There was a woman, neither old nor young,
who lived at the edge of a copse of yews. She could see the sea if she walked a
mile from her small house. She always wore green and had flowers in her long,
pale hair. When she walked, the animals would follow her in silence and wait,
as when she smiled on them, they had courage.
The woman lived alone for
many years, but the children in the town nearby watched her grow flowers in the
garden that was bigger than her small cottage.
The cottage was made of white stone, and
everything inside was white or pale. The floors were marble, which was odd, as
the cottage was simple and looked like a fisherman's cottage from the outside.
But, inside the house, all was white and fine. The children of the town would
come and look in the windows. Some robbers did too, but there was nothing to
steal, as the woman had only three books, china for her small suppers, a jug
and two small candlesticks. The robbers, who had expected great wealth,
thinking that she was a princess in hiding, went away disappointed.
The children would come and take fruit from
the garden-pears, apples, grapes, oranges, everything grew in the woman's
garden. She allowed the children to take things,but they never saw her, as she
hid when they came. There was one small boy with blond hair in his eyes, and
blue eyes who came, but never took any fruit. The woman watched him and saw
that he was sad.
The woman was not alone. There were two
creatures of light which the children saw, but which adults who came to visit
could not see. The sad boy could not see the light creatures either, until
something happened.
The two light creatures looked like pillars
of green, pale light. But, sometimes the light was brighter than at other
times. When the two creatures walked with the woman in the garden, one on her
left and one one her right, the light was pale and shimmering When the woman went to sleep at night, and
she rarely slept, the two creatures stood by the door with a light so bright it
would hurt a person's eyes to look at them.
Sometimes, some of the children could hear a
faint type of music coming from the creatures, but when they told their mothers
of this, their mothers said they were imagining this. But, the children talked
among themselves, and knew the musics was real, though faint.
It was strange music, sometimes sounding
like voices and sometimes like waters, and sometimes like birds high up in the
hills far away behind the cottage. But, when the woman and the creatures were
in the garden, the only sound was the sound of hundreds of singing birds. All
the birds in the area, from the sea to the hills, came to the garden in the
early, early morning to sing together. Then, the birds would leave. When the
birds came to sing, the woman and the creatures came into the garden and
listened.
One day, the little boy with the blond hair
and blue eyes did not come for fruit with the rest of the children. The woman
went into her white house and the creatures followed. After awhile, one of the
children saw one of the creatures leave, like light shimmering in water after a
storm.
The children followed the light and came to
a large castle near the path of the valley through the hills. Then, the
children saw the creature go through an open window high up in the castle
walls. The children waited. In a short time, like two breaths of a baby, the
creature came out holding the sad boy with hands of light. The creature rushed
through the air and all the children ran after it and the boy, who was crying.
The creature took the boy into the garden
where the woman had planted white roses, which were heavy with dew. When the
creature put the child on the ground, the roses made a soft sound, as if they
were crying as well. Then, the light creature left, flying over the children
who were hiding in the hedges surrounding the one side of the garden. In a
minute, the woman with the green dress came into the garden. She saw the boy,
who had stopped crying. She came over to him and put out her hand. He took it,
shy at first. Then, the boy saw all the little animals surrounding the woman's
green skirt. She smiled at the animals and then, she smiled at the boy. The boy
instantly stopped crying and felt strange inside, as if all his sorrow and fear
had vanished. The woman reached out both of her hands to the boy and he took
them. Instantly, he was different. He felt strong. He felt whole. Then, ever so
gently, the woman took the boy for an instant, and held him close to her, as if
he were her own child.
The boy felt a surge of energy and a light
came into his mind and his heart. When he stepped back, the children who were
watching from the hedge noticed something strange. The boy was older, like a
man, and suddenly, he disappeared. The woman, who had been kneeling in the wet
soft grass, got up and turned to the hedge. She smiled at the hidden children
and went back into the silvery white house.
All the children rushed back to the castle,
but it was gone. The moat was gone and dried up , as if the entire castle had
been a dream. When the children went home that night, they told the mothers
their story and this is what they discovered. One of the mothers said that
sixty years ago, a great lord had lived in a castle at the splitting of the
path into the mountain. He was rich and cruel. His wife was the most beautiful
creature the townspeople had ever seen, but she was silent. Her boy looked just
like her. He was fair and handsome, but silent. When the mother died, the
father imprisoned the boy in a high tower because he did not want to look at
this face, the face of his mother. The boy cried when the father locked him
into his room, never to come out again. But, a strange creature of light had
taken the boy away for many years, and when his returned as a man, handsome and
strong and brave, the father was dying. When the young man came back into the
castle, the lord was afraid, because he thought he has locked the boy in the
room and that the boy had died. But, when the lord saw the man with his
mother's look, he cried and asked the man's forgiveness. The young man forgave
his father, and then father died.
The young man became a lord, but he moved
far away to another land. The townspeople never knew what happened to him. The
mother who knew the story told the children that he would someday return.
The night was dark and all the stars
twinkled as if they were dancing. The blond boy was gone, and the children
understood that he would be a grown man if they ever saw him again.
The days grew longer and it was Midsummer.
The woman in green and her creatures changed their daily walk and did not go
into the garden. The children hid and watched and waited. One of them got some
courage to look into the window and this is what he saw. The woman in green was
in a great white bed on the shining marble floor. All was white. The two light
creature stood like silent pillar on either side of the bed. All the little
animals waited outside the doors. The woman was dying.
She did not cry, and one of the creatures
began to sing this song.
Oh, lady of no tears
lady who loves and loved without return
Oh lady of health and happiness
who did not ask for love but only joy
Oh lady without tears, who loved and loves
without return, we sing of you,
we wait for Love.
As the creature finished his song, which
sounded like water trickling down the hills, a strange man came up to the
house. He was older than the woman and he was stooped with care. He had blond
hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in grey, but his boots were black, and he
held a book in his hands.
The children saw the creatures move silently
like glass to the door and the man came into the marble room. The woman did not
stir. The man was surrounded by all the little animals which came into the
cottage when he came in. The light creatures led him to the bed of the dying
woman.
The children gasped. It was the crying boy,
grown up and older than the woman without tears.
The man was crying, like he did when he was
a boy. He came up to the bed and knelt down, taking the hand of the woman with
no tears. Then, he opened the book he was holding and took our three rings. One
was an emerald, the sign of chaste love. One was a ruby, the sing of
compassion, and one was a sapphire, the sign of spiritual life. The man took
the rings and put them on the hands of the woman of no tears.
Then, he stood up, straight and tall, and
the children thought he looked younger. The two light creatures suddenly
changed and the children grew afraid, as the creatures grew so large they
almost could not fit into the room, and so bright, it hurt the children's eyes
to look at them.
Then, the woman of no tears sat up in the
bed. And, she was changed. Her pale hair was full and blond. Her pale skin was
pink and young. Her soft eyes looked strong and golden.
She stood up and as she did the man who had
been the crying boy reached out and took her hands, as she had done before. As
they held hands, they disappeared into the great light of the creatures and
were gone. All the little animals rushed out of the room, and the little house
tumbled into a pile of white stones. The garden grew and grew until the
children had to run up the hill to get away from the roses and vines which were
filling the valley. A strange music, like a rive of sound, filled the valley.
Then, all was silent. Nothing was left but
the overgrown hedge, and the children wondering, went home hardly speaking at
what they had seen.
