The Gypsies and The Other Realm-Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Crystal
It was midnight before, Mariska, Livia and Violet, took, Uncle Bavaro’s two girls and the twins back to the Gypsy King’s caravan to get some sleep. Mariska, had noticed that, Selena and Jupiter, had not made an appearance tonight, and was a little disappointed.
Mariska had asked, Viktoria, earlier in the evening, if the children could have a sleep over, since the adults would be up celebrating most of the night. Viktoria, agreed to the plan. So the older girls, took charge of the younger children. They changed the children out of their day clothes and into some night clothes and then tucked the children under the quilts. Mariska, told them, a gypsy fairy tale about a young unicorn, that was lost in the woods, and had an amazing adventure before his mother found him.
Mariska’s story went something like this:
Once upon a time there was a young unicorn whose name was Crystal. He had grown one single crystal horn, that protruded from his forehead, shortly, after he was born, and that is how he earned his name. Crystal, was born with magic powers in his horn. He would use his horn to touch caterpillars and turn them into butterflies. One day as, Crystal, played with a troop of butterflies, in the meadow, where he and his mother often grazed, he wandered off into the forest chasing the butterflies.
Soon, Crystal, realized he was lost. He wandered around in some trees for awhile, hoping his mother, would come and find him, when he met a porcupine, crossing a dirt path, near the trees, and asked the porcupine," if he might know how to get back to the meadow?" The porcupine, was startled by the sound of is voice, and quickly rolled into a ball of pointy spikes, in fear of the little unicorn. Realizing that the porcupine was afraid of him, he pleaded, "Oh please! if you know the way to the meadow, please, please tell me, as I am lost and I need to get back to my mother, I won't hurt you."
The porcupine, came out of his ball, and hesitantly, said,” no, I do not know where the meadow is,” in a tiny squeaky voice. Crystal, put his head down close to the porcupine, to hear it better and put his muzzle a little to close, to the, porcupines, pointy spikes, and the quills poked him, so he backed off and, cried," ouch! What did ya do that for?" The porcupine apologized for not warning him the quills would hurt, but they were his protection from predators. He went on to explain, to Crystal, that he could use his horn to stab, his teeth to bite, and hooves to kick, should he have to fight.
The porcupine warned," Crystal, to be careful, as he walked through the forest, there were mean animals that might like to eat him, like bears." Crystal," inquired as to what a bear was?" The porcupine told him," that a bear is a big, big, brown furry thing that was fierce. Bears have long claws, razor sharp teeth and liked to, catch, kill and eat other animals, and you would know it if you saw it, so if you see one run, the porcupine exclaimed!"
The porcupine advised, Crystal, to stay with the dirt path, and just down the road there was an big hollow tree, and he could find a wise old owl that lived there, and he might give him directions to the meadow," and then, he waddled away. Crystal, thanked the porcupine for the advice and set off down the path to find the owl in the hollow tree.
A group of bees were working away transporting pollen from the wild flowers to their beehive hanging from a lower branch on a tree. Crystal, stopped on the path and moved in closer to watch the worker bees. "Whatcha’ doin?" Crystal, politely, asked. One of the bees stopped working for a moment to answer, the little unicorn. The worker bee, replied that," they were making beeswax in the hive, and filling the beeswax, honeycomb with honey." Crystal, was curious, and moved in closer, to the beehive to taste a lick of the honey dripping out of the hive.
A group of bees in the hive swarmed out, at him unexpectedly and buzzed around him, threatening to sting him with their venomous tails if he didn’t leave, and one of them swooped down and stung him in the butt. “Ouch! What did you do that for?” Crystal, exclaimed! One of the angry bees commanded, Crystal, to stop stealing the Queen Bee’s honey, it is unacceptable to steal honey! Crystal moved away from the hive slowly, and when he reached the dirt path, he began to quickly trot down the path, so as not to anger the army of bees any further.
When, Crystal, reached the big hollow tree where the owl was supposed to be, he wondered what he was supposed to do now, because he didn’t see an owl anywhere around. Some chipmunks, were busy picking up acorns, off the ground, filling their cheeks with them, and then running up a nearby tree, and putting the acorns in a hole in the tree The little chipmunks, happily chattered to one another, when their cheeks were not full of acorns. Crystal, decided to go over and ask them if they knew where the owl might be? The chipmunks, ran up the tree, as quickly as they could to their hollow hole and began throwing down acorns at him. “Whatcha’ doin’ that for? ” Crystal, asked, annoyed at their reaction.” I won’t hurt ya little fellas, I just wondered if you knew where the owl might be?” The little chipmunks, stopped throwing the acorns, looked at one another questioningly, and then shrugged their shoulders, as if to say, ”I don’t know." They. climbed back down from the tree and resumed chattering to one another, while retrieving the acorns they had thrown at ,Crystal, and put them back in their hole in the tree.
A large tortoise, crawled onto the dirt path, out of a large patch of grass. The tortoise, noticed Crystal, and drew its head and arms into the shell. The tortoise’s eyes peered out, at Crystal, from inside. Crystal, sighed and asked the tortoise," if he might know, where the wise old owl was?" The tortoise then, popped his head and legs out of the shell and very slowly replied, "follow me, the owl might be down by the pond, hunting for supper.” Crystal followed, the large tortoise, the walk to the pond was a very, very, very slow pace, but actually a short distance from the large hollow tree.
When they reached the pond a mother duck, was teaching her ducklings, how to swim, in a single line, formation. The tortoise, asked, mother duck, if she knew where the wise old owl was. Mother duck said she thought owl might be hunting in the cattails for a snake to eat for supper. Tortoise thanked, the mother duck and then gave directions to, Crystal, on where to find the cattails. Tortoise was tired and planned on a nice relaxing, swim in the pond and then he would take a nap in a nearby patch of grass for the afternoon. Crystal, thanked the large tortoise for bringing him to the pond and then pressed forward to find the cattails, stopping to graze in a patch of grass, along the way.
A snake slithered by, and swoosh! Out of nowhere an owl, flew by, picked the snake up by its beak, and carried it away, high in the sky! Oh! No! thought Crystal, now, I will never find my way back to the meadow and my mother!
Crystal, laid down in the grass forlorn at his loss, and cried. While Crystal, was feeling sorry for himself, and wailing like a baby, a warm muzzle, touched his cheek, her tongue licked his ears, and her soft voice said, "Crystal, you should have never strayed so far away from the meadow, you could have been hurt." " Oh Mother!" he exclaimed! but I was hurt... I was poked by a porcupine, stung by a bee and hit by acorns being thrown out of a tree! But, I never saw a bear, that might eat me! Mother laughed at ,Crystal, and told him if he ever gets lost again, to just ask his horn to help him find his way home and that was the end of Crystal's journey.
The children went to sleep and Selena, had silently flown into the caravan, when the story had just begun, so she was able to hear it from beginning to end and praised, Mariska, for telling such a wonderful, wonderful story to the children.
