The Many Scarred Heart
A Fairytail, by Mark Langridge
Once upon a time there was a an elderly king who had reigned well over his people for many years. As he aged he grew more and more fearful of his end, lending him to call in his wisest advisers. He asked them how he might stave off death itself, to which they replied they did not know. One of the oldest and wisest of his advisers told him of a witch living deep in the woods who knew of secrets that no man knew.
At this the kings mind was made up. From his treasury he took a staff wood, to help him walk, a silver hilted dagger and a bag of gold to bargain with and he set out into the woods. He walked for hours trekking deeper and deeper into the darkness until his thirst overcame him leading him to seek out a stream from which to drink. As he quenched his thirst from a small brook he saw a woman in black with stern grey eyes standing across the other side of the water. She beckoned him towards her so he walked and swam his way across until he lay panting the at her feet.
"I had forseen you coming, and know why you seek me" the old woman told him. "What you need is the heart of scars. It can be found in the largest tree in the very deepest region of this forest. To take its power you must cut out your own heart and replace it with the many scarred heart. The power of the heart will sustain you as you do this. But beware, to loose your heart is to loose yourself".
The king thanked her greatly and offered her the bag old gold he had brought. She declined taking only the staff he carried, with a wry smile on her face. The king set out deeper into the forest, hobbling as an old man with no staff to aid him. As he wandered further the forest grew increasingly darker. After many hours he stumbled into a clearing in which a huge, gnarled old tree sat, twisted and bent as if the eons of time had attacked it.
As he neared the tree, he saw the heart. Larger then human, but not by much, it sat in a arch of the contorted tree, its power almost palpable. He took the heart from its resting place and his dagger from its sheath. Plunging the knife into his chest he cracked his own ribs before pulling his still beating heart from his chest. As he pushed the new heart into his chest he could feel it beginning to work. The wrinkles on his hands smoothing, the aching in his joints becoming dull then disappearing.
The king stood watching the ravages of age melt off him, even the cuts and bruises lent him by the forest were healing. All but the hole in his chest in which the heart resided.
Carrying his old heart in his hands, the king ran crying with the joy of youth from the forest to be greeted by the surprise and rejoicing of his courtiers.
As he retook his throne he threw his old heart to a maid to dispose of, saying how he no longer needed such a thing.
As the weeks and months passed the king grew colder and more distant from even his most loyal friends. He put up taxes for no reason and began plans to make war with neighbouring counties that had been at peace with his for hundreds of years.
Many Many years passed. A Kingdom became an Empire whilst its people grew unhappy and restless.
One day the king went riding among the villages. As he rode the villagers bowed and chastised themselves, but the terrible fear in their eyes was obvious to all but the king. After riding for a time he spotted the most beautiful young maiden, with golden hair and fair skin. His attraction to her was instant, wanting to have her so badly his heart ached. He lept from his horse to speak with her, but she was scared away and ran into the nearby forest.
He gave chase running himself into the forest. He searched for her high and low, and was all but on the cusp of giving up when he found a shred of the dress she had been wearing caught on a bramble. He followed a trail of footprints and broken branches down to a river, where she sat cleaning the cuts the brambles had given her.
As he approached he spoke "Fear me not, beautiful maiden, I will not harm you. I ask only to hear your sweet voice and know your name".
The maiden replied, her voice as beautiful as he had hoped "My name is Allissa, and if you only wanted to know my name, then why did you leap so ferociously from your horse".
"Perhaps your name was not my only intent" he said, walking closer to the riverbank, "you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, I ask you to give me your hand in marriage, and come live with me in my castle".
Although a little taken a back Allissa agreed, and soon she and the king were married.
As the months passed, the king came to love her with the whole of his heart, softening slightly in his married bliss. As months turned to years the maiden-no-longer fell pregnant, and gave birth to a son.
On a dark and overcast day, after his sons seventh birthday, the king returned from riding through his lands to find that Alissa had sent the castle staff his son away. The castle was empty, the staff having been sent home, with only a note on the stable door marked "Come find me in the library - Alissa". The king was confused, and suspected a trap, so he drew his sword and made his way to the library. When he opened the door he found his wife, sitting in a chair by the fire, a small parcel wrapped thick cloth on her lap.
He began to speak when his wife interupted, "all those years ago, when you were an old man, do you remember the kidness and compassion you had for your people?" The king simply stared, too taken aback to answer the question. "I thought not" Alissa continued "When you took the many scarred heart, of which you have boasted about, you threw away your own heart, with all your goodness and humanity. Now I have another question, Do you know where your human heart went?" Not even waiting for the reply, she unwrapped the bundle on her lap, showing an old, slowly beating, human heart.
"My wife, where ever did you find it?"
"My mother was a maid in your castle when you got your immortal heart. She caught the heart that you discarded Before you changed she nursed you in your old age. But when you became young once more she was fired from the castle. With no job my mother did all she could to feed myself and my brothers. When the famine came a few years later I watched each of them starve to death, whilst you sat in your castle with enough grain to feed all of the starving in the kingdom."
