by Khoa Le
Curious, Chimidyue pricked up her ears.
“I will eat Chimidyue. I will eat Chimidyue,” the Monkey Lord murmured again and again in his sleep.
Chimidyue squinted through the darkness and saw that he was covered in black spots. He was changing from human form—into a sleeping jaguar! He wasn’t a monkey at all!
Chimidyue slipped out of her hammock as quietly as she could and grabbed one of the torches. She ran away through the trees, trying to get as far away from the jaguar as possible.
When dawn began to push through the leaves, Chimidyue stopped at last to rest. She still had no idea where she was and she was very tired and scared.
“It seems that every animal in here wishes me harm,” she said.
“Now you know how we feel about humans,” said a tiny voice.
Chimidyue looked up to see the big morpho blue butterfly sitting on the branch above her. “You again!” she gasped. “You led me here!”
“You followed me for fun,” said the butterfly. “And I think you have learned much about the forest, little one. It is much bigger than your human world. Every creature in here has their own life, wants, and needs. They will not always behave how you want them to.”
Chimidyue nodded her head. “We share the forest; it is not ours to use just as we want,” she said.
The butterfly flapped its wings. “Exactly. I think it’s time to go home. Follow me.”
It fluttered its wings faster than Chimidyue had ever seen before and began to glow an even brighter blue.
Chimidyue felt herself shrinking, shrinking. Then, she looked down. Her arms were gone and she had two beautiful blue wings. “I’m a butterfly too!” she exclaimed.
The morpho butterfly led her through the forest and over the wide river to her home clearing.
“This is so much fun!” said Chimidyue. “I wish I could be a butterfly forever!”
“You belong with your family, Chimidyue,” said the butterfly. “But now that you have been one of us, I hope that you will keep the forest in your heart and be mindful of how you treat us animals.”
Chimidyue touched the ground and instantly changed back into her human form.
“I will,” she promised the butterfly.
From that day on, Chimidyue always made sure that she and her family respected the animals who shared their forest home.
The Fountain, the Oven,and the Goddess
A traditional folk tale, from Romania
In a small house in the Romanian countryside lived a girl, called Elena, and her father. Elena was very kind and hardworking. Her father was a mild man and relied a lot on Elena to make decisions and take care of him and the house.
After many years of living like this, Elena’s father remarried. Elena was pleased at first. She welcomed her new stepmother, and her new stepsister, Anca, who was the same age as her. She hoped they could grow to be as close as sisters could be.
But Elena’s stepmother had other ideas … She made Elena do all of the work around the house and found fault with everything she did. Meanwhile Anca barely lifted a finger, but her mother praised her all the time.
Elena made and cleaned up breakfast and lunch and dinner for everyone. In between, she cleaned the whole house, chopped the firewood, looked after the animals, and did the laundry. But nothing was good enough for her stepmother.
“My breakfast is cold,” she complained one morning, when she finally came to the table after she’d spent ages braiding Anca’s pretty hair.
“Call that clean?” she sniffed, as Elena scrubbed at the floors to try to clear up the mud that Anca had tracked in from her morning walk.
“Be more careful with my dresses,” she snapped when she saw Elena doing the laundry. “They are most delicate. Don’t treat them like your rotten old clothes.”
Elena felt furious at these words. She had done her best to fit in with her stepfamily, for her father’s sake, but now she turned to him. “Father, I am trying my best. Can Anca not do some of this work?”
“Anca does so much for this family,” crooned Elena’s stepmother. “She is a light in this gloomy world. Stop whining.”
Elena’s father just huddled on his chair, looking nervous of his wife.
At that moment, the fire went out. “I will not fetch the firewood by myself,” Elena declared. “Anca, you must help.”
“I got the last load,” said Anca, lolling in her chair.
“No, you didn’t!” Elena cried. “You haven’t even been to the woods since you arrived!”
“Stop trying to take credit for Anca’s hard work, Elena,” her stepmother snapped.
“Well done, Anca,” Elena’s father murmured.
That was the final straw. Elena marched out, slamming the door behind her.
They do not care for me, she thought to herself. I must find somewhere else to live.
So off she went down the road. She had been walking for a while when she saw a fountain that had been neglected and was clogged with leaves.
“Young girl, if you help me now, I will reward you later,” said the fountain, in a tinkly voice. Elena had never encountered a talking fountain before, but her instinct was always to be kind. She got down on her hands and knees and removed all the leaves and scrubbed the fountain until it shone. Beautiful, crystal clear water sprang from it and Elena knew she had done a good job.
She walked on until she found an old oven, which was filthy and full of holes.
“Please, will you fix me?” The oven asked. “I will reward you later.”
Elena cleaned all of the old grease off the oven and fixed the holes in it. Then, she walked on and on until she came to a beautiful meadow, bursting with pretty wildflowers an insects and birds busying around. An old lady was walking through the meadow. She waved at Elena when she saw her. “Young girl, what are you looking for?”
