Fairy Tails

Once upon a time

there was a book

alone on a shelf in her tower

patiently awaiting her savior.

First to arrive

was the Dragon with a Prince’s face

who flipped through her pages carelessly

and tossed her aside

for a book with less substance.

The Dragon called back

as he tightly closed the tower door,

“That was nothing but a tragedy.”

The book lay there on the floor,

A slight tear in her cover—

But the pages inside were still mostly untouched.

Once upon a time

there was a book

alone on the floor of her tower.

And along came the Gallant Knight

dark and scarred,

he had more consideration for her pages.

Yet there were paragraphs of her—

whole chapters, even,

where the Knight could not find meaning.

The book’s complexity tore through

his self-assured armor

and sent the Knight into a retreat.

Leaving the tower door open a crack,

He would whisper late at night…

“I’ll come back for you

when I’m smarter and more worthy.”

Instead, the Knight found a battle

and jumped at the chance

to forget her in the name of duty.

He didn’t know how to read the book anymore,

but at least he could still prove his strength.

Once upon a time

there was a book

alone in a heap in her tower.

Tear-stained and beginning to crumple,

she lost hope for a reader

who would discover her story’s value.

But then,

Suddenly... S l o w l y... Finally... AllAtOnce

appeared the friendly Scribe

who read aloud to her of his own pages;

exposing all the hidden parts of his world

and ideas for new worlds still in his head,

expecting nothing from her in return.

When, at length, she bared her pages to him,

he was not daunted.

He did not shun her now worn-down appearance

nor run from her depth.

Methodically coaxing out meaning behind each line;

taking painstaking care with her

and repairing the damage

she’d always thought was permanent.

Once upon a time

there was a book

no longer alone in her tower.

And before she could comprehend

what restorative magic the Scribe had performed,

he read every syllable the book had given him

cover to cover

and asked her for more…

Once upon a time

there was a book and her Scribe

alone together in her their tower.

When he’d come at last

to the final piece of punctuation

(an ellipsis…)

the Scribe smiled quietly to himself

and declared,

“I must be a part

of your happily ever-after.”