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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Fairy Tale / Folk Tale
- Published: 12/05/2022
It was a Thursday night like any other. Eli Beaver was hosting weekly poker night, and we just dealt our second hand. The chipmunks were being sore losers, and like always, we suspected Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel were counting cards after an unusually lucky hand. Our game came to a halt when we heard screaming moving toward us at lightning speed. It sounded unnatural, almost human-like, and we all sprang up from our seats. As a few of us stepped outside the dam, and others peeked outside of windows and cracks, we all froze when we saw a young woman in distress. She was scampering towards us, holding onto her tethered and muddy blue and gold dress. She looked rough. Really rough.
None of us has seen a human that close, at least no one who is still with us, so while she looked absolutely petrified, we were panicking too. She collapsed a few yards from the dam, so as a collective we agreed to investigate. The men went first, with Eli Beaver leading the pack. Most of the women stayed inside, except for Susanne Squirrel and Holly Hawk. They’re pretty nosy, and they sure didn't hesitate to spread gossip regarding the poor girl. From her fiery red hair to her muddy, shoeless feet, they had no shortage of comments to make. By the time we had all circled around her, she woke up. Her eyes were becoming brighter, her skin was transitioning from a tomato red to a flushed peach, and she started sitting up. However, it still looked like her lights weren’t quite on if you know what I mean. She looked up at all of us. Scared. We stared back. Curious.
While we all knew she was a woman, and younger than the average human, up close she didn't seem so scary. I’d even go as far as to call her dainty. And I’m a Bunny. The following minutes could be described as an awkward staring contest, but it was broken by the timid voice of Darla Deer who asked the simple question “Do you like Acorns?”. Note, I said a simple question, not a logical one.
Before she gave her stance on acorns, Shirley Snake asked who she was, and the girl proclaimed “Princess Scarlett Rose.”
Shirley didn't respond before the animals flooded the Princess with questions.
They chimed in with questions like “Where are you from?”, and “How did you get here?”. To that, she gave some elaborate responses about a stepmother and a castle and so on and so forth. I was still too shocked to hear everything.
At this time Susanne and Holly rushed back to alert the rest of the forest. Within minutes everyone was aware of our newest arrival, and no one was left without questions. While some of us were eager to know everything about her, others were hoping to send her back on her way to wherever she came from. Most of the elders were hesitant about welcoming a human into our town, but I was enthusiastic about our new guest.
While we were all attempting to understand our new visitor, one thing was made apparent: we needed to help her. She could clearly not return to wherever she came from, and there was nowhere else for her to go. We helped her limp back to the dam where she spent the next several days in and out of consciousness. Darla Deer made her renouned soup for when the princess woke up, and some of the women had gathered together to make her some new clothes. In that time, the other animals had banded together to make her a shed, not anything elaborate by any means, but enough to put a human-sized roof over her head.
Once she settled into her new home, our desire to help grew stronger. She regained her strength and used her human abilities to help us carry supplies throughout the forest, and expand her one-room shed into a humble cottage. It was a charming cottage, to say the least, with beautiful stained windows and bunches of flowers in every room. Every animal in the forest came to her housewarming party, even those who were initially cautious of her arrival, and most of us frequently visited afterward. It had been a few weeks since she stumbled into the forest, and Princess Rose had made herself at home. She played poker with us on Thursday nights, and cooked pastries for us almost daily.
Our friendships turned into adoration as she continued to bless us with stories from her human village, and proclaimed how much she had grown to love her new life.
This cycle continued, and as she stayed longer there was more to be done. We maintained our own homes as we helped her maintain her own. The laundry, cooking, and cleaning were too much for a single maiden to do by herself, so we banded together to get the jobs done. We tasked most of the birds with cooking since they had a way with sugars and spices, the deer and squirrels were assigned to do laundry, and the rest of us upheld the cleaning. I was glad to be assigned an indoor job, and personally, I found sweeping to be quite satisfying.
For our help, she rewarded us with sweets beyond imagination ranging from cakes and cookies to gumdrops and licorice. She could make everything. After weeks of this treatment, we had a sweet tooth epidemic and acquiesced to her requests knowing the goodness in store.
This seemed to be working out fine until one day Eli Beaver had enough. While I was home sick, and unable to see the event in person, Eli snapped at Rose. The story I heard from the gossipy Holly Hawk was that she heard a quarrel between him and the Princess while she was working in the kitchen. Apparently, as Eli was attempting to leave to prepare his own dam to host poker night, Scarlet demanded that he stay and work until her cottage was immaculate. According to Mrs. Hawk, the Princess was lounging outside when she encountered Mr. Beaver, and her idleness prior to her orders is what sent him over the edge. He then proceeded to criticize her habits of delegating work rather than actually doing work, and her self-proclaimed role as a leader of a community she had only recently joined. The conflict ended once the deer arrived at the scene with their fresh load of laundry, and urged Beaver to go home and avoid an even bigger commotion.
