Octoberina

Once, in a distant kingdom, long ago, a princess was born who had blazing red hair on one side of her head and bright golden hair upon the other and, because she was born in the month of October and because her red and golden hair reminded her mother of the pretty red and gold  autumn leaves on a tree outside her window, she was named Octoberina.

 

And everyone who saw Octoberina agreed that, though she had the strangest coloured hair, she was by far the most beautiful, gentlest and most charming infant they had ever seen and none could gaze upon her cot without a little smile crossing their lips.

 

Sadly for Octoberina, however, an old woman named Belsemmer, an evil yet extraordinarily powerful sorceress, gazing into the ashes of a magic urn, had foreseen that a girl with long red and golden hair would one day cause her death and when she heard about Octoberina’s birth, she summoned a phoenix from her magic urn and sent it to the nursery where Octoberina was sleeping and setting fire to the nursery with its blazing wings, it carried off the cradle in its golden jaws taking it back to the witch who, using her magic, placed a pair of iron shoes upon Octoberina’s feet.

 

“Those shoes are my present to you, little princess”, said the witch, cackling with glee “Though they will grow as your feet grow they will always be too heavy for you to run away and, if by chance, you do manage to escape and hobble through the forest then, well, you shall see what”.

 

And so poor Octoberina spent her life as the witches prisoner and though, as her feet grew, the iron shoes grew, still they were too heavy for her to run and then, on those few occasions that Octoberina managed to escape and slowly hobble through the forest, the evil witch would take out a little horseshoe magnet that she hung around her neck and point it at the forest and the iron shoes, as if bewitched, would spin Octoberina round and go marching back towards the witch’s cottage and so strong was the magic magnets pull that, no matter what Octoberina clung to, whether tree trunk or stone, she could not do anything but go wherever the shoes took her.

 

“Hah! Hah!”, the witch would cackle each time the iron shoes marched her home, “A prisoner you are and a prisoner you shall ever be, my princess”.

 

But then ,one day, Octoberina was sitting alone by her window, weeping and sobbing, and the Autumn wind heard her sob and the river that flowed past the witch’s house felt her tears as they fell, plop, plop, plop, upon its back and a stag that was  taking a drink from the river saw her mournful eyes as large as a fawns eyes and all enquired,

 

“Young maiden, why do you cry so bitterly?”.

 

So Octoberina told them about the witch that held her prisoner; about the magic magnet and the iron shoes and they were all so moved by her tragic story that the wind began to sob and the river started to weep and the stag lowered its antlers and gazed mournfully at its hooves.

 

But then, when it could weep no more without bursting its banks, the river said, “Fear not princess. Write a message upon an autumn leaf and I shall carry it upon my back to someone who can help you”.

 

And the wind that could cry no more without starting a hurricane said, “Fear not princess. Write a message on an autumn leaf and I shall fly with it in my hand to someone who can help you”.

 

And hearing the river and the wind, the stag who could bear no more sorrow without burying his head and antlers in the ground, said, “Fear not princess. Write a message upon an autumn leaf and stick it upon one of my branching horns and I will run through the forest as fast as river or wind and carry it to someone who can help you”.

 

Octoberina didn’t know if there was anyone in the world who could help her but she felt her spirit lifted up by their kindness and their gallantry and so she wrote three messages on three autumn leaves, each one asking for help, and one she scattered upon the river; one she let the wind blow away and one she pinned upon one of the stags branching horns, waving to each of them and saying thank you as they raced away carrying the message.

 

Unfortunately, after her three friends had gone, a toadstool that was standing  near to her window started to grow.

 

It grew and grew until it was as tall as a person and then its red spotted cap became a pointed witch’s hat and its long white stem became the witch.

 

“So, run to fetch help have they?”, said the witch, “Well we’ll see about that”.

 

Then, with the magic magnet round her neck, she made the door of her house slam shut and bolt itself and all four of its shuttered windows slam shut one by one and the key in the lock of the door to Octoberina’s room twist round and lock Octoberina in before leaping into a glass jar.

 

And when all of her house was locked up and Octoberina locked inside, the witch transformed herself into a gigantic lion with a mane of Autumn leaves, jaws and talons of ice and a roar of frost and she stood guard outside the door of her house, growling and snarling and scowling so ferociously that merely the sight of it would have made the bravest of men turn and flee.

 

But then, fortune smiling upon the princess, through the forest there came, dressed in armour of bronze and gold and riding upon a horse with red hair and golden roses plaited in its mane, a heroic knight and handsome prince.

 

And as he was riding along he passed by the roaring river and was amazed when he heard it call out to him,

 

“Stop!”, it cried, “I have an urgent message to give you”.

 

And, one of its waves leaping up, it reached out to the knight with a hand made of white foam thrusting the autumn leaf with the message upon it into his hands.

 

Then astounded, the knight read the message written upon the leaf which said,

 

“My name is Octoberina. I am a princess and I am held captive by an evil witch. Please, please help me”.

 

“Where is this princess and the evil witch that holds her captive”, asked the knight.

