THE FEATHER

March 13, 2015
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There was once a sad Queen whose infant twin daughters had been taken off by the Feathered Dragon. The Queen spent her afternoons sighing in the palace garden. She could be soothed only by the singing of Melodia, one of her young handmaidens. So beautiful was Melodia’s voice that songbirds from all the world over gathered each afternoon in the palace garden’s trees to hear her sing. They burbled and tweeted in excitement until Melodia appeared. Then they fell silent and listened. When she had finished her song, not only did they remain silent, but many of them never dared to sing again, afraid of tarnishing the memory of Melodia’s pure sweet voice.

And so it happened one day that Melodia, humming happily while on an errand for the Queen, spied a long pale blue feather lying on the path. Delighted, she reached down and picked it up.

SHAM! She stood in a cavern. On the far side of it there was a cage. It contained a pair of twins. Staring at them was a monstrous blue feathered dragon. Shocked, Melodia dropped the feather. SHAM!

She found herself standing on the path as before, the feather at her feet. Oh, she thought, the twins. I must rescue them. But how? She pondered for a long time and stared at the feather. ‘So that’s it then,’ she said aloud and bent down to pick up the feather.

SHAM! In the cavern she began to sing. The dragon whipped its long slender neck in order to twist its head around to capture Melodia in its fearsome gaze. It opened wide the horrible mouth to show the dagger teeth. It took one great lurch toward Melodia, then paused. Melodia sang on. The dragon trembled and began to weep diamonds. Melodia sang on. The dragon melted away to plumes of smoke to nothing. Melodia collected the two small mounds of diamond tears before going to the cage and releasing the twins. ‘Hold on to my gown,’ she instructed them. She dropped the feather. SHAM!

She led the twins back to the palace. The Queen was no longer sad.

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