by: Valentino Incanto
Profferi
©Valentino Incanto Profferi 200=
9
The story told here is utterly
fictitious and any resemblance between the characters herein or the events
depicted and any true incident depicted by the Fairy tale is completely
coincidental and unintentional.
Once th=
ere was a
young Toad named William who was known to most in his town as Bill and by o=
ne
elderly dame as Billy. This young =
chap
was quite a clever fellow who was strapping and rather well liked, he thoug=
ht. He was in fact a rather similar to the =
others
in the town and completely unremarkable in any way except to the elderly da=
me
who had loved him for his own self since she had met him as a child in her =
schoolhouse. William Toad had grown up to be quite a
fellow of fellows with a good sense and a taste for wearing medium grey spo=
rt
suits with no tie and properly shined loafers.
Bill liked to look like how he wished to be, a relaxed and amiable
fellow, an upstanding citizen, and a professional with a life and career.
Five days of every week were repetitions=
of
each other. Before the rising of t=
he sun,
Bill would be up with a steaming pot of hot coffee, a plate of buttered toa=
st
with jam and a bowl of sliced fruit.
Once the breakfast had been polished off and the dishes put away, it=
was
time for a brisk walk to the park, around the pond thrice followed by the
return to his home at the bottom of
Relieve=
d at the
end of each of those days, Bill would waddle home exhausted. By the end of each day his head and body=
ached
from the tedium and allotment of his soul in the service of The Firm. He was happy to do it for it was a small
price to pay for the respect, fortune, and security that was promised in
return. Deep within, his spirit lay
buried beneath the weight of his obese soul.
Each night the return home was interrupted by a visit to Conker’s Ba=
r,
which was in walking distance from home.
Conkers was the gateway into the quiet and pretty neighbourhood. Every night his seat at the bar between=
Don
and Phil was waiting by the far wall of the stuffy, dark little bar room.
From th=
eir safe
vantage point in the obscurity of relative darkness, the three friends
nattered. Over the dames who came =
and
went they remarked on the greater and lesser qualities of what they could
see. For the more significant qua=
lities
that the observed may have had within, there was not a thought. However, for the greater part of the vi=
sit at
Conker’s, there was football to watch and to discuss the performance of the
competing teams. After dinner Bill=
would
find his path home among the littering of invisible obstacles set on the gr=
een
lawn flanked sidewalk. Bill was ce=
rtain
at those times that the city workers had put the obstacles there just for h=
im
to trip and call in a complaint. H=
e was
a nice guy though, which meant that Bill only complained about it to Josh t=
he
barman, Phil and Don. Thank fully,=
there
was his trusty recliner in the living room before the enormous liquid cryst=
al
display screen where Bill could regain his strength and relax. The news was usually on when the large =
screen
began resonating at his soul and irradiating his corneas. Bill found that pushing a button and se=
eing
the world open up before him was comforting and reassuring. Feeling reposed after absorbing the spo=
rts
news Bill pushed a button to find himself in a new world of adventure,
excitement, drama, and romance.
On his =
recliner,
relaxed and also aroused with excitement from the film, Bill Toad would slip
into dreams of living the promised life one day when he retired. Some hours later he would awake to the
disturbing growls of a creature threatening a maiden. Roused from his slumber he pushed a but=
ton to
extinguish the violence. He had be=
en
dreaming of conquering as he rose to become the president of his Firm, whic=
h he
swiftly put out of his mind. Roger=
Moro
was his only competition at his level.
It was a private joke of Bill’s with his associates at Conker’s that
Moro was short for
Saturda=
y morning
was very much like any other with the destination after dressing becoming t=
he
shopping centre. Along with fruit,
bread, butter, jam and coffee, Bill supplied himself with ale, chips, pretz=
els,
and a few frozen meals each week. =
In the
mornings he would play video games online with friends who he had never seen
and hoped secretly to never meet. =
By the
time that afternoon was upon him, the room was littered with empty beer cans
and bags of salties. It was time to
watch the Saturday game. Bill’s ill
coordination had lost him several games by then, and the novelty of the
diversion had dissolved. Thankfull=
y, it
was time to assume the position with the recliner and yet another case of b=
eer
and bag of salties. At the half ti=
me
intermission Bill would be up in the kitchen heating his dinner in the
microwave when the phone always rang.
“Ohh, H=
elllloo
Billy Deary!” said the high and warm toned voice of the elderly Ms.
Pierce. “You will be at Service
tomorrow, won’t you Billy?” Respon=
ding
with a slur that he tried to disguise, Bill always responded in the affirma=
tive
with two words, “Yes Miss.” Like t=
he
ritual that it was Ms. Pierce would continue.
