A Fairytale

This is a story about a little monkey who lived in a really big green jungle. Now everybody knew that this little monkey would grow up to be something special in his little corner of the world. Why?

Well, it seems this little fellow was able to zip in and out of different dimensions...one minute you would see him and one minute you would not! But that was not the best of it... if you were to touch this little monkey while he was "transporting" you'd be taken along for a wild ride.

Too many of his monkey cousins had fallen victim to his shenanigans only to return to normal space totally confused.  As a result, our little monkey was a pretty lonely little fellow, until one day a Prince appeared in the Jungle needing help.  It seemed that a really evil Ogre, with the help of a magic stone had spirited the Prince's true love into another realm.  That magic place was in another dimension and the prince hearing about this special talent that this little monkey possessed hoped that he would help him recover his lost love.

Now those of us in the present must remember that milleniums ago animals and humans could speak and understand each other quite well.  The little monkey, whose name was Zap, happily told the Prince that he would most assuredly assist him with the mission to save a Princess!  Zap was so happy to have someone that needed his "special" talent that he would of followed the Prince to the ends of the earth.

Well, they needed to put their heads together to come up with a plan to rescue the Princess.  The Prince was not quite sure which magic realm the Ogre had spirited the Princess Rose to...so they needed to do a search.   Zap told the Prince, whose name was Jack, to hold onto his hand and whoosh!!! there they went!!!   Jack felt his whole body transform into a fluid state similiar to a raging river moving so quickly....but so cold....all of a sudden he felt beyond heavy...dropping like a stone.  They came to a sudden stop on the other side....Zap said "well, it takes some getting used to, doesn't it?"  The Prince didn't want to admit he was shaken to his core...."Yes, it sure does, but we must for her sake".

This particular dimensional world didn't appear too different except the colors...everything was reversed the sky was green, the grass was blue and flowers were all shades of grey.  They walked a bit trying to find some sign of intelligent life....they came upon a little turtle like creature sitting upright on a grey log.  Zap said "Hello little one can you understand me?" The little creature looked up and said in a clear voice "Of course I can understand you, I'm not stupid!"  The Prince jumped in not wanting to offend anyone just yet and said "Oh, we know that you are very intelligent, we are looking for an Ogre who has a beautiful princess as a prisoner. Have you seen anyone like that?" 

The little turtle stood up on two legs and said quite loudly "I never know about you offlanders! You flit in and out of our space so easily, now you want my help?"  Jack was beside himself with worry over his princess, he said "Oh, please just let us know if you have seen anything or know anyone who might be able to help us. This is all being done in the name of love and it's a fight against evil."   The little turtle's heart turned a little and he said "Ok, yes I have seen something strange recently....but you'll have to come to the black crystal cave to get the whole answer."

So off the trio went...heading for the black crystal cave looking for clues.    When they approached the opening the little turtle hung back, fear showed on his face.  Zap asked "What's wrong this is where you said right?"  The little turtle said "Yes, a great Wizard lives in this cave and he would have all your answers I do believe. But this wizard and I have a bad history...I played a trick on him years ago and he has a long memory."  So it was decided that Zap and the Prince would enter the cave without the turtle. 

The first thing they both noticed as the entered the cave was a beautiful erie glow that appeared to grow lighter the deeper they moved into the cave.  Looking up they saw wonderous stalagmites growing down from the roof of the cavern...it was from these beautiful crystals that the glow was emanating from.  They reached a deeper point where the cave branched out into two separate corridors....they did not want to separate themselves so they opted to go to the left.   It was a good choice.  They heard a humming....and as they moved closer they could see a wizened old man hunched over a steaming cauldron.

The man looked up with a slight surprise on his face..."Oh, didn't know I was to have company tonight!"  Well, well don't just stand there gaping..you are here for a reason...get on with it!"  The little monkey and the Prince gingerly made their way toward the old man..."We are sorry to disturb you, but I am on a quest...my lady love has been stolen by an evil Ogre and we are hoping that you will help us" said the Prince.  The old man stared at the monkey and slapped his hand to his knee.."You! you are the one from the other world that flits in and out of our world!  I've always thought you were just up to mischief! Not on a quest, he said."

Zap pulled himself tall and said in his loudest voice.."I'm never up to mischief! I try to help everybody all the time!"  Laughter started to bellow from the old wizard, he laughed with a rolling thunder that resonated throughout the caves.  "oh, OH! my, my...a monkey who causes no mischief!" He laughed.  The Prince stepped in and said in a quiet voice "Please help us find my stolen love, please." The wizard sighed and said "ah love, nothing like it exists anywhere in magic because it's a magic all it's own.  I have a special heart shaped crystal that glows a crimson red when you are in close proximity to your heart's desire...which in your case, my Prince, would be your lady love."

