Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"I wonder what this magic elixir does...where's it from...whose is it..."


pen & ink drawing (9"x11")

Chris (age 10)
Once upon a time there lived a boy who worked for the king. The boy had a lot of adventures but I will only tell one of the adventures. Today I will tell you the best adventure. It all began when the king stopped for dinner at Chris' home. He was outside and he heard mom and dad say we will sell Chris for 21 pounds and the king said yes. Chris could not wait till they started. The next day they left. When they got to the king's castle he started to work in the cellar. It had lots of bottles. One day he found a bottle that had this name: elixir. So he told the king but the king said it was nothing. But Chris knew that it did something. So he drank it and a genie said you have drank the elixir and you will have as many wishes as you want. The End

Ben (age 7)
Well, there once was a man name Fat Free. But one day a witch turned him into a bird and he was so good at making elixirs that he could make stuff like an elixir that could make you into a flea. So one day he got a letter from the king to make an elixir that could make him have a bald spot. So Fat Free had never made an elixir that made a bald spot so he tried and tried and finally he made it and gave it to the king and the elixir worked and now that king is called Dan. the end

dth (age 33)
One could see the rain clouds beginning to build in the West. If all went as planned Glint would soon have the last ingredient he needed to turn the bewitched hawk back into his beloved bride. Fourteen years earlier, hours after they wed, Glint’s bride Kestrel was stricken with an evil spell by a jealous sorcerer by the name of Brindle. The sorcerer was a friend of both Glint and Kestrel yet the friendship grew cold when Glint won Kestrel’s hand in marriage as Brindle had hoped to woo her. Upon the announcement of their engagement, Brindle determined to vex them. He settled on a potion that would change Kestrel into the form of a hawk. If Brindle was not to have the love of Kestrel he determined no one would. So, he waited until the night of their wedding after the vows had been said to enact his vengeance. That way Glint would have to care for the hawk while getting no love in return. An hour after the couple had been wed, Brindle gathered Glint and Kestrel together and proposed a toast in honor of their love—he supplied the wine in their cups. The toast completed, Brindle slipped away into the night and shortly after Kestrel collapsed and was brought to her bedchamber, it was not wine that Brindle had put into her cup. Glint stayed by her side for the next several hours only to watch her womanly figure transform into that of a hawk. By morning the metamorphosis was complete and it wasn’t long before an edict was written proclaiming the desired capture of Brindle along with an impressive reward. He never was found and it had taken Glint fourteen long years to find the antidote for his bride—but tonight was the night as the clouds were forming and Glint only needed one more ingredient. For the past eight years Glint had been training the hawk for this night and the task of capturing the last needed item. She was to fly into the storm, high up into the clouds where the air is thin and so cold that the water is in the form of ice. The hawk had to gather the frozen rain crystals before they had turned to liquid or the elixir would not be complete. A simple raindrop would not do—it had to be a frozen crystal of rain settled within the darkness of a storm cloud—only a single crystal was needed. The venture would be dangerous and peril was a threatening possibility—but, the hawk had completed her training and Glint was certain she understood her task. It began to drizzle when Glint released her from his gloved hand, placed a bottle in her talons and watched as she soared straight up, her wings spread against the dark sky while lighting crackled and spread a flash of day every few moments. Glint watched the hawk soar but soon she was lost in the clouds and he could only stand and pray, head thrown back, eyes squinting, waiting for the emergence of his long lost love. And then, the hawk appeared and soon was well in sight. Clutched between her talons was the bottle he had taught her to hold and as she neared he could see it indeed contained something. In another instant the hawk was upon him and Glint could see she had succeeded. The crystals were beginning to liquefy and so quickly he pulled out his spoon and the hawk poured out the last ingredient. Glint added it to the readymade bottle of potion, gave it three violent shakes and poured the elixir into the hawk’s mouth as she sat on his arm. The change was almost immediate and the next moment Glint found himself carrying his beloved Kestrel cradled in his arms. The embrace that happened next was one of longing come to fruition and they kissed…

Tim (age: old; going on immature)
There was a bird that poured liquid into a spoon that the snake had in his mouth. "How the heck and I going to drink this?" said the snake, "you know, 'cuase I've got this spoon IN my mouth and no hands to take it out of my mouth and pour it in my mouth." The bird flew away into the starry starry night.


Send me your story and I'll post it.

3 comments:

ArtSparker said...

There is a wonderful place in San Francisco, set up by the author Dave Eggers, where middle-school children go for one on one tutoring by volunteer professional writers and artists. They then publish books of their work which are available in the pirate-themed storefront - it's called 826 Valencia. He has a similar place in New York City.

gatheringwonder said...

This is fantastic - thanks for drawing my attention to Eggers and 826...I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with what they are doing!

TimG said...

I just have two words to say about Ben's and Chris's stories:
Hi.
Larious!

Here's my stories inspired by the drawing...

There was a bird that poured liquid into a spoon that the snake had in his mouth. "How the heck and I going to drink this?" said the snake, "you know, 'cuase I've got this spoon IN my mouth and no hands to take it out of my mouth and pour it in my mouth." The bird flew away into the starry starry night.