“Ana….please story yeg
gai lae.” My nine years old niece begged me.
“Some other time Tashi,
I am reading now.” I snapped at her not wanting to disturb the budding romance
of Sophia and Luke and on other hand, praying that somebody would come for rescue
of Ira, so I can grasp the story of Ira and Ruth from ‘The Longest Ride’ of
Nicholas Sparks.
“Please….please…please…Ana
Tshering…yeg gai lae.” She surely knows how to get what she wants even she
had knelt on her knees and folded her hands together.
“OK.” In a defeat, I
bookmarked the pages and faced her.
“Cinderella, Snow White,
Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast…” her eyes gleamed with every title of a
fairy tale I uttered in a long stretched tone.
“All?” she looked
surprised.
“None! I am not telling
any of those. You have heard thousand times and you know them by heart now.” Sparkles
vanished from her eyes and disappointment shot with undeniable loud “Awooo!”
from her.
“I am going to tell you
another story.”
“yeahh…”she squeaked.
“Not so long ago,…”
“But the story starts with ‘Once
upon a time’” She said.
“Ok. Once upon a time, there was a simple, hardworking
and a beautiful girl.”
“Was she a princess?”
she interrupted again.
“Tashi! You want to
hear the story or not.” I said sternly.
“I want to, Ana.” Tashi
surrendered.
“Once
upon a time, there was a simple, hardworking and a beautiful girl, but she was
always afraid of everything; Of the blazing sun in a day, of growing dark at night,
of flowing stream from the mountain, of blooming flowers in the garden, of
passing strangers from the road, of barking dogs in a neighborhood and of all
she feared her fears for everything.”
“What is her name? Is
she afraid of ghosts?” Tashi couldn’t help asking.
“She was not a princess, but a peasant Euphelma and yes, she was afraid
of the ghosts.” I couldn’t think of a better name while I weaved the story.
Also, Euphelma is a name of a princess of Bhutan.
“One
fine day, Euphelma was reading her favorite book under a giant willow tree. An
old lady passed by her. At that instant, a giant dog of a neighbor came attacking
an old lady. Her fear for strangers and dogs was forgotten as she went for an immediate
rescue of a lady.
An
old lady with a silver gray hair said “You are a kind soul lady. I shall tell
you a secret. Three passes from here, there is a deadly forest. Go through that
in the dead of the night and make it before the break of the dawn. It is
believed that you are closest to the sun from there. Make a wish when sunrise
and your wish will be fulfilled. Fear none, conquer all. Bless you.” With
these, an old lady disappeared miraculously.
Later,
in the dead of the night, Euphelma set on the journey to make a wish. She was afraid to walk alone through the
deadly web of the forest. If only, the choice was in her hand, she would never dream
to cross that path. It was the fate, she didn’t want, but couldn’t avoid. By
dawn, she was to burrow the forest and see the rise of the waking sun, which granted every wish at the sacred period of
time.
Fear
gripped her shoulder as snakes rattled on the ground, birds flown from her
head, animals roared creating a cacophony and multiplying her fears.“
“Did Prince Charming
came to her rescue and gave a true love kiss?” Her typical fairy tale
questions irked me.
“Not
a prince charming but an adorable tiny firefly came illuminating her path and
leading her out of the forest. They fought with the giant monsters, poisonous snakes,
mighty lion and tiger and finally passed the deadly forest.”
“How did they fight
with all those monsters? Euphelma don’t have power and firefly is very tiny.”
Tashi wasn’t easy to fool around.
“Actually,
Euphelma didn’t have any supernatural power, but she was determined to reach
there. A determination is not less than any supernatural power. Nothing could
stop her from making a wish of being fearless. A firefly was not an ordinary
one. It has a power to fight against the evil, but everytime it did, firefly
lost its power to illuminate and became dull. Firefly was to die when it loses
the power to light. The fact Euphelma was not aware of.
Finally,
when they reached their destination just in time, having used all of its power
while protecting Euphelma, firefly bids adieu in her palm and died peacefully.
With
the rise of the sun, her tears fell freely on a firefly as she wished not to be a fearless
but a life of a dear firefly.
When
another drop of tears fell on firefly, a series of stars twinkled and circled a
firefly. Firefly breathed and woke up but with a transformation of handsome
gentleman.”
“Wow! He must be a
prince.” Tashi squealed.
“Yeah, he is a prince of a mighty kingdom. A wicked witch fell in love
with him and when he refused to marry her, she cursed and cast a spell on him.
He was transformed into a firefly and trapped in a deadly forest. When a person with a strong determination passed a deadly
forest will break the spell, but if he helped a passer, he was to die.
The
moment Euphelma conquered the deadly forest, he was freed from the spell. Since
he helped her, he couldn’t escape death. But Euphelma’s wish was to see a
firefly alive, a wish which was granted. So, Prince was alive.
They
fell in love, married and lived happily ever after.
The
End.” I sighed and thought ‘uff…that was quite a story.’
“I like a story of
Euphelma better.” I grinned as Tashi approved my story.
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