The Taking Of The Golden Apples
Night One: The Golden Apple Thief
I had a dream last night...
I found myself under the full moon of a cloudless, starry night, in the middle of a grand and elegant garden of a great king.
All around me were a collection of wonderfully extravagant plants: strange animal topiaries of beasts I had never seen, flowering bushes from distant lands, and fruit trees of every kind and color. All protected by a towering stone wall, encircling both the garden and the king’s castle itself.
Among these beautiful trees, there was one that bore apples as golden as the sun, with skins that even shimmered in the moonlight. And standing beside this tree, was a young man in expensive clothes, with a bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver across his shoulder.
Staring up at the golden fruit, he asked “Why does my father doubt me so? For the past two nights my older brothers had their watch, yet two more apples were stolen!” And he raised his bow to aim at the garden wall in the distance. “Well the spoils shall end with three.” and he let the arrow fly, watching it as it deflected off a stone of the wall. “I will sooner die in the struggle than succumb to sleep such as they!”
The prince, for that’s surely what he was, must have paced around the golden apple tree for hours, waiting for the thief to appear, but never heard as much as a dog barking in the distance.
Beginning to grow weary, he approached a low-hanging branch of the tree, and reached out to cradle one of the fruits in his hand.
“Who wouldn’t want you.” he noted. “It’s no wonder father goes as far as to have you counted everyday, with the magic properties you’re said to possess.”
And as the prince looked at the apple, studying the reflection of the moon through its skin, something rose up into the sky behind him.
Turning around, he saw a large golden bird, resembling a pheasant, but as large as an eagle, with a long trailing tail and a crest that curled off the back of its head. The prince, stunned with awe, watched as the bird silently flew over him, seemingly unaware of the boy’s presence, and gently landed in the branches of the tree.
The golden bird turned its head around, as the moonlight shimmered across its body, and preened several of the glittering feathers on its back. Then, looking at one of the apples hanging beside it, the creature carefully used its beak to pluck off one of the apples.
The Prince was still lost in wonderment as he stared up at the bird, watching as it stood up on the branch, and began to spread its wings, before he finally realized that it was about to get away with one of the apples.
Quickly, he drew an arrow from his quiver, and raised up his bow, steadying his aim as the bird lifted itself into the air. He let the arrow fly, and it shot up behind the fowl, missing its body, but striking one of its feathers, sending the golden shaft floating down toward the ground.
Catching the feather in the air, the prince didn’t bother to draw another arrow, but watched as the bird flew across the night sky to the north. “Father has to think more of me now. Not only have I seen the thief, but I have a token of his identity, and proof of the splendor that lies behind it.”
–Charles M Warren
Night Two: Where The Bird Went
I had a dream last night...
I saw the golden bird flying through the cool night air, carrying the precious apple in its beak, passing over hill and forest, as the sky began to lighten to its right. When on the horizon, there appeared a great castle, hidden from the morning sun by the shadow of a great mound of earth just to the east of it.
But as the bird got closer, I could see that the castle shimmered in the same way as the bird and the apple, seemingly made of gold!
This golden castle had a pair of tall, pointed towers at its middle, joined almost all the way to the top, with shorter towers on each side, and a thick wall all around.
As the bird neared the castle, it turned down, and flew over the front wall and into the lawn, where everything long lay withered and dead.
Next, the creature’s golden wings took it to the right, around the side of the castle, and across the courtyard in the back. And there, lying beside the back door, was a human skeleton half-burried in the ground, with little sign of what happened so many years ago.
The fowl flew back around to the front, and up towards the tallest tower on the right, making its way for a window near the top. Gently alighting on the windowsill, the Golden Bird watched as something stirred inside the dark room. And there emerged from the darkness a hideous old woman, approaching the bird with an outstretched hand.
“Finally, the last one!” she said, placing her hand beneath the apple, and letting the bird drop it into her palm. “I send you out four nights, yet only receive three apples! So what did you do with the first?” she asked, yet knew she would receive no answer.
The dimly-lit room was filled with strange and hideous artifacts, animal skulls, and twisted dolls of moss and fur, among unsettling vats and pots bubbling with vile concoctions.
The old woman took the golden apple to the far side of the room, to a small table where several brightly colored potions were churning and bubbling. And holding the fruit by the stem, she carefully dipped it into a liquid that was as red as blood, before raising it back up and letting the excess drip off its sides.
Setting the apple down, she turned back to the bird. “It is almost time. The princess will be reaching the age of her destiny. The destiny that you foretold!” turning back to her vats and trinkets as she added “But I will stop her. I will keep it from happening.”
