Week 11 Storytelling: A Dream Come True

By all appearances, it was just another beautiful spring day in Oklahoma. The sky was a brilliant blue, filled with large, puffy white clouds. A slight breeze blew from the south, welcomed respite from the building heat. I made my way along the familiar sidewalk path toward campus and my job with thoughts of homework and graduation heavy on my mind. It seemed like another ordinary day, but it was about to be the farthest thing from ordinary.

"Hey!" a voice called out, seeming to come from out of nowhere. I immediately looked up and scanned the area for the person trying to get someone's (my?) attention. At first I saw no one, but when I turned right I nearly ran into him.

"Um, me?" I stammered, quite confused. I'd never seen this guy before in my life and he was dressed rather strangely. Although it was a crisp 67 degrees outside, he wore a long black robe. He clearly wasn't from around here. I looked around to see if anyone else thought this guys was weird, but no one even glanced at him.

"You're Shelby Brown, aren't you?" he asked, calling my attention back to him.

"How do you know my name?" I responded, pretty shocked that this complete stranger knew who I was.

"Oh, we've known about you for a while now," he explained with a grin. I began to freak out a little bit internally. We? Who is this 'we?'

"What do you want?" I asked hesitantly. And why is everyone giving me the weird looks instead of you? I thought.

"It's pretty simply really: I want you to come with me," he said.

"Um, me? Where? Why?" I was dumbfounded. Who was this random guy coming up to me out of nowhere and asking me to go somewhere with him?

"Yes, you. To Hogwarts. Because you're a witch," he answered.

I burst out laughing.

"Oh, I get it," I said, relieved. "This is some kind of joke. I didn't realize today was April Fools Day! Who put you up to this? Was it my sister? Or Alex? They should have realized this wouldn't work because I'm way too old for Hogwarts."

"I do realize the date is not ideal for this sort of news but this is not a joke. Hogwarts has actually been expanding recently and has opened up a school for older students, those who wish to continue their magical education after 7th year as well as those who never got the chance to start their magical training at the standard age," he explained.

"Right," I said sarcastically, "that's a nice recovery, but I'm still not fooled. Why don't you show me some magic, then? I'll decide what you do in case this is more elaborate than I imagine and you've set something up already." I scanned the area for some inspiration and my eyes landed on a black car parked nearby.

"Turn that black car red," I challenged him. He sighed and shook his head, but took out a rather realistic looking wand and pointed it at the car.

"Clovaria." To my utter disbelief, the jet black frame gradually shifted to red as if blushing. I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping.

"Make that flower larger," I demanded, pointing to a small yellow dandelion.

"Engorgio," he said confidently. The flower, indeed, became three times its original size in only a few second. People walked past without even noticing the oversized dandelion or the man waving a wand around.

"Why isn't anyone else freaking out?" I asked him incredulously.

"Because only you can see me," he said a little exasperated with how difficult I was being. I would have protested this explanation before but now it seemed perfectly reasonable. "Now will you come with me? We need to get you all sorted out so you can start your first year in July."

I nodded my head vigorously but could not manage any words, still in disbelief that this was real life and not just some dream I would wake up from soon. He chuckled at my reaction and instructed me to follow him. Sitting on the ground about thirty feet away was a tattered old shoe I was certain at this point was the portkey that would take me to the place I had dreamed of for many years.

Hogwarts
(Wikipedia)

Author's Note: This story was inspired by Connla and the Fairy Maiden from the book Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892). Connla is entreated to come to the paradise of the immortals by a fairy maiden that only he can see. His father enlists the help of a druid to try to vanquish the fairy, but she comes back and asks Connla again to come with her. This time he does not resist and agrees to go with her. They sail away and are never seen again, at least by anyone in the mortal realm.

I wanted to rewrite this story because I have often dreamed about someone coming along and introducing me to a magical world I never knew existed. This is very much like what happened to Harry Potter at the beginning of the series and I have loved these books since I was a child. Like everyone else, I had hoped that I would get a letter from Hogwarts so I could go study transfigurations and charms and magical creatures. This story is basically just wishful thinking or a crazy fantasy that I made into a full story. Another way I could have gone with this was meeting the Doctor and becoming one of his companions, but I thought the Wizarding World was more fitting since it's a magical realm where as Doctor Who takes place in reality just all over in time and space.