What surprised me the most was that in the following weeks, it seemed like the animals had collectively followed the lead of Eli Beaver. No one seemed to want to work for Rose anymore, and the appeal of sweets had faded. More animals started saying no when told to do tasks, and fewer and fewer showed up to their assigned duties. Those who were initially cautious of her started preaching that they were right all along, and even those who considered her a friend hesitated to speak her name. I was one of the last to attend my chore assignment, and when I arrived at her cottage I could see the defeat on her face. I almost felt bad for her.
While the others said she was cruel, I didn't think that was her intention. She must’ve thought she had fairly repaid her helpers with her sweet treats, or maybe she thought that as her friends we were volunteering. Maybe she wasn’t in the wrong, and maybe we were selfish. Nonetheless, she was alienated. Once again a foreigner.
After days of her not being seen, she approached the river as we were all doing our laundry. Stunned to see all her friends from her not-so-distant past, she froze in her tracks. Personally, I missed her, but I could tell I was alone by the energy shift around me. The animals stared at her with disdain and contempt until the Princess made the wise decision to turn around. It wasn't long after that we saw her packing up her few belongings. This was goodbye to our old human friend. Thursday night was the night she left for good. We all gathered by the windows of Eli’s dam as we watched her solemnly walk away.
After a few months, all was back to normal. We went about our lives as if we never met the Princess. One foggy day I began to reminisce about my dear old friend Scarlett Rose. I began to miss her old stories and the liveliness she brought into the forest, but I knew I was alone with this thought. I decided to take a long walk deep into the woods. I simply wanted to clear my head, but I was left with an image I will never be able to erase. It was a house made purely of sweets and goodies. It seemed to have a gingerbread build covered in royal icing and every form of sugary goodness imaginable. As I stared up at the house in awe I heard the shrieks of children. I raced towards the house, ready to help. I was almost there when suddenly the noises stopped, then a window opened, and I was frozen; utterly stuck as I locked eyes with Princess Scarlet Rose.
Scarlett Rose(Adia Anderson)
It was a Thursday night like any other. Eli Beaver was hosting weekly poker night, and we just dealt our second hand. The chipmunks were being sore losers, and like always, we suspected Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel were counting cards after an unusually lucky hand. Our game came to a halt when we heard screaming moving toward us at lightning speed. It sounded unnatural, almost human-like, and we all sprang up from our seats. As a few of us stepped outside the dam, and others peeked outside of windows and cracks, we all froze when we saw a young woman in distress. She was scampering towards us, holding onto her tethered and muddy blue and gold dress. She looked rough. Really rough.
None of us has seen a human that close, at least no one who is still with us, so while she looked absolutely petrified, we were panicking too. She collapsed a few yards from the dam, so as a collective we agreed to investigate. The men went first, with Eli Beaver leading the pack. Most of the women stayed inside, except for Susanne Squirrel and Holly Hawk. They’re pretty nosy, and they sure didn't hesitate to spread gossip regarding the poor girl. From her fiery red hair to her muddy, shoeless feet, they had no shortage of comments to make. By the time we had all circled around her, she woke up. Her eyes were becoming brighter, her skin was transitioning from a tomato red to a flushed peach, and she started sitting up. However, it still looked like her lights weren’t quite on if you know what I mean. She looked up at all of us. Scared. We stared back. Curious.
While we all knew she was a woman, and younger than the average human, up close she didn't seem so scary. I’d even go as far as to call her dainty. And I’m a Bunny. The following minutes could be described as an awkward staring contest, but it was broken by the timid voice of Darla Deer who asked the simple question “Do you like Acorns?”. Note, I said a simple question, not a logical one.
Before she gave her stance on acorns, Shirley Snake asked who she was, and the girl proclaimed “Princess Scarlett Rose.”
Shirley didn't respond before the animals flooded the Princess with questions.
They chimed in with questions like “Where are you from?”, and “How did you get here?”. To that, she gave some elaborate responses about a stepmother and a castle and so on and so forth. I was still too shocked to hear everything.
At this time Susanne and Holly rushed back to alert the rest of the forest. Within minutes everyone was aware of our newest arrival, and no one was left without questions. While some of us were eager to know everything about her, others were hoping to send her back on her way to wherever she came from. Most of the elders were hesitant about welcoming a human into our town, but I was enthusiastic about our new guest.
While we were all attempting to understand our new visitor, one thing was made apparent: we needed to help her. She could clearly not return to wherever she came from, and there was nowhere else for her to go. We helped her limp back to the dam where she spent the next several days in and out of consciousness. Darla Deer made her renouned soup for when the princess woke up, and some of the women had gathered together to make her some new clothes. In that time, the other animals had banded together to make her a shed, not anything elaborate by any means, but enough to put a human-sized roof over her head.
