The Last Elf
Page 2
though I thank you for the offer. I guess I must begin at the beginning and tell you all about my problem.
"You see, I'm an Elf. There aren't any of my people here in the world now, just me. I'm the last Elf on earth. I tarried too long when the world was young, singing with the birds and smelling the flowers. I visited the oceans and the great forests. And I walked under the stars, counting them as I roamed, and walked under the sun admiring the clouds. But a day came when my people longed for Elvenhome, far up in the sky among the stars. When the call came to board the Elvish ships, I was late. When I got here, all my kin had gone."
"But why did they go? You seem to like it here, didn't they?" asked Rosemary.
"Oh yes, they did! In the very beginning, thousands of years ago, we Elves traveled from our home to visit this beautiful earth. We stayed for many centuries wandering and exploring, studying and learning. But mankind was growing and settling down. Men became so numerous, the Elves started feeling out of place. Humans move so fast, you see. And we don't. When one doesn't change and everyone else does, one can begin to feel rather odd.
"At first, we were only thought to be funny and strange. Then even those humans who knew us well began to think us rather ridiculous. As time went on, people became more busy and less thoughtful. They became frightened of us, of our ‘magical power’ as they called it, and, especially, of our immortality. Finally, we had to make ourselves invisible to everyone, but our friends."
The elf looked at the ground and smiled rather ruefully. "What nobody understood is that there are lots of things an elf can't do. Elves don’t grow old themselves, but they can't keep anyone else young. It can be very, very lonely. And now, of course, there is only me.”
"Oh, it must be very lonely. Do you have to stay here forever? Can't you go home?"
Meriandor looked at her with an eager light in his eyes. "There is one chance and you have given me hope that I might take it soon. It may the last chance given to me, for the world is closing in and these woods might not be here much longer."
With that he hopped onto the tree limb on which he was sitting when they first met. "I'm going to tell you a story and then I think you'll understand how you can help me."
With his eyes fixed on the bright sky of the fading day, he told her a story about ancient Greece, of a magical winged horse called Pegasus, and of Bellerophon, the great mortal warrior who rode him.
Before the Elves departed, when Unicorns roamed the land and the immortal gods sat on their thrones on a mountain called Olympus, Bellerophon was one of the mightiest warriors of the time. He, with the help of Pegasus, succeeded in destroying a terrible fire-breathing monster called the Chimaera.
Bellerophon and his steed accomplished many feats of valor together. But as his fame grew, so did his pride until one day he decided to try to become immortal, like the gods on Mount Olympus. He decided to ascend that sacred mountain and challenge the great powers there. He thought that if he could win, he would gain life without death.
But the wise Pegasus, who knew that such a thing was impossible, refused to take his rider up the mountain and threw his him off. Bellerophon, in his rage as he fell from his horse to the earth below, shot an arrow into Pegasus' leg and wounded him gravely.
"I found him there lying on the mountainside in great pain, and I was able to save him with my healing skills. For this Pegasus promised to reward me. I had only to ask for what I most desired and it was mine.
"But I didn’t want anything at the time, already having the sun, the moon, and the stars. So I thought very little about it.
“As ages passed by, the ships of the Elves began departing for Elvenhome. Still I wandered and did not worry. And so the centuries went by, Elves leaving and none returning. Until at last, I came to realize that I had been forgotten, left behind. And I did not know what to do.
“As I sat in this very place an idea came to me. Pegasus! Pegasus living in the heavens! Pegasus might help. So I sang to Him in the night and after a time a great Eagle came. The greatest Eagle of the age, Windan, Master of the Sky, swooped out of the Northern heavens bringing the answer I sought. In a proud, deep voice, he sang to me the message Pegasus had given him to deliver.
When the nor'easter blows,
And the first frost glows
Under new moon,
Last of the autumn sky.
When a mortal can see
Little Elf that still be
Under green pines,
Last Elf of days gone by.
A winged ship will depart
To carry home Elvenheart,
Favor to return,
Pegasus will fly.
and so, for many years, I've waited."
