The Girl with Golden Hands
A miller and his family had been thrown into poverty, their only possessions being a box of matches, their mill, an apple tree hidden away, his small shelter he considered a home, and each other. The cold air blew, and the trees silently wobbled. The miller encountered a strange man in the woods while searching for wood to build a fire. Dry air fogged the miller’s vision. “Are you lost?” The figure gave no response, just trudged on past the miller towards the mill. “That’s m-my mill s-sir…” stumbled the miller. The figure laughed and emerged from the forest to look at the mill. The figure was better aligned now that the miller could see him. He was dressed in a black cloak with red ornaments outlining it. His dark brown hair flashed as he turned towards the miller.
“Why bother chopping wood? I can make you wealthy if you sell me whatever is standing behind your mill,” sputtered the man with a smirk. The miller, oblivious to what was behind the mill except his apple tree, accepted the offer and held out his hand for them to shake. The man stared at his hand and mumbled, “I’ll be back soon to collect my reward.” The man wondered back into the forest. The miller was excited to have given away his apple tree. He approached his wife and explained to her about the deal he had made with the man.
The woman glared at him, then exclaimed, “You fool! Our daughter was standing behind the mill sweeping! Did you not notice the apple tree in front of you? You were standing on the wrong side of the mill.” The miller stood, dumbfounded. He called for his daughter, who came from the corner of the mill.
Her eyes searched the ground and she sputtered, “Who was that man, father? Why does he brag that he owns me? Father, who was that man?”
The miller’s wife stared at the ground; “The devil…” The miller’s daughter was always a good child, but, she did not worship God as her parents did. They always explained to her that she must worship Him if she doesn't want to know the consequences. When the day came that the devil had spoke of, the girl cleaned herself well, and stood inside of a hand drawn chalk circle.
The devil came, and approached her. “She is untouchable. Take away her water so she has no means of washing herself. That way, she can be mine”. The miller and his wife limited all her water supply, and only gave their daughter water to drink. By the time the devil had returned again, she had cried so much that her sorrows cleaned her hands. The devil again approached her: “She has cried herself clean!” The devil turned to the miller and ordered him, “Why did you let her cry? Her hands are clean and I have no way to take her”. The devil hesitated, then picked up an axe. He handed it to the miller. “Chop off her hands. This way, she can not cry her hands clean”. The miller, horrified, stared at the axe.
“How could I chop off my daughter’s hands?” he exclaimed.
The devil smirked: “If you don’t, then I will take you instead”. The miller continued to stare at the axe and forgot about the poverty into which his family had fallen. He cared only about himself in a moment of panic and looked to his daughter.
“Child, if I do not take your hands, the devil will take me away”. The girl shoved her hands towards the miller.
“I am your child, do with me as you please”. The miller looked to his wife, her brows furrowed with worry. Then back to his daughter, his gaze stopping on her wrists. She was an angel, she never hurt herself on purpose, she never did anything wrong, but never believed in God.
“I hope, my child, that God will come down to save you from your misery,” he mumbled, “I’m sorry”. A flash of metal and a thump, her lifeless hands hit the ground. She made no noise. She looked to her father, who kept constant eye contact with the apple tree behind her. The miller lifted the axe and chopped down the apple tree. “What’s the use of her now?” the miller angrily spat, choking back the growing lump in his throat. The devil gave no response. He cackled, and with the flash of his black robe, he tied her arms around her back by the sleeves of her dress. He leaned into her ear, and whispered something that the miller didn’t understand. A tear fell down her cheek as he caressed her arms, and pushed her dress sleeves against her bleeding arms.
“Goodbye…” she whispered. The devil wrapped her in his cloak and the two disappeared into a wisp of dust. The miller and the wife stared at each, his wife’s tears hitting the ground where their daughter had stood. She turned away from the miller; her dress whipped with the dusty air, she rushed into their mill. The miller walked to the stump where the apple tree had stood, and punched it with the anger and sorrow that had filled up to his fists. Blood dripped from his knuckles, his tears, and sweat dripped from his face. The miller went back to his home, and received his box of matches. He stepped out the door, a tear fell down his cheek. He slipped three matches against the striker, and dropped the scalding matches on the edges of his old, red mill.
