~The Crystal Sphere~

by Rosemary Lake

Once upon a time there were three orphan sisters who were servants in a castle built among cold mountain crags, high above a lonely ocean, where lived an evil Wizard. One day the oldest sister, whose name was Eva, sat down to read one of his books of wizardry. Seeing this, the Wizard flew into a rage. "So, you would steal my power? Away with you!" He transformed Eva into an Eagle and chased her out the window.

So next day the second sister, whose name was Joanna, snuck into the wizard's laboratory to read the book herself. The Eagle, alighting on the windowsill, waved its wings and tried to warn her not to open it.

"I must," said Joanna. "Maybe I will find a way to help you, or for us all to escape." But scarcely had she opened the book, when the Wizard came in and caught her.

"So! Away with you too!" He cast a spell which lifted Joanna and blew her out the window high above the sea. As she fell, the spell transformed her into a Whale. With a great splash, she plunged deep into the ocean. After a long moment she surfaced and sadly blew a spout of water toward the circling Eagle, as though to say, "You were right."’Then the tide and the wind carried them separate ways, and both were lost to view.

Now the youngest sister, whose name was Dina, had watched all this from in hiding. So before dawn next morning she got up, packed a lunch, stole the book of wizardry and put it in her lunch sack, and set out for the wide world.

As soon as the sun rose, of course Dina sat down and tried to read the book of wizardry. But it was in old language and did not make much sense. The only spells she could even begin to understand were for rescuing captive Princes and Princesses; and there seemed to be none at all for untransforming Eagles or Whales, or for finding breakfast. So she ate a cold cheese sandwich from her sack, and went on down the path.

At the foot of the mountain she came to a crossroads, with one sign, which said:

TO THE CASTLE OF THE GOLDEN SUN.

Below the sign was a placard which said:

"Heroes, despair! Three and twenty have died already. One more fool, and my spell will be complete. The royal Prince Renaud lies bewitched in my power; when one more has died in the vain attempt to save him, the Prince will be mine forever. -- Signed, Sorceress of the Golden Sun"

So Dina took the road leading to the Castle of the Golden Sun. But the road soon became a path in dark tangled woods, and then soon no path at all, so she wandered long and far in the woods without finding any castle; and became totally lost herself.

Dina wandered for a long time, ate the last of her lunch, and began to get worried. Then, at last, she met someone: three giants riding in a donkey cart. They were quarrelling over a cloak and cruelly beating the donkey because he could not pull the cart fast enough. "Hey, girl," they cried, "come and judge for us!"

"Judge about what?"

"About our travelling cloak," said the biggest giant, showing her an old tattered gray cloak. "My brothers and I have forgotten whose turn it is to wear it. You little human people are very clever, so please decide it for us, so we can leave this stupid donkey and go on our way."

"What does it have to do with the donkey?"

"I told you. This is our travelling cloak. Using it, we would not need the donkey. Whoever wears the cloak, can just wish himself wherever he likes, and anyone he is touching goes there too."

"Very well," said Dina "I will hold the cloak while I decide."

"See," said the giant to his brothers, "I told you a human was as smart as a magistrate." He handed Dina the cloak.

Quickly Dina put on the cloak, touched the donkey, and wished herself at the Castle of the Golden Sun.

Hardly had these words passed from her lips, before a great whirlwind picked up both her and the donkey, leaving the giants shouting far below. The wind whisked and swirled Dina and the donkey through the air, setting them down by a green meadow near a great, black, deserted castle.

Dina soothed the donkey and sent him to graze in the meadow. Then she went in the castle, and wandered around and around through spendid black marble halls, all empty; till finally, in the top of a tower, she found a little barred room with a prisoner inside. But he was an old man, stooped, with wrinkles and white hair. "Excuse me," Dina said, "are you--?"

The prisoner smiled wryly. "Yes, I am Renaud, the imprisoned Prince. Look at me in a mirror, and you will see my true form."

"First let me take you home," said Dina. Putting on her cloak, she took his hands through the bars and said, "I wish we were at the royal capitol."

Nothing happened.

The Prince laughed at her. "I wish we were too."

Dina sighed. "I guess the cloak doesn't work here."

"Your cloak is magic? No, in this castle no magic works but the Sorceress' own."

Dina took a small mirror that was hanging in the hall and looked in it. There the Prince looked quite young and handsome, though sad.

"Where is the Sorceress," she asked, "and what must I do to rescue you?"

