Fairy Tale Dream

I dream that I am in the den of a house that is at the same time new and old. It seems to have many new things, yet still seems to have a traditional sense about it. There are many books in the room I am in. I cannot help myself. I begin to look at the titles. As I bend over to look at the titles that are along the floor shelf, I am pulled by the arm gently. I turn and see eyes. That is all I see. There is the faint silhouette of a woman's shape, small and lithe, but I am unable to make it out more than that.

The eyes communicate with me as if they are speaking to me, without any noise being made. They look here and there to attract my attention to where they look, then the look at me again. I try to voice what they are thinking. Often I succeed, yet sometimes the look I get indicates I have either been a clown or made a faux pas.

It doesn't take long before I feel very comfortable reading the thoughts of the eyes. I ask some personal questions and the eyes completely ignore me. They simply look at me then look outside. Then my hand is taken and I am whisked outside.

The silhouette is a little bolder outside. It seems to expand and contract with huge breaths in the outdoors, as if the air is making her breathe, rather than her forcing the air in and out. It is like she is part of the surroundings, belonging, as if the surroundings were created simply to compliment her. I try to look around for the border of this world to see what lies beyond, but my field of vision is strangely distorted. The universe just stops where I feel her personality extends to, and beyond that there is nothing. I stop looking beyond and come back to her. I feel the energy from her creating the vision, and the vision creating her. I marvel at the level of energy expended for this task! It is beautiful and I fully appreciate the difficulty with which it was created. Sadly, I recognize the limitations it presents.

I am beginning to take inventory of what is in my field of vision, when I get a very reproachful look and stop. I must have looked very sheepish, because the eyes begin to laugh at me. The laughter is contagious. I find myself laughing, too. Then suddenly, the eyes disappear behind me. I feel a shocking blow in the middle of my back, and I begin to see a faint glow illuminating my entire vision. The vision gains clarity and color. Then I am in a real world, complete with sounds and smells, and a woman smiling at me like she knew I had stepped in the biggest doggy poop ever.

"Let's play a game." she says. "I'll start a story and you finish it."

"Er...OK."

"Once there was a kingdom with a very sad princess. A bad witch had cast a spell that made her kingdom shrink every year. At first, it was not a problem, for the kingdom was huge and covered the land as far as the eye could see. After a few years, the eye could not see as far. The kingdom was shrinking alright. The princess became sadder. The sadder she became the faster the kingdom shrank."

"I hope she wasn't claustrophobic!" I interjected. She thew me a look and was not impressed.

"One day, the man she loved stood too close to the edge, and was taken by the abyss. That was the last straw. She went back into her castle and waited in her room for the inevitable moment when the walls of her room would disappear and she would be staring face to face with the abyss." She trailed off at the end, like it was the most tragic thing ever. Then she smiled brightly and said, "OK. Your turn!"

It was like a cannonball in the stomach! I involuntarily bent forward and made a grunting noise. She laughed at me. It was contagious. I laughed, too. This seemed to open something in me. I knew how to continue the story. I began glumly:

"The sad princess sat upon her bed and pondered her plight. Why did no one ever explain to her what the problem with the witch was? Why had she been cursed? None of it made any sense. There was no reason for this horrific curse to be upon her, yet it was. She tried not to take it personally. She failed. She felt so bad about what was happening to her loyal subjects that she decided not to look out the windows. The end seemed near. The more she believed this, the more quickly it became true. She began to apologize to everyone for everything she could think of."

I took a deep breath. Had I, perhaps, laid it on a bit too thick! The eyes were looking straight through me. The silhouette was fading in intensity. The eyes then looked at me approvingly, so I continued.

"She decided to go to sleep and sleep through the end. But, try as she might she could not sleep. She tossed and turned until she fell off the bed.

'Ow!' She heard a voice proclaim. She scurried to her feet and looked under the bed. She could see a leg protruding from underneath. It was small and pudgy. She pulled on that leg. She pulled it hard. Out from under the bed came the jester.

'What are you doing in my bedroom?'

'You invited me?' he said, more in a questioning tone than as a statement.

'I did not.' she emphatically, and petulantly, stated.

'OK. You are about to invite me. You want me here, you just don't know it yet.'

'You foul vulgar little man! How dare you make such familiar accusations to me!'

'Dare! This is not about dare! This is about survival! You are letting this curse doom us all because of your bad attitude!'

'What?'

