The goddess and the peasant

Once upon a time there was a sad and grumpy peasant. Oh how very sick he was, sadness spewing forth, tearing him inside, and out, what a pitiful sight to see. Even in his labor of love he sprinkled sadness about. He planted with angst, plowed with tears, ate in darkness, and decided he was so very lonely, so very sad. It was a spell placed on him as a little boy - contagious he was, very contagious, man was told to be wary. So was his plight, their stories all the same, there is no princess in a shiny dress, no genie in a magic bottle. So would it be, to spend eternity trapped with the incurable disease, the disease he had been cursed with from birth - for who could heal him, no one dared to venture close.

But then, one day a goddess came to town, she had a cure to this disease. Anyone she touched could be happy, would be happy, safe and sound, away from the rain and thunder. The peasant thought she must be scared of me, how ugly I am, how very sad I make others. There is no hope, I must leave the city lest she hear of me and wish to cure my sickness, and too be ensnared by my spell. So he left, with the little belongings he had, galloped away into oblivion. But the goddess was fast. She caught word of the sad man and wished to speak with him, “there is no one I cannot heal” she cried out, I shall save him she thought. So it was, she flew as fast as she could to catch up with him, so he too could be so very happy. Crash, crackle, bang! She landed on the mountaintop. “Who goes there!” cried the scared sad man. “Go away,” he yelled out, “have they not told you who I am, I do not wish to hurt you, please, you are too precious.” “I have heard what they say, but I do not listen to the tales of man, fantasies in pubs, whispers of trees, I told myself, I wish to see the sad man myself, surely I can heal him, surely no one can be so sad, now I am here, now I see you, and you do look so very sad, but I can help you, only if that is what you truly wish for, I cannot heal he who wishes to stay cursed.” “Go about your rambling somewhere else, I know what I have, I know who I am, the way they gawk at me, and whisper behind my ear - I see no cure, I do not wish to hurt you or others.” But she persisted, with love, and care, a healing power he had never seen, and never felt - she was not afraid, and then, neither was he. Somehow, somehow she kept speaking, and somehow he stayed to listen, staring into her comforting eyes, her soft golden eyes, the eyes of true happiness. They were mesmerizing, so very mesmerizing. So they spoke atop the mountain for hours and hours, of joy, and love, of a new language he could learn. Hours turned to days, days to many months, months to many years, growing old together, speaking of what could be, what was in store for him if he learned to let go -

enjoying the sacred space she had so carefully built. Every so often the goddess inched closer, little by little, as not to scare the sad man away - until many years had passed, and she was finally close enough to look, into his blackened eyes, hold his cold hands, touch his dry lips. She did not see sadness, rather she saw a scared little boy buried deep within. With that she freed him at last. The sun was blinding, he could never have imagined such a beautiful life, to own such a beautiful smile, to cry so freely. His love for her knew no bounds, there was much love to be felt in the air. They married on that very mountaintop, with the stars as their witness, and the trees as their hope. Happy they were, oh so very happy, a free, and plentiful life awaited them both, and so they made the trek down the mountain, the mountain that changed his destiny. Their marriage was sacred, special, real - they lived for eternity, a smile unbroken. But alas his sickness came back, creeping through the cracks, so very fast. “ Woe is to me, my time has run out " the hopeless man cried out. Scared for his beloved wife, he banished her from ever seeing him again. She felt sad, for the very first time, what he was so very afraid of. The sadness came back and ate him all up.