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A TALE... |
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Once upon a time, long ago, there was a lady who lived in a little house that stood all alone in the forest. Her name was Pearl. No-one knew how old she was and nobody ever dared ask her, but with each year that passed, she remained unchanged and people began to speculate that she may have magical powers. |
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Pearl lived alone in her little house in the forest. The house was very pretty and was decorated all over with seashells and pretty stones from the edge of a nearby lake. People walking past would stop and stare at the house and if Pearl saw them, she would smile and give a cheery wave. |
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At the edge of the forest was a farmhouse. Here lived the farmer, his wife and their three daughters Molly, Polly and Holly. The girls used to like to play in the forest and would often see Pearl as she tended to her garden. Sometimes they would stop their games and watch her as she trimmed the plants and twisted the cut off leaves to form really pretty decorations. They liked the way her garden looked in the midst of the forest, which they secretly pretended was a big jungle full of scary creatures, and they told her how pretty she made things look. |
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'Why thank you dears' she said, a broad smile on her face 'I do like pretty things' |
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'Who taught you how to make them?' Molly asked |
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Pearl sighed and looked across the forest for a moment before answering |
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'My mother and my grandmother' she said ,with a sad note in her voice 'they taught me' |
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'Where are they now?' Polly asked |
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'They live in a land far away from here' she told them 'So very far away' |
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They thought that Pearl looked sad and, before the three girls skipped home for their tea, Holly said 'Well they would be pleased if they could see it I'm sure'. |
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Pearl became very thoughtful after they had left. It was true, she did miss her family because they were so far away and she wished she could see them again. |
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Over the next few days, Pearl didn't see anyone or speak to anyone. If anybody had passed by the cottage, they would have heard her singing a mournful song, her voice carried sweetly on the afternoon breeze. |
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Pearl sang all through the afternoon and all through the night and into the next day. As the sun came up she was heard singing her sad tune, with the birdsong as accompaniment. The days turned into a week and the weeks became a month and still Pearl sang her same sad song; her voice never wavered as she sang her sad lament. |
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People of the nearby village could hear the tune carried towards them on the breeze; some stopped to listen for a moment, but many never even heard a sound, so deaf were they. At night, when all was still, the tune lay over the village like a blanket, lulling the good people of that village as they slept soundly in their beds. |
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Pearl began to wander at night, singing as she roamed through the forest. Sometimes she would stand by the forest's edge and stare wistfully into the distance, eyes glazed over as she waited for some invisible sign that never appeared. As dawn broke, she would return home to her little house, still singing her little tune. Villagers began to think she had gone mad and warned the children to stay away, just in case....and Pearl still sang on. |
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On the fortieth night since the singing had begun, a virgin of the parish was walking home across the edge of the forest late at night. Eleanor Harris had been babysitting for the doctor and his wife who had attended a function in the city that evening. Unfortunately, the good doctor had imbibed rather too much brandy and was unfit to drive her home; his good lady wife fared no better, and so it was Eleanor found herself alone in the dark. |
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As she walked along she listened carefully to the sounds of the night, reassured by their familiarity. She had walked halfway along the path that ran from the edge of the village towards the lake, when she became aware of the music. It was someone singing. Eleanor stopped for a moment and listened... |
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The singing was getting louder and Eleanor could feel herself drawn to the sound. The voice was sweet and melodic, the tune mournful, but Eleanor found herself walking towards the direction from which the sound came. As she neared the lake, the singing became clearer and Eleanor could make out the words and, although it was not a language she knew, she felt moved by the beauty of the song. |
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Walking through the trees she emerged into a clearing near the edge of the lake. Moonlight glimmered and glinted off the glassy surface of the water as it lapped hungrily at the land around it. Eleanor stood, her eyes searching for the source of the singing. Across the lake she saw a figure standing on an outcrop of rock at the waters edge. It was a woman. Eleanor watched , entranced as the women raised her arms skywards and threw her head back. She was magnificent and Eleanor felt a surge of love fill her entire being as she watched from across the lake. |
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The woman was standing on the rock, her voice filling the night with it's beautiful tune as she stretched towards the heavens. She was wearing a long robe of white shimmering material that draped against the every curve of her body, caressing where it touched. The woman turned and looked at her, looked straight into her eyes, and she smiled ; a secret kind of smile that says ' I know you and this is our secret.' |
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As she turned and smiled, the woman let the robe drop from her body and she stood naked in the moonlight, her pale flesh glistening. She stretched up once more and closing her eyes gave one last cry. The singing stopped as she launched herself from the rock , flying through the air in a graceful dive, arcing her body towards the water. |
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The surface of the water parted to greet her and she entered it soundlessly. The glassy surface closed over her and there was not even a ripple to disturb the stillness. |
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Eleanor could not believe her eyes and she held her breath while she waited for the woman to surface again... |
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Her lungs felt as though they might burst and she felt the ringing in her ears, the blood pounding through her veins as her body craved oxygen. As she swam through the cold darkness of the lake she grew in confidence and after several seconds had passed, she opened her eyes. She smiled to herself as she moved swiftly through the water and she opened her mouth and began to sing. She moved towards the surface for one last glance before she returned home and, as she rose through the water, the moonlight glistened off the scales of her tail as it cut through the ripples, making one last little splash. |
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Eleanor Harris stood on the lakes edge until day break, listening to the beautiful song of the deep. |
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Back |
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