'Yeah! Think about it. The more depressed you are the faster it shrinks. Yet, you do not think about anyone else and make sure you are in a good mood, do you? No! You just go on being depressed while the rest of us are plooked into the abyss. I came here to say thanks, thanks a lot. Well, and because you are the center of the kingdom so I figure I'll last a little bit longer here.'

'That is not the way it is. My feelings do not control the kingdom!' she shook her fist at him. 'I am the victim here, not you!'

The little man walked around behind her and pushed her to the window. She was about to attack him for touching her behind, but, she was aghast at what she saw. The abyss had receded an entire kilometer. She turned around and looked at the little man. She did a double take. He seemed to look a little bit bigger.

'Did you know this would happen?'

The little man looked very smug. 'Yeah. Figured it out this morning. You should see what else I have figured out about you from asking all the hired help...'

'You have no right to ask about me in that way! You will be banished from this kingdom forthwith! If you continue your impudence I will be forced to...'

The little man turned her to face the window again. She gasped. The abyss had receded another two kilometers. She forgot entirely what she was saying. She turned to face the little man again, who was not so little anymore, but almost normal size.

'Are you intentionally provoking me to do this?' she pointed out the window.

'No.', he said solemnly, 'I'm not that smart. I know that emotion is what holds off the abyss. But, I was trying for another emotion...' he raised his eyebrows.

'Oh, you take such advantage of me! But, maybe I should let you take advantage of me, for my subjects. No. My dignity cannot be compromised!'

'My most humble apologies. I had no intention of making any attack upon your dignity. My thoughts were only of a practical nature.'

'I am sorry. You are right. I have been a selfish person for a while. I could have prevented the loss of much of my kingdom, but I did not recognize my responsibility, so I was unable to act. It was all such a mistake.'

The jester took her hand and led her to the window. The abyss had come back with a vengeance! It was just a few feet outside the window. Thinking quickly, the jester kissed the princess full on the lips. She immediately slapped his face. He turned around and looked out the window. He could see a hundred meters further. He kissed her again. This time she kissed back. Then they both looked out the window. The abyss had receded half a kilometer. They looked at one another and breathed a sigh of relief.

'How much does your position pay?' she asked.

'You mean King?' he smiled enthusiastically. She could not help herself. She began to laugh. 'You are the most arrogant, egotistical, and frustrating man imaginable.'

And so it went for a week. The abyss would ebb and flow. The jester would alternately cause the princess joy and sorrow. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes quite by error. One night, he had let his guard down. She paced the floor as he lay on the bed and told a story. She was moved by this story. He quite forgot she was listening, he was so caught up in the story himself. When he finished, she leaned over and kissed him lovingly. He looked into her eyes and saw profound love. He gasped and jumped off of the bed.

The jester had a hard time standing. Her laughter and kind eyes when she looked at him shook him to his very foundation.

'I am so sorry, your highness.' he said and bowed deeply.

'Why the sudden seriousness? You have done nothing wrong.' she was genuinely confused and concerned. She did not want to be rejected like this.

He kept his eyes averted as he spoke. 'It is the position I find myself in, my lady.'

'What position is that?'

'If I keep you vacillating between 'filled with life' and 'depressed', I can spend eternity here with you. You will need me to keep the abyss away. But, if I do my job too well, and you learn to have your own genuine feelings, I will be put out and lose you forever.'

As he stood there she realized how much he had changed from when she first pulled him out from under the bed. He was now a very handsome and well spoken man. His eyes had become warm. As she paced the room, she caught her reflection in the mirror. She did not have this warmth. She began to cry. Storm clouds raged outside the castle. She heard them and looked out the window.

'I renounce my kingdom and abdicate my throne! She took the jester gently by the shoulders and stood him up straight. Then she looked him in the eye and softly whispered, "Thank you." Then she kissed him again.

They walked hand in hand to the window and opened it. The sun was out. The horizon was back! In every direction! The curse had been broken! The jester grabbed the princess in great joy, kissed her face, kissed her neck, and began to unbutton her dress...'

I paused for dramatic effect. I stopped walking, bent over and tied my shoe. Then I decided it was not quite right and tied it again.

"Well!" she yelled in agitated anticipation, "What happens next?"

"She has him executed, of course. You just can't go around being horny with a princess."

The eyes suddenly take me in in a new fashion. They look wild. Impish and wild. I feel a tug on my arm and am shortly back in the den, then knocked down upon the thick rug.

"We'll see about that!" she said, hands on hips standing provocatively with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "You don't know everything."