The girl was dropped miles away from home, near a market where she usually sold the apples from her father’s tree. She wiped away the sweat from her lip, and wiped away the memories of her family as well. She thought nothing of her father. He went up to the devil and bargained me away. He took my hands and let me go with said devil, and thought nothing of me. He would have rather chopped off my hands than let himself go with the devil, she thought to herself. She wandered past the market. It was late, and the closest place she could find was the castle. She knew her surroundings well enough to find the castle gates. She slept outside of the castle in the rain, unable to reach the overhang due to the moat. She had never learned how to swim, and didn’t want to learn in a moat filled with who knows what. In the morning she awoke in a maid’s quarter. A guard stood next to her, holding a fresh pair of clothes. He handed them to her with a smile. She thanked him and began to change. The guard left the quarter and she heard him yell.
“King, the girl has awoken!” She peeked out the door of the quarter and looked for the guard that had found her. He was nowhere to be seen, but a large man dressed in a beautiful cloak, red with white ornaments approached her warmly, very unlike the devil. He stopped in his tracks, the guard appeared from behind him. “That’s him, sire” the guard explained, curious to why the king would not approach her. He stared at her, she was dressed in a patched gray dress, her long, light brown hair in a messy braid on her shoulder. She could no longer rebraid it.
“I was not aware that she was so beautiful…” the king sputtered. The girl blushed and stepped forward to the king.
“H-hello sir, er, sire. I come from a mill a few miles back. My father sold me off to the devil…” she stuttered, “I just look for a place to stay, and to eat. For I am not allowed home”. The girl shifted her weight, the patches on her dress scratched her thin legs.
“Well, my dear, you are in luck,” the king grinned, “I have no queen. A beautiful girl like you should not be without a wife”. The girl looked to the ground.
“I suppose, if I were treated…” the girl began.
“Oh love, you will be treated as royalty!” The king cut her off. The girl looked up to the king and smiled. “My dear, you never told me your name… for I am King Calloway, August Calloway. And you are?” The king grinned.
The girl looked back to the ground, “My name is Rowan. Rowan Everly”. The girl smiled, she had never heard her name said before. She was only considered as daughter or child. The king and the girl married and lived together in their castle. The girl couldn’t assist the king or his subjects with missing appendages, so the king made the girl a pair of silver hands. They lived happily together until tragedy struck. The king had to go into battle to protect his people and the land he ruled over. The girl found out a few days later that was was pregnant. The girl, who is now queen, wrote to the king explaining that they were going to bring a child into the world. The royal messenger took the letter off to the base where the king was staying for battle. The messenger became exhausted on the way to the base and stopped to take a small nap. The devil approached the messenger.
“Silly boy,” he muttered, “You should never take your eyes off such important writing.” The devil took the letter and rewrote it, explaining that the queen would bring a changeling, a child substituted by fairies, into the world. The king read the letter, and was extremely disappointed. He sighed and wrote back to her, explaining that no matter what, it would still be their child. The king sent the letter back to the queen. The devil, again, switched the letters. She received it a day later, and read it, her brows furrowing with worry. The letter explained that the men still remaining at the kingdom should kill the queen with her son, who was quickly growing into a young boy. The queen and her child hurried into a forest nearby, and locked themselves into a wood cabin. The king somehow sent a letter to the cabin, which the devil substituted once again, and it read that the men needed the queen’s eyes and tongue as proof of her demise. The queen rushed into the woods with a bow, and aimed at a doe. Her eyelashes skimmed her fingertips as she held the string back. She released, the arrow shot into the doe. She took a knife and slickly carved out the eyes and tongue of the doe. She hurried back to the cabin and removed her silver hands. She left them on a wooden table in the cabin. The queen and her child ran away from the cabin, away from the castle, away from the first glimpse of hope she received as a child. Tears ran down her cheek as she ran, her feet ached. Her child stopped, and sat down. ------it's a bit too long, i'll post the rest in another post :)--------