Fairy Stories & Other Tales

 Once upon a time there was a woman who screamed up at the stars every night for a year.     It made no difference, except to her heart.     At the end of the year, she found her heart was stronger.     Which is, it must be said, a very nice consequence from yelling.

 Once upon a time there was a prince who entered into a disadvantageous marriage. Indeed, he was so belittled for his choice that he lost all his wealth and all his privilege. In point of fact, when the news spread the day after the secret affair that had only been between a woman, a priest, and a witness, he was thrown out of his father's palace with nothing left but the clothes he wore.     Yet he loved his bride.     And so he took to finding a home for them, which he did, in a poor village, in a poorer house, and soon the bride found herself with child.     The prince, for all his courtly ways and intellectual manners, was at a loss as to how to support a wife so sickly she could do nothing save vomit into bowls. He sat and stared at the wall and thought. For he had to do something.     When the wall offered no inspiration, the prince went to sleep.     Upon waking, he was still at a loss. So he walked a...

 Once there were two sisters who diverged upon different paths. One sought to become a witch, for she loved study, the other a princess, for she loved the idea of power and pretty dresses. It is a far simpler thing to apprentice to a witch than to apprentice to a princess. Indeed, the latter seemed hardly possible at all. Try as the second sister might, she could find no princess who would take her on. She found, instead, that the princesses she queried thought her high and mighty to think she could try and attain such a high position.      At her tenth attempt, a courtier took her aside and explained that a princess was not a position to be achieved, but rather one to be born to, or, in the sister's case, married into. It was not so hard to marry a prince, the courtier said. All it would take was one spell from a witch.      How often, the sister asked, do princesses ask for the help of witches?     More often than the sun ris...

 'I cannot breathe,' the specter shouted. 'I cannot bear the weight.' It never bear more than an ounce on a good day. 'It does not seem that something so horrible should be able touch us here,' the faerie sighed. Then flinched. 'I cannot carry the burden any longer,' noted the witch. It was said as a matter of fact. 'The wind has changed,' said the girl. She raised her finger raised toward the wind. The curious party looked at her finger. They raised their eyes to the sudden breeze. 'That is a small way of putting it, child,' said the witch. She had crinkling eyes. Very few noticed that they twinkled. 'Small indeed,' said the faerie, her face turned up. Her nose was button-like. Most noticed that much. 'I suppose I don't breathe. Usually. As a matter of course,' the specter noted. 'It always turns. Just before the worst of it,' the girl said. 'Not always,' the witch warned. 'Always,' the girl sa...