“Excellent Billy, excellent, would you please pick me up at seven so
that we will not be late?” The res=
ponse
was again the same, “Yes Miss.” Wi=
thout
another word she would kiss loudly into the handset and hang up leaving Bil=
l’s
head and ear ringing. He pushed a =
button
on the remote and muted the sound of the pundits pretending to know somethi=
ng
about something loudly for anyone who cared to listen. He ate his reheated meal in silence wit=
h a
glass of water hating himself for liking this life full of empty promises a=
nd
illusions that helped pass the time.
Ms. Pie=
rce was
the only person he had ever met who loved him for his spirit and his body, =
the
only one who did not want his soul, and the only one who had pity on him for
the misfortunes that he had to believe were success. Love, not true love or being in love, i=
t felt
good. Love, it scared his pants of=
f, but
it was the only thing in his life that Bill had never managed to lie to him=
self
about. The old school teacher Love=
d him
and asked for nothing in return. W=
hen he
had said no to picking her up to go to church she had walked the four miles
without being in the least upset. Ms. Pierce had told him about how the bir=
ds
had been singing along the road in the morning and that it had been lovely,
smelling the fresh morning air. He=
could
see that she was tired and cold, but she did not ask him to take her home.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The next week she called again and Bill=
could
never say no again.
Bill co=
uld feel
his heart ache as he thought of her as if she caused him pain. Some times he thought that he loved her;
though he did not believe that Love could cause pain or that a young person
could love an old person. After al=
l,
Miss was not young, pretty, or alluring for age had erased her vigour,
fertility, and mellowed her soul.
Sometimes Bill was certain that he hated her for he felt an inexplic=
able
feeling of being oppressed by the old woman in some ineffable way. Other times Bill would wish she would j=
ust
die and go away from his easy life, however, the guilt would overwhelm him
later and he would buy her a large bouquet of flowers on the way to her hom=
e in
the morning in apology for wishing her ill without ever speaking of his true
motives. But the old Dame knew and
forgave him for his crimes against himself because they needed forgiveness =
and
Bill never forgave himself.
With pa=
rt of his
mind on Miss, Bill returned to his recliner to observe the remainder of the
game detachedly. At the end of the=
game
there was an analysis by the pundits and a historical review of the teams
before the Saturday Dramatic Romance motion picture which always followed.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Bill was not paying attention to either=
and
let the programming pass through him like water through a sieve. He daydreamed about meeting Ms. Pierce =
when she
was a young woman and still teaching.
His wishes would be for her to have been a beautiful and gentile you=
ng
lady of exquisite beauty and grace. They
would have fallen in love romantically after meeting at church and getting =
to
know each other over candle lit dinners and movies at the theatre. After a few years, when his career had =
led to
a stable and significant position in The Firm, they would have been married
with great fanfare as his nemesis, Moro, had been. Then his life would have been inscrutab=
le and
secure. With success would come li=
ttle
Bills and little Debbies.
How won=
derful if
only it this fantasy could be, but it was impossible for Bill was only in h=
is
first year as a barrister at The Firm and Miss was marking her seventieth
year. They had met when Bill was o=
nly a
child in elementary school. Ms. Pi=
erce
had remained unattached for all those years despite a dozen marriage
proposals. Most of her suitors had=
been
turned out on the simple phrase, “Love has no price that can be paid by a m=
an
who gives his soul in exchange for profit.”
The rest of the suitors had been humoured until they realized that s=
he
would never reciprocate the appearance of loving them simply to satisfy a
societal expectation that those who marry will always love each other. Bill knew in his spirit that he Loved M=
s. Pierce
as much as she Loved him for no other reason than for whom she was in
spirit. Bill’s soul found the Love
painful, repugnant, and was ever perplexed at Bill’s inability to obtain a
suitable date when the field of opportunity was open to him.
With a =
start Bill
awoke from his forty winks on his restful recliner late in the evening while
the news was being repeated. Deftl=
y and
with meticulous care, Bill cleaned his mess and went to bed leaving a clean=
house
for his spirit to wander in. When =
Bill’s
body and soul slept, his spirit was free to follow its destiny. It most often found its way to contact =
the
spirit of Miss, as she also slept. The
contact invariably went unnoticed by Bill who felt invigorated and energeti=
c in
the morning as a result. For Ms. P=
ierce,
the interaction was conscious and of some comfort that brought with it a th=
read
of sadness for in a way they were already married by a fate that society and
soul were nearly completely unaware of.
