Elsa / Fairy tale
In a forest at the edge of night time, a girl sat crying.
“Where am I?
Where am I?” she asked in a soft voice.
“I want to go home.”
The forest was old. Its trees reached up to the darkening sky with black branches. There were no leaves on any of them.
There was a lot of open space in this forest, but all of it seemed immune from light. A path went to the left and the right of where the girl sat and in the distance stood a tall, dark hill. She could hear nothing except the sounds of her crying.
She didn’t know what to do, so she sat for a long time. Then when she could cry no more, she stood up.
“Where are you going?” a soft and sad little voice asked.
The girl said nothing. She was afraid to move. A little man slowly stepped out from behind a tree. He was shorter than the girl, with a round little belly, but his arms and legs were long and thin. He wore an old black suit and a top hat and she could see a necklace around his neck.
“You don’t want to go left,” he continued. “I think you want to go right.”
“Who are you?” the girl finally asked him.
he replied, moving a little closer.
There was something spider-like in his movements.
The girl swallowed. “OK, where are we then?”
“You are in a nightmare, I’m afraid.”
Looking around, it certainly did seem like a nightmare. So she pinched herself as hard as she could.
“It’s not that kind of nightmare,” the man said.
“Then… then how do I get out?”
“Oh, you want to leave already?” The man seemed a little sad.
“You must go there.” The man pointed down the path to the
right. In the distance, the girl could see the tall hill.
“I think you would rather know where we are,”
“Why?”
“On that hill, there is a house – the oldest house. And in that house, you will find a bedroom door, very much like your bedroom door at home. If you can open it, you can leave this place.”
So the girl turned to her right, toward the big hill in the distance and started walking. The little man walked with her.
“Oh, are you coming, too?” she asked him.
“I would rather follow you than sit in the forest by myself,” he said.
“Well, it might be good to have some company. I’m Elsa.”
“And I am Humphrey.”
“Well, Humphrey, what can I expect on this journey?”
“A long walk through dark woods. A quiet town. An empty old house. A curved staircase and – if you are lucky – a bedroom door.”
Elsa didn’t like any of that. She didn’t want to talk any more and Humphrey didn’t seem to mind. For a long time, the only sounds were those of their four feet as they walked through the forest. Soon it got so dark that she couldn’t see a thing,
but to keep on the path, she just had to walk straight.
“This part will end soon,” Humphrey said. And it did. Before long, she could see her hands in front of her face again. Not long after that, the trees stopped and they walked into an empty fi eld. At the other end, some buildings marked the beginning of a small village. It wasn’t much – maybe three or four streets surrounded by the forest on all sides.
Elsa walked up the biggest of the streets, with Humphrey following behind her. She didn’t see a single person anywhere, but up on the left, a building that said “SHOP” on the front
had light coming from the windows.
“There,” she said. “Great.” Behind its heavy door, the inside of the shop glowed. The shelves were fi lled with bits of everything, from food to tools to clothes. The shopkeeper looked surprised when she entered.
“Nice little place,” Humphrey commented.
Elsa asked the shopkeeper, “Excuse me, sir, we’ve been traveling for a while. We’re trying to get to a house on a tall hill
– the oldest house. Can you help us?”
The shopkeeper said nothing.
“Um, sir, what is this place?”
Still he said nothing.
“Could you just…”
The shopkeeper looked down.
“Oh, never mind then,” Elsa said, walking back out into the empty village. With nothing else to do, she continued down the path again. She walked back into the forest and left the little village behind.
The forest opened into more fi elds as they traveled. “What was wrong with him?” Elsa fi nally asked Humphrey.
“Who? Oh, the shopkeeper? He doesn’t like strangers. No one in that village likes strangers.”
“Were there others?” she asked him. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“They were there.”
“Well, what about you? Do you like strangers?”
“Oh yes. I like strangers.” Then he stopped. “There.” He pointed ahead.
They finally reached the bottom of the hill. The whole top of the hill was a huge stone house with lots of towers and points.
There were no lights.
“Are you going in?” Humphrey asked her.
“I have to,” said Elsa. When she reached the great old doors, she felt very small. Surprisingly, they made no sound as they opened.
Elsa stepped inside. She felt the huge door close. Silence. She turned around and looked at Humphrey. “Humphrey…” Her
voice shook. “Whose house is this?”
“Ssshhh,” said the little man. “Come here and I’ll tell you.”
Elsa stepped forward. “Closer.” Humphrey leaned in toward her ear. His long arms opened to pull her in. His necklace fell
outside his shirt and Elsa saw something shiny from the corner of her eye. “This is my house,” whispered Humphrey.
“I know!” Elsa said loudly. Her words surprised the little man.
She pulled hard on Humphrey’s necklace and it broke. She pushed him to the ground and ran as fast as she could to the big curved staircase. At the top, a long hall full of doors ran
right and left. She went left.
She could hear Humphrey following up the stairs, but Elsa didn’t dare look back. She fl ew past doors on both sides of the hallway. Humphrey was getting closer. Finally, she saw her
bedroom door on the left. It was locked. Humphrey jumped at her. She put the key from the end of his necklace into the door and pushed it open. Humphrey jumped at her.
She put the key from the end of his necklace into the door and pushed it open.
