[Fic] "The Moon's Daughter" -- original
Dec. 22nd, 2005 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingThis is the story some of my relatives will be getting for Christmas. It's a fairy tale, and as such follows a number of genre conventions, but it isn't a retelling of anything. I made it all up myself. *beams* (Well, except for the genre conventions, of course; I didn't create those.)
Warning: slightly morbid in places.
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The Moon's Daughter
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In the time when the giants made war on the griffons, King Shigai and Queen Thime ruled the Isles wisely and well. The land was rich and the people peaceful and happy, but the king and queen were troubled. They were growing old, and their son Githry was brash and impatient, always seeking to outdo anyone who crossed his path. "He is not fit to rule," the king said to his wife, "but he is our son, and I love him. What can we do?"
The queen, who came from the easternmost island of Tolk, thought for a minute. "Ask the witch of Immish," she said.
The king sent for the witch of Immish, calling her to his palace in Lok on Holin. She arrived a week later, as fast as wind and wave allowed, but before she came, Githry boasted to a group of young lords that he had no need to court the ladies of the Isles, since even the most beautiful woman in the world would fall in love with him if he wanted her to. Usually his boasts came to nothing, but this time a stable-girl, sickened by the prince's empty words, challenged him to prove his claim.
When the witch of Immish heard of this, she went to the king and queen and said, "Make your son prove his words. If he fails, he learns wisdom. If he succeeds, he gains a wife and the love of the people for his courage."
At that time, the most beautiful woman in the world was the moon's daughter, who lived in a palace at the end of the world, in the uttermost west. King Shigai was afraid for his son if Githry traveled to the uttermost west, but Queen Thime talked softly to him until he proclaimed that his son would leave the Isles on a quest to seek the moon's daughter and ask her hand in marriage.
Githry raged at the witch of Immish, but she pitied him and gave him three pieces of advice. "Don't promise things you can't deliver, don't claim to be what you aren't, and don't be afraid to acknowledge your fear." Then she gave him a cloak and bread and wished him luck.
Disappointed not to have magical help and scornful of her advice, Githry sailed to Goffish and began to walk west. He traveled a year and a day, wore out three pairs of boots, and spent many nights hungry and cold before he reached the end of the world. He stood on a shore of black sand, like grains of onyx, and watched the sun blaze on the dark waters. To the south lay the garden of the sun, with its magical fruits and birds that spoke with human tongues, and to the north stood the palace of the moon, gleaming with silver and pearls.
He walked to the moon's palace and knocked on the door. The guards were silent and stern, but they allowed him inside, and the moon agreed to see him in her hall. She stood tall and terrible in her light, and Githry covered his eyes as he looked upon her face.
"Why have you come to the end of the world, prince?" the moon asked.
"To ask for your daughter's hand in marriage," Githry answered, expecting her to agree. He was a prince, and a handsome man, and had rarely been refused anything in his life. He felt he deserved success after his journey.
The moon blazed with fury. "Never!" she cried. "For your courage, I'll let you live, but you'll never have my daughter." She ordered the guards to throw him out of the palace.
Githry, bruised but not defeated, dusted himself off and walked around to the back of the palace. There he crept into the pale gardens where the moon's daughter walked, looking longingly past the walls of her mother's palace. He waited until mid-afternoon, when the moon drove her horses eastward under the earth. Then he spoke to the moon's daughter, promising to rescue her and take her east, away from the palace. She agreed, and as night fell, he tried to slip her past the guards.
But the moon's daughter shone with a pale reflection of her mother's glory, and the guards saw her light as Githry led her along the shore. They rode from the palace on coal-black horses, snatched the fleeing pair, and brought them back to face the moon's judgment.
When she returned in mid-morning, the moon was enraged. She locked her daughter in a tower room and ordered the guards to put out Githry's left eye for daring to look upon her daughter. She watched as the hot poker seared his eye, listened as he screamed and wept, and folded her arms as the guards bandaged his face. Then she gave him to the pearl fishers.
"When you find a thousand perfect pearls, your debt will be paid," she said. "But you'll never have my daughter."
The pearl fishers tended Githry's wound and taught him to dive and search through the oyster beds by touch, but they couldn't teach him to find perfect pearls. No one knew how to tell which oyster held a pearl and which was only good for eating. After a month Githry had found only two pearls, and he began to despair.
That night, as he wept, the moon's daughter came to him. "Thank you for caring about me," she said. "No one who comes here has ever seen that I'm unhappy, or cared enough about me to risk my mother's anger. I'll help you gain your freedom."
She took one of his pearls and placed it in the burned hollow where his eye had been. "This is a magic my mother never learned. Let the pearl be your eye, and the sea will open to you."
