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Melissa
lived her days in a single small room which during the day was lit
by the light from two windows, one that faced north and one that
faced south. Her room was built of large stones, each perfectly
shaped to fit against one another snugly and without mortar. The
room, however, was not cold for it was hung with the richest of
tapestries embroidered with the brightest of reds, blues and golds.
Upon these tapestries were scenes of lords and ladies, knights and
princesses, peace and war, feasting and life.
Her room contained a wide, shallow fireplace in which she did her
cooking and before which she sat to do her embroidery in winter.
Her bed was a single slab of oak that rested upon four perfectly
spherical, granite stones, one at each corner. Upon the bed were
folded several, scarlet, woolen blankets. An intricately, carved
writing desk, clothes trunk, many large and small tallow candles
and two pine torches completed the inventory of the objects in Melissa's
room.
It seemed at first glance that Melissa was imprisoned. Her room
was situated on the top of a small stone tower that lay at the edge
of an enormous wheat field. This farm was tended cooperatively by
the peasants of the small village whose thatched roofed huts could
barely be discerned if one stared towards the enormous fir trees
of the Northern Forest. With a wicker basket on the end of a rope,
Melissa was able to receive those necessities of life, such as food
and books, that she obtained from the villagers.
Melissa’s tower was guarded by a dragon. He was rather small,
perhaps twenty feet long, and covered with large, diamond shaped,
emerald green scales. He had a long forked tail that ended, as did
his tongue, in a pitch black tip. His eyes were ruby red of a shade
identical to Melissa's lips and he could, when annoyed, belch impressive
quantities of green and yellow-orange smoke. The last
feature of note possessed by this dragon was his pure white ears
which were small and triangular with long, stiff strands of hair. This dragon might be found coiled around the base of the tower at any hour of the day or night when not out hunting the small rodents and rabbits
that made up the bulk of his diet.
One brilliant blue, early spring day, a knight appeared on the road
that led from the Northern Forest to the stone tower. He was young,
fair, blond and blue eyed. His armor glistened and shone in the
sunlight and bore not the slightest scratch nor a single, minute
spot of rust. His sword was likewise of shining perfection.
His horse was a snow white stallion and his saddle and bridle were
made of the finest leather and rarest of wood. This knight had arrived
during one of those hours when the dragon was away feeding. His
arrival was no accident but the result of many days spent spying
upon the tower from the safety of the Northern Forest.
He stopped at the base of the tower, squinted up at the north window
and coughed loudly. When this elicited no response, he coughed twice
again. Again, no response. Had his approach gone unobserved?
“Er.....ah.....
Princess, I'm here.”
The window flew open and Melissa's beautiful face looked down with
an expression of extreme irritation. Her magnificent auburn mane
fell about her shoulders and down to her waist there to drape the lower window sill.
“What
ever do you want?” She scowled.
“I
... er... er... I’ve come to rescue you, fair princess from
your imprisonment and the fearful dragon who holds you here against
your will.”
“Well,
I don’t want to be rescued, thank you!” The princess’
tone carried even more ice than before.
“You
don’t?” The young knight was incredulous!
“No,
I don’t! I'm getting along just fine. Please go away.”
“But,
but ... You live all alone in this tower and you never come out.
And the dragon ..”
“I
do not wish to be rescued and that is that, fair knight, Thank you
for your trouble and concern. Good day!”
The princess withdrew her face and slammed the window shut. The
knight was thunderstruck! She did not want to be rescued! He could
not believe it! The knight remained immobile in his saddle
throughout the remainder of the day. Luckily,
it was a cool day and he didn't sweat too much under all that armor.
He was hoping for the dragon’s return and a battle with the
fearsome monster in which he was victorious. Surely the beautiful
princess did wish to be rescued, but was afraid to say so ... perhaps
intimidated by the dragon.
The dragon for his part now occupied the hiding place at the edge
of the Northern Forest so recently vacated by the fair young knight.
He cowered in fear as he spied upon the knight’s self imposed
vigil at the tower.
“Oh,
if only that frightening, terrible man would go away”, thought
the dragon. “Just look at his gleaming armor and his sword,
sharp beyond measure I’ll bet. Oh dear, oh me, whatever shall
I do?”
The dragon hid his eyes under his front paws and shivered in abject
terror. His tail twitched, his magnificent white ears drooped and
a few silent tears flowed down his cheeks.
The knight kept his silent, stoic vigil until sunset. Melissa remained
inside her room doing embroidery and did not appear at the window
to entreat her self appointed rescuer to go away. As the last fragments
of the sun’s orb sank beneath the horizon, the knight reluctantly
gave up his quest and slowly cantered off towards the south.
The dragon appeared for dinner at eight with Melissa as usual. She
soothed his fears, stroked his tufted ears and fed him sweetmeats
with black tea until midnight.
BB 02.10.94; Freeport, Bahamas
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