FOUR AGES

“Dad, can you tell me a story?” Figlio asked with a big smile.

“I don’t know my little ankle-biter. They do get you too excited before bed.” Dad replied, gently patting his little Figlio’s head.

“No, Dad, I’ll go to sleep after, I promise. I need only one story, pleeease!”

“Okay, okay. How about the one… Wait... let me think.”

“The one about the raven and the fox!”

“That’s a bit too dark for you, little ankle-biter! It’s going to give you nightmares tonight.”

“I’m not so little, Dad! I want to know more about the Raven King.”

“And where did you hear about him in the first place?”

“I heard about him at school.”

“From?”

“Someone at school, Dad.”

“Harr harr. Okay, you win. Get under the covers, head on the pillow…”

…

FOUR AGES

THE FOX AND THE RAVEN KING

Written by: Isabel Chiwibel (Fiverr name @Chiwibel)

Edited by: Celina Mike (Fiverr name @Celinawrite)

At the end of every age, a colossal Worm emerges from the underground realm and consumes all life on land, sea, and air.

For eons, the Raven King tortured the billions of spirits whose bodies his ravenous Worm had devoured from the world above, finding great joy in their unending pain. The bird took great care to separate the disembodied spirits of families and friends far from each other and made it a point to tie mortal enemies together in their eternal torment. No one could escape from his power. That is, until one fateful day, three souls dared to approach him. Two big ones and a small one, a family of green-glowing skeletal spirits. The mother and the child stood very still and did not so much as stir as her husband, groveled alone before the bird’s throne. The Raven King was perplexed and wondered how they had ignored their torment long enough to search and find each other within his vast underground realm.

“O, mighty king,” said the husband, “please allow my family an act of mercy.”

The Raven King laughed and harshly asked the family what single act of mercy they wanted from him. Instead of offering the bird a direct answer, the husband began by complimenting the raven with many words about his splendid magnificence and power. Then he moved on with even more honeyed words about his majestic, feathered bearing. He finally finished his litany of flatteries about the raven’s kingly voice.

As a result, the raven puffed his feathers, sat up straighter, and stuck out his chest in his pride. With a much kinder voice, the bird asked them to tell him what they desired. The husband asked if he could leave with his family to return to the surface world, and there, he promised that they would sow discord and much chaos among the mortal citizens to further the raven’s dark purposes.

The Raven King meditated and mused for quite some time. The bird saw that this could work very much in his favor. This could prove very amusing. Still, the raven was wary. He questioned the husband and asked why he was so eager to serve him. The husband explained that he longed for his wife to feel the sun’s warmth on her skin again, for her, to feel the kiss of the wind on her face, for him to have another chance to wipe real tears from her warm cheeks, and for the opportunity for their small child to grow, learn, and live on the world’s surface with a body of flesh and bone, and no longer as a disembodied spirit in the underworld.

“Very well,” said the Raven King with an evil grin, “you will have your freedom, and you will raise your child on the surface world.” He raised a clawed hand, and a strange and foul wind filled with the stench of death blew the green, skeletal souls apart, separating the mother on one side; she fell to the ground and did not move, and the father and the child on the other side. “But you’ll do so alone because your wife will remain with me to ensure you keep your word.”

The husband was about to speak but hesitated. He stared at his glowing, green skeletal spirit-wife as she lay unmoving on the ground, then decided against it. He thanked the Raven King profusely, and the raven laughed even more. The bird then explained to the father and the child that he had placed a spell on both so as soon as they emerged into the light of the sun that they would gain whatever physical body they so desired. And just like that, the two left the underground realm and were free while the one soul remained behind.

The raven turned his evil gaze to the captive wife, who lay unmoving on the ground, and mocked her, but she did not react. He cackled, sneered, and insulted her, and even then, she said nothing. She lay there on the ground in the same position she had been standing when she first arrived in his presence. Furious, the Raven King cursed her soul into nonexistence, his evil spell meant to obliterate any green, skeletal spirit within his realm, passed harmlessly through her physical body. The raven slumped back to his throne. He realized it now…

He’d been fooled.

Meanwhile, in the world above, just as the sun crept over the horizon, two adult foxes, one male, and one female, husband and wife, ran across a beautiful field of flowers, holding hands and laughing together in absolute happiness. The husband, back in the underworld, had discovered a way to temporarily transform his spirit-wife into the likeness of a spirit-child, knowing that the old and cruel Raven King would have never passed up the opportunity of holding his wife hostage. So instead, he had built himself a fake physical wife out of the green slime that grew thick on the Subterranean stones. The husband then stroked that raven’s pride full of praises, so much so that he never even noticed that the fake wife had ever moved.

The fox and his wife lived happily ever after.

…

“Hmm, Dad, that’s not how my friends in school say it happened.”

“And what do they say?”

“They say that the Raven King only sent the fox back, not his wife, and that he died sad and alone and never saw her again.”

“Stories do change, Figlio, and different versions of the same tale can exist altogether. This is the one I wanted you to know. Be wise, son, when you know you can’t outrun an enemy, outsmart them like the fox.”

“Thanks, Dad. I think I like your version better.”

“That’s a good boy. Now, go to sleep; we have an early start tomorrow.”

“Okay, Dad. Goodnight!”

The night grew still, and Figlio fell fast asleep.

The End! Stay tuned for the next Fable in two weeks!

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