 

“In a house at the edge of the forest”, the river replied, “I would guide you there but, unfortunately, a river cannot run backwards nor turn around; it must run onwards to the sea but you’re sure to meet the wind on your way and perhaps he can guide you”.

 

And, saying this, the river went on its way towards the sea but then, not long afterwards, the knight rode into the middle of a wild, blustering windstorm that blew his cloak and his horses mane all about.

 

“Stop! Stop!”, roared the wind, “I have an urgent message to give you”.

 

The knight stopped his horse and then the wind subsided, turning from a storm into a gentle breeze and the breeze pushed the autumn leaf upon which Octoberinas message was written into the hands of the knight and reading the words written upon it the knight saw that, just as before, they said,

 

“My name is Octoberina. I am a princess and I am held captive by an evil witch. Please, please help me”.

 

“I met your friend the river on my way here”, said the knight, “And he said that you might show me the way to this princess and the witch that keeps her captive”.

 

But sadly the wind said he could not show him the way.

 

“I cannot choose in which direction I travel”, it explained, “Wherever fate leads the wind must follow; sometimes north, sometimes south; sometimes east or west, hither and thither I blow.

Follow me and I will only lead you the wrong way but you’re sure to run into a stag on your way and maybe he can lead you there ”.

 

And so, waving goodbye to the wind, the knight continued onwards through the forest and, just as the wind had said, before long he ran into a stag with a leaf pinned to one of its branching horns,

 

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”, bellowed the stag, “I have an urgent message to give you”.

 

And, saying this, the stag lowered its crown of antlers so that the knight could pluck the leaf from them and, doing so, he read the message and saw that, just as before, it said,

 

“My name is Octoberina. I am a princess and I am held captive by an evil witch. Please, please help me”.

 

“I met your friend the wind as I was travelling here”, said the knight, “He said that you might guide me to this princess and the witch that keeps her captive”.

 

Holding his antlered head high in pride, the Stag said he would be only too happy to take the knight to the princess.

 

“Follow me”, he said, darting off into the forest, his hooves thundering against the forest floor; then, tugging upon the reigns of his horse, the brave prince went galloping after him.

 

And, before very long, they reached the witch’s little house; then, trembling, the knight saw the ferocious and gigantic lion guarding the door; its long mane of autumn leaves; its sharp teeth and talons of ice and its roar of frost that made tall trees wither and turn to solid ice.

 

“By all the stars in heaven”, exclaimed the knight, “What is that?”.

 

“It must be some unnatural form assumed by the witch”, said the stag, “But I am not afraid of her, are you?”.

 

Hearing the stags courage gave courage to the knight and, tugging upon the  reigns of his horse, he made it rear up before charging towards the monstrous lion, shield raised in one hand and sword in the other.

 

And though the lion’s roar blasted his bronze shield with icy breath and though it tore at the shield with long talons of ice, the knight fought on courageously, hacking with its sword at the lions head and chest and, twice, managed to cut off its head but each time he cut off the lions head, to his amazement and terror he saw the head rise up and affix itself back onto the lions neck.

 

“Good heavens!”, he asked the stag, “What will I do? The creature will not die”.

 

But then the stag noticed that, hanging upon the lions neck, was a long chain and, at the end of it, a pendant shaped like a horseshoe.

 

“That strange necklace perhaps is what’s making its head grow back onto its shoulders”, said the stag, pointing a hoof towards the pendant.

 

The knight looked at the pendant and then at the roaring mouth of the lion filled with rows of sharp icicle like teeth above it,

 

“I will try it”, said the knight, mustering up all his courage, “Though I may lose my head trying”.

 

And, raising his sword and shield again, the knight rode towards the lion, trying desperately to cut the chain and pendant from around its neck but, each time, the lions frosty breath drove him back.

 

Suddenly, however, to the startled amazement of the monstrous lion, it felt the stag butting it from behind with its antlers and biting upon its long golden tail and, turning around, it meant to blast him with its icy breath but, while it was distracted, seizing his chance the knight rode towards the lion and, this time, with one long sweep of his blade, he cut through the chain of the pendant hanging round the lion’s neck and followed that up with a swift stabbing blow to the creatures heart.

 

Now, its frosty breath turning to blazing fire, the lion roared in agony and terror before falling upon its back, the leaves falling from is mane, its long talons of ice melting as it frantically clawed the air, its eyes closing and its body becoming as still as stone.

 

Then, to the further astonishment of knight and stag, the lion disappeared and, in its place, lay the lifeless body of the witch, Belsemmer.

 

Then, the power of the pendant fading with the life of its owner, the door of the witch’s house unbolted itself and flew open and all the shutters upon its windows, spreading like wings of happy birds, flew open too and the key to Octoberinas room sprang from its glass jar and, twisting in a key hole, unlocked and opened the door to the room; then, lastly and most happily of all, the iron shoes

around Octoberinas feet started to melt away, replaced instead by slippers of green and blue and gold.

 

Laughing and cheering, Octoberina ran from the house straight into the arms of the prince.

 

The stag smiled, thinking about his own wife and children, deep in the forest and even the wind returned to sigh a happy sigh; then, as in the end of all good fairytales, the prince and princess fell in love; were married and lived happily ever after.