A lovely little fairy tale that I wrote for a Creative Writing module.
A long, long time ago
(although maybe not that long ago),
in a land far, far away (although perhaps not too far away), there lived a young girl who was about your age (or
possibly a bit older). This little girl was called Alice, and she came from a
family which was very loving, but very poor. Alice lived with her brother, her
parents, and her grandmother in a small, one-roomed cottage on the edge of
town. The family lived a simple, happy life, and were satisfied with what
little that they had.
However, when it was discovered that Alice’s
mother was to have another child, all of this changed. There wasn’t enough room
in the cottage, or food in the cupboard, or money in the purse, for six people
to live together. And so Alice had to leave home and find a job.
Alice was employed as a maid in a grand old
house a few towns away. She was given a uniform, and food, and a mat and
blanket to sleep with on the cold stone floor of the kitchen. In exchange, she
would peel the vegetables, and stir the pot, and wash the dishes, and sweep the
floors, and dust the furniture, and make the beds, and do the laundry, and
fetch and carry, and do a dozen other things besides.
The owners of the house were an old woman and
her older husband, who were cruel and cold and had never known love. But
although Alice had so much to do, and was given so little for doing it, she
never complained, and any money that she made was sent back to her poor family.
Now, the house where Alice worked was very old
and very grand. And because it was so old, it would make all manner of strange
noises at night. Alice would lie awake, huddled up on her mat by the embers of
the fire, and listen to the house as it creaked and groaned, sighed and
rattled, shivered and shook.
One night, when the moon was dark, the house
was particularly noisy and Alice was very afraid. Now, Alice’s grandmother was
very old and very wise, and had told Alice many useful things in the past. And
one of these was the importance of keeping the house spirits happy. Alice knew
that most houses- and particularly old houses- had a Brownie of their own that
looked after the house and kept it safe.
So Alice got up and tip-toed to the pantry.
She poured some milk into a china bowl, and added a little honey. Then she
placed the bowl just inside the back door, and returned to her mat.
As she lay there the creaking and shrieking,
the rattling and groaning, slowly died away. Soon, the whole house was silent.
Then, Alice thought that the embers of the fire must be growing hotter, for she
was wonderfully warm. That night, Alice slept peacefully for the first time
since arriving at the old house.
The next day, when the old couple found the
empty bowl, they were very angry.
‘You evil, selfish girl,’ they said, ‘You’ve
been stealing our milk.’ And to punish her, they sent her to bed that night
without any supper. And to make sure, they locked the door to the pantry and
took the key to bed with them.
As Alice lay before the fire that night, cold
and hungry, she heard a sound like a ball being rolled along the hard stone
floor. She sat up, and saw a round, juicy apple rolling towards her from out of
the shadows. It was followed by two more apples, each as round and juicy as the
last.
Alice didn’t know where the apples had come
from, and she was too hungry to care. After saying a quiet ‘Thank you’ to the
shadowy, empty room, she ate two of the apples, one after another, with barely
a pause for breath. However, she saved the third apple, and placed it just
inside the back door, for the Brownie. Satisfied, she fell asleep.
The next day, when the old couple found the
apple cores, they were very angry.
‘You selfish, evil girl,’ they said, ‘you’ve
been stealing our apples.’ And to punish her, they took away her mat and
blanket. That night, Alice went to bed with no food, nothing to sleep on, and
nothing to keep her warm.
Alice lay before the fire, very hungry, and
very cold, and very tired. Just as she was finally about to fall asleep, she
felt a sudden weight on her body. Opening her eyes, she saw that someone had
covered her in a large, warm blanket.
Because she had no food, and the door to the
pantry was still locked, Alice took an old, copper penny, which she had found
while cleaning the hallway, and had planned to send home to her family, and
placed it by the back door.
‘Thank you’ she whispered, as she snuggled up
in the blanket and began to fall asleep.
At that moment, a piercing shriek broke the
silence of the old house. The kitchen door flew open, and the old married
couple stormed in.
‘You selfish, evil
girl,’ they said ‘you’ve stolen the blanket from our bed.’ And to punish her,
they locked her in the cellar.
Cold and hungry, and all alone in the dark,
damp cellar, Alice began to cry.
‘Hello,’ a voice said. Alice looked up and saw,
for the first and last time in her life, a Brownie. The creature was small and
hairless, with grubby and extremely wrinkly skin. It had a cat’s tail and a
dragonfly’s wings, and its eyes were small and beady.
‘I’m sorry that I got you in trouble,’ said
the Brownie, dancing nervously about the room, ‘I didn’t think that they’d
notice the apples or blanket being moved.’
‘That’s alright; you were only trying to
help.’ Alice said, wiping her eyes and smiling at the silly creature.
‘And I want to help you again,’ said the elf,
doing another little dance ‘You gave me milk, an apple, and a penny, and I only
gave you apples and a blanket; I owe you one more thing.’
‘I just want to go home.’ Said Alice, and
began to cry again. The Brownie just laughed, and disappeared. A second later,
the door to the cellar swung open, to reveal the Brownie standing on the other
side.
‘Off you go, then.’ It said cheerfully.
‘But I don’t have any money, and I need to
work to help my poor family.’ Alice said.
The Brownie thought for a moment. It vanished
again, and reappeared holding a small cloth bag that was covered in dirt. When
Alice looked inside, she saw that it was filled with gold coins.
‘This was buried in the garden years ago,’ the
Brownie said, pushing the sack into Alice’s hands, ‘no one knows it was there,
and no one will miss it, so now it’s yours.’
Alice took the bag, and thanked the little Brownie,
and left the old house forever. She took the gold back to her family, and they
all lived happily ever after. And as for the wealthy old owners of the house,
well, they never did know why the house became so cold and noisy at night after
that, or why the milk also seemed to curdle, or why the apples were always
rotten.