The wizard explained that they could use the crystal to track the trail that the Ogre took because it would feel the vibrations from the Princess.  It was a good plan because the Ogre would not know that they had magical powers on their side too.  Jack asked the wizard if he knew who had helped the Ogre in his plot to steal the Princess.  The wizard sighed a really deep heavy sigh and said "I'll tell you this with heavy heart, it is my very own half-brother that has his hand in this.  He is not a full blown wizard because it was not his birthright, it was mine....but behind our backs he practiced the art of black witchery and cast many an evil spell before we caught him."  The little monkey felt sorry for the wizard and said so...he felt that family should always depend on one another and love one another...Jack agreed.

The wizard said "the past is the past, but this is for your future..I will try to cast a spell that will reverse anything that he throws at you - so that it will come back at him full force!  Come into my inner chambers I have a vision crystal that may prove interesting. " They followed him into the inner chamber and found themselves standing in front of a very large clear crystal...it was so perfectly clear almost with a diamond like quality to it.  As the wizard approached he mumbled some words, waving his hand at the same time and the surface of the crystal started to slowly change.  An image of a small town, rather quaint, appeared on the crystal's surface.  All of a sudden, Jack yelled "there! there she is!"  An image of a dark haired beauty floated on the crystal, one could see tears were running down the girl's face...but it did nothing to detract from her absolute beauty.  She was in a room, but it looked more like a prison with bars on the windows & door than anything else.   The wizard exclaimed "I know where that is...it's only a few hours from here as the crow flies".  The prince turned to Zap and "said we must get there really fast..can you jump side to side in this place?"  Zap replied "I don't know I've never tried except to from us to here...I'm willing to try".

The wizard said " Well using the locating crystal that I gave you will help you concentrate on reaching her and since it's my own brother behind this I shall accompany you on your quest!"  So they formed a little circle and the Wizard held one of monkey's hands and the Prince the other...and off they went...all concentrating on the Princesses location.  Again, they felt like flowing water going with the tide of time...liquid in nature, fluid...icy cold...coming to a sudden stop....heaviness decending back to reality.

As luck would have it, they materialzed right inside the room where the princess was.  The shock of having them appear so suddenly caused the princess to cry out and swoon...luckily Jack managed to get to her before she hit the floor.  She looked up into his face and asked "Oh, Jack is it really you? Or is this yet another terrible trick that the evil Ogre is playing on me?"  Jack assured her that he was her own true love come to rescue her from the evil Ogre.  Just at that moment the door unlocks and in walks a younger version of the old wizard...followed closely behind by a brutally ugly Ogre. "Oh, I see we have a would be escape together with a group of heroes.  He turned to the Ogre and said "Dagnar..we are being remiss in welcoming these gentlemen...please toss them into some chains for me."

The old wizard had had his back to the door and his younger brother had not realized who he had in his clutches...he turned with glowing eyes, mumbling an incantation and the Ogre turned into a small mouse...who scampered quickly away.  The wizard's younger half brother stared in disbelief, he tried to do an incantation back at him but it was no use.  The next thing he knew he was writhing on the floor and turning slowly into a snake...and not a dangerous snake either - just the common garden garter snake variety that get eaten by birds all the time.  His future looked bleak.

The Prince explained to his Princess how the rescue came to be, especially the little monkey's part in it.  She was extremely grateful to them all for rescuing her from their evil clutches.  The little monkey looked sad....his adventure was all over...now, once again, he would be the loneliest creature in the jungle because of his "special" powers.  Once again everyone would be afraid to touch him for fear of being sent into the "nowhere".  The wizard took the monkey aside and said "I know it's hard to be different from others. especially when you want to help everyone too...I think I have a special crystal for you that might help you."

They all stood in a small circle The Prince, The Princess, The Wizard and the little Monkey....they all put their hands in the middle of the circle and the monkey placed one hand on  top and one hand on the bottom so they all were touching and they zapped back into the cold...fluid time....back to the wizard's cave.   The wizard was rummaging around a bit, rooting as it were..searching for a special crystal.  "Ahah! he shouted I foundit!!" said the wizard, with that he opened his hand and in it was a lovely azure blue crystal that glowed...it had a natural hole through it..the wizard put it on a piece of leather and placed it around the little monkey's neck.   "Now, you will be able to control your jumping between the dimensions...no one will be afraid to touch you anymore...everything will be under your power to jump or not". said the Wizard.

Oh the little monkey jumped up and down with glee...he could run, jump & play with his cousins, he could swing from tree to tree and not worry about "bumping" into anybody...oh joy!  He was so happy...The Prince was happy too as was his beloved.  Even the grumpy Wizard had to smile at the monkey's antics....which just goes to prove all's well that end's well......

This fairytale has been done for an entry into Judith Heartsong's story contest at the following link:

http://journals.aol.com/judithheartsong/newbeginning