The pearl saw nothing on dry land, but in the sea, it saw through the oyster shells to the other pearls within. Githry let it guide him, and soon he had a thousand pearls, since he wasted no time on worthless oysters. He filled three wicker baskets with his ransom and took them to the guards, who brought him into the hall and poured the pearls onto the marble floor.
The moon stood before the heap of pearls, which shone with rainbow colors under her silver light. "How have you done this?" she asked. "No man could find a thousand perfect pearls in less than a year."
Then Githry thought to trick the moon into releasing her daughter. "I am a wizard," he said, "and my magic is of the sea. It let me find the pearls. I have stayed here and suffered so I could learn your weaknesses. Now I'll use my magic to destroy you, unless you release your daughter and let her come east with me."
The moon laughed. "If you're truly a wizard, you won't object to a test of your power. If you pass this test, I might let you have my daughter. But I doubt that you'll think of her after this." She ordered her silent guards to build a huge fire in the hearth, into which she cast a golden ring the sun had given her centuries before.
"Reach into the fire and pull out the ring," she said. "If you give me the ring, I'll give you my daughter." As Githry hesitated, she smiled. "Surely a wizard fears no fire."
And then, finally, Githry remembered the advice of the witch of Immish. "Don't promise things you can't deliver," she had said, but he had ignored her words and lost his eye. "Don't claim to be what you aren't," she had said, but he had ignored her words and now faced the fire. "Don't be afraid to acknowledge your fear," she had said.
"I am afraid," he said to the moon, "but that's not important." He closed his eyes, remembering the chill of the sea, and the hope on the face of the moon's daughter. Then he reached into the fire and grasped the ring, though his hand and arm were burned black in the reaching. He walked across the hall and handed the ring to the moon, who was silent in shock.
Then he fainted from the pain, which was worse than anything he had ever felt.
When the moon overcame her surprise, she was beyond fury. She would have killed him despite her promise, but her daughter had been watching from the doorway. Now she stepped forward. "Mother," she said softly, "men say the moon is fickle and the mistress of nothing but lies and illusion. They say not even your light is your own. Would you prove them right?"
The moon was silent for a long moment, before she cast the ring to the floor and stalked from the hall. Her daughter picked up the ring and slipped it onto her finger. As the gold settled against her hand, her pale light dimmed until she was no more than a beautiful mortal woman.
She sighed.
Then she ordered the guards to carry Githry outside, gathered her possessions, led two coal-black horses from the stables, and left her mother's house forever.
When Githry woke, she held his good arm while he shook with pain. "My name is Imirie," she told him. "It means 'reflection,' but my mother's light has gone from me." Githry lent her his shoulder while she wept, until they were both strong enough to leave the shore in the uttermost west.
They traveled east on the moon's horses, but though they went faster than a walking man, it was still a year and a day before they reached the shores of Goffish and set sail for the Isles.
Githry did not steer for Lok on Holin. Instead, he set his course for Tolk, and rounded that island to its easternmost point, the village of Immish. There he landed his ship and took Imirie to meet the witch of Immish. What they spoke of, nobody knows, but since that day a single, perfect pearl has been one of the treasures the witches guard.
When King Shigai died in the fullness of time, Githry became king and Imirie ruled by his side. Githry never again ignored the advice of the witch of Immish, nor did he fail to listen to his wife. The people loved him for his humility and courage, they loved his wife for her quiet compassion, and the wisdom and honesty of the king and queen of the Isles were known wherever the four winds blew.
And if, on some winter nights, the king and queen walked on the shore and looked long and long at the moon, well, all people have sad memories.
---------------------------------------------
The End
---------------------------------------------
I have other fairy tales set in this world, based around the mythos of the kings of the Isles and the witches of Immish, but this is the only one that's finished. Someday I will get around to finishing "The Sea Hag," "The Three Sisters," and "The Wizard's Bargain."
Warning: slightly morbid in places.
---------------------------------------------
The Moon's Daughter
---------------------------------------------
In the time when the giants made war on the griffons, King Shigai and Queen Thime ruled the Isles wisely and well. The land was rich and the people peaceful and happy, but the king and queen were troubled. They were growing old, and their son Githry was brash and impatient, always seeking to outdo anyone who crossed his path. "He is not fit to rule," the king said to his wife, "but he is our son, and I love him. What can we do?"
The queen, who came from the easternmost island of Tolk, thought for a minute. "Ask the witch of Immish," she said.
The king sent for the witch of Immish, calling her to his palace in Lok on Holin. She arrived a week later, as fast as wind and wave allowed, but before she came, Githry boasted to a group of young lords that he had no need to court the ladies of the Isles, since even the most beautiful woman in the world would fall in love with him if he wanted her to. Usually his boasts came to nothing, but this time a stable-girl, sickened by the prince's empty words, challenged him to prove his claim.