However, the spirit did convey understanding to the soul and the bod=
ily
world in its own slow way even if the message seemed inaudible. Bill was simply not interested in any s=
oul
mate no mater how pretty and appropriate their union promised to be. Deep within himself he knew that his ma=
rriage
would cause pain to his elderly Love.
Causing her pain consciously and deliberately was not an undertaking
that Bill was prepared to risk despite the social image of a disinterested
bachelor.
Sunday =
morning
finally came and Bill had a glass of water and fasted before his walk. Following his three circuits of the pon=
d at
the park and his return home, Bill continued his fast with more water before
his bath. He was not sure why he f=
asted
every Sunday before the service, but he explained it away to himself by tel=
ling
himself that the church always fed them a banquet of a brunch. In fact, Ms. Pierce also fasted each mo=
rning
as part of her ascetic spiritual practices she had been practicing for the =
last
fifty years. It was a way of life =
that
changed one’s way of looking at the ordinary world by giving up portions of=
the
structure of life to make room for the spiritual. Limited sleep and regular exposure to t=
he
elements also were part of Miss’s way of life which Bill could feel but not
see. Bill dressed his black dinner=
suit
for the service, is best garment with his little used black dress shoes and=
a
pale pink shirt with a blossom pattern bow tie that Ms. Pierce had given
him. It had been her suggestion th=
at
Bill wear pink shirts as it made him handsome by bringing out the warm tone=
s in
his pale skin.
As he d=
rove down
the road leading out of town Bill felt a warmth of childlike excitement min=
gled
with happiness and an irrepressible expectant arousal of visiting a dearly
missed lover. Each Sunday that he =
had
gone to collect Miss since his return from law school he had felt this
way. It had been over a year since=
his
return when his relationship with Miss had grown stronger and more complex =
than
ever before. Bill had never forgot=
ten
what she had said the moment she had first set eyes on him again, “I have b=
een
waiting for you to return for many years and would gladly go on waiting unt=
il
the end of the Earth.” Ms. Pierce =
had
been at the airport in the City waiting for him to disembark. Bill had not had any contact with her s=
ince
he left for the military. He had n=
ever
found out how she had known when he was arriving for he had not even told h=
is parents,
nor how she had gotten there. His
arrival was supposed to be a surprise, but the surprise had been his. They had driven back into town together=
and
enjoyed a cosy dinner at Ms. Pierce’s home before Bill had gone home to
surprise his parents.
That ni=
ght she
had touched his face ever so lightly with a tear of joy and another of sadn=
ess
in each of her eyes. Miss had
simultaneously touched his soul and his spirit with that loving touch. The words and response had sprung out o=
f Bill
spontaneously before he had even realized what he was doing. “I Love You,” he had said returning her=
touch
of his face to hers and kissed the old Dame with a gentle and thrilling
passion. He had promised to see her
every Sunday in the very least. Fo=
r a
year and more now Bill had been giving Ms. Pierce the very least and he fel=
t a
nagging feeling of shame rising, forcing its way past his ego and his
soul. He thought about buying flow=
ers
again and a powerful negating response struck him. He passed the florist and felt himself
reaching psychically with his soul for the florist. The turn off toward the woods came and
went. While Bill struggled with hi=
mself,
he drove for another mile before he realized he had to turn the car
around.
Bill pu=
lled up to
the little bungalow surrounded by hedges on two sides and the little forest=
of
the state park on the others. For =
forty
years Ms. Pierce had been living in this little house and walking the three=
and
a half miles to the schoolhouse where she had taught several generations of
children how to read, write, add, and subtract.
For the older children of the parish she had also taught theory of
knowledge where she had instructed them on the theological and philosophical
principles of life as can be understood through logic and discussion. This course had been presented in
collaboration with the parish Minister, but it had in fact been led and con=
ceptualized
completely by Ms. Pierce.
Theory =
of Knowledge
sought to give her students a key with which to their lives and find that w=
hich
was meaningless in order to separate it from those elements that had person=
al
or social meaning. In essence, it =
was a
course on self integration for the young adults that were forming to make t=
he
transition and comprehension of the significance of adulthood a conscious
reality. It was a fact up until th=
at
course changed the community, that adults thought they were important and t=
heir
children were relevant. The fact w=
as
though, that by living in this way, the adults depended on having children =
to
lend their supposed important lives a meaning in a concrete and daily way.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Essentially, the adults had been living=
their
lives through that of their children, which robbed the children of their
childhood experienced as they were artificially accelerated in an effort to
live adult lives and think like adults while still children. After theory of knowledge was institute=
d, the
adults began to accept that they were relevant and that that was the meaning
that they so desperately sought. T=
he
children, on the other hand were subsequently free to have experience and to
observe the universe as it intersected their lives.