She picked up the apple, and dropped it into a sack with two others. “This! This! Will certainly stop her betrothed! Whichever of those foolish princes it may be.”
Pausing for a moment, she cocked her head to one side, as if listening for something.
“Yes. Yes. In fact, I believe my errand boy is here now.”
The old woman stepped back up to the window, and stuck out her head, watching as a man on a golden horse came trotting up through the front lawn. But in looking down, she seemed to notice something wrong with the bird on the windowsill beside her.
“What’s this? A feather you have lost!” She stepped off to the left to think, rubbing her crooked chin. “Then the princes will likely seek you out. I will have to head them off before they get too far.”
She waved her hand before the bird’s face, causing its eyes to flicker with a purple light. “Now go! Return to your false master!”
And the Golden Bird took off, heading to the south-east, with the man and his golden horse looking up at him as he flew off.
–Charles M Warren
Night Three: The Rider's Errand
I had a dream last night...
I saw a golden horse and his rider approaching a great golden castle, with the animal’s four hooves scraping across the stone-laded path up to the front entrance.
The rider nervously looked around at all the dead trees that littered the courtyard, saying to himself “Oh how I’d rather be as far away from this creepy place as possible.” Leaning forward, he patted the horse on the shoulder. “Once we’ve received this last task, boy, yI want you to get us out of here quick. Or I’ll be selling you to the market for your meat and golden hide for sure! I want to be done with this woman for good!”
They approached the large wooden door on the front of the castle, but the rider remained on his horse, slowly looking around, getting more and more anxious.
Finally, the door creaked open, swinging inward about a third of the way, but with no one to be seen, until the ugly old woman came shuffling out, carrying the bag of golden apples and a folded note.
She looked up at the rider as she stepped near the two. “There’s been a change of plans.” she reported.
“What do you mean?” he asked, grabbing hold of the golden horse’s mane. “You said one more request, and the horse would be mine!”
“Calm yourself.” replied the woman. “And so the horse shall. Only your destination has changed, my boy.”
And with some effort, she lifted the sack into the air, and handed it up to him on the back of the horse, before carefully placing the note in his hands. “You must take both of these to the village just north of the kingdom of the Golden Apples, and ask for the man to whom the note is addressed. The instructions will tell him what to do with the contents of the bag.”
“Only as far as the village?” he asked.
“Yes.” she answered.
“And that is all that you require of me?”
“Yes.”
But the man still seemed suspicious. “So you don’t need the bird let loose another night?”
“No. His usefulness has met its end.” she explained. “And you will have too, once this deed is done. Now get going, there’s no need wasting any more time!”
Insulted, the rider sneered back “I’ve done everything you’ve asked, just the way you’ve asked it! I was risking my neck bribing that servant to leave that stupid bird’s cage open like that! And an extra night too!”
But her temper wasn’t flared. “Well you shall have your horse in return. Do this last task and I will ask no more of you. Only, fail, and you will instantly be turned into a creature far dumber than the one on which you sit!”
He nervously smiled back. “Yes ma’am, yes ma’am. I won’t waist any more of your time.” and he pulled the horse around, digging his heals into the animal’s sides to get it going into a gallop. “And I thank you for it all!”
The golden horse took off, running faster than the wind, for it was no ordinary horse, leaving the castle in a flash, and traveling down a road that went east from the golden castle, until they were quickly to another kingdom.
As they raced along, the rider looked up at the gray castle of this kingdom, to a window of one of the towers, where he thought he saw a flash of golden hair.
“There she is!” he exclaimed. “And now that I have this horse, she can’t help but marry me. Then I’ll have both the most beautiful female in the land, and be next in line to become king!”
But the horse shook his head and whinnied at what his rider had said, glancing back at the princess as if hoping it wouldn’t come true.
–Charles M Warren
Night Four: The Princess' Prophecy
I had a dream last night...
I was in a luxurious room of a castle, a bedroom, with a canopy bed of purple silk, when I noticed a girl with long golden hair staring out a window just to the right.
A door opened behind me, and in came a maid-servant, carrying a pitcher of water. She curtsied to the other girl’s back, saying “I have you fresh water, ma’ lady.”
The golden haired girl turned around, holding a golden apple in her hand. “Oh, thank you.” she replied, watching as the servant poured the water into a washing bowl. “Has there been any news from the scouts? About my brother’s killer, I mean.”
“No, ma’ lady. I’m afraid not.” Then, seeing the apple in her mistress’ hand, she asked “What about the Golden Bird, have you seen it?”
