Inspired by Laini, a small story
I wouldn't quite call this a tiny story, but reading Laini's latest inspired me to try my hand at something shorter. My medialess day led me in strange directions, and some things are better examined slant, with story logic, first.
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She had a secret coat hidden in her room. When she put it on, she could feel herself growing and flowering like a wisteria vine. Ribbons of stories spooled from her mouth and twined around her head like a turban. However. Every time she wore the coat, she noticed that her sister would get locked away in a dungeon and beaten severely until she took it off.
It took a while for her eyes to see this and make the connection.
But soon it could no longer be denied, and so she placed her secret coat in a lead box, and buried it out by a fast-moving stream. Of course, then she promptly stopped growing at all, but she took comfort in the fact that her sister ‘s suffering had come to an end, even if hers had just begun.
One day, though, she couldn’t bear the strain of being stifled and stuck any longer. She stole away to the mound where the magic coat was buried and wept bitterly. Some visiting Gods heard her lamentation and were moved to pity. They knew her story, being Gods, and after conferring for a time said, "If you can ask us the right question, the coat will be yours once again and your sister will be safe from harm’s way. But if you do not know the question, you’ll both wake every day with misery, eat your bread with sorrow, and lie down every night with regret."
So she went home and pondered their challenge until the night kissed the morning. She called her sister and together they waited for the Gods.
When the Gods returned for her answer, bearing the lead box between them, she asked them simply, "Why must it be a choice, at all?"
And the coat flew out of the box and both sisters took refuge under it. They spent the rest of their life under its protection, growing into the beauty of knowledge and flourishing like wisteria blossoms.
And they learned that the Gods will always listen to those who ask the right questions.
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She had a secret coat hidden in her room. When she put it on, she could feel herself growing and flowering like a wisteria vine. Ribbons of stories spooled from her mouth and twined around her head like a turban. However. Every time she wore the coat, she noticed that her sister would get locked away in a dungeon and beaten severely until she took it off.
It took a while for her eyes to see this and make the connection.
But soon it could no longer be denied, and so she placed her secret coat in a lead box, and buried it out by a fast-moving stream. Of course, then she promptly stopped growing at all, but she took comfort in the fact that her sister ‘s suffering had come to an end, even if hers had just begun.
One day, though, she couldn’t bear the strain of being stifled and stuck any longer. She stole away to the mound where the magic coat was buried and wept bitterly. Some visiting Gods heard her lamentation and were moved to pity. They knew her story, being Gods, and after conferring for a time said, "If you can ask us the right question, the coat will be yours once again and your sister will be safe from harm’s way. But if you do not know the question, you’ll both wake every day with misery, eat your bread with sorrow, and lie down every night with regret."
So she went home and pondered their challenge until the night kissed the morning. She called her sister and together they waited for the Gods.
When the Gods returned for her answer, bearing the lead box between them, she asked them simply, "Why must it be a choice, at all?"
And the coat flew out of the box and both sisters took refuge under it. They spent the rest of their life under its protection, growing into the beauty of knowledge and flourishing like wisteria blossoms.
And they learned that the Gods will always listen to those who ask the right questions.
Labels: story time
posted by Anonymous at 10:20 AM
6 Comments:
Hope you enjoyed your media-less day. I like your "small story" but I like your "long story" just as much. Be well.
loved it!!
so enchanting....
Your story touched me.
I loved this. So many meanings. So many ways to make me THINK, as always. Loved your short as much (almost)as your long stories. Beautiful!
Oh, this is beautiful, and reading it after the newer post above it made it especially poignant. Also, some gorgeous language!
As Laini said, this story carries such meaning after reading the subsequent post where you bared your truth. Lovely.
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