by T F Carthick
She once again starts weeping. The mention of the straw makes him look around the room more closely. There are bales of straw piled up in the corner of the room. His eyes also fall on a spinning wheel right in front of the girl.
“What if I say I can help you with this task?”
The words come out of his mouth spontaneously before he can stop himself. He is not the one to help anyone. Least of all one of the detestable humans! But what is said is said. The girl’s face brightens immediately.
“Can you, my dear little man? Can you really do it? Please help me. Please.”
He is now trapped. What is he to do now? He can’t take back his words now. He has no other go but to help her. For one with powerful magic like him, the task is no daunting one. It will consume a lot of magic and leave him weak and helpless for a few days though. But a promise is a promise. Faerie folk never go back on a promise.
“I shall do it you, my dear. But to do it, I need something made of gold. Do you have something on you?”
She thinks for a moment and then takes out a ring from her finger and hands it to him. He examines it closely for some time and then begins his work. He keeps the ring in front of him and focuses keenly on it, muttering to himself as he starts turning the wheel. Little by little he starts to feed the straw into the wheel. The straw passes through the wheel and emerges on the other side as shining blades of pure gold. The girl looks on, amazed. He continues for the next two hours, at the end of which there is a stack of golden blades instead of bales of straw.
“Here you go, my dear. I hope this helps.”
The girl, who has been standing still like a statue, watching him keenly, suddenly seems to spring to life. She steps closer to him, puts her arms around him and places a kiss on his cheek.
“Thank you so much, my little man. You are the knight in shining armor who has rescued this damsel in distress. I don’t know how I can repay you.”
He is not sure how to react. He has never been personally a subject of human affection. All this seems strange to him. But he likes it.
“Never mind, my dear. Always glad to be of help. Here – your ring.”
“No, kind sir. I won’t take it back. I would like you to have it as a gift from me. It is a keepsake from my departed grandmother.”
“But if it is a keepsake, why are you giving it away to me?”
“That is why I want to give it to you. You have done me such a great favor. I wanted to repay you in a fitting manner with something that is really valuable to me.”
“That was really thoughtful of you, my dear. I am glad I helped you.” He gives her a short bow and makes his way towards the wall. He walks through it, surfaces on the other side and makes his way home, unseen, unheard by anyone on the streets.
* * * * * *
He can feel the magic of the deep emotions stored within the ring. The whole day he sits staring at the ring, basking in the emotions that emanate from it. It makes him feel so good. He wants more of it. Maybe the girl will have other powerful heirlooms that capture strong emotions he thinks, as he makes his way towards the chamber where the girl was previously confined. There is nobody in the chamber. But he wants to see her again. Something tells him he will eventually find her again. For the next four days, he visits the chamber to see if Sally has returned. His persistence is finally paid off on the fifth evening.
When he reaches the chamber, he finds the girl in exactly a similar state as the previous occasion. She is sitting there, crying, a spinning wheel in front of her and on the side of the room are large straw bales. She hears his footstep and lifts up her head. The moment her eyes fall on him, her tears stops and her face brightens.
“I am so relieved to see you, sir. I was fearing you may not turn up today. Without you I am lost.”
He feels good. Nobody has ever been so happy to see him ever before. He wishes he could be with her all the time.
“What happened, dear? Was the king not happy with the gold from yesterday?”
“That greedy king! He was so happy that he wants more. He won’t let us go till we have woven even bigger bales of straw into gold. See there.” She points to the large bales of straw.
He nods his head.
“He says he is not convinced by just a single instance. He wants me to repeat the feat to prove that I indeed have the magical abilities my father claimed I had. How could he do this to me? He is being so unreasonable. How can one convert straw into gold by fluke? That too so much of it. The king is just plain greedy. He is already the king of this entire land but still not satisfied with all the wealth. He wants more. How can a king treat his subjects in such a shabby manner? Such gross misuse of powers!”
“Is your father still in the jailhouse?”
“No, he is out now. But he will be clapped back into prison if I fail today. But now that you are here, I hope that won’t happen. Please help me today too as you helped me five days ago.”
“I shall, my dear. But what will you give me for my efforts?”
The brightness disappears from her face. “What do I give you? As in?”
“Like the ring you gave me the last time. What will you give me today?”
She seems deep in thought for some time and then speaks in a halting voice. “If you help me today too, I shall give you something even more valuable. Something even more precious to me.”
She moves her hand behind her neck and draws out a thin chain of gold.
“This was given to me by my late mother. It is something I have had on me all the time since she gave it to me and never ever wanted to part with. But for the sake of my father, I shall forsake even my mother’s memories.”
