Saying for the day: We call them faerie. We don't believe in them. Our loss. ~Charles de LintThursday has come upon us again and it is time for another fantastic, great, unbelievable Elf Tale. However, lacking one of those you will have to put up with one of mine. Which begins , as all good elf tales should:
Once upon a time, a long time ago now, before television, before computers, even before most homes had radio , in a land out there somewhere in the poorest part of this country there lived a little boy. His name was Timothy Muy Pobre but we will just call him Tim.
When Tim was three years old his father went out to get some ice cream for his birthday party and never came back. He took with him the family car. Neither his father or the car were ever seen again. But his mother always set an extra place at the family table expecting him to return.
So Tim lived alone with his mother on the edge of a dreary little town .They had a small house with only four rooms if you didn’t count the bathroom and nobody counts the bathroom. In this case that was fully proper because the bathroom consisted of an outhouse just beyond the garden and a large metal tub that Tim took a bath in every Friday. There were two small bedrooms, an all purpose room, and a kitchen with a wonderful, old wood stove. There was also a half basement below the kitchen.
To say that Tim and his mother were poor would be to understate their condition. They survived because they had a large garden and because Mrs. Pobre cleaned houses for the few people in town that had money. In the garden they grew carrots, peas, beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and even a small watermelon. In season Tim picked blueberries and strawberries. His mother canned everything and stored it in the half basement which carried them through the winter. The other things they needed and the property taxes were paid with what she earned cleaning. It was not a great life but they survived.
It had not always been so for Tim’ s mother. She had been born a Lincoln of the Copper King Lincolns. She had servants and anything she wanted. The good life was hers . But then she fell in love with Emanel Pobre who at that time was their gardener. Her family told her it had to end or they would disown her but she married him anyway and they did. They also made sure he would never work again in Calumet again. Thus having no other choice our two lovebirds put all their belongings in the old car and moved far away. She never contacted her parents again.
So being poor was very hard on Tim’s mother. But she did the best she could to give Tim a good life. When he was little she read to him every night from their one treasure a first edition o
f “ Jack and the Beanstalk” which her grandmother had given her. It was her only contact with the old life. She read the story to Tim so many times that he knew the story by heart. He dreamed of getting some magic seeds and delivering his mother from poverty. He knew just where he would plant the seeds.
There were problems with his dream, of course. They had no cow and there was no market where he could sell the cow if he had one. So he dreamed that some stranger would give him the seeds in exchange for a dozen eggs from the hen house. They did have some hens. But the years went buy and the stranger never came.
While he was waiting Tim was a helpful boy. He helped his neighbor harvest her apples and didn’t ask for any money. She was so happy that she gave him a bag of apples. That night they had apple pie.
He helped his other neighbor pick her cherries and took no money for the service. She gave him a bag of cherries. That night they had cherry pie.
All of his neighbors loved Tim because he was so kind and helpful.
But T
im continued to dream of magic seeds. He even planned what to put in his backpack when he started up the beanstalk and what he would say to the wife of the Giant. His mother continued to dream of the return of his father.
Then one day after he had been very helpful to a cranky old man who gave him nothing he was on his way home when the little man in the green suit with the funny curly toed shoes suddenly walked alongside him. The little man did the usual explanation which ended with Tim getting one wish. Without even thinking, the worst possible way to wish, Tim wished for some magic seeds.
“as you have wished so shall it be” said the elf.
There was a flash of light and Tim found himself walking alone clutching five very large seeds. He rushed home and planted one of them. He could hardly sleep that night.
In the morning the beanstalk had begun to grow but it wasn’t very tall. You see in the real world magic beans don’t grow as fast as they do in fairy tales. So poor Tim had to wait as day by day the beanstalk grew. It took a full month of pure agony for Tim for the beanstalk to reach the point where it seemed to disappear into a hole in the sky.
Then Tim began to climb.
To be continued.
#### News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal . Despite whales and white rabbits life goes on in Pigeon Falls and yesterday Robert Maki got his turn at the local Lion’s Club contest, the one that is vocal instead of written. Here is his entry:
The other day I was home alone at the farm, my wife having gone to visit her mother, when there was a knock on the front door. Well nobody uses my front door except those pesky
religious people and I wasn’t in any mood for the end of the world so I went fully prepared to tell them to get lost . But when I opened the door there was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I swear her clothes gave out a bright white light of their own. For a moment I thought I had died and this was an angel sent to get me.
“Are you an angel?”, I asked.
“Heavens no!” she said “ I’m a witch”.
“There are no witches “ I said. “ That’s all nonsense. Besides if you were a witch you would be all dressed in black and have claw like fingers”
She started to laugh and laugh and then suddenly broke in to tears. It seems she was a white witch like Glenda in the Wizard of Oz. She was involved in a battle between good and evil and she had a problem. It seems she drew her strength from people believing in her like Tinker Bell in Peter Pan and people just didn’t believe in witches any more. They believe in science. She used to have hundreds and thousands of believers but not anymore. Now as her strength failed evil was beginning to win. You could see it everywhere. Children were no longer respectful, drive by shootings, tomatoes that made you sick, whales in the wrong place, the list was endless. Again she burst into tears.
So from the once mighty white witch she was now reduced to going door to door and begging people to believe in her. She was there to beg me to believe in her.
“ I’d like to “, I said, “ But could you show me something witchy that proves you’re a witch”
She waved her little hand and their on my front step appeared a large kettle of chicken soup. I’m telling you I never saw anything like it. She waved her hand again and it was gone.
So I decided to believe. You would have too.
So I am here today to ask you to believe in her. Her name is Amanda , the good witch.
Now if you don’t think the story is true or if you don’t want to believe. She left me a supply of her cards and there is one for each of you. You will notice she has her own web page.
He got two tens, four nines, and an eight or a 9.3 average. . ( A rough group of judges) He should make the finals.
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Today's Link-
More Reverberation-On quickly getting rid of junk
Great day. The oxygen was back up into the low normal range so I spent the day without having to haul oxygen bottles. ( Any day without an oxygen bottle is a great day.) In the morning I brought the elf tales and Petrovich's websites up to date. That took a bit of time because I had let them go for a while. Then I spent most of the afternoon reading.I was going to go get a haircut but we were waiting for a man from the gas company who never came. Then I did a little blogging and some research for tomorrow's blog. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA
