The Quest For Christmas

 

          At the North Pole in Father Christmas’s village lived two best friends; an elf named Holly and a reindeer named Bambi. Holly and Bambi had been friends ever since Bambi was a little calf. The two were inseparable; they would send the day playing in the snow and go sledging with Bambi pulling Holly’s sled. All the other elves and reindeers agreed there were no other best of friends like Holly and Bambi at the North Pole, even Father Christmas and his wife Mother Christmas couldn’t agree more.

          There was one thing that Holly and Bambi had in common; they wished to see the world outside the village. Holly wanted to travel around the world to see what other lands were like, but she couldn’t because it was against the law for elves to ever leave the village. Only Father Christmas and his wife were allowed to leave the village. Bambi wished to fly with the sleigh on Christmas Eve and travel all round the world. But Bambi wasn’t destined to pull the sleigh. The story about which reindeers pulled the sleigh was the first born male calf of the reindeers, which currently pulled the sleigh, were to be the next fliers. Bambi was the son of the reindeer Vixen, but he had a twin brother also named Vixen and he was to pull the sleigh after his father. So Bambi was never to become a flier for the sleigh.

          Never to be able to see the world outside the village made Holly and Bambi feel sad and disappointed. It was more disappointing for Bambi because Christmas Eve was the only time he could fly; reindeer could only fly thanks to the magic of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But it looked hopeless for Holly and Bambi to ever fulfil their dream of seeing the world.

          One day, four months before Christmas, Holly came up with an idea. Her idea was if she had her own sleigh she and Bambi could secretly fly it out on Christmas Eve, with Bambi pulling the sleigh. She told Bambi her idea. “I like that idea Holly,” he said “but will we be allowed to fly our own sleigh?” “I don’t believe we will,” said Holly “but that’s why we will do it in secret. We’ll build the sleigh ourselves, but in secret so no one would guess what we are up to. Then when it’s Christmas Eve and no one is watching we’ll test out the sleigh and fly around in secret only for a moment. That way by the time Father Christmas and the reindeers return no one will know what we are doing”. At first Bambi wasn’t so sure about this because he feared someone would find out what they were doing. But Bambi was determined to fly on Christmas Eve and he agreed to the plan.

          The only problem was where Bambi and Holly could build the sleigh. If they were to do it in secret, they had to find a secret place where no one could see or find out what they were doing. Bambi came up with the idea; he said to Holly that one time, when he explored with his father and brother, he found a cave in the mountains not far from the village. Holly got her sled and Bambi led the way to the cave he found.

          The cave was a big one with lots of space to move around in, and there was no one living in it. Not a polar bear or artic fox in sight. “What do you think Holly?” asked Bambi. “This is perfect,” answered Holly “we’ll bring a lot of wood, nails and other things we need here and build the sleigh here. We must start as soon as possible though; in three months the elves and I will start making toys for boys and girls and we won’t be able to make the sleigh during the Christmas season. So tomorrow we’ll start work on the sleigh, okay?” Bambi understood. “And remember Bambi we do this in secret, and no one, not even our friends our parents, must know about this,” said Holly “promise?” “Promise” replied Bambi. They didn’t want anyone to stop them

          The next day Holly and Bambi started gathering up the things they needed to make a sleigh. There was a big lumber mill outside the village, where lots of wood was kept all ready for the elves to use. Bambi collected some wood from the lumber mill and used Holly’s sled to carry it. Holly went to a work shop and gathered some tools; a hammer, a lot of nails, a saw and a measuring tape. Then they brought it all to the cave and Holly began to get to work. Holly knew how to make things with wood and was a good carpenter. In fact all elves were good at carpentry male or female.

          Over the days Holly and Bambi worked hard on the sleigh together in the cave. Bambi kept bringing the wood, while Holly worked on building it. Holly took great care of building the sleigh; the sleigh she and Bambi wanted was just a simple small sleigh, not too big or heavy for Bambi to pull and fly with. The duo took great care of not letting anyone know where they had been and what they had been doing, otherwise they would have been in trouble and their plan would be ruined.

          Weeks later, just two months before Christmas, the sleigh was built; it was a small sleigh just big enough for Holly and Bambi to use and it wasn’t heavy for Bambi to pull. All that was left was to paint it. Holly had decided the sleigh would be painted navy blue with gold lines because then it would blend in with the night sky and no one would be able to see it at night. Holly got a can of navy blue paint and a can of gold paint from the workshop and got to work on painting the sleigh. It wasn’t long until Holly and Bambi finally had a navy blue sleigh with gold lines. “We’ve done it Bambi,” said Holly “our sleigh is finished at last”. “It’s beautiful” said Bambi, who loved the sleigh already. Holly covered the sleight up with a big green sheet; this was to keep it dry and safe. “We’ll leave the sleigh here in this cave,” said Holly “and when Christmas Eve comes we’ll try it out after Father Christmas and his reindeers leave”. “What will we do if I can’t fly with the sleigh?” asked Bambi. Holly had a thought. “If our plan doesn’t work, we’ll have to try and think of something else,” she said at last “but if it does then we are fine”. “But what will we do if Father Christmas finds out?” asked Bambi, worriedly. “We will talk to him when he gets back from his deliveries,” answered Holly “he is an understanding man, so I’m sure he’ll listen to us”. Bambi believed in Holly and all they could now was to wait for Christmas Eve to get here.

          Two months later it was Christmas Eve and it was time for Father Christmas to leave to do his deliveries. The sleigh was filled with presents to be delivered to boys and girls all over the world. The reindeers Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen were all ready to pull the sleigh. Mother Christmas, all the elves, and the reindeers which don’t pull the sleigh were all watching. Even Holly and Bambi were watching. Father Christmas kissed Mother Christmas goodbye and waved everyone else goodbye. Father Christmas shook the reins and the reindeers started to gallop away and then they took off into the sky. Everyone watched Father Christmas and the reindeers fly away until they were out of sight. Once there were out of sight the elves and the reindeers made their way back to their homes, except Holly and Bambi. “Now’s our chance Bambi,” said Holly “now it’s time for us to test our sleigh out”.

          Suddenly Bambi noticed something lying in the snow. “What’s that?” he asked Holly. Holly ran over to see what it was and saw that it was a christmas present, wrapped in purple paper with a blue ribbon. “What’s a christmas present doing here?” asked Bambi. “It must have fallen out of Father Christmas’ sleigh” said Holly. Holly looked at the label on the present and read the present was for a boy named Alexander Stone. She and Bambi were worried. “What should we do?” asked Bambi “Father Christmas is long gone from here now”. “You’re right,” said Holly “and by the time they come back it will be too late to deliver this present”. They knew the boy would be upset to wake up and see there was no present for him. “There’s only one thing to do Bambi,” said Holly at last “we will have to deliver this present ourselves”. “What!” gasped Bambi “but we haven’t tested our sleigh yet and I might not be able to fly”. “We will just have to try now,” said Holly “we can’t just let this child be missed and not get his present. Christmas will be ruined for him and for Father Christmas”. Bambi understood that Holly was right and agreed with Holly’s decision. “Come on Bambi, we have work to do” said Holly.

          Bambi and Holly went to one of Father Christmas’s workshop. This was the mail office where all the letters to Father Christmas were kept and it was also where all the lists of addresses where every child in the world lived. The first thing Bambi and Holly had to do was to find out where Alexander Stone lived. Holly took a real good look through the address lists, until at last she found Alexander’s address. It read; Alexander Stone, 33B Plantenster Road, York, England. “So we have to go the England right?” asked Bambi. “Yes,” answered Holly, who wrote down the address on a bit of paper, “and now we need to gather some things for our quest”. The things Holly and Bambi needed were a map and compass to guide them to England, a lantern to help them see in the dark and some food in case they got hungry. Holly gathered a map and compass from Father Christmas’s cabin, where he kept lots of spare maps and compasses. The maps were really magic; wherever Father Christmas and his sleigh went, his sleigh would appear where it was on the map so he would never get lost. So Holly and Bambi wouldn’t get lost with their own magic map on this quest. Then Bambi and Holly gathered food as sandwiches and carrots so they wouldn’t get hungry, and Holly got a lantern from the workshop for light.

          After gathering the things they needed, Holly and Bambi made their way to the cave where they left the sleigh. “Ready for this Bambi?” asked Holly. “Hitch me up Holly” answered Bambi. Bambi had brought a rein with him and Holly helped hitch Bambi up to the sleigh after taking off the sheet. Then Holly placed the magic map, compass, the food and the present onto the sleigh seat and sat on the seat herself. “Let’s go for it Bambi” she said, holding onto the rein.

          Bambi led the sleigh outside of the cave and then it started to gallop to try and take off. “Believe in yourself Bambi!” called Holly “I believe you can fly!” Bambi closed his eyes while he was running, believing that he could fly. Suddenly Holly shouted; “Bambi we’re flying!” Bambi opened his eyes and saw that he was flying in the sky with the sleigh. “I don’t believe it, I’m flying!” cheered Bambi. He and Holly laughed together, happy that their flying test succeeded. “Come on Bambi we’re off to England” said Holly, tugging at the rein. The quest for delivering the lost present had now begun.

          Flying in the sky was the best thing that ever happened to Bambi and Holly. They flew through some clouds, which turned out to be fun, and the stars twinkled like diamonds with the full moon in the sky. When they flew over the ocean they could see a blessing of narwhals swimming about. “This is wonderful” said Holly, happily. “Much better than what we’ve ever dreamed of” agreed Bambi. This was indeed the best night of their lives. Bambi continued flying over the ocean, until he saw land just ahead. “Is that England over there?” he asked Holly. Holly checked the magic map. “No that’s Scotland,” she said “we need to continue on to get to England”. Bambi flew over all of Scotland until at last Holly told him they had made it to England.

          After flying some more, Holly and Bambi had arrived at York where Alexander Stone. Bambi carefully landed the sleigh onto the ground in a park. “So this is England?” asked Bambi. Holly checked the map. “Yes we’ve made it to England and we are in York,” she said “now we just to find to get to Plantenster Road wherever that is”.

          Suddenly they got startled by some cooing; there were some pigeons in the park and they flew towards Holly and Bambi. “This is the first time a reindeer has come to this park” said one pigeon. “It’s also the first time an elf has come here too” said another pigeon. “What brings you two here?” asked a third pigeon. Holly explained about the christmas present that Father Christmas left behind at the North Pole, and that she and Bambi were delivering it for him. “We need to get this present to a boy named Alexander Stone”. “Oh we know that boy,” said the first pigeon “he comes to this park with his mum and feeds us bread”. “Do you know where Plantenster Road is?” asked Holly. “Yes we do,” said the second pigeon “we’ll lead you there ourselves”. “Really, thank you” said Holly. She and Bambi were grateful to get some help.

          The pigeons flew in the sky and Bambi and Holly followed them in the sleigh on the ground. Soon they had reached Plantenster Road; this neighbourhood had lots of terraced houses. “Wow nice neighbourhood” said Holly. “A whole lot different than our home” agreed Bambi. They followed the numbers on the house doors until at last they found the house number 33B. “This is it,” said Holly, looking at her paper, “this is the house Alexander Stone lives in. We’ve made it”. “One question though,” said Bambi “how are we going to get inside the house? We can’t get through the chimney and the doors and windows will be locked”. “Not a problem” said Holly. She pulled out a golden key from her pocket. “This is a magic key,” she explained “Father Christmas uses this to get in any door of any house when he can’t get down a chimney or if a house doesn’t have a chimney. Good think he kept a spare magic key for emergencies”. Holly opened the door with the key and entered the house. Bambi stayed outside and watched with the pigeons. Holly quietly walked into a living room where a beautiful christmas tree stood, and then she placed the present under the tree. After that she went back outside and closed the door. “We’ve done it Bambi mission accomplished” she said. Bambi and the pigeons were happy that Alexander Stone would wake up in the morning and get his present. “Now that our quest is over she would head home now” said Holly. Holly and Bambi thanked the pigeons for their help, said goodbye and then took off into the sky again. The quest for delivering the christmas present was over.

          Bambi and Holly flew over England, Scotland and the ocean until at last they made it back to the North Pole. Once they made it back to the North Pole, Bambi landed the sleigh near the cave. Holly got off the sleigh and took the rein off Bambi. “What do we do now Holly?” asked Bambi. “We wait for Father Christmas to come back, and then we tell him everything of what we’ve done,” answered Holly “we can’t lie about this forever”. Even though Bambi and Holly knew they had to tell the truth to Father Christmas, they feared they would be in big trouble for breaking the rule of never leaving the village.

          Soon Father Christmas and the reindeers came back and everyone was there to welcome them home. After the reindeers were unhitched and gone back to their stables and the sleigh was put away, Holly and Bambi went up to Father Christmas and told him they had something to tell him. Father Christmas brought Holly and Bambi into his cabin so he could hear what they had to say there. Mother Christmas joined them too. Holly and Bambi gathered up all their courage and told Father Christmas and his wife about the sleigh they made together, about the christmas present that got left behind, and about their adventure of delivering the present. “We are sorry for breaking the rule of never to leave the village,” said Holly “but we couldn’t let the boy Alexander Stone not get his present”. Father Christmas stared at Bambi and Holly and then smiled. “I thank you two for delivering the present for me,” he said “I found out Alexander’s present was missing from my sleigh when I started doing my deliveries in England. And I was surprised to see his present was already delivered when I got to his house. Therefore I thank you two for helping me”. “We are honoured to have helped you sir” said Bambi. He and Holly were happy that Father Christmas wasn’t angry at them. “Do excuse me Father Christmas,” said Holly “but Bambi and I have something to ask you”. She told him about her and Bambi’s wish to see the world outside the village. Father Christmas had a think. “Well the rule is that no elf and reindeer can leave the village,” he said “but after what you two did for me I think we can the rules a bit”. Mother Christmas agreed.   

          So it was arranged; Bambi and Holly were allowed to leave the village and see the world on their sleigh. And Bambi was allowed to fly on Christmas Eve with Holly and the sleigh. The condition was that Bambi and Holly had promised to never let anyone know they were from Father Christmas’s village; that had to be kept a secret for always, and Bambi and Holly held on to that promise forever. Bambi and Holly were now as happy as could be because their wish of seeing the world had come true at last.           

          As for Alexander Stone; his present was a snow globe, with an elf and reindeer in the middle. What he didn’t know was it was a real elf and reindeer who delivered his snow globe to him that Christmas Eve instead of Father Christmas. 

The Witch Queen part 1

The Baby Boy of Ranbaraz

 

          Down in Middle Earth, there was a kingdom called Ranbaraz. This kingdom was ruled by an evil, wicked queen called Queen Morticia, a really evil woman; she killed innocent people without mercy, taxed people heavily, took away nearly all the crops like wheat and vegetables that the people had grown and she loved to make everyone’s lives a misery. She was also an evil witch; she studied dark magic when she was still a princess, and once she became queen she was free to reign over the people with her dark magic. She was also free to scare anyone and anything that lived in middle earth with her dark magic. The people of Ranbaraz lived in fear of Queen Morticia for thirty years and they all hated her. But no one, not even other magical beings, could do anything about it because her power was too powerful for anyone to stop her evil ways. Many had tried to stop her in the past, but they all failed and died.

          The previous king and queen of Ranbaraz, who were Queen Morticia’s parents, were said to have no magical abilities at all so how Morticia obtained dark magical abilities was a real mystery. Some say that she stole someone’s magical ability in the past and others say that she traded her soul to process dark magic abilities. But no one knew the real truth; even Queen Morticia’s own servants didn’t know how she became an evil witch.

          There was only one hope for Ranbaraz; there was a prophecy that a man born from a woman’s womb would have the power to destroy Queen Morticia and take her place as the new king of Ranbaraz. Unfortunately Queen Morticia had heard of this prophecy too and she had every pregnant woman in her kingdom arrested and placed in the dungeons. Every single pregnant woman hoped and prayed that they wouldn’t give birth to the child of the prophecy. So far no baby boy, who fitted the prophecy, had yet been born. It was said the baby boy of the prophecy would bear a birthmark, in the shape of a crown, on his right shoulder. All of the current new born baby boys had no birth mark on their right shoulder, so they and their mothers were sent home free including the mothers with new born baby girls. This was a relief to the mothers because Queen Morticia planned to kill the baby boy once it was born.

          One day though a woman named Mary gave birth to a baby boy and he had a dark brown royal birthmark on his right shoulder. The guard of the dungeons left to tell Queen Morticia that the child of the prophecy was born. Mary was horrified; she didn’t want her son and only child to be killed. She begged the midwife Agnes to help her and Agnes agreed. Agnes couldn’t really believe that a baby would have the power to take down Queen Morticia, but she couldn’t just allow her to kill him. She wrapped the baby boy in a blanket and placed him in a basket. Mary handed a piece of paper to Agnes and asked her to place it with her son. “Dear God please protect my baby” she said, tearfully. Agnes got out of the dungeon with the basket as quick as she could.

          At that moment Queen Morticia and the guard turned up, but Agnes and the baby were gone. “You will not kill my son!” shouted Mary “my son will kill you!” Mary hated Queen Morticia just like everyone one else in Ranbaraz. Queen Morticia realised that Agnes had escaped with the baby and was furious. She ordered the guards to go and arrest Mary’s husband, Adam; she planned to have both Mary and her husband killed. So the baby boy was left an orphan.

          Meanwhile Agnes had escaped from the kingdom with the baby boy and she cared for the boy like he was her own child. In the past she had been a mother herself but her daughter died at an early age and Agnes had no other family. For the next few weeks Agnes and the baby were safe from harm, but one day they were in trouble. Queen Morticia had sent out her guards to look for Agnes and the baby. Agnes knew that she couldn’t hide with the baby for long, especially with the guards on her trail, so she had to quickly do something to save the baby. Thankfully she had an idea of what to do; she had come to a river and found a makeshift raft of grass. She placed the basket, containing the baby and the piece of paper that Mary had given to her, onto the raft of grass and sent it down the river. Agnes prayed with all her heart that the river would flow gently and keep the baby safe.

          At that time the guards turned up. “Where is the baby?” demanded the captain of the guards. “Somewhere where you will never find him!” replied Agnes. She had no intention of telling the guards where the baby was. The captain was not happy with that answer and killed Agnes on the spot with his sword. “What do we do now sir?” asked another guard. The captain looked around the area. “That baby wouldn’t have escaped by itself,” he said “search for it now. Queen Morticia is expecting us to find it”. “What about the woman?” asked another guard, who was looking at Agnes’ dead body. “Leave it, it’s no importance to us,” said the captain “what’s important is finding that brat”.

         Meanwhile the raft with the baby was still floating down the river. The river was flowing gently, so the baby wasn’t being tossed and turned around. The raft soon stopped at a bank of the river. All the baby could do was just lie there and watch its surroundings

The Cat Creature

          In a big mansion lived a cruel and wicked land lord who found killing animals fun; he loved to go hunting for birds and animals. He even killed stray animals like rats, cats, dogs and mice for the humour of it. This land lord was a real animal killer. Now many people have heard about crazy hunters who breed hundreds of rabbits or pheasants just to kill them later on for the sport of it. But not the land lord; he bred lots of cats and then would kill the kittens along with the mother cats. The reason why he loved to kill cats was really because he hated cats. Filthy and disgusting creatures are what he called them.

          That was not the only cruel thing about the land lord; the other wicked thing about him was he liked having concubines. Despite the fact he already had a wife, he liked keeping concubines for sexual pleasure. Usually a concubine would be pampered like a princess with lovely clothes and food, but not the land lord’s concubines. His concubines were dressed in rags, were given little food, and worse of all he kept them locked up in his dirty cellar.

          What the land lord did to his concubines was awful; he raped and abused them until they died. After they died he would have them thrown into a pit and burn them. The servants and his wife knew about this, but they did nothing to stop him or help the concubines. The concubines were just left to suffer and die.

          One time the land lord was down to one concubine left; he had killed the others. This concubine had a cat and kittens for company. The land lord hadn’t killed these cats yet and they were the only happiness she had left. But one day the land lord saw the cats in the cellar. “Disgusting creatures making a mess in here” he said, and he grabbed a sword that hung in the cellar. The concubine begged the land lord to spare the cats lives, but he ignored her pleas and killed the cats while laughing in pleasure. 

          The concubine was in despair; it was terrible enough for her to be treated cruelly by the land lord, but having her cat friends killed by the land lord was the worse. “The only disgusting creature is that land lord!” she shouted, angrily. She started to pray; she prayed for the wicked land lord to be cursed. Just then some little wisp of spirits surrounded the concubine. The spirits were the souls of the dead cats. They had heard her anger and sorrow and they wished to get revenge on the land lord too. The concubine opened up her arms to the spirits and then the spirits went into her body.

          The concubine was turned into a monstrous cat creature and she broke herself out of the cellar. Once the cat creature was loose she started to kill the servants of the mansion. The concubine couldn’t forgive the servants either for letting their master abuse and kill other concubines; she also couldn’t forgive them for not even helping them. Once all the servants were killed the cat creature made her way to the land lord and his wife. “You will now pay for killing other women and for your cruelty against cats!” she shouted at them. The land lord and his wife were helpless now, and with a lot of scratching from her sharp claws the land lord and his wife were soon dead.

          After getting her revenge against the evil land lord the cat creature left the mansion. Unfortunately the concubine was to remain a cat creature for the rest of her life. But what mattered to her was she was now free, and cats and other animals were free from the land lords killing spree.          

 

Magic that came from the moon final part

The Departure of the Moon Beads

          The next night was to be a night with a full moon. Serena was staring at the night sky, from her room, waiting for the moon to rise up. Ever since she got that message last night she couldn’t stop thinking about what’s going to happen to the moon beads. And Serena had a feeling inside her saying that the moon beads would probably have to leave her and it made her feel a bit upset just thinking about that. She hadn’t known the moon beads for very long and she only found the Moon Prince and Moon Princess last night. But the message from last night was clear that someone was searching for the moon beads, and there was nothing that Serena could do about it. ‘I don’t know who it is that sent me that message last night’ she thought ‘but my search for the moon beads is finally over. And only the person who sent me the message knows what’s to become of the moon spirits now’. Since Celina was gone, the moon spirits didn’t know what to do with themselves now and neither did Serena. So Serena hoped that whoever sent her the message did know of what was to become of the moon beads now.

        Soon the full moon began to rise. Serena got out of her room and ran outside to the castle grounds. She had the moon beads with her and the spirits came out of the beads; they also wanted to see what would happen. As soon as the moon had started to shine on the castle grounds the same white dove from last night appeared. Then, suddenly, the dove transformed into a beautiful woman with long white hair and wearing a long white gown, and on her forehead was a silver moon symbol. Serena couldn’t believe her eyes; the woman was actually the moon goddess Selene. The moon spirits couldn’t believe it either; they hadn’t seen Selene ever since she gave them to Celina many years ago. “I am happy to see that all of you have returned to your original forms at last” Selene said to the moon spirits.

          Selene explained that, ever since the moon spirits got separated from their beads and were changed into regular humans and animals, she had been watching them ever since. “I’m sorry that I didn’t do anything to help any of you before, but since you all lost your magic as well as your beads I couldn’t do anything about it”. “It’s all right,” said the Moon Princess “because we have all turned back into moon spirits now, and it is all thanks to our friend Serena”. Selene turned to Serena. “Princess Serena I thank you for finding the moon beads and spirits” she said. “You are welcome,” said Serena “I am happy that I was able to find all of the moon beads, even though they had been missing for a very long time”. “I had been watching you ever since you started searching for the moon beads,” said Selene “and you did a wonderful job of finding them, and I know that Celina is very grateful to you too for finding them”. “I must ask, what happens to the moon spirits now?” asked Serena. Selene looked sadly and turned to the moon spirits. “Moon spirits, it is time that you returned to the moon with me” she said. She explained that because they had been ordinary humans and animals for many years, they have nearly lost all their connections with the moon. “If you don’t return to the moon, all of you will lose all of your powers and will be regular humans and animals again forever. But I’m afraid once you go back to the moon you will never come back here to earth again”.

          Both Serena and the moon spirits were shocked at this. It seemed that Serena was right about her thoughts of the moon beads having to leave her. “It’s best you do return to the moon,” Serena said to the moon spirits “you have waited a very long time to become moon spirits again, and even Celina would want you to return to the moon”. She felt sad of course that the moon beads had to leave, but she couldn’t bear the thought of the moon spirits losing their connection to the moon forever. And she knew that Celina wouldn’t have liked it either. The Moon Princess walked over to Serena and took her hands. “We do want to return to the moon,” she said “but having to say goodbye and leaving you seems just too soon Serena”. “Yes, especially since we hadn’t really known you for very long” said the Moon Fairy. “I agree, it is all too soon, especially since it was only a few months ago that I started searching for you,” said Serena “but I have a lot of memories of all the times I had with you and I will never forget any of you for as long as I live”. “And we shall never forget you either Serena” promised the Moon Prince. “Yes you have been a special friend to us ever since you found us” said the Moon Knight. “Just like Celina was” said the Moon Sorcerer. The human moon spirits all hugged Serena one by one and the animal moon spirits hugged and nuzzled her one by one too. Then after all the goodbyes, the moon spirits went back into their beads on the moon bead bracelet and Serena handed the bracelet to Selene. “Take good care of them” Serena said to Selene. “I will” Selene promised “and I thank you again Serena”. Then Selene flew back to the moon with the moon beads, while Serena just watched with tears in her eyes as Selene and the moon beads disappeared.

          Serena never saw the moon spirits again after that, but true to her word she held the memories she had of them in her heart, as well as missing them. To always remember them, she had a big painting of the moon goddess and the moon spirits made by a professional artist, and she had it kept in the palace of Lunaasia. And every night when the moon was out she would look up at the moon, and get that feeling that the moon spirits were looking down on her from the moon always. For, in memory, of the moon beads owner Celina, Serena had a memorial built for her at a church cemetery in Lunaasia and she hoped that Celina was now resting in peace and at ease in heaven.   

          As for the picture book about the story of Celina and her moon beads, Serena did write of how the story of the moon beads continued. She remembered that she would continue the story, on the day when she started searching for the moon beads. What she did to continue the story was not write about her finding the beads, because she figured that no one would believe her if she ever told them that she found the beads. What she wrote about was her own made up character, which was a female descendant of Celina finding the moon beads. But she did stay with the facts of how she found the beads. The story of the moon beads became a better story for everyone to read now, now that it had an ending about the moon beads being found again. And of course the people in Lunaasia liked it because Princess Serena wrote it, but of course no one knew the real truth about who really found the moon bead.

          Princess Serena never did forget the times of when she searched and found the moon beads. Even when she grew older and became a mother and grandmother over the years, she still never forgot about the moon beads for the rest of her life. The times she had with the moon spirits were special to her and her memories of them would always be special to her forever and ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End

Magic that came from the moon part 12

The Last Two Moon Beads

                               

          Serena had been staring at the moon beads all day. She had found fourteen moon beads now and she only needed to find two more moon beads. But something bothered Serena; she didn’t know what would happen to all the moon beads once she found them all. Would she get to keep them, or would they all disappear? These two questions were stuck in her mind. Serena remembered all the times when she found the moon spirits and got them back into their moon beads. It had taken five months for Serena to find the beads. But now the search for the moon beads was coming to an end, and it felt so soon for Serena.

          Just then a maid came into Serena’s room and told her to get ready for tonight. Tonight a ball was being held in the palace, and as usual all the servants were getting the castle ready for it. But Serena couldn’t even think about the ball tonight because her search for the moon beads was nearly finished with. “Is something wrong, your highness?” the maid asked Serena. The maid noticed that Serena wasn’t even looking excited about the ball. “Oh I’m just thinking about something, it’s nothing really” said Serena, trying not to worry the maid. “Okay” replied the maid. Serena decided to just concentrate on getting ready for the ball, instead of thinking about the moon beads.

          Suddenly there was a thud noise coming from outside. “What was that?” asked Serena. “Oh that would be the men placing the new statue in the castle grounds” the maid answered. “A new statue?” said Serena. “Oh yes,” said the maid “a new statue was ordered to be placed in the castle courtyard for decoration”. “That’s interesting” said Serena. Hearing about a new statue in the court yard gave Serena a thought that maybe that statue would have a moon bead. She asked the maid if she had enough time to see the statue right now. “Sorry your highness, but your mother needs to speak to you and your sister after you’ve finished getting ready” said the maid. “Okay” said Serena. Serena was disappointed that she wasn’t able to check the new statue out now. But there was nothing she could do except wait till she would have the chance to see the new statue.

          Hours later the ball had begun. Musicians had started playing music and everyone had begun dancing. Queen Luna was watching everything from the throne and Princess Serena and Princess Diana were enjoying themselves with dancing and talking with the guests. Even though Serena was enjoying the ball, she still wanted to have a quick look at the new statue in the courtyard. After finishing a dance with someone, she excused herself for a while. Since everyone was distracted with the ball, Serena used this as a chance to go and look at the new statue in the courtyard.  

          The new statue in the courtyard turned out to be a statue of a prince and princess holding hands with each other. “This is the loveliest statue that I have ever seen” said Serena, who was admiring it a lot. She looked at the base to see if there was a bead and there was. But to Serena’s surprise, there were two beads instead of one. “I can’t believe it,” said Serena, in surprise, “I’ve found two beads instead of one. This just leaves with finding the last two moon spirits, wherever they are”. Serena looked at the moon bead bracelet on her right wrist, which she had been wearing the whole time. “Then my quest will be over”.

          Serena ran back to the ballroom, and luckily no one knew that she had sneaked out. At that moment her sister Diana walked up to her and told her that a prince a princess wanted to see her. The prince was very handsome and the princess was very beautiful. “We are honoured to meet you Princess Serena” said the prince, bowing to her. The princess curtsied to Serena. “I am honoured to meet you too your highnesses” said Serena, curtsying to them. “If you please I would like to have the next dance with you Princess Serena” said the prince. “I would be delighted your highness” said Serena. Serena and the prince took each other’s hand and they had a wonderful dance together. When the dance was over, the prince asked Serena if he and the princess could meet with her alone outside for a while. Serena was confused but agreed with the request, so she, the prince and the princess went outside.

          They went, where no one could see or hear them. “What did you two want to talk to me about?” asked Serena. “We wanted to talk to you alone because you have our beads” answered the princess. As soon as the princess said that, the dull moon beads that Serena hid in the sash of her dress began to glow. Then the prince and princess began to glow and their hair both turned white and the clothes they were wearing both turned white and silver. “Are you the Moon Prince and Moon Princess?” asked Serena. “Yes and we are back into our true forms thanks to you Serena” said the Moon Prince.

          At that moment, the moon bead bracelet glowed and then all of the moon spirits came out of the beads. The Moon Unicorn and Moon Pegasus turned out to be the Moon Prince and Princess’s animal partners and they were happy to see them. This was an amazing site for Serena; all of the moon spirits were there in front of her. The moon spirits turned to Serena. “You have our gratitude Serena” said the Moon Knight, bowing to her. “Ever since we lost our friend Celina and got separated, we feared that we would never be together again” said the Moon Fairy. “But we don’t anymore thanks to you Serena” said the Moon Sorceress. “Yes it is thanks to you that all of us moon spirits are all together again, after being separated from each other for so long” said the Moon Maiden. All of the moon spirits thanked Serena for finding them and for finding their beads. “I’m happy to see that all of you are together again,” said Serena “and I’m sure Celina, up in heaven, is happy too. But now that you are all together again, what are all of you going to do now?” “We don’t know,” replied the Moon Prince “we don’t know what we should do from now on”. Serena could see that the moon spirits felt lost, but she didn’t know what to do for them.

          Just then a white dove appeared and dropped a piece of paper towards Serena. She caught it and found that it was a message. It read; ‘I will reclaim the moon beads on the next full moon’. Serena looked at the moon; tonight was a three-quarter moon, so the next full moon was tomorrow night. “I don’t know who sent this,” she said to the moon spirits “but it seems someone is searching for all of you”. Serena and the moon spirits had no idea who sent the message, nor did they have any idea of what was going to happen tomorrow night. All they could do was wait and see what would happen. The moon spirits went back into their beads and Serena just went back to the ballroom.

Magic that came from the moon part 11

The Mythical Moon Spirit

 

          Today there was a commotion going about in the village of Lunaasia. The villagers had been seeing a male lion roaming about in the village and it made them too scared to come out of their homes. They feared that the lion would attack and eat them. There was also a sighting of an eagle flying around the village. The eagle wasn’t a threat, but the lion was. No one had any idea where the lion or eagle came from, but they wanted the lion captured as soon as possible before it hurt anyone.

          When the news of the lion reached Queen Luna, she became worried for her people. “Have any people been killed by the lion?” she asked James. “No none your majesty,” said James “but there have been peculiar reports of the lion and eagle”. He explained to Queen Luna that the lion and eagle were roaming around the village as if they were searching for something. “The lion and eagle don’t seem to be searching for food or anything special. And what’s even stranger is that the lion and eagle seem to be interested in the griffin statue that stands in the middle of the village”. “Now that is strange behaviour for a lion and eagle to do,” said Queen Luna “animals’ maybe the curious type, but this is still strange behaviour. We better call out the guards at once and have them catch the lion and eagle, but tell them not to kill any of them, understand?” James understood and went to give the order to the guards immediately.

          The strange behaviour of the lion and eagle got Princess Serena thinking; it made her think that maybe there was something about the griffin statue that made the lion and eagle so interested. ‘I need to look at that griffin statue myself and see what it is’ she thought. The problem was that Queen Luna wouldn’t allow her to visit the village because of the lion roaming about. So Serena decided to go to the village, in secret, and by herself for once. ‘I know this is against the rules’ she thought ‘but I must find out what is happening’.  She changed her royal gown into something plain and common, and when no one was looking she sneaked out of the castle grounds and made her way to the village on foot by running. “I better hurry before my mother or sister realizes that I have gone out” said Serena. The truth is Serena wasn’t allowed to leave the castle without her mother’s permission. But she was willing to break the rules, just this once, to find out what was going on with the lion and eagle. “Once I find out about this lion and eagle, I’ll quickly run back to the castle and then no one will ever know I left”.

          The village was empty at the time that Serena arrived; everyone had locked themselves up in their houses and shops because of the lion. And right now the lion and eagle were nowhere in sight and neither were any guards. “It feels strange being in the village on my own for once,” said Serena “but I better hurry and get to the griffin statue now, before anybody does show up”. The big griffin statue was located right in the center of the village. Serena knew that a griffin was a mythical creature and it had the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. It also made her wonder if that was the reason why the lion and eagle liked the statue so much.

          Serena took a good look around the statue, making sure not to be seen by anyone, and there in the middle of the front base was a dull looking bead. “Ah-ha,” said Serena “this must be the answer to everything”. She pulled out the bead from the statue. “It’s obvious to me that the lion and eagle are really the animal forms of this moon bead, which explains why they were interested in the statue. Question is where are the lion and eagle now?”

          As soon as Serena said that, the lion and eagle appeared in front of her. Serena bravely stood her ground as the lion and eagle just stood there looking at her. “This bead is yours isn’t it?” she asked the lion and eagle, holding out the bead in front of them. The lion and eagle nodded their heads to say yes. “You two must come with me back to the castle at once,” she said to them “guards will be here looking for you, to capture you, any moment now”. The lion and eagle understood Serena’s words and started to follow her.

          Serena led the lion and the eagle all the way back to the castle grounds. There was no one around so no one would see that Serena was with an eagle and a lion. The dull looking bead started to glow and the eagle and lion started to glow too. The glowing lion and eagle started to join and become one with each other, and then they turned into a grey griffin, with a silver beak, a silver mane and white wings. Serena couldn’t believe what she had just seen. “Well since a griffin is half lion and half eagle, I guess this would all make sense” she said, surprisingly. It was a real surprise to see a real griffon, because griffons were really a myth and only seen in books.

          Suddenly the Moon Sorceress came out of her bead, and then she hugged the Moon Griffin and the Moon Griffin nuzzled her back. “Thank you for finding my animal partner Princess Serena” she said. Serena was happy to have found the Moon Sorceress’ animal partner and asked which animal partner was the Moon Sorcerer’s. The Moon Sorceress explained that the Moon Dragon was the Moon Sorcerer’s animal partner. So Serena didn’t need to look for the animal partner of the Moon Sorcerer because she had already found it. The only partners she needed to find now were the partners of the Moon Pegasus and the Moon Unicorn. The Moon Sorceress and Moon Griffon went back into their beads.

          Everyone forgot about the commotion of the lion roaming round the village, thanks to the magic of the moon beads. It was a good thing too otherwise there might have been more commotion. Another good thing for Princess Serena is that no one, not even her mother or sister, knew that she had sneaked out of the castle and into the village on her own. Princess Serena decided that she would never again sneak out of the castle or go off somewhere by herself or break any rules; breaking rules was obviously not a good thing for a princess to do.

          With now having fourteen moon beads, there were only two more moon beads for Princess Serena to find. But then she had a thought; what would happen once she collected all sixteen moon beads? Would she get to keep them or would they just disappear altogether once she got them? Of course Princess Serena had no idea what would happen, and the only way for her to know the answers is to find the last two remaining moon beads.

Magic that came from the moon part 10

The Magicians of the Moon

     

          Princess Serena was very excited about today’s event; today she and her family were visiting the theatre to watch two magicians perform magic. The two magicians, that Serena was going to see, were said to be very famous and their magic was said to be truly magical and Serena was looking forward to seeing the show.

