The Legend Of New Years Eve

A long time ago, on New Years Eve, time stopped altogether; a witch, camed Chronella because she was afraid of getting older and dying made a magic clock and, placing a pin in the gears of the clock, she stopped its ticking.
"There", she said, "Now as long as the clock never starts again I shall never grow old and never die".
And, to make sure that no one ever started the clock, she hid it in a cave at the top of a snowy mountain called Times mountain.
But because time stopped, the world never changed, it remained forever the evening of December 31st; ever winter and ever night and everyone in the world, except for her, was a living statue frozen in time.
Ofcourse when she did this it upset all the planners of destiny who work up in heaven and they complained to Old Father time who had to go down to the Earth to plead with the witch.
"Please", he said to her, knocking upon the door of her house, "You have to let time be. It has many important works to perform".
But the witch wouldn't listen,
"No", she said, "I will never let time start again. Time is a wicked thing that makes witches grow old and die".
"But it also lets children be born and flowers bloom", said Old father time.
The witch only slammed her door in his face and so old father time went to see the ruler of the land, a prince called Edmund and Edmund like all the rest of the people was frozen in time, frozen in the middle of a New Years Eve party that was being held in the ballroom of his palace but Old Father Time, with a touch of his hand, unfroze him.
"Whats happening?", he asked Old Father time, looking round about him and seeing all his courtiers frozen in mid-movement, their smiling faces motionless as masks, "Why has everyone stopped moving and who are you?".
"I am Old Father Time", he replied, "A witch named Chronella has frozen time. And I need you to unfreeze it".
Then he told Prince Edmund that, if he rode to the top of Times mountain he would find a cave inside of which was a clock and, if he started the clock moving, then time would start to move again.
And because Old Father Time controlled the speed of all things, with a touch he made the Prince's horse as fast as a thunderbolt and he rode ten miles in a second to the foot of Time's mountain then he rode upwards and at the bottom of the mountain it was spring and spring flowers were blooming and there were pink and white blossoms upon the trees but as he rode higher it appeared to become summer because the blossoms were gone and the trees were full of summer fruits instead, then as he rode higher still it seemed to change to Autumn because all the trees had blazing orange and gold leaves upon them that they were shedding onto the ground.
But then, as he was riding along a stretch of mountain road that was lined with shedding Autumn trees, Chronella, who had been keeping a keen watch upon him through her magic telescope placed a clockwork knight in his path.
The knight had a ticking clock upon his chest with rotating hands and eight arms, each of which held a sword shaped like an hour hand and, because he had eight arms, the prince found it impossible to fight against him.
Infact, fighting the clockwork knight was like being hit with a hail of hammers but then the prince felt a hand touching his shoulder and heard Old Father Time saying in his ear, "I give you a hand as fast as lightning".
And suddenly, the Prince found that his swordhand was moving at incredible speed so that even though the clockwork knight had eight arms it was like fighting against an enemy with only one arm and then, the tide turning in the prince's favour, suddenly, he thrust the blade of his sword into the clock face upon the clockwork knights chest and, stopping its second hand from moving, it stopped the clockwork knights mechanical heart and the knight fell to the ground.
But then, getting back upon his horse, the Prince continued to ride upwards and as he did, he saw it appear to turn from Autumn to Winter but then the witch, angry that he had destroyed her clockwork knight, sent a giant bell ringer who struck an enormous bell and when he did it caused an avalanche above the Prince so that rocks and ice and snow fell down upon him and the Prince was buried by the Avalanche and, lying, injured and buried beneath metres of snow, the Prince was sure that all was lost including his own life but then he heard Old Father Time speaking to him again.
"A man who has Time on his side should never give up hope", he said.
Then, suddenly, to his amazement, the Prince saw the snow and ice and rocks that had buried him fly upwards as Old Father Time, reversing time, made the Avalance unhappen.
"I do not believe it", said the Prince.
But then he saw Old Father Time appear beside him only the old man looked older than before, ill and weak.
"What has happened to you", asked the Prince.
"Something I did not want to tell you earlier", said Old Father Time in a voice that sounded frail, "But I might aswell tell you now. Because time has stopped, I who am normally ageless and immortal am starting to get older. Infact I am dying and that is why, you see, though time has stopped there is no time to waste. So please, you must hurry and finish the job or I will not be able to help you anymore".
So the Prince got back upon his horse and digging his spurs into his horses side and pulling hard upon its reigns, he rode as fast as lightning up Time's mountain and though the bellringer struck his enormous bell and caused more Avalanches, the Princes horse moved so swiftly that the falling rocks and snow couldn't bury him.
So then the bell ringer, seeing the Prince approach upon his horse, tried to use his enormous mallet to strike at the prince but the Prince rode in circles around the bell so quickly that the bell ringer couldn't hit him and then, accidentally striking the bell, the bell ringer caused an Avalanche that buried itself and its bell in rocks and snow.
Fortunately, this time the Prince, by leaping away as fast as a lightning bolt upon his horse, managed to survive the Avalanche and continuing to ride upwards reached the cave at the top of the mountain and, entering the cave, found the Witch's magical clock.
And, picking up the clock, he was about to pull away the pin that the witch had stuck in its gears and start time again when the Witch suddenly appeared beside him.
"Stop!", she yelled, "Don't".
"But if I don't do this then time will remain frozen forever and Old Father Time will die", said the Prince.
"But you and I won't die", said the Witch, "We shall be immortal like Gods, never dying and never growing old. Don't you want that as much as me?".
The Prince thought for a moment about what the Witch had asked but then he replied,
"A world without Time is a world without change or movement. I may never die but the world that I inhabit, without movement or change, is a dead world not a world that is worth living in".
And saying this, he tore the pin from the gears and heard the magic clock begin to tick and outside the sound of robins singing as life returned to the world.
But then he heard the witch scream and, looking at her, to his horror, the prince saw her start to age rapidly then, when her heart had stopped beating and before she even had time to fall to the floor, decay and turn to dust.
"Don't worry about her", said Old Father Time, appearing beside the Prince, "Her soul is immortal and in limbo and with effort may manage to crawl up to heaven but now enjoy your life. I have looked at your future and the planners of destiny have many great things in store for you".
And so the Prince returned to his palace; he married, had children, grew old with his wife and watched his children grow up, then he died as all men do but the legend of his heroic deeds that New Years Eve still lives on and, if men continue to tell old tales, may live forever.