With bitterness tainting her voice, and a steely glare in her eyes, she pulled a stiletto blade from a sheath beneath her chair and pushed the tip down on the heart. As she did so the king fell to the floor groaning in pain, feeling as if his heart was bleeding.
"You stopped caring for your people" She said, pushing the dagger a little harder, eliciting cries from the king. "So when I came of age, with the heart in my possession, I went to the witch and paid her all the money I had to find out how I could use it against you. She agreed to help me with the promise that I must first sire you an heir, lest the kingdom fall into war after your death."
The king lay on the floor in tears, unable to move.
"The witch told me two things about the heart. Firstly, how to manipulate it to make you fall in love with me. The second, was that should the heart ever be destroyed you would die"
As he lay on the floor the king looked up into his wifes eyes, the eyes of the woman he loved more then any other and croaked out the words "no, please...." but he saw only hatred in those eyes.
"my final words to you husband" she spoke, driving the dagger in deeper "losing your heart lost you your humanity, and now it has lost you your life!" as she spoke she threw the heart into the fire, where the fire turned a blood red colour as it engulfed the heart.
The king screamed as the scarred heart melted from his chest, leaving him but a few seconds of life to bleed at his wife feet.
He gave chase running himself into the forest. He searched for her high and low, and was all but on the cusp of giving up when he found a shred of the dress she had been wearing caught on a bramble. He followed a trail of footprints and broken branches down to a river, where she sat cleaning the cuts the brambles had given her.
As he approached he spoke "Fear me not, beautiful maiden, I will not harm you. I ask only to hear your sweet voice and know your name".
The maiden replied, her voice as beautiful as he had hoped "My name is Allissa, and if you only wanted to know my name, then why did you leap so ferociously from your horse".
"Perhaps your name was not my only intent" he said, walking closer to the riverbank, "you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, I ask you to give me your hand in marriage, and come live with me in my castle".
Although a little taken a back Allissa agreed, and soon she and the king were married.
As the months passed, the king came to love her with the whole of his heart, softening slightly in his married bliss. As months turned to years the maiden-no-longer fell pregnant, and gave birth to a son.
On a dark and overcast day, after his sons seventh birthday, the king returned from riding through his lands to find that Alissa had sent the castle staff his son away. The castle was empty, the staff having been sent home, with only a note on the stable door marked "Come find me in the library - Alissa". The king was confused, and suspected a trap, so he drew his sword and made his way to the library. When he opened the door he found his wife, sitting in a chair by the fire, a small parcel wrapped thick cloth on her lap.
He began to speak when his wife interupted, "all those years ago, when you were an old man, do you remember the kidness and compassion you had for your people?" The king simply stared, too taken aback to answer the question. "I thought not" Alissa continued "When you took the many scarred heart, of which you have boasted about, you threw away your own heart, with all your goodness and humanity. Now I have another question, Do you know where your human heart went?" Not even waiting for the reply, she unwrapped the bundle on her lap, showing an old, slowly beating, human heart.
"My wife, where ever did you find it?"
"My mother was a maid in your castle when you got your immortal heart. She caught the heart that you discarded Before you changed she nursed you in your old age. But when you became young once more she was fired from the castle. With no job my mother did all she could to feed myself and my brothers. When the famine came a few years later I watched each of them starve to death, whilst you sat in your castle with enough grain to feed all of the starving in the kingdom."
With bitterness tainting her voice, and a steely glare in her eyes, she pulled a stiletto blade from a sheath beneath her chair and pushed the tip down on the heart. As she did so the king fell to the floor groaning in pain, feeling as if his heart was bleeding.
"You stopped caring for your people" She said, pushing the dagger a little harder, eliciting cries from the king. "So when I came of age, with the heart in my possession, I went to the witch and paid her all the money I had to find out how I could use it against you. She agreed to help me with the promise that I must first sire you an heir, lest the kingdom fall into war after your death."
The king lay on the floor in tears, unable to move.
"The witch told me two things about the heart. Firstly, how to manipulate it to make you fall in love with me. The second, was that should the heart ever be destroyed you would die"
As he lay on the floor the king looked up into his wifes eyes, the eyes of the woman he loved more then any other and croaked out the words "no, please...." but he saw only hatred in those eyes.
"my final words to you husband" she spoke, driving the dagger in deeper "losing your heart lost you your humanity, and now it has lost you your life!" as she spoke she threw the heart into the fire, where the fire turned a blood red colour as it engulfed the heart.
The king screamed as the scarred heart melted from his chest, leaving him but a few seconds of life to bleed at his wife feet.
Time passed, the son became king and ruled as his father had before his second youth, with compassion and kindness. The king was remembered as the cruel tyrant he had been with the heart, his kindness forgotten by time.
The moral to the story may be that fear of death leads foolish men to loose their hearts and their compassion, leading them to their demise.
A better moral of the story is that kindness and compassion are good things, but if you're a real tyrant you will be remembered forever.
---© Copyright Mark Langridge 2012
I really like this story. I like the look of your blog, too.
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