Bill pa= rked the car before her little gate and walked through the bed of flowers and the he= rb garden along Miss’s winding gravel path. He saw Ms. Piece looking at him from behind a fine veil of a curtain, but she still waited for him to knock before answering. While standing between two rose bushes w= ith open, fragrant blossoms, Bill rapped thrice upon her carved wooden door with wood burnings as accents on the raised elements. For the few moments it took Miss to rea= ch him, Bill Toad found himself irresistibly attracted to the pink blooms. His nose was nearly touching the flower= of which he was enjoying its bouquet when Ms. Piece opened the door quietly to observe him. For almost a full min= ute Bill was entranced by the flower as obscure memories from his youth flooded= his suddenly attentive mind. As her ha= nd took hold of the blossom at its base and broke it off with some of the stal= k, Bill snapped out of his enchantment to find his lips only half an inch from Miss’s cheek. Unable to restrain himself, and before he had realized it, Bill had kissed Miss, who returned = him an equally impassioned kiss before tucking the pink flower in the left butt= on hole of the suit jacket’s lapel. <= o:p>
As she =
had tucked
the bloom in its place, Miss had repeated her whisper he had heard every Su=
nday
and in his dreams, though Bill had tried to pretend to not hear. “I Love you Billy.” Today, Bill let himself hear it and he =
found
that after that there was no turning back.
He immediately responded that he Loved her and that he wished to mar=
ry
Ms. Pierce. After briefly smiling =
she
took his hand and drew Bill in the door without making a sound. Having seated him on antiquated wooden =
bench
seat that was used as a sofa, Ms. Pierce brought him a steaming cup of mint=
tea
she kept warm by the fire place beneath a substantial tea cosy. As she took the empty cup from his hand=
, she
touched his face gently and kissed his forehead. Bill felt relaxed, happy and very much =
at
ease at last. It had been this fee=
ling
that he had sought to emulate with his lounge chair and television experien=
ce
which had never failed to fill him with dreariness until he finally fell as=
leep
in the radiant glow of the slim, dark box construction before him.
After b=
riefly
rinsing the tea cup, Miss joined Billy, who was awaiting her by the entry.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Hand in hand they walked out to the mot=
or
carriage through her lovely garden once more.
Mr. Toad opened the door for her and closed it firmly once she was
comfortably seated. Together, they=
set
off for the church. Whilst holding
hands, they entered the little brick house of God to join the town’s other
parish members as the priest began his benedictions at the start of the
service. For a split second, the p=
riest
made eye contact with the two late arrivals which made him pause and stutter
slightly before continuing. He had=
not
failed to note the marked difference in Bill’s demeanour as he escorted his
Love and fiancé to their customary pew seat.
Most of the parish turned to look and found themselves unable to look
away from the glow of joy and happiness that seemed to surround Miss and Bi=
lly
with something much like a halo. =
Most
of the parish followed their progress as they walked up the aisle as if at a
wedding before taking their seats, still hand in hand, on the edge of the
second pew from the front as always before.
Toward =
the end of
the service there was the making peace where those who were proximal genera=
lly
shook hands and relatives hugged. =
Every
one of the parish members that encircled the newly betrothed couple hugged =
them
for a little longer than was gener=
ally
practiced. In practice this amount=
ed to
them clinging desperately trying to enjoy their happiness for just a moment=
longer in the hopes that that joy might=
rub
off on them and make their tedious and mundane existence a tad bit more
pleasant, but it could not be
transmitted in that way. Once the
service had been ended a small crowd of curious interrogators, onlookers, a=
nd
gossip mongers surrounded Billy and Miss as they moved to the buffet room, =
ate
and drank. The clergyman, now wear=
ing
only his customary black suit with the official collar, made a public
announcement to the ravenously eating congregation declaring the imminent
marriage between Mr. William Toad and Ms. Debra Pierce over the loudspeaker=
s,
provoking a raucous flurry of cheers and clapping. Bill made an especially generous donati=
on to
the church that day and doubled that on behalf of his new bride.
They met
privately with the cleric to make arrangements for the following month befo=
re
they left by the back entry to avoid further insincere fanfare. They headed for Ms. Pierce’s home from =
which
they set off on a wandering ramble through the forest with nothing more than
their coats in hand. Somewhat more=
than
an hour later, they came across a small clearing encircled by oak trees wit=
h a
large flat centre stone forming something of a natural amphitheatre. Miss knew the clearing quite well and h=
ad
visited it very often over the years.
Bill would have marvelled at its beauty and seclusion had he not been
completely distracted by the presence of three fairies dancing upon the flat
rock. For a few minutes Bill and M=
s.
