The Enchanted Mittens
For Naya
Beyond the bending bow of the world
where blue meets blue
there was once an island
made of ice.
And on that island
there lived a princess
alone among the snow drifts.
Each day the princess stayed within her white palace walls
to polish the icicles that splintered the sunrise into a thousand fairy fingerprints
and sweep snow-angels back into the folds of her powdery carpet.
Each night the princess looked through the windows of her bedchamber to count the points of light that blinked fixed in their rotating bell of black.
How lovely, she would think with a sigh.
If only she had a friend to share such beauty with.
One morning the princess stood watching the play of the wind upon the snow-drifts.
Her eyes followed the flecks of white as they whipped quick cursive strokes across the vast expanse of winter and uncovered something unusual.
At the heart of a common ice-block was suspended some foreign creature.
The princess ran to the ice block and tugged it home on her sled.
She wrapped the ice in scarves and held it in her arms but she could not melt it and free the creature.
That night as she traced her fingers from star to star she wondered about the creature and wished she might find a way to set it free.
In the morning she awoke to find a pair of mittens upon her hands.
They were the color of the sunset and as warm as its sweet red rays.
She ran to her creature and placed her hands atop its icy enclosure.
The mittens glowed with a magic light and within moments the creature had wiggled free.
She brought her creature a blanket and a mug of hot tea.
He explained that he was something called a lizard.
He told her of the world he had once known and as he described all of the beautiful things he began to weep for he missed them so.
Soon it was night and the lizard fell into a heavy slumber.
The princess climbed into her bed but she could not sleep for all the images of her new friend’s world cart-wheeled through her head.
She could not bear to think of his sadness and so she decided to make him a gift.
Onto each hand she fitted a rosy mitten and tiptoed out of her palace walls.
Under the silver light of the moon and stars she began to shape the snow into the world of the lizard's memories.
From each mitten poured a river of light and as she patted the drifts something peculiar began to happen.
The icicle trees began to shatter as green leaves burst from their centers. The branches bowed low under full ripe fruit.
The snow-monkeys shook off their coats of white and leaped in circles of delight.
The princess threw a fistful of glass-winged butterflies into the sky and watched in wonder as they turned to colorful waving silks and fluttered off.
The princess worked all through the night carefully crafting the snow and by dawn her lonely island of ice had been transformed into a jungle paradise.
When the lizard awoke to find the princess and her gift he smiled to see the world of his memories before his very eyes.
He hugged the princess and then clambered up a tree to pick his favorite fruit. The two sat in the shade and shared its white custard. The princess smiled at her new friend and felt so happy for she knew she would never be lonely again.
©2008 Hillary Swanson. All rights reserved.