Once she settled into her new home, our desire to help grew stronger. She regained her strength and used her human abilities to help us carry supplies throughout the forest, and expand her one-room shed into a humble cottage. It was a charming cottage, to say the least, with beautiful stained windows and bunches of flowers in every room. Every animal in the forest came to her housewarming party, even those who were initially cautious of her arrival, and most of us frequently visited afterward. It had been a few weeks since she stumbled into the forest, and Princess Rose had made herself at home. She played poker with us on Thursday nights, and cooked pastries for us almost daily.
Our friendships turned into adoration as she continued to bless us with stories from her human village, and proclaimed how much she had grown to love her new life.
This cycle continued, and as she stayed longer there was more to be done. We maintained our own homes as we helped her maintain her own. The laundry, cooking, and cleaning were too much for a single maiden to do by herself, so we banded together to get the jobs done. We tasked most of the birds with cooking since they had a way with sugars and spices, the deer and squirrels were assigned to do laundry, and the rest of us upheld the cleaning. I was glad to be assigned an indoor job, and personally, I found sweeping to be quite satisfying.
For our help, she rewarded us with sweets beyond imagination ranging from cakes and cookies to gumdrops and licorice. She could make everything. After weeks of this treatment, we had a sweet tooth epidemic and acquiesced to her requests knowing the goodness in store.
This seemed to be working out fine until one day Eli Beaver had enough. While I was home sick, and unable to see the event in person, Eli snapped at Rose. The story I heard from the gossipy Holly Hawk was that she heard a quarrel between him and the Princess while she was working in the kitchen. Apparently, as Eli was attempting to leave to prepare his own dam to host poker night, Scarlet demanded that he stay and work until her cottage was immaculate. According to Mrs. Hawk, the Princess was lounging outside when she encountered Mr. Beaver, and her idleness prior to her orders is what sent him over the edge. He then proceeded to criticize her habits of delegating work rather than actually doing work, and her self-proclaimed role as a leader of a community she had only recently joined. The conflict ended once the deer arrived at the scene with their fresh load of laundry, and urged Beaver to go home and avoid an even bigger commotion.
What surprised me the most was that in the following weeks, it seemed like the animals had collectively followed the lead of Eli Beaver. No one seemed to want to work for Rose anymore, and the appeal of sweets had faded. More animals started saying no when told to do tasks, and fewer and fewer showed up to their assigned duties. Those who were initially cautious of her started preaching that they were right all along, and even those who considered her a friend hesitated to speak her name. I was one of the last to attend my chore assignment, and when I arrived at her cottage I could see the defeat on her face. I almost felt bad for her.
While the others said she was cruel, I didn't think that was her intention. She must’ve thought she had fairly repaid her helpers with her sweet treats, or maybe she thought that as her friends we were volunteering. Maybe she wasn’t in the wrong, and maybe we were selfish. Nonetheless, she was alienated. Once again a foreigner.
After days of her not being seen, she approached the river as we were all doing our laundry. Stunned to see all her friends from her not-so-distant past, she froze in her tracks. Personally, I missed her, but I could tell I was alone by the energy shift around me. The animals stared at her with disdain and contempt until the Princess made the wise decision to turn around. It wasn't long after that we saw her packing up her few belongings. This was goodbye to our old human friend. Thursday night was the night she left for good. We all gathered by the windows of Eli’s dam as we watched her solemnly walk away.
After a few months, all was back to normal. We went about our lives as if we never met the Princess. One foggy day I began to reminisce about my dear old friend Scarlett Rose. I began to miss her old stories and the liveliness she brought into the forest, but I knew I was alone with this thought. I decided to take a long walk deep into the woods. I simply wanted to clear my head, but I was left with an image I will never be able to erase. It was a house made purely of sweets and goodies. It seemed to have a gingerbread build covered in royal icing and every form of sugary goodness imaginable. As I stared up at the house in awe I heard the shrieks of children. I raced towards the house, ready to help. I was almost there when suddenly the noises stopped, then a window opened, and I was frozen; utterly stuck as I locked eyes with Princess Scarlet Rose.
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Radrook
12/05/2022A very interesting story. Thanks for sharing.
The dramatic itroduction and a conclusion that left me wondering about who Rose really was. After all, her sudden arrival is accompanied by screams and screams precede her being found after she left. She is also described as having red skin which slowly becomes normal, and seems to be fleeing from someone or something. So the impression I got was one of a creature immitating the human form. Yet she shows no malice towards her hosts even after they turn against her and leaves without causing harm. But then the screams of children introduces the doubts about her identity once more. The locking of gazes to me seemed to indicate that something was not quite right with rose and that the creature or human who went to search for her realized it at that moment when she appeared at the gingerbread house window.
Question: Were the ones helping Rose humans with animal names or were they truly animals?
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