When the witch of Immish heard of this, she went to the king and queen and said, "Make your son prove his words. If he fails, he learns wisdom. If he succeeds, he gains a wife and the love of the people for his courage."
At that time, the most beautiful woman in the world was the moon's daughter, who lived in a palace at the end of the world, in the uttermost west. King Shigai was afraid for his son if Githry traveled to the uttermost west, but Queen Thime talked softly to him until he proclaimed that his son would leave the Isles on a quest to seek the moon's daughter and ask her hand in marriage.
Githry raged at the witch of Immish, but she pitied him and gave him three pieces of advice. "Don't promise things you can't deliver, don't claim to be what you aren't, and don't be afraid to acknowledge your fear." Then she gave him a cloak and bread and wished him luck.
Disappointed not to have magical help and scornful of her advice, Githry sailed to Goffish and began to walk west. He traveled a year and a day, wore out three pairs of boots, and spent many nights hungry and cold before he reached the end of the world. He stood on a shore of black sand, like grains of onyx, and watched the sun blaze on the dark waters. To the south lay the garden of the sun, with its magical fruits and birds that spoke with human tongues, and to the north stood the palace of the moon, gleaming with silver and pearls.
He walked to the moon's palace and knocked on the door. The guards were silent and stern, but they allowed him inside, and the moon agreed to see him in her hall. She stood tall and terrible in her light, and Githry covered his eyes as he looked upon her face.
"Why have you come to the end of the world, prince?" the moon asked.
"To ask for your daughter's hand in marriage," Githry answered, expecting her to agree. He was a prince, and a handsome man, and had rarely been refused anything in his life. He felt he deserved success after his journey.
The moon blazed with fury. "Never!" she cried. "For your courage, I'll let you live, but you'll never have my daughter." She ordered the guards to throw him out of the palace.
Githry, bruised but not defeated, dusted himself off and walked around to the back of the palace. There he crept into the pale gardens where the moon's daughter walked, looking longingly past the walls of her mother's palace. He waited until mid-afternoon, when the moon drove her horses eastward under the earth. Then he spoke to the moon's daughter, promising to rescue her and take her east, away from the palace. She agreed, and as night fell, he tried to slip her past the guards.
But the moon's daughter shone with a pale reflection of her mother's glory, and the guards saw her light as Githry led her along the shore. They rode from the palace on coal-black horses, snatched the fleeing pair, and brought them back to face the moon's judgment.
When she returned in mid-morning, the moon was enraged. She locked her daughter in a tower room and ordered the guards to put out Githry's left eye for daring to look upon her daughter. She watched as the hot poker seared his eye, listened as he screamed and wept, and folded her arms as the guards bandaged his face. Then she gave him to the pearl fishers.
"When you find a thousand perfect pearls, your debt will be paid," she said. "But you'll never have my daughter."
The pearl fishers tended Githry's wound and taught him to dive and search through the oyster beds by touch, but they couldn't teach him to find perfect pearls. No one knew how to tell which oyster held a pearl and which was only good for eating. After a month Githry had found only two pearls, and he began to despair.
That night, as he wept, the moon's daughter came to him. "Thank you for caring about me," she said. "No one who comes here has ever seen that I'm unhappy, or cared enough about me to risk my mother's anger. I'll help you gain your freedom."
She took one of his pearls and placed it in the burned hollow where his eye had been. "This is a magic my mother never learned. Let the pearl be your eye, and the sea will open to you."
The pearl saw nothing on dry land, but in the sea, it saw through the oyster shells to the other pearls within. Githry let it guide him, and soon he had a thousand pearls, since he wasted no time on worthless oysters. He filled three wicker baskets with his ransom and took them to the guards, who brought him into the hall and poured the pearls onto the marble floor.
The moon stood before the heap of pearls, which shone with rainbow colors under her silver light. "How have you done this?" she asked. "No man could find a thousand perfect pearls in less than a year."
Then Githry thought to trick the moon into releasing her daughter. "I am a wizard," he said, "and my magic is of the sea. It let me find the pearls. I have stayed here and suffered so I could learn your weaknesses. Now I'll use my magic to destroy you, unless you release your daughter and let her come east with me."
The moon laughed. "If you're truly a wizard, you won't object to a test of your power. If you pass this test, I might let you have my daughter. But I doubt that you'll think of her after this." She ordered her silent guards to build a huge fire in the hearth, into which she cast a golden ring the sun had given her centuries before.
"Reach into the fire and pull out the ring," she said. "If you give me the ring, I'll give you my daughter." As Githry hesitated, she smiled. "Surely a wizard fears no fire."
And then, finally, Githry remembered the advice of the witch of Immish. "Don't promise things you can't deliver," she had said, but he had ignored her words and lost his eye. "Don't claim to be what you aren't," she had said, but he had ignored her words and now faced the fire. "Don't be afraid to acknowledge your fear," she had said.