He notes the tinge of bitterness in her tone. She clearly is not happy with his demand. Maybe he should not have made such a demand of her. But it is done now. It is not like he is responsible for her plight - her father’s boasting and her king’s greed are to blame. He is only asking fair remuneration for valuable service he is rendering her. After all, it is lot of hard work – magic does not come without a cost – and every time he does it, he feels completely drained.
He takes the chain and sets to work. It is early in the morning by the time all the straw is converted to gold. The girl is fast asleep by now. He decides not to wake her up. He silently walks through the wall and makes his way home. The moment his head touches the pillow he is sound asleep. For five days continuously he sleeps till he is woken up by hunger pangs. He devours almost every scrap of food available in his home and washes it down with a cask of ale. He finally feels normal. He is now curious about the fate of the girl. He makes his way back to the palace.
He finds her in a frenzied state – pacing up and down the room frantically. Her face is pale and her eyes puffy. The moment he makes his appearance, she glides towards him and seizes his hand.
“Where have you been? I have been eagerly awaiting you. It’s been five days since I saw you last.”
His eyes wander around the room. They find what they have been looking for. It is difficult to miss such gigantic bales of straw. They are double the size of the previous one, four times that of the one before.
“So the king still does not believe you have the magic power?”
“No. He believes now. But he asked me to do it again just one last time. As a personal request.”
“And you agreed to it?”
“What can I do? He is after all the king of this land. And this time he asked me sweetly. And promised to marry me if I obliged him.”
He feels as if his heart is shattering into thousand pieces. He does not know why. But he just cannot bear the thought of the miller’s daughter marrying the king.
“But, isn’t he a greedy and cruel monster?”
“That is what I initially thought him to be. But he has been so nice to me. I think he has a soft heart underneath his hard exterior. I so look forward to being the queen of this land.”
“Only if you weave all this straw into gold.”
“B
ut that would not be too difficult, would it?”
“It isn’t? Have you by any chance manifested those powers that your father claims you possess?”
A hurt expression comes over her face. “What do you mean? Won’t you help me like the last two occasions?”
“And what will you give me this time?”
“What more do you want, you wicked imp? You have already taken away from me the two things I had held most precious to me? What more do you want now? My blood?”
He is surprised by her sudden hostility. He notes how little time it has taken for ‘kind sir’ to become ‘wicked imp’. Almost the same time it has taken for her to discover the softness of the king’s heart. But the mention of blood gives him an idea.
“Yes. Blood shall be my price this time.”
“What? You want me to cut my vein and bleed for you?”
“No. Not that way. I agree you have nothing left that is precious to you. But you shall have something one day and you shall give it to me.”
“Don’t speak to me in riddles, mister. Tell me clearly where you are getting at.”
“The price I demand is one who shall be of your blood and flesh – your first-born child.”
“What kind of a farce is this? I am not even married yet and you want me to give you my first-born child. If you can’t help me, say so openly. Don’t mock me like this.”
“If that is what you think, I shall take your leave.” He makes a short bow.
“No. No. Please don’t leave, kind Sir. Now that you have had your jest, please help me. Don’t leave me like this and go.”
“If you want me to turn all this straw into gold, you will have to promise to let me have your first-born child.”
“What kind of a promise is this? I am not even married.”
“But you will soon, won’t you? You said the king has promised to marry you if you managed to complete this task.”
She does not reply. He looks on as she looks to be deep in thought. He wonders if he has pushed his luck too far. But he has so often longed for human emotions. Bringing up a human child would be such an emotionally enriching experience.
His thoughts are interrupted by her feeble voice. “You make such a difficult demand. Isn’t there something else I can give you instead?”
There is nothing in the world she can give him that could be more precious. Her grandmother’s ring had been rich with memories and feelings; her mother’s chain richer. The chain was the one that had convinced him that a parent-child relationship was the most magical of all human relationships. Having soaked in its memories and savored it so much, he now wants to experience the real thing. So a human child is what he dearly wants.
“What can you give me instead?”
She thinks for a while. “Once I become queen, I can let you have your pick from the most precious palace jewelry.”
He barely manages to smother his laugh. The heights of human stupidity! Does she actually think he will be satisfied by this useless metal that he can create at will with his magic?
“No, my dear. I have no use for jewelry.”
“But you took my ring and my chain.”
“That was different.”
He is in no mood for long explanations. He is not even sure if humans can understand him.
“I can get the king to build a magnificent palace for you.” She sounds hesitant. She probably is not sure if she can promise anything on behalf of the king.
He shakes his head.
“I will ask him to make you a courtier in his palace. His chief magician.”
“Are you for real, my dear? Did you really think that would be a reward? How can you even imagine I would want to put my services at the disposal of a greedy and capricious human monarch? It sounds more like a punishment to me.”
She seems to have run out of ideas. Silence prevails for the next few minutes. Then he turns around as if to leave.
“No. Please don’t leave me like this and go. Please help me.”
