In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk;
within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold.
Yet things break in and steal the gold.
[An egg.]
Every villager knew the
tale. It was one of adventure and courage, but accompanied as well by a hint of
danger. Children grew up being told the tale at their bed sides. Although most of the village children out grew their beliefs of
storytelling, there was one young man who curiosity got the best of. He knew deep in his heart that the tale of his childhood was real
and after years of searching, he knew exactly where it might be.
Deep within the cavern,
Mikael stumbled towards the small amount of light he could see. His torch
had died out during a fall over a sharp ridge, but he had managed to
blindly find his way upon a steadier path. Had the decisions to make again, he would have
stayed home safe in his cot. It probably should have crossed his
mind about why no one had ever found the gold be it danger or death that
threatened any who sought after it.
“Oh bloody curse it!”
Mikael muttered, his fingers tracing the deep grooves of the wall of which
peeped rays of light behind it. Frustrated words slipped from his tongue as he pushed and kicked at the rocks
barring his escape until the wall shifted and launched him face first into a
cold pool of water.
Resurfacing, Mikael
gasped for air and sputtered water from his lungs. After gathering his
wits, he looked around the area and what he saw before him left him breathless
once again. The white walls of marble glittered as fountains of clear water
flowed over the ridges far above, forming soft waterfalls that filled the pool
that broke his fall. Cracks in the ceiling of the cavern allowed the sun to
glow into the room, reflecting off the beautiful water and filling it with
light.
Mikael hoisted himself
over the edge of the stone platform at the center of the cavern. His cotton
clothing was soaked through, dripping the gold dyes his eldest sister had
stained them only days earlier. She would flog him good for getting her work
soaked before the dyes had time to set, but now was his chance to search for
something even more valuable: the gold of the childhood tale. Mikael glanced
around, noticing only a single path leading deeper into the marble cavern, and
after a few moments of consideration, he trudged on towards the next room.
“Who goes there?” A
feminine voice whispered, echoing gently off the white walls.
He stood stunned as his
eyes fell upon the woman half hidden behind the towering throne. Upon the floor
lay a chisel and other instruments he had not the knowledge to recognize. Her
blond hair flowed to the floor, tangled at her feet as she cowered, bright
green eyes peeping just around the side of the monument to watch him. No one
from his village had blond hair nor light eyes.
He took in the new room,
seeing cabinets carved of marble, storage space and baskets filled with foods.
It looked as if someone lived here, other pathways connecting to other rooms
that he could only see the length of the tunnels. As he looked back at the
woman, he noticed something behind her that lit up as the light hit it,
contained in a glass case upon the pedestal. It was a golden apple.
He took a step forward,
a grin on his face as he thought of bringing the treasure home, proving to the
other villagers that it wasn’t just a child’s tale! It would be worth enough to
buy his sister dyes, repair their broken roof, and for enough food to last
forever. Before he could reach it, the woman pulled him back, her trembling
hands gripping his hand.
“Please don’t take it,”
she begged. “It is the last of my treasures. It’s all I have left of my home.”
Mikael looked at her,
hesitant for a moment. The treasure was right there, right in front of him, but
the way she appeared, distraught and sad, made him reconsider. He knew what it
was like, holding on to the only thing he had left of a real home. How many
adventurers had found her stronghold, taken her treasures until it was the
only one left?
In the end, he did not
take it. He stayed a while, talking with the woman. She told him of her land, a
place far beyond the horizon, where gold was abundant and their love was of
art. The cavern reminded her of that place, long destroyed, marbled and
beautiful and thus she began a new life here after searching for many long
years. It turned out in the end that he did not in fact steal the gold per say,
but rather stole her heart as the first kind adventurer she had met.
Author’s Note: This story is a twist of "In marble walls as white as milk" in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and released in 2008. The rhyme,
listed in my story, described an egg through rich wording
and similes. I decided to use those similes to create more literal images such
as the cavern, pool, and treasure, making it an adventure. I believe the ending teaches us a lesson that
not all treasures found are gold.
Bibliography:
The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Long (2008). The Project Gutenberg EBook.