“I have had to leave my home,” Elena explained sadly. “My stepmother makes me work all day and then credits my stepsister, Anca. I am not afraid of hard work, but I hope to do it in a place where it is appreciated.”
The old lady smiled. “I am the Goddess of Nature and if you help me today, I will make sure you are handsomely rewarded tomorrow. Will that do?”
Elena was surprised, but nodded. “Yes, what would you like me to help with?”
The goddess pointed through the trees to the edge of the meadow, where there stood a large stone house. “In my house over there, I have many children that need taking care of, but I must go out today to tend to my meadows and forests. I need you to wash and feed my children and have dinner ready for me when I come home. Can you do that?”
“I can,” said Elena, eagerly.
“Lovely,” said the goddess. “The children are out playing at the moment. Fill the bathtub in the courtyard and then call them to you. Thank you, Elena.” She turned and carried on through the meadow.
Elena approached the rather grand stone house. She hurried through to the courtyard where she found a huge bathtub. She filled it, as the goddess had said, then raised her voice. “Children! It’s bath time!”
There was a thundering noise and, to Elena’s shock, dragons and wild beasts of every kind poured into the courtyard, all covered in mud from their games.
“These are the goddess’s children?” Elena gasped.
She did her best to hold her nerve as the first dragon climbed into the bath and waited for a soaping. It took a while—and there was a lot of splashing—but soon Elena had bathed every wild beast there.
Next, she went inside and cooked the biggest pie she had ever made! The beasts ate it all up, growling with happiness. While they were eating, Elena made a second, smaller pie for the goddess.
When the goddess returned, she was very pleased indeed. “You have taken such good care of my children, Elena,” she exclaimed. “Thank you! Now, go upstairs and
pick out a chest. Take it home to your father’s house. I promise this will make things better. There is just one rule: You mustn’t open the chest until you get home.”
Elena climbed up to the steep stairs to find dozens of wooden chests. Some of them looked very fine indeed and were covered with jewels. Elena didn’t feel worthy of such fine things, so she chose the ugliest, oldest-looking chest. She thanked the goddess and went on her way.
On her way back, Elena was tired, hungry, and thirsty. She had been so busy making food for the beasts and the goddess that she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink herself!
When she passed the little oven, it was full of delicious cakes for her to eat, as a thank you for helping it. Elena ate several cakes, gratefully, until her stomach stopped rumbling.
Next, she came to the fountain. On the edge of the fountain stood two silver goblets. The fountain invited her to drink as much as she would like. Elena drank until she was thirsty no more.
When she arrived back at the house, her father ran out to greet her. “Elena, I have missed you!” he cried. “I wish I had not let you go. I was wrong to dismiss all your hard work.”
Elena hugged her father tightly. She explained to him where she had been and how she had come by the chest she was lugging. Together, they opened it and dozens of cows, sheep, pigs, and horses climbed out.
“My goodness, we are rich!” Elena’s father cried. “Thank you, Elena, you clever, hardworking girl!”
Elena’s stepmother glared at the animals. She was speechless, for she could not deny that Elena had done something very good indeed.
“Pooh, if Elena can find such things, I’ll get even better ones,” said Anca. “Just you wait.”
“Yes, well done Anca,” said the stepmother as Anca left the house. “You will beat Elena easily, as you always do.”
As Anca walked, she passed the blocked-up fountain and ignored its pleas for help. She’d never really cleaned anything in her life and she wasn’t about to start now!
She ignored the broken oven, too. Even if she had known how to fix it, she was too lazy to do it properly.
In the meadow, she met the goddess and was given the same task as Elena. Anca had never given anyone else a bath before. She made the water far too hot and all of the dragons and beasts were scalded when she tried to dip them in. They yelped with pain and ran away.
Anca shrugged. “Fine, stay dirty then.”
Next, she started to cook dinner, but she burned everything and everybody lost their appetites.
When the goddess came home, she saw what Anca had done. As she had done with Elena, she invited Anca to choose a chest from the attic. Anca went straight to the biggest, most exquisite-looking chest and picked it up, then ran away before the goddess could change her mind.
When Anca arrived home, her mother greeted her joyously. “Here is my precious Anca, with the real riches!”
Anca opened the chest, and a full-grown, three-headed, very angry dragon streamed out of it. It chased Anca and her mother out of the house and far away. They were never seen again and Elena and her father lived happily ever after.
The Tale of Odette, the Swan Maiden
Adapted from Swan Lake, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
There once was a girl called Odette, who lived in a cottage on the edge of a vast, enchanted forest, which was ruled over by a wicked soceror called Rothbart. Odette loved to explore. Heedless of danger, she would often lead her friends on daring adventures to find the deepest, darkest secrets among those trees.
One day, Odette led her friends to a clearing by a strange, still lake, farther into the forest than they had ever gone before. The other girls felt scared and wanted to go back. But Odette was fascinated by the crystal waters of the lake. It was a very hot day, and they had walked far, and the gentle waves lapping at the shore were so inviting. She would not turn back and instead dipped her toe into the cool water.