Pierce stood still, in silence, watching the merry dance around a ring, con=
tinuing
to hold hands affectionately. Had =
this
appeared before him before, Bill would have panicked trying to get away so =
he
could go on not believing to continue his uneventful life. However, with the change of his spirit
emerging from beneath his soul, the betrothed legal advisor stood calmly wi=
th
his elderly fiancé glad of the enchantment that brought him such a priceles=
s,
beautiful gift from nature.
When th=
e dance
had come to an end the three little people stood in a rising sunward row fr=
om
smallest to largest, each benefiting from the shade of the other. They bowed in unison to Ms. Pierce, who
curtsied low and lengthily in return.
Directing their attentions to Bill they glared at him for a moment,
almost with reproach, but also a hint of humorous impatience before they ch=
anged
into expressions of smiling approval.
Having appraised him, the three Fairies began in a song like manner =
to
congratulate Bill on a job well done, very well done indeed. The smallest stepped forth and waited f=
or
Bill to come close. She kissed his=
cheek
and whispered into his ear that within the year he would have a child. The middling then also came forth taking
Bill’s hand firmly in his.
Congratulations, he repeated, before telling Bill to never allow his=
new
wife to be without cover for a year, to always cover her head from the rain=
and
to stand between her and the North Wind for that period until one year and =
one
day had passed. Lastly came forth =
the
tallest who also kissed Bill on the opposite cheek from the first. She spoke in the loudest voice of the t=
hree
with instructions and promises of gift.
That afternoon, before the sun had started to set, Bill was to lay w=
ith
his bride for now, because of Love, they were more truly wed than they coul=
d be
thereafter. By the rising of the m=
oon
they must be back at the rock and sleep there for in the morning their wedd=
ing
garments would have been measured and made for a wedding to which they might
not be late, beneath the slab where the temple is found in which there is no
lie. Beyond time, beyond rhyme they
would be wed for all time. The las=
t was
a warning to see how Love changed all things that stagnate in the flow of a=
ll
time.
The thr=
ee Fairies
stepped back and for a moment there was an image of a large hall filled with
Fairies of all sorts cheering joyously without sound. Then the grey, flat stone lay clear whil=
e Bill
and Miss heard a snatch of a lovely song played by a Lyre accompanied with a
wood flute that made one reach into the air trying desperately to catch it =
for
all time. It was impossible to rem=
ember
the tune a moment after it was gone, but it both filled one with simultaneo=
us
joy and grief. For a few minutes t=
he
bride and groom stood motionless, holding hands and feeling each other’s wa=
rmth
and happiness as a cool, damp wind blew around them from the east. Suddenly the entire forest was silent a=
nd
still as it had been before while they had been walking. They turned to face each other and Bill
kissed Debra passionately. It bega=
n to
drizzle, but the lovers took no heed.
Kissing=
led to
hugging, which took them to caresses that gradually created a small and damp
pile of clothes on one side of the vaguely elliptical stone. As the light drizzle continued Bill pos=
sessed
the elderly Ms. Pierce upon the flat of the large stone. For a timeless hour the lovers were eng=
aged
in a tussle that took them both into a delirium broken at last when in unis=
on
at the peak of ecstasy, they both reach a clarity of mind experience rarely=
by
men and occasionally by children who are frequently chided for their
inconvenient sight. It was mid aft=
ernoon
before the two were once more in their sodden attire and heading back to the
little house on the edge of the wood by a direct route. Ten minutes later, after trotting throu=
gh the
forest in an increasing rain, they reached the lush gardens at a run in a
torrential down pour. Through the =
narrow
wooden gate they passed before skipping over the winding path to take refug=
e in
the overhang of the entry door where they took off their muddy shoes before
entering the little house.
After h=
aving a
couple cups of hot tea and sandwiches followed with shortbread, they packed=
for
the night. With them they took a large waxed tarp, ropes, three blankets, a
basket of sandwiches, two apples and shortbread with a flask of hot tea.
When Bi=
lly set
eyes on his bride again, she was somewhat younger looking than when they had
first sat on that stone. Bill had =
not
noticed Debra changing earlier as it was a gradual and subtle process. However, when it struck him that she was
becoming younger, Bill realized that he had not been as observant of his
environment nor of his Love as he could be.
At that point he began to think of what he may have missed that was
important rather than relevant in his life.
He searched his mind and experiences that he had taken for granted to
identify those elements and for detail that seemed minor, but that could ch=
ange
his entire perception and reality. The
first memory he took note of was his most recent, the encounter with the th=
ree
Fairies and their apparently meaningless chanting. The easiest to recall was the fist Fair=
y who
he recalled as the largest and loudest having been the in fact the smallest=
who
had been a Sylph and whispered in his ear.