Reading Diary B: Celtic Fairy Tales

These are my favorites from the second half of the Celtic Fairy Tales unit:

Beth Gellert: I have not a read a sadder story in all the units I've completed so far. You know that scene in Lady and the Tramp where Aunt Sarah (that terrible woman) has Tramp sent to the pound because he "attacked the baby?" When really he had just saved him from a rat. This story is a lot like that. Gellert is the prince's favorite greyhound and he protected his son from a wolf, but all he saw was the blood on the dog and all around the child's room. So he STABS HIM but then hears his son, finding him unharmed under the crib next to the dead wolf. I'm glad he feels terrible because he MURDERED his most loyal dog. How could you!?

The Tale of Ivan: This is an odd little adventure tale. Instead of being paid wages for 3 years, Ivan accepts advice from his master which helps him a lot more than the 9 pounds would have. I was still skeptical of this decision, though. His wife had to live without money (at least none contribute by Ivan) for 3 years! In the end, the advice saved his life twice, got him a good job as a lord's servant, and the wages he was owed for all the work he did. So it was good advice but I still can't help feeling sorry for the wife who had to live without any money. It is just a fairy tale, though, so it's possible for people to live on little to no money for years somehow.

Andrew Coffey: If the first story was the saddest I've read so far, this one is nearly the weirdest I've read so far. A bunch of strange things happen and without very much logic, reason, or explanation. At one point, Andrew is roasting a dead guy, who was supposedly lost at sea, on a spit (the picture below is the illustration that goes along with the story). I kept waiting for the part where it would make sense or some explanation would come, but it never did. So after thinking about it, I've decided that Andrew Coffey was probably just being haunted the spirit of the dead man. It all seems like a bad dream which could be another explanation, but I think the haunting is more probable.

Andrew roasting the dead man (who still talks and move) on a spit (John D. Batten)

Brewery of Eggshells: I don't know how a story can be silly and creepy at the same time but this one manages to do just that. A couple realizes their children aren't growing and suspect they've been stolen and replaced. A wise man tells the mother to bake eggshells and try to give them to someone as food which causes one of the fake children to talk. She throws them in a lake and the thieves give her the real children back. I'm glad we don't live in a fairy tale world sometimes so that we don't have to worry about things like this happening or creepy witches like from the first half of the unit or the odd happenings of the previous story. Some things are better left imaginary.

Reading Diary A: Celtic Fairy Tales

Here are my favorites from the first half of the Celtic Fairy Tale unit:

Connla and the Fairy Maiden: I liked this story because it reminded me a bit of The Fairy Bride from the American Indian Fairy Tales unit I read two weeks ago. This time the fairy is a woman and the human desiring to go to the land of the fairies is a man. I wonder why it is that only Connla can see the fairy maiden and no one else can. Maybe it's because he's the only one that has been chosen to go to the immortal paradise. I wish a magical person or creature of some kind would come ask me to run away to a magical place like that (especially Hogwarts). Maybe I'll rewrite this story later this week and make my dreams come true.

The Horned Women: This was a creepy little tale about witches that invade a woman's home and are a nuisance. It seems like one of those scary stories from that children's book series, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It has the same odd plot and aura of creepiness, without being gruesome. Even the illustration (below) looks like it would fit right in to one of those books. I don't know what I would do if some scary women with horns growing out of their heads invaded my home. Actually, I probably wouldn't have even opened the door. Then again, they could probably just open it with magic

The Horned Witches (John D. Batten)

The Sprightly Tailor: This story proved to be just as creepy as the last and also in the same character as the Stories to Tell in the Dark series. A tailor's lord basically dares him to work in the old church over night for a handsome reward and some giant human-like creature starts crawling out of the floor and talking about how big he is. If that was me in that church, I would have been gone when that giant head popped up; forget the money. Then again, I'm a big scaredy cat so I probably wouldn't have agreed to the bet in the first place. If I'm sleeping by myself, I prefer to have a light on. I hope I don't have a creepy nightmare about this story tonight.

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree: This story is very similar to Snow White. A queen is jealous of her daughter's beauty because of magical being says Gold-Tree is prettier. This time the ways used to try to kill her are a poison stab (a needle maybe?) and a poisoned drink. The big difference in this version is that Gold-Tree's husband marries after he thinks she's dead and decides to keep both wives whenever the second revives Gold-Tree. That seems a little selfish to me on the prince's part. I could hardly see the two wives being happy about it in real life but the second wife does save Gold-Tree from her mother's plot again so they seem to be handling it fine. If they're okay with it then I don't see the harm.