          The theatre, where the magic show was being shown, stood outside the village. It was a big, wooden built theatre and the village was really too small for such a large building. The theatre held a lot of different events, apart from magicians doing magic. Plays, concerts and musicals were often held there and the royal family of Lunaasia loved to go the theatre, especially Princess Serena.

          Serena was happy with two things about going to the theatre today. One was to see the magicians perform their magic, and the other reason was there were statues at the theatre. There were some statues inside the theatre and some outside the theatre. Hopefully one of the statues at the theatre will hold a moon bead here. Once the royal family got to the theatre, Serena asked her mother if she could look at the statues outside the theatre. There was some time left before the magic show began, so Queen Luna let her go. “But you must be quick Serena;” she said “the show will start soon”. “I’ll be quick Mother” said Serena.

          There were different statues outside the theatre; there were statues of actors, musicians, the founders of the theatre and there were also statues of magicians. Serena had a quick look at all the statues to search for any beads, and suddenly she found two dull looking beads. The two beads were on the base of a statue of a magician. “Wow,” Serena said, to herself, “this is the first time that I have found two moon beads on a statue. This makes my search for the rest of the moon beads easier”.  Serena checked over the other statues to see if there were any more beads, but there weren’t. “Oh well, at least I found two instead of one” said Serena, to herself. She quickly went back to her mother and sister, just as it was time for everyone to take their seats for the magic show.

          Inside the theatre, the stage was all ready for the magic show to begin. The stage had very dark purple curtains, with gold and silver stars on. The royal family sat in three big chairs, in the middle of the seating area, and everyone else took their seats. Hundreds of people had come to see the magic show, so the whole seating area was packed.

          Soon the magic show started to begin. Two magicians magically appeared on the stage; a male and a female. The male magician introduced himself as ‘Moonarak’, and the female magician introduced herself as ‘Moonania’. They began the magical act with making doves fly out of their top hats. Next they magically made two long white ribbons fly around the stage, and there wasn’t anything, not even string, holding them up. Everyone, including the royal family, clapped and cheered loudly for the magicians; they thought their magic was really magnificent. Princess Serena loved their magic the most; she couldn’t keep her eyes of the magicians.

          The magicians performed some other clever magic acts; they transformed little pieces of paper into white rose petals, made confetti burst out of their hats, transformed little rocks into little diamonds, made water sprout out of a table and made rabbits appear and disappear again. Everybody loved the magical acts and clapped and cheered loudly. Now it was time for the final magical act. “Moonania and I would like a volunteer from the audience to take part in this final magic trick of ours” said Moonarak. Everyone in the audience wanted to be in the act, especially Princess Serena. Moonarak chose Serena and asked her to come up on the stage. Serena was happy that she was chosen and went up on stage at once.

          Moonarak and Moonania placed Serena into the middle of the stage and had her kneel down on the stage floor, and then they filled two big watering cans with water. “Now our last trick is that we will be pouring whatever there is in the watering can onto the princess” said Moonarak. “But no need to fear,” said Moonania “because we promise you that the princess will not be soaked”. Serena braced herself as the two magicians started to hold the watering cans above her head. When they tipped the watering cans, instead of water pouring out, silver glitter came out of the watering cans and onto Serena. Serena was delighted to have silver glitter over her, and the audience clapped and cheered. Serena curtsied and went back to her seat, and the show was now finished.

          Everyone was sad that the magic show was now finished, but they all enjoyed it just the same. Just as the royal family was about to leave on their coach the man in charge of the theatre came up to the royal family, and said that the magicians wanted to speak to Princess Serena. “They didn’t say why they wanted to speak to you your highness,” the owner of the theatre said to Serena “but they are anxious to speak to you”. Serena couldn’t understand why they wanted to speak to her, but she agreed to speak with the magicians.

          The owner led the princess to where the magicians were and left them alone together. “We wanted to speak to you your highness, because we sensed our beads are with you” Moonarak explained. “Your beads?” asked Serena “oh, do you mean these beads?” She showed the two dull moon beads to Moonarak and Moonania. “Yes those are our beads” said Moonania. Suddenly she and Moonarak began to glow.

          Moonarak transformed into a sorcerer, with long white hair and wearing a white and silvery robe. Moonania transformed into a sorceress, with long light silver hair and was also wearing a white and silver robe. “You two are the Moon Sorcerer and Moon Sorceress, right?” asked Serena. “That is correct your highness” said the Moon Sorcerer. “We thank you for helping us find our beads your highness” said the Moon Sorceress. Before the Moon Sorcerer and Moon Sorceress went back into their beads, they magically presented Serena a gift of a bunch of white roses, and then they went back into their beads. “Now that I have thirteen moon beads; I just need to catch three more, and then I will have found all sixteen moon beads” Serena said happily to herself.

          Serena went back to the coach, so that she and her mother and sister could go home. Funny thing was that no one, except Serena, remembered the magic show that they had just seen. And they were talking about seeing a marvellous play at the theatre today. Serena found it a bit funny that everyone had a different memory of what happened today, but it was for their own good since the two magicians were really moon spirits. Serena felt happy while going home because of the magical day she had enjoyed.

Magic that came from the Moon part 9

The Stray Animals of the Moon

          One night a commotion was happening in the palace. The palace maids were shouting and running along the corridors. They were shouting words like ‘catch them’ or ‘don’t let them escape’. Queen Luna came out of her room and demanded to know what was going on; she was not happy to be woken up in the middle of the night. The maids apologized to the queen and told her that two stray animals, a cat and a dog, had sneaked their way into the palace. “Oh dear,” said Queen Luna “they better be caught soon, otherwise they might break something”.

          Meanwhile Serena was woken up by some scratching noises outside her room. She got out of bed and opened the door to see what the noise was. The noise wasn’t coming from outside her room, it was coming from somewhere near her room. She followed the sound of the noise along the corridor, and then she saw what was making the noise. A light grey dog and a white cat were scratching at a door that was at the end of the corridor. “What are you doing?” Serena asked the cat and dog. The cat and dog ran past her, and then ran down the stairs. “Hey come back here” Serena called out.

          Serena was about to chase after the cat and dog, but the cat and dog got caught by some servants. “Finally we’ve caught them” said one of the maids. The maids asked Serena if the cat and dog had broken anything. “No they haven’t broken anything,” said Serena “they have only scratched the door at the very end of the corridor on the right”. “Oh that’s okay then,” said the maid “as long as these two haven’t broken anything valuable that’s okay”. Serena stared at the dog and cat and realized that none of them had any collars. “These two animals must be stray animals and must have been searching for food in the castle” she said. “I’ll give this cat and dog something to eat,” said the maid “but they must be put outside at once; animals are not allowed in the palace”. This rule was true; animals were forbidden into the palace in case they would break something.

          Next morning, the royal family were having breakfast. Serena was thinking about the stray cat and dog last night. “Excuse me mother,” Serena said to her mother “that door, that the stray cat and dog were scratching last night, at the far end of the corridor on the third floor, what’s behind that door?” “Oh that door leads to some stairs, which leads up to the attic of this castle”. “The attic?” said Serena “I don’t think I’ve ever been in the attic before”. “The attic has lots of old things in there,” Queen Luna explained “old paintings, old books etc., and all sorts of things”. That gave Serena an idea; maybe there were statues in the attic. “Can I have a look round in the attic please mother?” “Of course you can,” said Queen Luna “just be careful while you’re up there”. “I will mother” replied Serena.

