Once upon a time, in a land long forgotten by time, there lived a man
who had two daughters. The older daughter was very beautiful, with long
blood red spiral curls and flawless ivory skin that seemed to glow in
any light. Around her neck she wore a jasper sand dollar, given to her
by her father as an early wedding present as she was soon to be wed. The
younger daughter was beautiful as well with pale green eyes and dark
hair, but she was very selfish and greedy.
Now the man to whom
the oldest was to be married was a very rich man. He was so very rich
that he lived in a Crystal Castle on a cliff by the sea, waited on hand
and foot by many servants and owned most of the forests that grew in
their country. Not only this, but he was a very handsome man and well
known through out the land for his intellect and wit. It came about one
day, the youngest daughter became very jealous of her sister and desired
to wed the groom herself.
One day, just before the older sister
was to wed, the younger convinced her to go for a picnic deep in the
forests that lay beyond the Crystal Castle by the sea. Hesitantly, the
older agreed to the picnic and followed as her younger sister traveled
into the woods. They traveled deeper and deeper and deeper still, so
that the older sister began to fear that they would lose their way and
be torn apart by wild animals. Thinking quickly, she took a one ribbon
from one of the braids in her long crimson hair and tied it around a
tree branch. And, as they journeyed on, she continued to remove ribbons
from her braided hair to tie around the trees. As she was tying one
ribbon she began to sing softly,
"This day am I, ribbons I leave,
the trail to find. My sister is beautiful, though her soul is intent to
kill. Her deepest wish that I shouldst die. Weep for me, soft
nightingale."
"What are you singing fair sister?" asked the younger.
"I
was only singing of what a beautiful day this will be." replied the
older sister and she removed another ribbon to mark the way.
Finally,
the younger sister stopped and began to lay out the picnic. When she
was finished she looked up to see that her sister's hair was loose and
flowing, jealousy sparked inside her and she asked,
"Why, sister, what has happened to your ribbons so that your hair is loose and apt to be tangled by the wind?"
I
feared we would lose our way, so I tied my ribbons to tree branches so
that we might find our way back to the Crystal Castle." she replied,
seating herself on the blanket.
"Ah, what a clever sister have
I." said the false sister. "But come now, let us eat and enjoy the day
before we must return to your husband's house."
As the day waned
and the sun began to set, the sisters began to pack away their picnic so
that they might head home quickly before dark fell upon the forest.
When they had finished packing, the younger turned to the older and went
toward her as if to embrace her. But just as the older's arms wrapped
about her sister's waist, she felt a sharp pain in her chest and looked
down to see a beautiful dagger buried inside of her. Her eyes grew wide
in pain as she stumbled and fell back, the dagger's jeweled hilt stained
with her blood.
Swiftly, the younger sister removed the dagger
and began to hack away at her sister's white dress, shredding it as a
wild animal would. Then she rubbed some of her sister's blood on her own
clothing and face, slashing at her own arms and dress so that it looked
as if she, too, had been attacked. Yanking the jasper pendant off of
her sister's neck she ran back to the Crystal Castle, following the
ribbons that her sister had left to mark the path.
Upon arriving
at the Crystal Castle, the sister threw open the doors screaming and
crying that her sister had been killed. The man of the house and her
father came running to her, catching her as she began to collapse to the
floor. Once she came out of her faint, she told them a story of how
they had gone for a picnic and were attacked by wild animals as they
tried to make their way home. She cried many false tears as she related
that her sister was dead, producing the stained sand dollar pendant as
proof of her lies.
At her proof, the two men began to weep. News
spread quickly through out the kingdom of the oldest daughter's death
and the whole of the kingdom mourned for her sake.
A year and a
day after she murdered her sister, the younger was in her room
preparing for her wedding to the owner of the Crystal Castle. Around her
neck hung her sister's jasper pendant, still slightly stained with the
blood of it's previous owner. While she combed out her long dark hair, a
knock sounded on the heavy doors of the great hall, just below her
room. Quickly, she ran down the stairs to open the doors.
At the
door stood a beggar woman, her blood red curls ratted and matted with
leaves and twigs, her skin ashen and thin. In her hand she held a flower
with a single black pearl embraced lovingly by the blood red petals.
Wordlessly, she held it out to the younger sister, gesturing for her to
take it. At first the younger woman seemed hesitant, then, with eyes
full of greed, the younger sister took the flower. The beggar woman
smiled, then began to sing,
"This day am I, ribbons I leave, the
trail to find. My sister is beautiful, though in her soul is intent to
kill. Her deepest wish that I shouldst die. Weep for me, soft
nightingale."
The younger sister stood still a moment, her memory
flooded with her sister's dying image. She flushed and looked at the
woman before her, stamped her foot and angrily asked,
"How come you by that song beggar woman?"
"This
way and that way, beautiful child. I learned it upon my harp." Then out
from under her cloak, the beggar woman pulled a beautiful and fragile
harp, one that looked as though it was made from the finest bone in all
the world. The strings of this harp were long strands of gold, set in
the frame with blood red pearls, the beggar woman smiled then, her
toothless mouth gleaming in the lights from the hall. Tenderly, she
touched a string, the soft tone of it almost sounded like weeping.
"You
are a witch." cried the younger sister, covering her ears with her
hands. She dropped the flower to the floor and as it fell it transformed
into her sister, dressed in her white dress with a black cloak wrapped
about her.
"No, sister," said the older. "I am the witch. When
you left me to die in the forests alone, a wizard happened upon me. He
healed my wounds and taught me magic. He then transformed me into the
flower you so coveted, and brought me here for my revenge." With that,
the beggar woman transformed into a tall man with long ivory hair and
ebony skin. In his left hand was a white staff and in the other was the
enchanted harp.
Taking the harp in hand, the witch strummed lightly, the strings pulling the younger sister closer.
"Come sister, don't you want to dance?" laughed the witch, playing a jaunty tune upon the harp.
The
younger could not help but move, her hips swaying to the music, her
feet merrily following in time. The witch played faster so that the
younger sister's feet moved more swiftly, their own power dragging the
girl across the crystal floors of her Crystal Castle. She covered her
ears, screaming at the top of her voice, so that she might drown out the
horrible sounds of the harp. For, because of her guilt, the music was
instead the voice of Death singing of her dying moments.
The
witch laughed and played ever faster, her wizard joining in on a silver
violin. The two played as the younger twirled about so fast that she
could not breathe. No longer able to with stand the enchantment, the
sister threw herself out of one of the windows, flinging herself to the
jagged rocks below. Her body was then eaten by the wolves of that
country, leaving nothing behind but the jasper pendant.
Gently,
the witch slowed her song to a mournful tune, her wizard slowing to
match her. When the song finally ended, the harp disappeared along with
the violin to some place that is not known to man. The wizard moved
toward the witch, his hand sliding under her cloak so that it was pushed
aside. And there, where her ribs should have been was nothing but
emptiness. He grazed her face with one of his hands, as gently and
tenderly as any lover, and watched as her soul passed from her decaying
body and into the sky.