"It would be better for you to return home safe," the Prince said. "How can you succeed where three and twenty have failed?"

She took out the book of wizardry. "This book has seven different spells for freeing imprisoned Princes. We just have to find the right one. --What did the Sorceress do to the other heroes?"

"She takes the form of a giant Bull and goes down the path to the sea. They follow, and soon she brings back their heads." He pointed out the window. "That is all I know."

Dina went to a window in the hall that faced the same way, and looked out. Below she saw a courtyard whose floor was painted with strange geometrical designs. Every place where the lines crossed, there was a post, making four and twenty posts in all, and all but one post had a head on it.

Dina went back to the door of the barred room and sat down on the floor, where the Prince could look at the book with her; and together they decyphered the old writing. Finally they found a spell which said:

"For to disenchant the prison of a Royal Prince held captive by a Bull-form Sorceress... First thou must kill the enchanter's Bull-form, by use of her own magickal Sword, as she standeth by a Spring. Then she will take the form of a fiery Bird, carrying in her claws a red-hot Egg. In the Egg as its yolk lieth a Crystal Sphere. Take care that the Egg falls not; for if it does, it will grow hotter and hotter and set things afire, and even the Egg itself will melt, and with it will melt the Crystal Sphere; and then all your trouble will have been in vain.

"And when thou hast the Sphere, return to the castle and--"

At this point the page was torn off. "At least it's enough to start with," said Dina. "Do you know where the Sorceress' s magickal sword is?"

"Likely in her laboratory," Renaud said, and directed Dina which halls to take to get there. "You are wonderful," he said as she set off. "But please just go home and be safe."

"We both will," Dina said.

Dina found the laboratory without difficulty. The sword was lying near an altar, wet with fresh blood.

Holding the sword at arm's length so it couldn't drip on her shoes, Dina went out of the castle and found the path to the sea. Sure enough, there were fresh Bull-tracks on it.

Following the tracks, she came to an open bluff overlooking the sea. There was the Bull, standing by a spring, blowing steam at her.

"We do not need to fight," Dina called. "Just free the Prince!"

For answer, the Bull charged toward her with vicious speed. Dina dodged, struck with the sword, and the fight began.

Luckily, the magickal sword seemed to know what it was doing. All Dina had to do was keep her head and not get trampled. Finally the sword saw its chance, and plunged into the bull's heart.

Instantly, the Bull turned into a fiery Bird and flew away, carrying a big egg clutched in its claws.

But just then an Eagle swooped down after the Bird; for Eva, who had been flying round about looking everywhere for Dina, had arrived just in time to see the whole battle.

While Dina watched from the bluff, the fiery Bird flew toward the sea with the Eagle after it, both turning and dodging, with the fiery Bird trying to throw the egg into the sea. Finally the Bird threw it, but it fell onto a fisherman's hut on the shore. The hut began to smoke and was about to break into flame.

Then from the sea came a great tall wave of water, which fell over the hut and put out the fire; for the Whale, who was really her sister Joanna, was swimming up, pushing the water in front of her.

Dina ran down to the shore. It was easy to find the egg in the shallow water, because it was heating the water, which sent up a lot of steam. As soon as Dina snatched it out of the water it cooled down. Happily it was not melted; though its shell was all cracked from the heat and the cold water.

The Eagle chased away the fiery Bird, then flew back, straight to Dina's arms. When they had finished hugging, the Eagle pried the egg open with her claws, and there inside was the Crystal Sphere, unbroken. Dina and the Eagle waved to the Whale that they would soon return, then went back to the castle. "I wonder what we're supposed to do now," said Dina.

As she stretched her hand to open the door, the Crystal Sphere happened to brush against the door handle.

Immediately the castle trembled, shook itself, and turned back into its natural form: a beautiful gold and white palace with windows all over. From above, they heard footsteps running down the stairs, and Dina ran up to meet Prince Renaud, who of course had leapt out of his room as soon as the bars disapppeared. He was now even more young and strong and handsome than the mirror had shown.

Then the Crystal Sphere spoke to Dina: "From this time forth you are the ruler of the Castle of the Golden Sun. And by touching me and wishing, your sisters can change back and forth to human form as often as they like."

So joyfully they and the Prince all exchanged rings and became the best of friends, and all lived on together in the Castle of the Golden Sun for as long as I can tell.

You are listening to "The Yew Tree" by Brian MacNeill

Credits

The Princess of Day, Keeper of my tales was adopted from

~Wee One Sunflower~

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