          After breakfast, Serena headed to the door, at the far side of the corridor, on the third floor. She was holding a candle holder, with three lit candles, because her mother had said that there was no candle lighting in the attic. Once she opened the door, she saw the stairs, went up them and entered the attic. The attic was very dark and quiet and it was full of cobwebs and dust. There were also old paintings, old trunks full of things like old books, old clothes, old china, decorations for special events like christmas and birthdays, and many other old things.

          So far Serena didn’t see any statues, but after looking between some trunks she found two statues. There was a wolf statue and a lion statue, and they looked almost real; so real Serena thought they looked frightening. The wolf statue was dark grey coloured and the lion statue was bronze coloured. “I should ask mother to have these statues moved into the palace garden,” she said to herself “I mean they look so real, I think they could frighten off intruders”. Serena looked at the bases of the wolf and lion statues, and there, between the two front feet of the wolf and lion, were two dull looking beads. “I thought that there might be some moon beads in here” said Serena, happily.

          After gathering the dull beads, Serena left the attic at once to search for the dull beads owners. ‘I think I may have an idea of who these two dull beads belong to’ she thought, blowing out the candles. Serena was thinking that maybe the beads belonged to the stray cat and dog from last night? To see if she was right, Serena went out into the palace gardens and called out for the dog and cat. “I do hope that the cat and dog are still here” she said. At that moment the cat and dog appeared in front of her. Serena bent down on her knees and held out the two dull looking beads. The cat and dog ran over to her and stared at the beads in her hand, and then suddenly they began to glow and change. The cat turned into a white lion and the dog turned into a grey and white wolf.

          Serena felt very nervous of the Moon Lion and Moon Wolf; she knew very well that lions and wolves were dangerous. The Moon Lion and Moon Wolf went over to Serena. Serena braced herself; she feared that they would attack her. But they didn’t attack her; they nuzzled her instead. Serena was relieved that the Moon Lion and Moon Wolf weren’t attacking her and she stroked them on the heads. “I’m glad you two aren’t dangerous” she said to them. The Moon Wolf and Moon Lion liked Serena and kept on nuzzling her to be stroked some more.

          Suddenly the Moon Fairy and Moon Archer came out of their moon beads. Once the Moon Lion and Moon Wolf saw the Moon Fairy and Moon Archer, they ran over to them at once. The Moon Fairy happily hugged the Moon Lion, and the Moon Archer petted the Moon Wolf like crazy. This scene made Serena realize that the Moon Lion was the Moon Fairy’s animal partner, and the Moon Wolf was the Moon Archer’s animal partner. “I’m glad I was able to find your animal partners” she said to them. “We thank you for finding Moon Lion and Moon Wolf for us Serena” said the Moon Fairy. “Yes thank you” said the Moon Archer. The Moon Lion growled and Moon Wolf howled to say thank you. Then the four moon spirits went back into their beads.

          As soon as the four moon spirits went back into the beads, a maid came up to Serena. “Please excuse me your highness,” the maid said “but some stray animals are running loose in the palace, and we need help with catching them”. “Which stray animals is it this time?” asked Serena. “Some rabbits” said the maid. “Oh well,” said Serena “at least it’s not as bad as having stray cats and dogs in the palace”. Then she went with the maid to catch the stray rabbits.

Magic that came from the moon part 8

The Moon Bird of Prey

          Days later, after the lunar festival was over, Serena was walking around on her own, in the palace gardens. It was a beautiful day and Serena thought it was the perfect day to spend in the palace gardens. There wouldn’t be any moon beads in the garden though, because Serena had checked the statues and it made her wonder where she should look next for more statues, to find more moon beads; she had already checked through the palace grounds and checked a lot of the palace rooms for more statues but she still hadn’t found any more moon beads yet. Serena began to worry about her search for the moon beads. ‘Oh dear,’ she thought, worriedly, ‘I still need to collect eight more of the sixteen moon beads, and I have not found any more statues, which holds them. I don’t know what I’ll do to find the rest, if I don’t find any more beads’. Serena didn’t feel like giving up, she just felt unsure what to do at the moment.

          Serena began thinking about where she had found the moon beads. She had found the Moon Eagle at the new library, the Moon Pegasus and Unicorn at the horse race track, the Moon Fairy in the forest, the Moon Maiden in the palace, the Moon Archer at the field where they held the archery tournament, the Moon Dragon at a mine and the Moon Knight in the village, where the soldiers stayed. “I fear that I’m running out of places where the moon beads would be,” Serena sighed “I’m going to have to think very hard about where to search next for the remaining moon beads”.  

          Just then she noticed three gardeners putting up a statue stone base on some grass. “What are you doing?” she asked the gardeners. They explained to Serena that they were putting up a new statue in the garden. Serena was pleased to hear that; maybe this new statue would have a moon bead with it. “What kind of statue is it?” she asked. “We do not know yet,” answered one of the gardeners “we haven’t seen it yet, but it will be up in the garden this afternoon”. “I see,” said Serena “then I’ll see it myself this afternoon then”. She went back into the palace to pass the time, till afternoon.

          That afternoon, Serena went back into the palace gardens to see if the new statue had arrived. To her delight, it was there; it was a statue of a hawk. The gardeners were not there because they had gone to take care of something else in the garden. Serena immediately ran over to it to see if there were any beads on it, and there was. The dull looking bead was on top of the base of the statue, and Serena took it at once. “Since this bead was with a statue of a hawk,” she said to herself “I reckon that this bead belongs to the Moon Hawk, and if it does the Moon Maiden will be happy about that, after all she did tell me that the Moon Hawk was her animal partner. Now I just need the bird that belongs to this dull bead, and I think I may know where the bird is”.

          Princess Serena was thinking about all the birds that lived in the forest, where she found the Moon Fairy. Sure there were birds in the palace gardens, but Serena decided it would be best to check the forest first. Serena asked her mother at once for permission to go to the forest for a while, and Queen Luna agreed. Once Serena got to the forest by horse and carriage, she started to search for the Moon Hawk right away. The only trouble was that the forest was really big and there were lots of birds in the forest. How was she supposed to find the one bird, which was really the Moon Hawk? After all the Moon Hawk would be in a different form of bird, like the other moon spirits were in different animal and human forms before. But then she had an idea; she released the Moon Maiden from her bead. “I need your help Moon Maiden” she said. She explained to the Moon Maiden that she had found its bead, but needed help to find the hawk in the forest, since the Moon Hawk was her animal partner. “I will be happy to help you Serena,” said the Moon Maiden “just as much as I will be happy to see the Moon Hawk again”.

          Serena and the Moon Maiden began to walk together through the forest to find the Moon Hawk. Serena held the dull looking bead from the hawk statue in her hand. She figured that if she held up the moon bead in her hand, the bird that was really the Moon Hawk would come to her. So far there was no success; none of the birds were interested in the moon bead and they just flew away once they saw Serena and the Moon Maiden. “I do hope that we find the Moon Hawk soon” said the Moon Maiden. “Don’t worry Moon Maiden,” said Serena “I’m sure the Moon Hawk will be here, and it it’s not we will just search somewhere else until we do find it”.  “Thank you Serena” said the Moon Maiden.

          Suddenly a brown and white sparrow flew to the ground in front of them. Serena jumped in surprise and nearly dropped the bead in her hand. “I do wish animals didn’t do that, creeping up on people” she said. Then the sparrow flew up to the Moon Maiden, landed on her right hand and sang to her. “Since this little sparrow seems to like me a lot, I think this is really the Moon Hawk” said the Moon Maiden. “Only one way to be certain” said Serena. She held up the dull looking bead towards the sparrow, and then both the sparrow and bead started to glow. The sparrow turned into a grey and white hawk. The Moon Maiden and Moon Hawk were happy to see each other again, and Serena was happy that she had been able to find the Moon Hawk for the Moon Maiden at last.