As Meriandor and Rosemary talked in the dusk under the eaves of the wood, her grandmother looked out the window, but saw only a little girl and her dog talking and listening to... no one.
Into her grandmother's eyes came a deep, wistful gleam, the look of someone trying to remember a beautiful dream, but not quite catching it. She turned to her dresser and opened the third drawer down and took out the beautifully needle-pointed box.
“How did it come to be in this drawer after all these years packed away secretly in the attic?” she wondered. She opened the box and gently lifted the flower out. She sniffed it and touched the petals. It hadn't changed in these many years, but she couldn't remember how she had gotten it. On the edge of memory sat a night long ago, a sad and happy night in the autumn under the eaves of the pinewood. Ah, she just couldn't remember.
She turned back to the window and called Rosemary in for the night.
For many nights as the autumn faded and winter approached, as her grandmother watched from the window, Meriandor and Rosemary talked. He told her stories of all the things he had seen and done in his years on earth. He spoke of the changing seasons and the changing lands. Together, they went back to the olden times when the world was simpler and people fewer. They walked together in Arcady under cloudless skies. They listened to Orion play upon his lyre. They roamed the jungles of Africa and climbed the tallest heights of the Himalayas.
Meriandor talked of the Elves, of their joys and sorrows. There were many happy days at first, but as mankind grew more intolerant and greedy, many Elf friends were lost in mortal wars and other human follies.
"There were battlefields of mortal men covered with the tearflowers of the Elves. ‘Remembrance' we call them in your language.
"You see, when an elf cries tears of great grief on earth, a lovely flower grows in the spot where his tears fall, as a remembrance of the happiness and sadness that combined to cause that grief. Tearflowers never fade for they are timeless like the Elves. But when an Elf returns to his home and leaves earthly things behind, the flowers turn to crystal. There are none left now. They were all broken or lost in ages past."
In the hush that fell upon them in the snugness of the trees, Rosemary whispered, "I've seen a tearflower. The night I met you, I was looking for another."
Meriandor smiled. "Your grandmother kept it, didn't she? Sixty years ago as she sat with me, the last new moon of autumn rose in the sky and the northeast wind blew, but the frost never came. I cried tears of great grief that night because I thought at first that I'd be leaving this world that I still love and then I cried because I thought I would never have a chance to go home.
"Your grandmother was a comfort to me then and you are a comfort to me now. Whatever happens this autumn, I'll always remember my beautiful, little Rosemarys."
The next night was the first night of the last new moon of autumn. Rosemary sat with Meriandor whom she had come to love dearly. They held hands and whispered together.
Meriandor told Rosemary things about herself and she was amazed because they were things that she had never told anyone. He seemed to know about her trouble at home and the sadness in her heart. He understood her anger and her fears. He understood her loneliness. And things began to look a little clearer to her and not quite so scary. He did
n't advise her or criticize her. He just knew what she felt and thought. It was a good feeling for Rosemary.
Finally as the night was drawing in and the air was becoming chill, he told her of himself. How, when he was an Elflad he chose to leave the work of the Elves to others while he roamed and played.
"I didn't like change. I was born here on earth and was more attached to it than most of our kind and I guess I hid the truth from myself. The truth that Elvenhome is where I truly belong. Doing the work of my people, growing in patience and learning responsibility. I hid from all these things for a long time.
"Here on earth, I've finally learned after all these years that I need my own kind to be complete and happy. I need to accept what is real for an Elf, not live in a fantasy world here with you.
"Because of you and your grandmother, I can go home now. You have believed in me and given me friendship and love. So now I can say good-bye to a friend and take a little of that love with me, if I may, when I go."
Suddenly, a great gust of wind blew down from the northeast and brought with it a blast of frigid air, so cold it froze the last autumn flowers in their beds. The shutters of the house rattled and the leaves flew over the ground in a fury.
Grandma ran out to the porch and called to Rosemary, but her voice was carried away on the wind. She looked into the woods and, at long last, saw the little Elf kiss her Rosemary on the cheek, as she