| Subject: The Stars of Salamandastron |
Author:
Lessa
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 21:49:59 09/13/06 Wed
Dewberry sat by the pond staring at the sky peacefully. She was a pretty mouse with a kind and serving heart. "Wahoo!" Two dibbuns, Titi and Dewberry's son Goldenrod, threw themselves in her lap knocking the breath out of her. "Mother Jessamine says we need to go to bed, but we don't wanna go to bed." Titi hurriedly said, "We wanna stay up all night and have you tell us stories." Goldenrod nodded in agreement. Dewberry couldn't help but smile at the eager dibbuns. Titi, a young squirel maid excited and ready for adventure, and her companion Goldenrod a young mouse, willing to let his friend come up with the grand schemes and to help see them through. Dewberry laughed.
"Well," she said, smiling at Mother Jessamine as she came to fetch the young ones, "You can't stay up all night but I think it would be alright if you heard one story. Don't you mother?" She looked questioningly at the Badger Mother of Redwall Abby.
"Please? Please, please, please, Please?" the two dibbuns begged shamelessly.
Jessamine sat down next to Dewberry and smiled. "Alright, I have been wanting a story myself." She said.
"Yeah!" the dibbuns shouted together. “I wanna story about Martin," Titi said.
"No," Goldenrod exclaimed, "One about the badger mountain." The two young ones glared at each other.
Jessamine laughed, "I know the perfect story. Although, it is more about Martin's sword and Salamandastron, than about Martin himself. Hold still now and I'll tell you."
"You see those stars? The ones that form an arrow without a point? That arrow always points towards Salamandastron. You can go leagues in any direction away from the mountain, at any time of the year and the arrow will always show you the way to the mountain. It has always shown the way to the badger mountain and always will. Once long ago it had a point. Those particular stars that form the arrow keep watch over Salamandastron and the country around it. The stars are old, young one, they look where they please and can see great distances. Far greater than you or I can imagine. Most of the time they watch with cool detachment but the star at the point watched with great interest. The other stars laughed at him, in the way that stars do, for spending so much time and interest in the small world with furred creatures. Yet, the star at the point loved to watch us. He watched over Spearlady Gorse, Bluestripe the Wild, Ceteruler the Just, and Urthrun the Griper. He watched them all and would still be watching, but as he watched over Lord Stonepaw something began to change within him. He paid us a bit more attention. The star came to love Lord Stonepaw. When Lord Stonepaw died he wept, as stars do."
"How do stars weep, Mother?"
"Meteor Showers, young one. Every time you see a one, a star somewhere is weeping. The old star decided he wished to help Lord Stonepaw and looked to the future. For stars can do that. Future, past, present, those words mean little to them. As he looked he saw that Old Stonepaw's great-granddaughter would come to need help. So he began to think. He thought a long, long time."
"Then Lord Brocktree came and fought to win the mountain back from Ungat Trun. And the star loved him even more than he had loved Brocktree's father. He rejoiced when Lord Brocktree took back the mountain and grieved when he had trouble."
"When Boar the Fighter came to be ruler of Salamandastron, the star decided it was time to act and cast himself from the sky down to earth. A hare, Lupin, saw the star fall and fetched it back to Boar. You know the rest of the story, of how Martin the Warrior came to the mountain and how Boar the Fighter made his sword. You know about the fight for Mossflower and of how our Abby came to be built."
"Wow," Goldenrod breathed eyes big as saucers, "So, Martin's sword is a star?"
"Yes, young one," Jessamine replied, "And now it is time for you two to get to bed."
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 