Tale 40- The Magical Stones

 Arriving in another part of the city, the Traveler entered a few of the stores. Clearly, she was in a shopping district, due to the crowds of people surrounding each shop and examining various items. Nothing particularly caught her eye- she couldn’t afford any of the clothes and found herself garnering several stares, so she was about to leave when an old man gently approached her. Dressed in a long blue robe, he explained he was an old wizard who wanted to give away some of his old potions he no longer needed. Examining them, the Traveler spied various ointments, one for a particular plant named ‘Midnight Maw’, and potions of all varieties. He offered some to her but the girl politely declined, instead asking the old sorcerer for his best story. The man gave a slight smile and nodded, telling the story of ‘the Magical Stones.’

‘Long ago, there was a beach which had some beautiful shining stones decorating its shore. The waves crashed against the sand, decorating the rocks with droplets which sparkled in the moonlight, as if they were thousands of little fragments of stardust. A little boy lived by the beach, finding the stones and learning how to skip them. A trick with the stones, though, is that for every jump it made, a wish would be granted for the same amount of days. The boy didn’t know this at first, merely believing fate had smiled upon him and turned his fortunes around, but soon deduced that the times perfectly aligned. One day, he made a fatal mistake and wished to be the king of everything, managing to skip the stone fourteen times, the most he’d ever done at once. Subsequently, the boy was the king of everything for two weeks, deciding the most fitting thing to do was to imprison his bullies and throw balls and banquets galore. He hired servants, ignored his closest friends in favour of his royal duties, and neglected to care for his family, barely visiting them and deciding to focus on taking care of his kingdom, which was growing larger as the days went by. But by the time the week was over, and the wish ended, the boy was left with nobody to show him any love, since he’d neglected to be benevolent to others. The boy ran away, and was never seen again.’

The Traveler leant on the potions stand to write the tale, the old sorcerer looking down at how she wrote her words, in curls and swirls that challenged the calligraphy of old masters. When she finished, he gave her a smile and began to pack away his potions, as it was getting later in the day. He paused, however, and turned back to the Traveler. “Hmm…I think my apprentices might like to meet you. They could learn a thing or two about handwriting.” he chuckled, the Traveler giggling at his joke. Though he seemed serious, the sorcerer had a soft side, and she could tell he was a caring man. Gently bowing to thank him, the Traveler continued on her way, waving goodbye to him as she walked toward another part of the city, hoping to find somewhere to stay for the night.