          Before the Moon Maiden and the Moon Hawk went back into their beads, Serena asked the Moon Maiden who the human moon spirits were partners with the Moon Unicorn, Pegasus and Dragon. “I’m sorry Serena, but I don’t remember,” said the Moon Maiden “I have been separated from the other moon spirits for such a very long time, I can’t remember which moon spirit was partnered with whom”. “Oh never mind Moon Maiden,” said Serena “I’ll just keep on searching for the rest of the moon beads, so that all sixteen moon spirits will be together again”. Then the Moon Hawk and Moon Maiden went back into their beads.

          Serena was happy to have found another moon bead, but she still needed to find seven more moon beads. Before she set off for home, she checked the statues in the forest to see if there were any beads on them, but there weren’t. It was quite clear that there wouldn’t be any more moon beads in the forest, so Serena had to search for moon beads someplace else, question is where though? “Dearie me,” sighed Serena “I fear that finding the other moon beads will be more difficult than I thought, but I can’t let the moon beads down, especially since they all want to be together again.”

Magic that came from the Moon part 7

A Knight of the Moon

 

          Today was an exciting day in Lunaasia. Lunaasia was starting its annual lunar festival today. There was to be lots of stalls, music to dance to and a parade of soldiers was going to be marching through Lunaasia. The story is that about one hundred and fifty years ago, Lunaasia was at war with another kingdom called Valrana. The king of Valrana at that time, King Herold, was an evil, tyrant king, and he wanted to take over Lunaasia for himself. So Lunaasia had to fight against Valrana, to stop King Herold with his plan. In the end King Herold was defeated and killed in that war, so Lunaasia was safe and Valrana was no longer a threat. Lunaasia and Valrana had been at peace ever since. Every year Lunaasia would hold a weekly festival to celebrate the day when they won that war one hundred and fifty years ago. At the end of the festival hundreds of candles were to be lit up at night for the souls of the ones who fought in that war.

          In the castle, Princess Serena and Princess Diana were dressing up for the festival. The royal family always made an appearance at the first and last days of the festival to make speeches, and to watch the parade of soldiers. “I can’t wait for the festival to start Diana” said Serena. “Neither can I,” said Diana “I have always found the festival fun”. “I can’t wait to check out the stalls and the dancing,” said Serena “oh and to see the parade of marching soldiers”. “You and me both Serena” said Diana. Just then Queen Luna came into the room. “Come along now my daughters,” she said “it’s time to open the festival now”. The royal family left the castle and went to where the festival was being held in the village.

          When the royal family reached the village, the festival was already. All the stalls were set up and ready to sell things, plenty of flags and bunting were put up, and lots of musicians were ready to play music. Everyone in the village was waiting for the festival to start. Queen Luna and her daughters stood on a little stage and Queen Luna began to speak. “People of Lunaasia,” she said “I welcome you to our 150^th lunar festival. I thank all of you for setting this entire festival up and running and I hope you will all enjoy yourselves. And now I declare the festival opened”. Everyone cheered and musicians started to play music at once.

          Serena and Diana asked their mother if they could look around the festival. Queen Luna agreed, but she told her daughters to stay together, not wonder off and take good care of their money. Serena and Diana headed off towards the stalls. Some off the stalls had things to eat like cakes and other treats. The rest of the stalls had goods to buy like toys, jewellery and other nice things. Serena was looking at a stall, which had figurines of animals and people all made out of glass. Serena saw a glass figurine of a lady sitting on a crescent moon. The lady in charge of the glass stall said that the figurine was to represent the moon goddess. Serena decided to buy it at once. Diana saw a necklace she liked on the jewellery store, which was next to the glass figurine stall, and decided to buy it.

          Suddenly Serena and Diana had their purses snatched out from their hands by a thief. “Hey stop thief!” shouted Diana. She and Serena chased after the thief. As the thief was running away from Diana and Serena, a soldier ran in front of him and punched him really hard. “I don’t give kindly to thieves” he said, taking back Serena and Diana’s purses. At that moment, some guards arrived at the scene and arrested the thief. Serena and Diana went up to the soldier that stopped the thief. “Thank you for getting our purses back sir” said Diana. Both Diana and Serena curtsied to the soldier. The soldier saluted to the princesses. “It was my pleasure your highnesses,” he said “I’m glad I was able to stop the thief, before he was able to get away”.

          Just then the soldier saw the moon bead bracelet on Serena’s right wrist and stared at it. Serena noticed that the soldier was interested in her bracelet. ‘He’s staring at the moon beads,’ she thought ‘could this soldier actually be a moon spirit?’ Diana and Serena thanked the soldier again and went back to buying the glass figurine and necklace that they wanted.

          When Serena and Diana met up with their mother again a few minutes later, they showed her all the things they had bought at the stalls. Then they told her about the thief and the soldier who helped them. “My goodness,” said Queen Luna “I shall thank the soldier at once for helping my daughters”.

         The queen and princesses headed over to a big mansion where the soldiers were staying. They were getting ready for their military parade. Queen Luna asked the general for the soldier, who helped her daughters earlier. The general had heard from the guards, about the soldier who had arrested the thief, and brought him to the queen at once. “I thank you for helping my daughters from being robbed by that thief” said Queen Luna. “I’m glad that I was able to help your majesty” replied the soldier. Serena then asked if she could speak with the soldier alone. “I have something that I would like to discuss with this soldier alone” she explained. Queen Luna and the general saw no harm in that and agreed to Serena’s request.

          Serena and the soldier went into another room of the mansion. No one was in the room, so Serena and the soldier could talk alone. “You are a moon spirit aren’t you?” she asked the soldier. “Yes I am,” the soldier admitted “but where is my bead?” “I don’t know,” Serena replied “I haven’t found any more beads yet”. Just then the moon bead bracelet glowed. Serena looked around and then she saw a statue of a knight in the room. “I wonder” said Serena. She walked over to the statue and there, on the base, was a dull looking bead. “I think I have just found your bead now” she said to the soldier.

          At that moment the soldier glowed and transformed into a white haired knight, with a white cape and sword with a silver handle. “I should have known that you would be a Moon Knight spirit,” said Serena “after all a knight is an early soldier”. “I thank you for helping me turn back to my real form your highness” said the Moon Knight, bowing to her. Suddenly two moon beads on the bracelet started glowing; it was the Moon Eagle and Moon Maiden beads. The Moon Eagle and Moon Maiden came out from their beads and they were happy to see the Moon Knight. The Moon Maiden ran into the Moon Knight’s arms and the Moon Eagle landed on his shoulders. “Are the Moon Maiden and Moon Eagle your partners Moon Knight?” asked Serena. The Moon Knight explained that the Moon Maiden was his partner and the Moon Eagle was his animal partner. “Have you seen the Moon Hawk yet?” the Moon Maiden asked Serena “the Moon Hawk is my animal partner”. Serena said that she hadn’t, but promised Moon Maiden that she will find it as soon as she can. Then the Moon Knight, Moon Maiden and Moon Eagle went back into their beads.

          As soon as the moon spirits went back into their beads, Princess Diana came into the room. “We have to go now Serena,” she said “it’s almost time for the military parade to start”. So Serena and her mother and sister left the mansion. Thanks to the moon beads magic, no one remembered the soldier that had stopped the thief from stealing Serena and Diana’s purse. Soon the military parade had started and the crowd were cheering for the soldiers.

          Serena was too busy concentrating on her moon beads. She still had more to find and since she knew that the moon spirits were partners with each other, there was no doubt that a lot of the ones she had already found were missing their partners. ‘I hope to find the others soon,’ she thought ‘because I wish for all of them to be together again’.