"I am afraid," he said to the moon, "but that's not important." He closed his eyes, remembering the chill of the sea, and the hope on the face of the moon's daughter. Then he reached into the fire and grasped the ring, though his hand and arm were burned black in the reaching. He walked across the hall and handed the ring to the moon, who was silent in shock.
Then he fainted from the pain, which was worse than anything he had ever felt.
When the moon overcame her surprise, she was beyond fury. She would have killed him despite her promise, but her daughter had been watching from the doorway. Now she stepped forward. "Mother," she said softly, "men say the moon is fickle and the mistress of nothing but lies and illusion. They say not even your light is your own. Would you prove them right?"
The moon was silent for a long moment, before she cast the ring to the floor and stalked from the hall. Her daughter picked up the ring and slipped it onto her finger. As the gold settled against her hand, her pale light dimmed until she was no more than a beautiful mortal woman.
She sighed.
Then she ordered the guards to carry Githry outside, gathered her possessions, led two coal-black horses from the stables, and left her mother's house forever.
When Githry woke, she held his good arm while he shook with pain. "My name is Imirie," she told him. "It means 'reflection,' but my mother's light has gone from me." Githry lent her his shoulder while she wept, until they were both strong enough to leave the shore in the uttermost west.
They traveled east on the moon's horses, but though they went faster than a walking man, it was still a year and a day before they reached the shores of Goffish and set sail for the Isles.
Githry did not steer for Lok on Holin. Instead, he set his course for Tolk, and rounded that island to its easternmost point, the village of Immish. There he landed his ship and took Imirie to meet the witch of Immish. What they spoke of, nobody knows, but since that day a single, perfect pearl has been one of the treasures the witches guard.
When King Shigai died in the fullness of time, Githry became king and Imirie ruled by his side. Githry never again ignored the advice of the witch of Immish, nor did he fail to listen to his wife. The people loved him for his humility and courage, they loved his wife for her quiet compassion, and the wisdom and honesty of the king and queen of the Isles were known wherever the four winds blew.
And if, on some winter nights, the king and queen walked on the shore and looked long and long at the moon, well, all people have sad memories.
---------------------------------------------
The End
---------------------------------------------
I have other fairy tales set in this world, based around the mythos of the kings of the Isles and the witches of Immish, but this is the only one that's finished. Someday I will get around to finishing "The Sea Hag," "The Three Sisters," and "The Wizard's Bargain."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-22 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-22 10:20 pm (UTC)I never thought about it, actually. Githry, I think, has brown hair and blue eyes, like most people of the Isles. Hair length? No clue. Skin color? Not particularly pale, maybe vaguely Arabic? Features are sort of generic European, except that he's obviously missing an eye (his left, I think) and his right hand and arm are burned and weakened at the end of the story. Clothing is also sort of generic fantasy European: tunic, trousers, boots, and a dagger rather than a sword. (The Isles are not what one would call warlike.) No crown if he's still a prince, and if he's become king, it should be very simple, just a circlet of metal with three interlinked circles in front.
Imirie I left undescribed for a reason, since "the most beautiful woman in the world" works best, I think, when readers can fill in their own ideal of beauty. But my personal version has very pale skin and long, coal-black hair, with eyes as dark as the night sky. Because she is, y'know, the moon's daughter. Her mother believed in black and white clothing, but she likes blue and violet better. If she's become queen, her crown is a circlet of metal with no ornamentation.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-22 10:32 pm (UTC)I'm thinking Princess Bride now. Bad! Very bad!
If you're on aim or some other messenging program, would you care to chat?
//Moon's daughter makes me think hair of no color and every color at the same time//
Date: 2005-12-24 03:01 am (UTC)Re: //Moon's daughter makes me think hair of no color and every color at the same time//
Date: 2005-12-24 10:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-24 07:02 pm (UTC)Shimmering hair? I could see that, but I like the black-and-white contrast, because of the phases of the moon, when the white is swallowed by darkness.
Lovely
Date: 2005-12-23 12:18 am (UTC)-Anon. Jennifer (who awaits the next chapter of "Secrets" with patience)
Re: Lovely
Date: 2005-12-24 06:58 pm (UTC)Re: Lovely
Date: 2005-12-26 07:05 pm (UTC)When you get it done, I'll read it. Until then, I'll enjoy the other stories.
I hope you had some time to enjoy Christmas amid the drive of the insane.
Merry Christmas!
Jennifer
Re: Lovely
Date: 2005-12-26 11:20 pm (UTC)I like this fairytale
Date: 2005-12-24 01:56 am (UTC)Re: I like this fairytale
Date: 2005-12-24 06:55 pm (UTC)