(NOTE: Some of you may note that a few of the original fairy tales mentioned herein are familiar, and can be found on the album Fairy Tales of the Lost and Wandering. This story was written first and after writing it, i decided that i liked the idea of writing original fairy tales and putting them to music, so i used a few of these. This is where they originally come from.)
Four terrified, bruised and beleaguered fairytales huddled miserably together in the alley of an industrial urban city in which they did not belong.
Jack of Ash cradled Burlap Molly who as usual had picked an inopportune time to suddenly drop asleep. Dear Departed Diedre fussed over her and tried to conceal them behind a pile of trash.
Ironitsa, the slum girl made of iron as every school child knows, naturally stood guard. They were all weary and needed sleep. Even Ironitsa need to shut down for a few hours every day.
The great industrial city of New Albion clanged, hissed and hummed around them while the cries, shouts and gunfire of its troubled residents and their ongoing revolution echoed through the streets. The tired, scared fairytales did not hear the Whispering that signified that their tireless pursuer was near, and so they huddled together and told stories until they fell asleep.
The Story Of Dear Departed Diedre
Once upon a time there was a precocious girl named Diedre.
She collected salamander tails, eyes of newt, toad skins, bat teeth and moon water. It was her aspiration to become a witch. However, she had no idea whatsoever how exactly to go about such a thing or access to any sort of materials which might explain it.
Thus she simply invented her own spells and potiony concoctions. While she had great fun experimenting with them, they rarely ever worked.
Her parents put up with this hobby with as relaxed and permissive an attitude as they could manage if not with the occasional raised eyebrow or spot of worry.
However, when one of her potions caused the test subject, the family dog, to leave a trail of purplish vomit throughout the house she found herself sternly reprimanded.
In retaliation to said reprimand she told her parents she hoped they never saw her again and ran to her soom to cast a spell of invisibility over herself.
The spell was long and complex and while never having worked before, perhaps just needed a few tries. She was still going through the long incantation (for the 3rd time) an hour later as she sat in the family carriage, the three of them on their way to Tuesday bisquits at Aunt Vivian’s.
The accident happened fast. She never did know what exactly occured, but it ended with the horse losing control and the coach thrown down a hillside into a grove of trees. No one survived.
Diedre found herself a ghost, wandering the city trying to find someone who could see her and talk to her.
Every few decades her parents are reincarnated. They grow up and always, always they find one another. They spend their short lives together before they are inevitably killed again. They never have children.
Diedre waits patiently through the years for this to occur, for her parents to meet once again and begin living together. Once they do she is there with them, sitting silently beside them at every meal, on the floor beneath them as they sit in the parlour room. She sits with them every day, day after day until once again an accident inevitably claims them and they are gone again.
