Every full moon, I offer you an original story in the style of traditional folk tales, with the intention of gathering us together by a virutal fire to share a moment of exploration and imagination.
February brings us the Snow Moon, a symbol of the transition from the depths of winter, a time of cold and retreat, into the emerging light and energy of spring. It’s also known as the Hunger Moon - this would have been a period for our ancestors when food stores were running low as the winter stores were diminished. A dangerous and worrying time. But, with those pangs of hunger would also sit the knowledge that change was coming, that winter was nearly at an end, that new growth was coming, if we can just hold on a little longer…
This is a time of transformation. Of new beginnings. Change is underway.
Taking Flight
Once, there was a woman who was renowned for being very beautiful. She had been born into a noble family, but rumours had circulated for many years that her mother was a witch. Eventually, the family withdrew from society, when this woman was a small child. She grew up running freely through the forests and along the shores. She learned from her mother about the plants and seasons and the natural world around her. Every day she grew more beautiful.
When she was grown, she fell in love with a young man from the nearby village, and together they had a daughter who was the image of her mother. But word had spread about the woman’s beauty, and one day the king rode out to see for himself. She was walking in the woods with her now six-year-old child when he came upon them. The king was overcome when he set eyes on her, and told her she was to become his mistress. She thanked him for the honour, but told him that her love belonged to another. The king laughed and replied that he had no interest in her love, but, since every man was subject to him, each man’s possessions were his to take. So, no matter whose she was, she was his now and was to come with him. Again, she refused. Enraged, the king ordered his men to seize her and her daughter.
They were taken to his castle and locked in a room at the top of a tower. The king told the woman that, if she had not agreed to be his mistress by the end of her third day in the tower, he would kill her and her daughter. Then he left them alone to consider their fate. The woman held her daughter close and told her everything would be ok, and she sang to her as the sun set until the little girl fell asleep.
Once she had made her daughter comfortable in a corner of the room, the woman went to the window. She stared at the moon, feeling its light flow into her. She lifted her arms, stretched her fingers, and gasped as she felt them break into feathers. In a matter of moments, she had transformed into a bird. She slipped through the bars of their prison window and flew into the night.
She called out, until another bird appeared in a nearby tree. She told the bird of her plight and that she needed help to rescue her human daughter who could not fit through the bars of their cage. The bird promised she would do what she could to help. The woman-bird flew on, calling to her sisters, telling them her tale. They all promised to help.
Then the woman flew back to her home, and looked in through the window at the man she loved. She saw how he cried in his sleep for her and their child. She saw the marks on his arms where he had tried to fight the king’s guards. She tried to call to him, but he didn’t recognise her voice in the high-pitched chirps. Dawn was beginning to crack the edge of the sky, so she flew back to her sleeping daughter, and back to her human body.
The king’s guards came to her that day, and asked her if she were ready to submit to his majesty. She told them she needed more time, and they reminded her she had two more days. That night, she transformed again into a bird and sought out more sister birds who agreed to help rescue her daughter however they could. They asked the woman what they could do. All she could think was that, if there were enough of them, perhaps they could break the bars of the cage, and perhaps they would be able to carry the weight of her child through the sky. But even as she spoke this thought to her sisters, she worried that it would not be possible. They all told her they would consider what more could be done.
The next day, the king’s guards came again, and again she asked for more time. They told her there was just one day left. That night, she called all the birds to her and told them there was no more time to lose, they must rescue her daughter. So they followed her back to the castle.
But as she approached her prison window, the woman-bird was spotted by a guard who had been told to let no one and nothing enter that room. He was bored of his watch, and it was as much for sport as to follow orders that he took aim with a slingshot and struck the wing of the small bird. She fell through the window and tumbled to the ground. As she landed, she was transformed back into a woman, and she cried out in pain as she held her arm that hung limply at her side.
Her daughter awoke and ran to her.
“Mama, are you ok?”
“My arm is broken,” her mother sighed. “And I’m afraid my heart is too. Tomorrow, I will have to go with the king so that you can go free.”
“No, Mama,” her daughter shook her head, defiant. “I have been watching you, and I have learned a lot.” The girl stepped back, drew herself up tall, and stretched out her arms. The woman gasped as her child became a tiny bird. “We will go free together,” she told her mother, hopping onto the window ledge.
“But my arm,” the woman reminded her. “I cannot fly.”
Just then, a bird appeared at the window. And another. And another.
“Come, sister,” one called to her. “There are more than enough of us to carry you.”
The woman sat on the ledge next to her daughter and changed back into a bird. Beneath her hovered a sea of birds, their backs pressed close together and offered out to her. Her daughter nodded to her, then leapt into the air. The woman closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped.
The birds caught her, and, with her daughter flying beside them, they carried her far, far away, pausing only to wake her lover so that he could follow.
What’s wonderful and powerful tale. Together we are strong.