He would have a child, with the elderly bride. Though this aroused his incredulity, his
greater awareness and consciousness informed him that like the enchanted fi=
re
that blazed upon a stone and gave true light and heat, his bride would conc=
eive
as truthfully as she was also becoming younger.
As Bill=
y continued
to investigate his memory he found the instructions from the Fairy that had
looked remarkably like a very larg=
e sea
horse or perhaps it had been a very small mermaid. The middling had actually been a male u=
ndine
in a small form akin to a bass fish standing on its fins like feet, but not
exactly. Bill recalled having to k=
eep
Debra under cover, protected from both rain and the North wind. Reflecting the storm they had been in
earlier, Bill realized that he had only this night in which to ascertain al=
l the
detail that could bring him disaster to guide his actions for the coming
year. He had quickly perceived that
Debra’s youthful appearance was at risk if he failed and missed an important
and perhaps irrelevant instruction or other detail. The magical youth was a gift to him fro=
m the
Fairies that served the purpose of an incentive for him to do as instructed,
and also a test of a nature to test his faith and endurance of attention.
Bill co=
uld fail
easily by missing only one detail, having the North wind wipe her youth and
beauty away with its own magic. It=
could
likewise be washed away by rain, which also included other forms of water
falling such as snowfall, cataracts, and hail.
Deep in his acute senses Bill began to perceive these truths and fel=
t the
weight of keeping up his attention for a year and a day. This was in fact a lenient period that =
the
Fairy Queen had felt was well within Bill’s ability. It was not uncommon for such favours fr=
om
Fairies to mankind to come with de=
mands
that insisted on compliance for several decades, or even an entire
lifetime. In most cases, the Fairy=
Queen
determined the least possible time required for a particular person to sati=
sfy
some portion of the internal logic of a spell.
In the cases of life long spell demands, there was little that could=
be
done to help the recipient short of leaving regular reminders for them in t=
heir
daily lives. Bill was very fortuna=
te
with his burden, but he was not yet aware of the facility of his challenge =
of
only one year.
A year =
was a long
period of time to regard in it s entirety, Bill thought. He struggled with that for some time and
concluded to continue with his investigations and approaching each day as a
period in its entirety as each day came and passed; He was pleased to recall that he had ma=
de
love to his Love as he had been instructed before realizing that that was o=
ne
of the most relevant and easily understood instructions of along with sleep=
ing
at the rock. The story of being me=
asured
and garments for a wedding being ready were intuited simply enough, though =
not
comprehended in their whole. Intui=
tively
he knew that the Fairies would measure their bodies and have a suit for him=
and
a dress for her, with shoes by the next morning. This meant to sleep unclothed and expla=
ined
the intensity of heat the proffered flame provided. Bill understood without knowing and
consciously chose to follow his senses without the certainty that knowledge
gave in reassuring an ego that it is important enough to know facts and
rationalized quantities. Because o=
f his
choice, he did the right thing.
As far =
as the
Fairyland contract was concerned, for that year and a day, if Bill did what=
was
right he would keep his bride’s youth and beauty to be lost gradually as th=
ey
both aged together. This would, as=
Bill
will learn later, extend Debra’s life significantly longer than it would ha=
ve
been with her being seventy years already.
Once the year and a day were passed, her new age would become a real=
ity
for them to live out their married life together. The birth of the child would come short=
ly
before the end of the period, after more than ten months of gestation. Fairyland did not wish to risk the chil=
d’s
future with an uncertainty of an elderly mother that would die in its forma=
tive
years. The test was after all for =
Bill
Toad to pass or fail. The child would naturally not be born in the case of a
reversal of the spell or its removal by either the North wind or rains.
Struggl=
ing with
his mind’s desire to take these tasks with ease and to essentially be lazy,
Bill trooped on attempting to decipher the message about a wedding, being
outside of time, and his being more married to Debra now than he would be
later. Relying on his choice to se=
nse
and intuit without knowing he let the magical part of his mind, which he ha=
d in
common with all men and women like Debra. Bill began to perceive. They would be married in the attire pro=
vided
by the Fairies the very next morning in a magical place outside of time.
How to =
enter the
temple, he intuited, would reveal itself in due course, leaving the warning=
. Bill thought carefully without reflectin=
g, about
how Love changed all things, even those that make a particular effort to not
change over time. The only certain=
ty in
life is change for even the passage of time can be manipulated as one trave=
ls
back and forth along the eternal continuum that links all point past, prese=
nt,
and future with the great oneness of the universe. The Fairies make practical use of this =
truth
throughout their existence. And no=
w Bill
and Debra would also experience this and perhaps, he felt, learn a little a=
bout
how that magic is used in order to employ it effectively.