An owl had been watching them from a tree branch near the shore. With a flurry of feathers, it launched from the tree branch and transformed into the figure of a man. Odette gasped—it was Rothbart, the famous evil sorcerer! With a wave of his hands, he turned Odette and all of her friends into swans.
“Hah, now you shall swim on my lake forever,” he chuckled. “This is my lake, and I curse anyone who uses it without my permission. You will be squabbling swans by day and miserable humans by night. No matter where you fly by day, at nightfall you will magically return here. The curse will only be broken if one who has never loved before vows to love Odette forever.”
Odette was horrified to have brought this awful curse down on her friends. When she reverted to her human form that night, she explained her plan to them.
Every day, the flock of swans flew as far out of the forest as they could, and every day they tried and failed to lure someone back with them before night fell and they were magically pulled back to the enchanted lake to take their human forms.
Meanwhile, in a grand nearby palace, poor Prince Siegfried was being given some unwelcome news.
“You are a man now,” pronounced the Queen. “It is long past time you found yourself a bride and settled down.”
“But I just haven’t met anyone I want to marry,” Siegfried protested.
“It isn’t about what you want,” said the Queen, sternly. “You must marry. We will hold a royal ball tomorrow night and you shall pick your bride from the girls I invite.”
Prince Siegfried felt angry at his mother’s words. His friend Benno tried to cheer him up. He pointed at a flock of white swans circling overhead and suggested they went hunting in the forest. Siegfried and Benno grabbed their bows and set off in pursuit of the birds. The swans flew fast to the trees. Siegfried ran into the forest, chasing the swans for all he was worth, until eventually, the light faded. Benno gave up and went home, but Siegfried carried on.
Up in the sky, Odette could see that the sun was nearly setting. “Quick, quick,” she urged her friends. “We must go to the lake now so that we can transform.”
Just as dusk fell, Siegfried emerged in the quiet clearing. He saw the still lake and then raised his bow as the flock of swans touched down onto the water. To his surprise, one of them swam right up to him and then, with a shadowy shimmer, transformed into a beautiful maiden wearing a dress just as elegant as her swan feathers had been.
Siegfried dropped his bow in shock.
“Please don’t shoot me or my friends!” said Odette.
I won’t,” promised Siegfried. “But how are you both a swan and a human?”
Odette sighed and explained the curse to him. Siegfried felt delighted to be meeting such an interesting girl, but he was horrified to hear of her fate. “And is there any way of undoing this spell?” he asked.
“There is only one,” Odette admitted. “One who has never loved before must swear to love me forever.”
“And you have no power over that,” Siegfried mused. He thought of the order his mother had given him. “I know a little of how that might feel.”
At that moment, Rothbart swooped into the clearing as an owl, then transformed into his human self. “Who are you and what do you want with my swans?” he demanded.
Siegfried frowned. “Is this the sorcerer who has put this curse on you?” he asked Odette.
“He is,” she confirmed, sorrowfully.
Siegfried raised his crossbow once more. “Then I shall kill him and release you.”
Rothbart roared with anger and Odette cried, “No!” She moved between Siegfried and Rothbart. “If Rothbart dies before the curse is broken, it can never be undone!”
Rothbart laughed. “True. Not that it will ever be undone anyway, my dear Odette.”
With that, the evil sorcerer left. Odette and her friends looked fearfully at Siegfried’s bow, so he broke it in two over his knee. The swan maidens relaxed.
“Well, you must know what it is the girls hope for,” Odette said, honestly. “They hope that you will be the one to save us. But I think it’s just nice to have new company after all this time.”
Siegfried was touched by her honesty and sweetness. He knew if he had been given a magical way to get out of his fate, he would have grabbed it with both hands.
The two of them linked arms and walked into the forest, chatting away as easily as if they were old friends. To anyone who was watching them, it would have been clear that that Siegfried and Odette were falling in love. But all too quickly, the bright fingers of dawn were reaching through the wood and Odette was whisked magically away from Siegfried and back to the lake, where she became a swan once more.
When Siegfried went home, he couldn’t forget Odette. The whole of the next day, she was on his mind and he began to dread the ball that evening even more. Before, he had not wanted to get married at all. Now, he knew he only wanted to marry Odette.
But, despite his dread, all too soon he found himself dressed up in the royal ballroom, meeting all the girls his mother had rounded up. Siegfried barely looked at them, until he heard a voice say, “May I introduce Odette?”
He spun round to see the girl whom he had been thinking about all day smiling at him. “Odette!” he cried, taking her hands in his. “Mother, this is who I would like to marry. I promise I will love you forever, Odette.”
Siegfried’s mother was delighted and Odette’s father, who stood with a protective hand on her shoulder, looked very pleased as well.
But what Siegfried didn’t know is that he was not looking at Odette at all …
Odette had been swimming up and down on the lake, waiting for the sun to set. She hadn’t stopped thinking about Siegfried all day. The instant that the sun set, Odette set off at a run. The journey was far, and the forest was full of wolves and other wild beasts. She and the other maidens had never dared venture far from their lake in the darkness, but now Odette had no choice.