The Princess (for she was certainly the Golden Princess herself) looked at the golden apple. “Not directly, but I believe he must’ve been the one who brought this to my windowsill the other night.”
The servant girl looked up at the Princess, “And isn’t that... part of the prophecy?”
Sitting the apple down, the Princess nodded, “Yes. It is.” as she picked up a brush and began to stroke it through her golden locks. “Which means that the next thing that is to happen, is for my betrothed to meet me at my most vulnerable, only to give me a kiss on the cheek, take me by the hand, and lead me away to a new kingdom.”
The maid servant thought for a moment, then told her mistress “The boy who rides the Golden Horse came by the castle yesterday, perhaps he is your betrothed!”
But the Princess shook her head in disgust, setting her brush down, and stepping over to the washing bowl. “I cannot deny that the horse is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, but he deserves far better than that selfish pig of a man! Who cares for nothing more than his own gain!”
The maid servant shrunk back, sorry she had suggested the thought.
The Princess dried off her face with a cloth, and turned back to her attendant. “Why, he once tried to sell the gardener a sack of ‘magic beans’!” But then started to smile the more she thought about it. “Magic beans? What land did he think we were from?!” she asked, getting a smile from the servant girl, and lightening the mood.
Picking back up the golden apple, the Princess looked back out the window. “Somehow... I can’t help but think... that the Golden Bird’s prophecy, and my brother’s death, are somehow connected.”
Suddenly the Princess spotted a fox down in the courtyard, staring back up at her. They looked at each other for a moment, but once the animal realized he had been spotted, he scurried along the outer wall, and dove through a hole between the stones, running out along the road, heading south.
–Charles M Warren
Night Five: A Fox's Advice
I had a dream last night...
It was late in the day, when I saw a red fox quietly hiding in the tall grass by the road-side.
Before long, a man came walking up this road, which caused the fox to start looking around the grass, trying to see just what the man looked like. Until suddenly the fox jumped out onto the road, standing a little ways in front of the man.
The man was the Prince of the Golden Apples, who was startled by the animal, and quickly drew his bow and arrow to fend off the creature.
But the fox opened his mouth, and said to the Prince “Please, I mean you no harm. Spare me my life and I will help you obtain what you seek.”
The Prince was quite shocked to hear the creature speak, “What a curious creature you are!” and slowly lowered his bow. “Very well, I will do as you ask, and withhold my arrow.”
The animal calmly sat down, and asked the Prince “Now where are you going, and from where have you come?”
“My father is the king of the land south of here, known for the Golden Apple Tree that grows in his garden. And despite my father’s doubts about me, I discovered that our apples were being stolen by a magnificent Golden Bird!” And the Prince took off his hat to show the fox the golden feather that adorned it. “My father saw the golden feather, and decided he must have the whole bird. So he let my two brothers go out to find it, one searching east, and the other west. But I thought someone should look to the north, for I’m sure that is where he was going. And it was only after much pleading that my father finally let me go.”
“So I see. So I see.” replied the Fox. “Not too long ago, I saw you’re two brothers coming up this very road.”
“Then I am not far behind!” exclaimed the Prince. “I may be able to see them before we have to part ways!”
“Are they really as great as all that?” asked the canine. “Both shot at me when I pleaded for my life. But I’ll give you the same advice that I gave them: When you arrive at the next village, be wary of the cheerful inn, it will cause you nothing but trouble and heartache. Instead, take the shabby, humble inn, which has more than enough for a night’s lodging.”
“Thank you good fox. I apologize for my brothers’ hastiness. They must have been startled by your appearance in the same way that I was. But of the Golden Bird, what can you tell me about how I may find it?”
“Once you have had your rest, meet me on the other side of the village at first light. I will take you where you need to go. But do not look for your brothers among the village, for trouble is all that you will find.”
“Very well.” replied the Prince. “I will do as you say. My brothers will likely be the ones to find me anyway.”
The Fox bowed to the Prince, “Tomorrow then.” and turned and sprinted off into the woods. I followed along as the canine ran across the outer edge of the town, coming up to a line of houses, and hopping up onto a pile of firewood, then up on to the roof of one of them. The Fox then leapt from house to house, looking toward the center of town.
Finally he caught sight of a building with large windows across the front, where he could see two men inside, dressed in fancy clothes, laughing and having a good time.
“They didn’t listen.” noted the Fox, before turning back to where he had come, he adding “Then he must be the one.”
–Charles M Warren
(Continued to Week Two)
