a short story

this was kinda a reflection on being different, and on fables and fairytales and the way stories are like the fires that people gathered around, to shelter from the huge darkness around them.......and how some people arent meant to be bright and shining, and thats ok

The Tale of the Dark Star
Come sit by the fire dearly beloved and I shall tell you a tale of long ago and far away, when the dream was still being dreamt and the gods still walked the earth
When all the world was still words that had not yet fallen from the creators lips, like honey from the comb
Come into the light and sit with me….can you hear the small beasts drawing near to listen?
Creeping close to the fire, into the circle
Come listen to the tale of the dark star
See him now………a dark stranger walking up to the fires of the people, hair and face and clothing all strange, tho with a light in his eyes………hear as he calls to them
“a tale for a meal and a place to rest my bones for a space”
watch as they make space for him at the fire, for in those days dearly beloved, a teller of tales was honoured as a weaver of magics, and a spinner of webs
watch as the women shyly press food upon him as he settles, supple, cross legged by the fire………is that the fire light that makes his eyes glitter? Perhaps…
listen now as he tells a tale……….the very tale that I am now telling you
“long ago and far away, when the dream was still being dreamt and the gods walked the earth……………..then the stars did not burn, and they were not fixed in place in the heavens…………they clustered instead together, talking and laughing as good friends and kin do, and sometimes they sang, voices of pure beauty lifted to the sky, and they were content
but men were not…………for the dark of nite was then VERY dark, especially when lady moon hid her face and men would get lost in the nite time………and they cried out to the creator and said “why must we get lost and injured in the nite? You are the creator………….give us something to light the dark with.
And the creator looked down and saw that indeed men were getting hurt and lost in the dark, and he pondered, but no solution presented itself………..so the creator took himself off to listen to the stars singing which he loved greatly
And a thought came to him…………a thought perhaps unworthy of a creator dearly beloved, but men can be such a trial, and they did not stop pestering, as children will when they want sweets
And he thought, if these stars were lit and placed in the heavens they would stop the man complaining……….and if they were placed apart, they would have to sing to each other, and then I would hear their sweet voices
Now tho he WAS a kindly being dearly beloved, the creator was being driven to distraction by the complaints of men, and he truly didn’t think of what being apart would mean to the companionable stars, so he called the leaders of the stars to him and told them what he had decided
That they would burn bright and true and beautiful in the heavens, for thousands of lifetimes…..that their songs would be heard , by those with the ears to hear……that they would be admired for their beauty and wonder by men
But one star did not trust the creator, and he listened when the others sang……..and he heard dearly beloved, the musings of the creator, how far apart each of his kin should be from the other to make them sing………..and when his kin all agreed to the creators plan, without any of them discovering his plan to keep them all separate, he resolved that this, my dearest, would NOT happen to him
And so as each of his people were set to burning , brightly, and beautifully, he hid, and as the last one blazed into beauty incandescent, he cried out to them “do you not feel the fire in your flesh? Do you not see that the creator has more to his plan than he is saying?, can you not see that he wants us only to serve men and to soothe him with our voices??”
And his people laughed, their voices a harmony both beautiful and terrible, saying “yes there is pain dark one, but it is quickly over and OH to be fire” and their voices raised in song and the dark one almost weakened....
Almost begged to be a part of the wondrous harmony, but just at that moment dearly beloved, the creator turned his eye upon them and saw the dark star, and the Dark star looked the creator in the eye and said “no”
Just that dearly beloved, just that one word……..and the creator, as you may imagine, was dumbfounded, since it is not usual for ones creatures to argue when you are the creator
And he told the dark star how his people would exist forever
And the dark star simply repeated “no”
And the creator grew angry with this recaltriant star and he stamped his foot…………and lo, dearly beloved, what do you think happened then??
Why all the burning stars flew into the heavens, and there, my dears, they stuck!!
But not in the regimented spacings that the creator had intended…..oh no, they were in companionable groups, some closer some further apart, but all in contact with each other, and the dark star laughed, and the bright stars sang to him of the wonders they could see.
And the creator looked at the dark star and his face was puzzled and the dark star smiled and said simply “some of us were not meant to burn bright” and he walked away”
The story teller looks up from the fire now, and those closest gasp, for there, deep in his eyes, infinitely deep, burn stars
“and it is said that the dark star walked among men from that day to this, telling his tale and tales that his brothers and sisters tell him from the sky, and that they sing to him and he sings back”
and with that the story teller puts down his bowl, thanks the women for the food and rises, walking off quietly into the star lit nite, away from the fire………but listen dearly beloved, do you hear a crystalline chorus of voices singing softly?
and if you listen VERY hard, perhaps you will hear a mans voice raised alone, in a dancng counterpoint.
And that is the tale of the dark star, and why the stars are where they are, dearly beloved
The story is spun the tale is told