“I have told you my price. If you are willing, I shall help you.”
He wonders if it has come out harsher than he expected. But distress is also a powerful human emotion. And he can see she is so full of it. Even if she refuses to part with her child, this experience alone would be worth his while.
“Okay. You can have my first-born child.”
“Now we have a deal. We have very little time left if I am to convert all this straw into gold by morning.”
He starts to work on the wheel. By the time it is morning, he is so fully drained he can hardly move. But he labors on, drawing on every last bit of energy reserve that lies within him. He is like a man possessed. The idea of having a human child of his own has seized him and he will do anything to make it come to fruition. As soon as he transforms the last bit of straw, he collapses of sheer exhaustion, right in front of the wheel.
He does not know how much time he has lain there. But when he wakes up, he finds he is no longer in front of the wheel. He is in a small dark confined place with a ceiling that does not even give him room to rise. But he can see openings at both ends. He rolls out of the one on the right side and is soon up on his feet. He looks around. He is still in the same chamber. He has been sleeping under the cot. He wonders how he got there. Presumably it must have been Sally’s handiwork. She would not have wanted the king’s orderlies to discover him.
He walks through the wall and is greeted by the sound of loud music and revelry. It stirs his curiosity and he walks in the direction of the sound. Soon he comes upon a large gathering. People are eating, drinking and making merry. And right in the middle, on a raised platform, are seated the king and right next to him – Sally! In full finery of bridal costume. So, the king has kept his promise and she is now queen. He feels a deep tug in his heart. But it is all for good he tells himself. Soon they will have a child. And it would be his.
For the next few months, he keeps a close watch over Sally. However, he never appears before her. She generally seems happy with her new life. But there seems to be no sign of any child. He realizes if there were any such sign he would not even know. But he would know when a new baby made its appearance in the palace. Babies made lot of ruckus and were hard to miss. He waits for three whole years and his patience eventually pays off. On one of his visits, he comes upon Sally fondling a little baby.
He is delighted. His time has finally come. His first impulse is to appear in front of Sally immediately and demand the baby be handed over to him. But the little thing looks too delicate. He realizes he may not be able to handle it. He decides to wait till it grows up a bit and becomes more manageable. He now knows what he needs to know. That the baby has come. And he knows where Sally can be found. Queens can’t go away anywhere. So he waits. After two years, he finally decides the time is appropriate and makes his appearance before Sally.
Her face turns pale when she sees him. “You!”
“Yes. Me! You don’t seem to be happy to see me, dear. I thought I was your friend.”
“Yes. But…I mean…it’s been so many years.”
“Indeed. How time flies, doesn’t it? I thought I had not seen you for so long and it is time I paid you a visit. So I came over. But you don’t seem to share my enthusiasm.”
“Nothing like that. Just that it was all so sudden. You are always welcome. Let me order some refreshments for you. What would you like to have?”
“I am a humble little fellow with little needs. I find no joy in your human food and drink. Let us just find a nice quiet little chamber to ourselves and talk. Like old times.”
She leads him to a luxurious room and bids him to be seated.
“You have done well for yourself since we met last, haven’t you, dear?”
“Yes. The King kept his promise and married me. I am now the queen of this land.”
“That is so wonderful, isn’t it? You must be so happy.”
“Indeed I am. The King is a noble man and takes good care of me.”
&n
bsp; “I am happy to hear that. I was so scared he would not treat you well.”
She nods her head. He remains seated gazing at her face. A pall-like silence prevails. The lines of her face seem to be tensing.
“Well…,” she stammers.
He does not say anything.
“Did you come to see me about anything in particular?”
“Nothing much. There was this little matter of a promise. I don’t know if you still remember.”
“No! No! Please, kind sir. Anything but that. I can’t give you my little child.”
“So you do remember your promise?”
“Yes. But ask me for anything in this palace and I promise to give you that. But not my child. I love him more than anything in the world. Please don’t ask for him.”
“But you did promise to give me your first-born child.”
“It was a promise made in naiveté. I never knew how it would feel to have a child of my own. I never knew I would love him so much. Please, show me some kindness.”
He thinks for a while. He wonders if he should stand his ground and insist the child be given to him. He can take the child by force. But that is not his way. He wants the child to be given to him willingly. He wonders if there is a way. Maybe if he can make her some concessions, she might be more willing.
“I understand your plight, my dear. So, I will let you keep your child.”
Suddenly life springs back into her face. She is all smiles now. He marvels at how rapidly human emotions change.
After a brief pause, he continues. “However, I have a condition.”
“What is it, sir? I will do anything you ask. What is your condition?”
“You must guess my name.”
“Guess your name? Is that all? Why … your name is…”
He can see a puzzled expression on her face. “It is strange how I never even knew your name. I never realized that. But why do you want me to guess your name?”