THE SECRET OF MAGIC STONES -PART-3
Written By - Prabir Rai Chaudhuri
- What will become of me, answered Sophia with tears in her eyes. Will I stay a fox my whole life?
- Why don't you go ask the old fox for advice?
- What a good idea! Thank you Chachou.
The owl flew away.
The next day she woke up at dawn. A light mist invaded the forest, spreading its coolness between the tall trees. She felt hungry, but not yet hungry enough to run to the village and try to eat a chicken in a farmyard, no doubt chased by ferocious dogs.
She went to this strange place, a chaos of rocks, not far from the marshes: the burrow of the old fox.
She sat down at the entrance and called him three times.
- Old fox! old fox! old fox!
- What do you want from me? he said, pointing his muzzle.
- I'm Christina. We have met before. Will you help me one more time?
- You have become a fox now... The other day you looked like a snake... What do you want this time?
- Become a girl again.
- How is it that you appear to me once again as an animal?
- Because of a magic formula that I discovered following a revelation that my owl was keeping secret. By holding a strange stone in my hand and saying a few words, I become what I think about.
- GOOD. I will help you. But first, I want to test your logical and thinking skills. I'm starting to doubt it.
- I'm listening, affirmed our friend, pretending not to hear the somewhat hurtful remark.
- I have two rings. Both in gold. One is open and the other closed. Which do you choose?
Sophia-renard thinks. The open signifies welcome, encounter, friendship, life. The closed represents refusal, silence, withdrawal, death. She hesitated.
Which would you have chosen?
- I take both, decided our friend. Because life and death are linked. Everything that is alive dies one day.
- Cheer! congratulated the old fox. You seem to me gifted with a subtle, shrewd mind. Here is my advice. Go to the magpies. They are interested in everything that shines, sparkles, shimmers. I don't know where it comes from. But they won't hesitate to enter your room and seize your stone, since it shines, you say. Then you reward them.
- What a good idea ! Thank you old fox.
Our friend came back near her house. The light was already on in the living room. Night would soon come. Dad and mom must have been worried and wondering where their daughter might be.
Hungry, she scratched at the door. But no one opened.
Two magpies were chattering not far away, at the top of a large tree. She approached them and called them. They approached the fox cautiously.
- What do you want from us?
- I'm Christina. Remember, I live in this house. You see me often. I am a fox because of a magic formula. To become a child again, I must hold a stone in my hand. The one on my table, right there in my room. Take advantage of the open window for now, and take it. As soon as I reappear as before, I will offer it to you.
One of the magpies flew up and landed on the window sill. She looked around, then entered the bedroom. She grabbed the stone between her paws, came out and landed near our friend.
- Here it is.
- Thank you, said Sophia-fox. Wait, I remember the magic words. I say them right away. What I think happens ...
Nothing happened at all. Yet she clutched the stone between her paws.
- The crystal needs light to shine, said the magpie.
- How to do? our friend wondered.
- Wait for sunrise tomorrow.
Sophia spent a terrible night. She first lay down between the roots of a large tree, not far from her home. Consumed by hunger, she could not sleep.
Later that night she went to drink water from the river. She came back in the pouring, cold rain. Soaked and shivering, she lay down in the shed where her father stores his wood.
Finally, the sun reappeared and its light pierced the foliage of the tall trees. Now the forest was singing with all its birds.
Our friend seized the crystal stone between her paws and advanced in the middle of a splendid ray of sunshine.
After a moment's hesitation, she placed it upright on some green moss, the fine droplets of dew glistening like diamonds. She put her fox paw right on it and whispered.
- What I think happens.
At the same time, she imagined herself, standing at the edge of the big swamp, dressed in her blue overalls and her sneakers.
In an instant, she became Sophia again.
She let out a cry of joy.
Then, before rushing into her house, she called the magpies she met last night.
- Here, she said in their language. You deserve this crystal. I offer it to you. Besides, I prefer to part with it. But tell me, where does this attraction for all that glitters come from?
- We want to tell you, answered the magpies. But you will keep that to yourself.
- I promise, said our friend.
- A long time ago, an imposing castle existed in the heart of our forest. A prince, more powerful than a king lived there, with his wife and their little boy.
- One day, continued the magpie, the princess leaned out of one of the windows and at the same moment, her beautiful necklace of fine pearls broke. The pearls fell and rolled everywhere under the flowers, the hedges, the bushes, and disappeared.
"The desolate princess cried a lot, because this necklace was the one received from her husband on their wedding day. The magpies, numerous around the castle, gathered together, moved by these tears. They found the pearls one by one and placed them in a garden stone basin.
"To thank them, the kind lady gave the magpies a diamond necklace, once worn by her grandmother. A marvel of light and color.
Since that time, we love everything that glitters...
Sophia thanked her friends then rushed home.
Mom and Dad had just gotten up.
Our friend told them all about her adventure while she satiated herself with well-stocked sandwiches with them. Then she hugged them for a long time, tears in her eyes.
END OF THIS STORY
