The Story of MIRIAMA – part 1

There was once a king and queen who ruled over the cold northern land of Glacia but who,no matter how they tried,could not concieve an heir
to their throne.

So desperate were they,to have a child, that the king and queen travelled up to the top of the sacred Star-kissed mountain to give offerings to God and beseech God to bless them with fertility.

After many hours of prayers and offerings,they heard,to their awe and amazement,the voice of the one God speaking to them through the howl of the north wind.

“I will bless you with a child”,said God, “But would you like it to be a boy or a
girl?”.

The king said that he would like it to be a boy – who would be strong and,one day, fight for and defend his land but the queen said that she would like a daughter, a beautiful daughter, to make into a refined lady.

So the voice of God said that it would give them both, “It shall be a girl”,said God, “but a girl who is stronger than twenty men and who will fight to defend her land”.

Neither king or queen were sure wether they liked this news but they were too afraid of the voice of God to argue with it and so they accepted its judgement with gratitude.

However,in the corner of a dark cave upon the mountainside the devil had been listening and because the devil only gets happiness from spoiling any good thing that emmerges from God, it cursed the child.

“Yes”,bleated the devil, appearing as a mountain goat, “You will have a girl but she may never know a man,nor may she ever marry a man,or even kiss a man.She must remain a virgin and a spinster always, for the moment that she loves
a man she will die”.

Both king and queen were utterly dismayed by this curse and they immediately had the talking goat killed with an arrow. But then the voice of God spoke again and assured them that their child would be alright. “I will watch over it, always”
the voice of God promised them.

So,travelling back down the mountain they both sighed and awaited whatever fate God had in mind for them.

Sure enough,as God had promised, after a week passed, the queen became pregnant and nine months later a child was born: a girl with the strength
of twenty men.

The girl was initially named ‘Miriama’ which,in the language of that land,meant ‘mixed blessing’. However, after some days had passed,the king and queen started to grow nervous about the devils curse and so decided that,to ensure that their daughter never kissed or touched a man in love,they would dress her up as a boy and pretend,always, that she was a boy. For this reason, they also changed her name from Miriama to ‘Riam’ which means ‘shield’ and,though Miriama
knew she was girl, no one else besides her parents knew and Miriama was warned never to reveal it to anyone.

Many years passed and Miriama/Riam soon grew into a young adult and became respected by all as a heroic and noble prince who,with his amazing strength, had helped to save the kingdom of Glacia many times from invasion,conspiracy and
disaster.

Unfortunately,to his parents dismay, the heroic prince Riam started to gather a large female following within the royal court – so many women were enamoured by him and female suitors called every day to see him but,as he was really a girl
called ‘Miriama’,his parents,who did not approve of the idea of two women marrying each other, were quite distressed and so, in order to get him/her away from the advances of young female suitors, they decided that he/she must be
sent upon a quest of some kind.

For this purpose Miriama’s mother pretended to be very ill and her father told her that she was suffering from a very rare disease which could only be cured by the fruit of the mandragon plant which only grew in the far off land of Limeria.

But Miriama’s parents were also worried about her safety upon the quest and so they had a special armour,sword and shield made for her which
were carved out of the hardest, most impenetrable substance in their world: diamond. “ This glittering armour”,they told their daughter, “ both beautiful and impenetrable, was made out of the largest diamond in the whole of our world and not only will it protect you but it is also our way of saying how precious you are to us”.

Miriama was happy about her new armour which was
blue, the colour of the sky and it was also inlaid with gold,
silver and other types of precious stones, although,she was not
happy at the thought of travelling so far from her beloved home
and parents.

Miriama wept and her father immediately stepped up to wipe away
and hide her tears from all onlookers. “Don’t cry!”,whispered her
father worriedly, “It will not appear manly”.

Then her father showed her another gift that they had bought
for her. It was a young white coloured bull called ‘Nangy’ which
means ‘fierce’ and it wore a silver saddle upon its back. “It
is no ordinary bull.” , her father informed her, “it is the
fastest animal upon four legs and when it lowers its horns
and charges,nothing,not even a fortified wall, can stand in its way”.

Miriama gave the bull a hug around its neck and from that day forward the two were bound by a deep friendship.

Before setting off upon her quest, a great banquet was prepared in Miriama’s honour and.as was the custom in that land,everyone,even the beggars in the streets shared in the feasting and celebration which climaxed with prayers
and offerings in the great temple,baptism of Miriama’s head and shoulders with water from the sacred Truegold river and fire – eating which was customary among Glacian soldiers as a rite of valour.

One group,however, was weeping rather than celebrating and that was the enormous throng of ‘Riams’ female admirers. They wept terribly on the night before he left but one of these young woman,named Stellany,who was a practising enchantress saved her tears and,using them in a spell, transformed herself into a ladybird and crawled inside Miriama’s armour so that she could
stay close to the object of her affections. It was by doing thus that Stellany would later learn Miriama’s secret.