Billy s=
urprised
himself with the clarity of his understanding and level of acceptance of
magic. He took to it so readily and
whole heartedly that his soul and mind were left with little to argue to
achieve the disbelief in all magic that his society encouraged. His body, being the direct receiver of =
the
universal messages his spirit was delivering, never doubted any of its real=
ity
in contrast to how his body had felt about Bill’s habits of drinking heavil=
y,
eating greasy meals, and lounging before a television. His body had rebelled
and been crushed under the determination of Bill’s wilful soul which left it
resorting only to sleep as an escape from that life. The body, as the spirit, was well suite=
d to a
magical life and found itself suddenly interested in what was transpiring.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> For this reason, when he lay with Debra=
to
sleep, he found it difficult to sleep.
Bill saw the Gnome woman, the tallest of the three from earlier,
approaching him with a tape measure and slipped into dreams after a look in=
to
her comforting eyes and a wave of her hand toward him.
When mo=
rning came
with the rising sun, a beautifully embroidered, fine muslin dress with lace
fringes all around rested beside an equally intricately woven and embroider=
ed linen
suit also with a muslin lining. The
embroidery, buttonholes, and stitching were so fine and close that Bill cou=
ld
not imagine a tailor or seamstress capable of such beautiful work. Woven into the cloth, and in all the de=
tails,
were single threads of gold, silver, and a shimmering thread that could not=
be
recognized as it changed appearance, colour, and texture every time one loo=
ked
at it. His suit was of a dark viol=
et
overall, whilst Debra’s dress was of a pale rose that seemed to change to a
lilac as she turned. They each had=
been
made a pair of shoes of a light, and supple leather that made them look
somewhat like gloves to be worn on the feet.
For Bill there was also a matching Homburg with edging and trim in t=
he
leather of the shoes. For Debra th=
ere
was a lace fringed embroidered parasol to matcher dress with a cherry wood
handle.
Having =
dressed,
they realized that their clothes and shoes were nowhere to be found, and th=
at
the basket with their edibles had similarly disappeared. Bill searched around the large flat sto=
ne
half-heartedly, not expecting to find any of their belongings. As he did search, on the opposite side =
of the
bottom lip of the stone, he did find what looked very much like a roughly
semicircular mouse hole or perhaps a small door. When Bill touched it with his finger, it
tingled strangely and they heard the same beautiful snatch of music they had
been left longing for the previous day.
A blink of an eye later, around his finger appeared a loop of leather
lace with a very small key threaded to it.
Bill offered his bride to be the little key, but she urged him to op=
en
the tiny door with it. Whilst Ms. =
Debra
Pierce held onto Billy by the shoulders with both hands, he inserted the li=
ttle
key, with difficulty, into an equally tiny keyhole that resembled a knot of
wood much more than a keyhole. As =
the
key was turned they both found themselves thrown backward as the stone slab
rose over the ground to reveal something of a small stone hut that reminded
Bill of a bunker he had once seen on a motion picture some time ago.
The lit=
tle hut
was broad and of a pale grey with an identical door in a much larger
scale. However, for either of them=
to
pass through the low slung doorway, they would each have to duck so low they
were almost doubled up into a crouch. Hand
in hand the pair ventured inside the opening that was wide enough for them =
to
enter side by side. Unexpectedly, =
the
door swung shut behind them, leaving the two in a pitch black darkness that
forced them close together as if they were in a trap room where the walls w=
ere
encroaching. For a moment they bot=
h felt
claustrophobic in the mysterious isolation of that dark passage, clinging to
each other for comfort. As suddenl=
y as
it had begun, the darkness vanished and they found themselves standing near=
the
wall inside an immense room with high earthen walls, standing on a very soft
silt soil before a large number of creatures, animals, small persons and
various type of Fairies, all of whom were singing a song that was immediate=
ly
obvious to be in praise of them both.
Behind them, there seemed to be no door, only a small niche in the w=
all
with a small door shaped piece of wood hanging on a nail with an indecipher=
able
glyph burned into the ancient wood.
