, slender, or tall, but she was both kind and clever. She also had a secret- she was madly, horribly, desperately in love with the moon prince. When he fell ill, she cared for him every day, and even cooked special delicacies for him with her own hands. The prince was very kind to her, but she knew he did not love her.
He had been betrothed since birth to the princess of a neighboring country. She had hair the color of afternoon sunlight, and eyes like violets in the shade. The prince loved her deeply, and kept her miniature by his bed where he could see it no matter how weak his illness made him. Still, the little serving maid could not help but love the moonlight prince with all her heart.
Because she loved him so much, she was willing to risk any danger to save him. The king and queen were very grateful to her, and gave her food and supplies for the journey. Early the next morning, she set off on the road leading to the mountains.
She walked for many hours, as the road wound through the woods. She decided to sit down and rest under a tree. As she was resting, she heard a pitiful mewing sound from above her. She looked up. In the tree was a tiny kitten, perched on a high branch. "Oh, you poor thing!" said the serving girl. "Did you climb up the tree and get stuck?" So, she climbed up the tree and got the kitten down. When she reached the round, she put it down on the forest floor. It looked at her for a moment, purred loudly, and then scampered off into the underbrush.
The serving maid watched it for a moment, and then sighed. "Oh well, no point in wasting time," she said. So she shouldered her pack and set back off down the road.
A little while later, the path began to follow the banks of a small stream. As the serving maid was walking along, she heard a strange splashing and grunting noise. She looked more closely. At the edge of the bank was an otter, trying to swim to the middle of the stream. "Oh, dear," said the serving maid. "Is your foot caught on something?" She knelt down at the edge of the stream. Sure enough, the otter's hind foot had been caught in a thick tangle of rushes, and he couldn't full free. So, she took out her pocketknife, and cut the rushes apart. The otter swam off. Then, it turned around. It looked in her eyes, and put its paw on her hand for a moment. Suddenly, it was gone underwater. The serving maid got up and brushed the mud from her hands. "Well, I'm glad it's free!" she said, and continued on her journey.
After a short time, the road moved away from the stream and back into the woods. The shadows were dark and deep, and the underbrush was thick. The serving maid started to become a bit nervous. Suddenly, she heard a rustling, and a frantic hissing noise. There by the side of the road was a small, brilliantly green snake. Its tail was caught under a fallen log. The serving maid felt sorry for the little snake, so she went closer and picked up the log. The snake slithered away, but just before it disappeared, it turned and looked at her with its bright gold eyes. It flicked its tongue- one, two, three.
The little serving maid felt rather pleased with herself. "In just this first part of the journey, I have already helped those three poor animals. Surely, I will be able to save the prince!"
To be continued~ | | |
| I've had this vague attempt at a fairy tale going through my head since, oh, April. It began as catharsis (yes at least one character in it is inspired by a real person, see if you can guess who) but if I can make myself finish it, I intend to send it to the Writers of the Future contest, as well as anything else I can find that might accept it. Since I'm on vacation this week, I figured I might as well start putting it up. Hopefully you people will bug me enough that I'll get it all finished. As already stated, it's supposed to be a fairy tale, and any suggestions to make it more fairy-tale-like would be highly appreciated. Hope you all enjoy~ (Cross-posted to Facebook)
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Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a king and a queen. They had only one son, a prince as beautiful as the moon. His skin was as pale as cream, and his hair was the obsidian of a still lake at midnight. But one day, the moon prince fell sick. The king and queen hired the best doctors, scholars, and magicians in the land, but none could cure him. The prince became more ill with each passing day, and all their efforts were to no avail. The king and queen were in despair.
Finally, they convinced the oldest and wisest magician in the land to divine the cause of the prince's illness. The magician read the prince's horoscopes, interpreted the entrails of birds, threw the rune-stones, and laid out cards, all the repertory of a great magician. Finally, he said, "Your son is afflicted with a rare sickness. It can only be cured if he eats the fruit of the tree guarded by feathered serpents." "But, where is this tree?" asked the king and the queen. "It lies a long way from here. To reach it, you must travel far, over high mountains and deep rivers. There are many dangers on the journey; who will be brave enough to go?"
The king and queen asked all their courtiers, but none were able to. Some were ill, some were old, others could not leave their homes. The king and queen were about to yet again despair, when a small brown serving maid came forward.
To be continued~ | | |
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