While winter threw itself at her door, Calaxia wound skein of spider web silk. She lilted, then on parchment wrote squared notes. Carved pussy willow stick into proper shape. Carded, then spun bull rush fluff into magical string. Watched bare, gaunt branches struggle against the wind and prismed light of ice crystals dance across canvas of white drifts. Watched and waited. For water dripping from eaves to make rivulets in yard. First unfolding of flower petals as breeze turned south. Bird song, vibrant, in greening trees.
Then Calaxia strung her pussy willow bow, practiced in warming air on invisible instrument. Pulled butterfly dress of flowing silk from hiding spot. Plaited ribbons as bright as warbler’s wings into her hair. Moved to edge of clearing, hand to ear, and listened for that special sound. Bursting forth from forest loam. To pick a fiddle-head fern before opened wide. Cut length of strings from her winter’s skein. Tune her fiddle to verdant tones. And play. All hush, then from under log, down piney trunk, up tunnel, they came. To dance to her fiddle-head fern tunes lilted out over winter’s winds.
Each spring she pulled pussy willow bow across spider web strings, played spring concerto under sunrise skies and moonscape nights. Movement of small animal ballet swaying, pirouetting. Birds catching up notes as floated by and echoing deeper into forest. She played until her violin must open, til days of fiddling on fiddle-head fern were done.
A riff on Michael’s prompt concerning “a meeting/encounter involving a forest creature. It could be one in which the elements of nature band together, one in which you encounter a forest creature who is either good or bad, you might be engaged in some kind of quest, you might be seeking knowledge and wisdom.”
I am the omnipresent narrator, watching the story unfurl as leaves do in the spring time breezes. Or, is Calaxia really me?
(c) Lorraine
image: extension.umaine.edu
June 18, 2017 at 8:53 pm
Gorgeous and wonderful and rich – and this is pixie dust just flying on the wind – such magic, such imagination – I’m all a loving it! :D
Great specifics, ideas, and wildly creative – run with the fairies and play with the imps ;)
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June 19, 2017 at 4:01 pm
Can I steal that line, “run with the fairies and play with the imps”? I love it!
I riffed off Michael’s big fern and fairy story. Do wonder what if would be like to play a fiddlehead — I tend to eat them before get out my handy-dandy skein of spider-web silk.
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June 21, 2017 at 7:19 pm
steal the line to your heart’s content …. freely and with pixie dust blessings :D
I think they do play fiddleheads out east ;)
*snorting* …. how odd of me ….
they are fascinating and yes, I wonder what kind of music they make when unfurling ….
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June 21, 2017 at 8:34 pm
It’s lovely — a soft crinkling, a long sigh, a creaky stretch towards the sun.
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June 22, 2017 at 10:09 am
sounds right – enjoy and play as you will and wish :D
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June 17, 2017 at 12:18 pm
Beautiful take. I. I’m trying to I imagine this fiddle with a pussy Willow bow and spider silk strings. And the beautiful sound for the faeries. It’s a lovely image.
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June 17, 2017 at 1:56 pm
Thanks. I was inspired by Michael’s fern and fairies tale. I love fiddle head greens, and the symbolic nature of spring and rebirth. For a brief moment, they do look like fiddle heads (so appropriate when in the Maritimes), and my mind wandered to how you would go about playing one before the fronds unfurled and the fern emerged.
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June 17, 2017 at 2:02 pm
I liked his take too. Yours was excellent as well and it’s interesting that his inspired you and what came out of it. Good stuff :)
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June 17, 2017 at 3:12 pm
Thanks. Sometimes I try to do a prompt without reading other submissions; other times I read others and draw inspiration, or am amazed at both the variety and similarity of the responses.
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June 17, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Yes I do that too. Sometimes you have no idea and then reading others’ pieces sparks something :)
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June 18, 2017 at 7:35 pm
Exactly!
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June 16, 2017 at 11:07 pm
What a strange little conversation you and Michael are having. Snort.
Great imagery. Maybe Calaxia is friends with your green fairy. 😉
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June 17, 2017 at 4:41 am
Could be. She still resides in my computer picture files.
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June 16, 2017 at 10:40 pm
I like all the images you gave me to ponder and I’d love to see a fiddle-head fern….what an intriguing thought…thanks for your contribution to TW this week…
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June 16, 2017 at 10:42 pm
If you travel to Maritime Canada in the Spring, you can see them and eat them. I’ve never actually tried playing one — but then my musical talent is limited to the kazoo.
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June 16, 2017 at 10:43 pm
Well thank you for that….fern locations I mean not musical ability…lol
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June 16, 2017 at 10:44 pm
No, you wouldn’t thank me for my musical abilities if you heard me on the kazoo — though I am good at “A Duck Maybe Somebody’s Mother” also known as a song about Whos from Horton Hears a Who.
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June 16, 2017 at 10:45 pm
Yeah right, I’ll believe you..lol
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June 16, 2017 at 10:46 pm
Don’t worry — I no longer own a kazoo so I can’t Sound Cloud my proficiency onto my blog.
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June 16, 2017 at 10:47 pm
Well we can all breath a sigh of relief??
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June 16, 2017 at 10:48 pm
Yes. And take out the ear plugs.
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