When th=
e singing
finally came to an end, the entire hall erupted into cheers. A stunning beauty of a woman stepped fo=
rth
from the group that had concealed her completely. Adorned in a dress of
luminescent white silks of various shades, one could not be completely cert=
ain
she was a woman, perhaps she was an animal that could also be mistaken for a
plant. Her splendour made her
ageless. On her face and hands wer=
e the
lines and shadows of understanding that comes with great age, though her
loveliness begged that she be mistaken for a youth coming of age. Her movements were graceful and fluid,
concealing how she moved, suggesting that she was gliding toward the visiti=
ng
couple. Tall and stunning, yet also
diminutive, reassuring and gentle, the Fairy Queen stood before them and to=
ok
their hands in hers with confidence and love.
With their hands in hers, pressed together into a form much like a
blossom of hands, the Fairy Queen lowered her head toward the hands in what
seemed t Bill a ferocious turnoff speed that felt menacing that was in fact=
a
slow and precisely timed bow that enveloped their hands in a shimmering sil=
ver
screen of glowing hair that was simultaneously every colour the eye could
behold and as soft and fine as the finest silks and satins, but softer.
Careful=
ly the
Queen kissed each of their fingers and hands as her magical locks brushed o=
ver
them as light as were her kisses. =
Ms.
Pierce and Mr. Toad both felt an electrifying pulse of joyful passion fill =
them
and travel between them that they recognized as a magic they had only
experienced as toddlers exploring the new world ahead of them with no reser=
ve
or thought for themselves. The tot=
al
selflessness of the experience opened doors within them that had been long =
shut
and locked by the crippling process of transforming into the form of adult =
that
society expected from its members. For a
brief moment Bill felt it would have been better to not be a member rather =
than
to have lost touch with this capacity to experience life, then he realized =
that
his bride had kept herself apart from much of society, appearing like somet=
hing
of an outcast or recluse in an effort to regain precisely this. Now they both had regained their abilit=
ies
lost from their early youth as a gift filled with the love and affection fr=
om the
Fairy Queen in person.
As the =
Fairy
Queen rose, regaining her imposing erect stature, they both discovered a ri=
ng
of a translucent or luminescent bark on their ring finger that glinted and
resembled a very dark gold band with iridescent striations like veins. Without hearing the Fairy Queen’s voice=
they
both felt her speaking into their hearts.
Billy and Miss both understood that though the physical rings might =
wear
and flake until there come a day that they are no longer there, the bond of
love that had made them come into existence would only be stronger with the
passage of time that limited their concrete union. For all time they would now be united, =
more
joined that the fate that had drawn them together, and from which Bill’s so=
ul
had sought to escape to retain the outward appearance of an ordinary life o=
nly
for itself and his ego.
The Que=
en then
took back her hands from theirs and thanked them for their choices before
assuring them that much would now change for them, but to remain faithful to
the great one as their fortunes and affluence would only be redoubled to be
redoubled again with the coming of the changeling child. The child would have only one need that would demand their protection from=
the
ordinary, that no blade should ever touch its hair before it matured into h=
is
final destined calling on the eve of its fifteenth anniversary. The Queen then transformed into the lit=
tle
unclothed nymph that she was more often seen as and waved a hand to bring up the elliptical stone as a table upon which =
there
was a feast awaiting the newly weds and their Fairy companions.
What se=
emed like
several hours later, once the orgy and the fornication that had been raised
subsided, the impregnated Ms. Debra Pierce, and the renamed Mr. Billy Pierc=
e,
were sent on their way. Following a
sloping earthen path that rose from the opposite end of the Fairy Queen’s G=
reat
Hall, the couple soon found themselves emerging from a stone with a hole in=
it
at the edge of the pond at the park on the opposite side of the street from=
the
church at which they had been what they knew to be the day before. To their astonishment, the minister cam=
e out
to greet them as the first arrivals at the church on the Sunday morning as =
if
they had not been to the service only the morning before. By the day and time of the world in whi=
ch
they inhabited, Billy and Debra Pierce were one hour early for the Sunday
service they had not yet attended.
The pri=
est
greeted them warmly and remarked on the unsurpassed beauty and distinctiven=
ess
of their dress. Learning that they=
were
to be wed, the clergyman suggested eagerly, to their surprise, that the
ceremony could be readily added as an extra at the end of the service seeing
that they were clearly already dressed for the wedding. As the other parishioners arrived, as t=
he
previous day, they were all enchanted by the exquisiteness of their
costumes. Furthermore, the new cou=
ple
were showered with good wishes and promised gifts to be delivered at their =
home
on the edge of the woods, at various times throughout the coming week. Many also made them gifts of currency a=
nd
checks on the spot which were donated to the little church before Billy and
Debra set off for their home on foot, where the automobile still waited for
them, unaware and unknowing of any portion of its benefactor’s lives or of =
this
tale.
V. I. Profferi
The
Tale of Mr.Toad