Graves, P. K.

English

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Volume 1997 Issue 20 Article 17 3-15-1997 The Little Man and the Maid P. K. Graves Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mcircle Recommended Citation Graves, P. K. (1997) "The Little Man and the Maid," The Mythic Circle: Vol. 1997 : Iss. 20 , Article 17. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mcircle/vol1997/iss20/17 This Fiction is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Mythic Circle by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact phillip.fitzsimmons@swosu.edu. To join the Mythopoeic Society go to: http://www.mythsoc.org/join.htm Mythcon 51: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico • Postponed to: July 30 – August 2, 2021 Additional Keywords Fiction; Little Man; Maid; P.K. Graves This fiction is available in The Mythic Circle: https://dc.swosu.edu/mcircle/vol1997/iss20/17 The Mythic Circle 1120, pg 34 tall a.ad handsome, and I'll love you forever, ii only you'll be mine.• Her smile never changed. •h's content I am to sit here in the sunshine and play my mwic. rm no woman for you," she answered. The gentleman's brow furrowed grimly. "Thea I'll uh the quickness from your fingen and ~ your beauty wither and die. I'll turn all your thoughts on what you'll never hzve and all your contentment to despair.• Still, she only smiled. •All thinp pas:s, "she said. -Youth and beauty, talent and happiness, all go the way of the summer into winter. Wh2UVer discontent you aux me with will pass, too. & will L & will yourself.• The gentleman stamped the ground with rage. "Then it's to Death's own self I'll send you. You'll fed bis cold kiss on your rosy lips and bis hands filling with your warm breamt• Her smiled deepened. "I'll be your wife, if only to stop your pestering me," she said. •But it's three wishes I want from you, or not a day of joy will you get from me.• The fine gcmlcman clapped bis hands and turned him- self around three times. "&k what you will of me and it sh.all be yours, • She set her harp aside. •fim, I want to always be young and beautiful to you.• The little man nodded cagc:rfy. "Then," she said, "oa the day you tire of me, that's the cby I will die," Her hu.1band-to« fairly licked bis lips widi agrtting. ·And last,· she whispered.. "I wisb..J wish...• She bad no words for it, for the pal thing she wanted. But see it she could, In place of the shining summer morn, her land of twi- light. It sparkled will: st.an; th~ breeze carried to her a scent of roses and moss. A.ad some- where in that· world was the one she loved more than any other, From her bean to bis mind. the gentleman felt the truth of her wish. -You'll have it,• ~ said. •Whatever it is you truly wish for, it will be yours. If, for all lb. you Deft!' tdI me no; you bring me a pint wbm I tdl you so; and you'll not mg me more than's absolutely eee- cssary?• ·1 will,• she said. He grabbed her by the hand and whisked her off under the bill and ~her bis wife. And under the £airy hill. among the me roots and rocks, they a>mmmcrd to live. She wn a good wife to him, alw.ays young and beautiful to him as she wished, ~ tdliag him no, bringing him his pints when be wanted thnn and not mgging him if be hap- The girl just smiled, stn1mmiog •rm happy enough to pby for my own self, a.ad that's the truth.• The gentleman hopped around to look her in the face. 9Tbm it's the love of a good man of your own people you wmt. You'll hzve better from me. r11 be a prince for you, mine.• Sitting by a brook on a fresh summer morni.ng. a girl strummed and hummed and sang her poetry with a small harp. Her face smiling above the i.nstrumcnt was &ins die day to see, and the sun in her hair turned it to pure gold. But her fingers played evening and autumn, and her words told of her love for the Lord of the Other World.. & he passed through the woods, past a thin place between her world and his, a young man of the little people spied the girl sitting and playing in the morning. Smitten with her beauty and the peace on her face, he stepped out of the woods and went to her and took her hand. •So &ir are you, I've decided to make you my own wife,• be said to her, without a bi or hello. But the maid only smiled. -it's not your wife rm desiring to be," she answered gently. He let go her hand and sat back on bis beds. She went back to strumming her harp. The gentlnnan smiled, none too kindly, and said, •h's for kinp you'll play. Rich men will throw you all their money, and poor men their bcatts, jaa to ~ a song from you. Your name will be known acroa the land and for all time to come, if you'll only be THE LTITLE MAN AND THE MAID by P .K. Graves The Mythic Circle 1120, pg 3 5 For more information, write to Mychcon XXVIII, P.O. Box 6707, Altadena, CA 91003-6707. Make checks payable to Mythcon XXVIII. Hope to see you there! Conference membership is $65 until August 1 and $75 at the door. One day memberships (for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) will be available at $25 per day. All the delights of Mythcon - papers, art show, dramatic presentations, masquerade, entenainments - and the beautiful campus of Pepperdine University, Malibu. Pepperdine University. Malibu. California Theme: ].R.R. Tolkien: ti; Achievement of Hi.·s Literary Life Author Guest of Honor: Orson Scott Card Mythopoeic Conference XXVIll August 8-11. 1997 she wears them ringlets of punishment because she was a woman ravished by a god this is her pain: licking the air they hiss the unforgivable ... her gaze touches into stone all who would dare to look by Sr. Lou Ella Hickman pened to come in late of an evening or a morning. The children she bore him, the pixies and elves, the boggles and bags, she loved with all her bean, and they she, so good was she to them. They were a large and happy family for a good long while. · But one day, after~ few centuries, her husband came home later than usual. ' •wife," he said, "come and kiss me one last time. For it's tired of you I've grown. I'll have my freedome like any other young man in his prime, to rove the world and find my love where I will." And she went to him and kissed him and be took her back to where he'd found her, and left her by the side of the brook on the same sum.mer morning to have her second wish. Her harp lay in the grass, waiting where she'd left it, but she did not now reach for it. She lay dying, aging and withering all at once in the day. he'd grown tired of her. In her eyes the light of summer still shone. The aches and pains of her body troubled her not at all, for in place of the bright brook and the woods she saw her third wish coming for her from over a dark hill. Death himself bent beside her. He placed his cool lips on hers and lifted her in his strong arms and took her back to bis own twilight land where he made her his queen. True love they shared, for that had been her wish, and so they loved each other forever. And the leprechaun was none the worse off for know- ing nothing about it at all. 

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