STORY: THE FLAMES IN THE MEADOW

Photo Credits: Randi Hausken


As the sun crept its way up in the early summer morning, there was an overwhelming sense of calm. The sun stretched out its arms, grazing its fingers along each one of the flowers in the meadow. The flowers seemed to glow with attention, reaching up to embrace the sun’s gentile caress. When the sun had made it above the mountains, the flowers looked more like a sea of fire than a meadow of flowers. With bright oranges and yellows, the meadow looked as though it were alive.


In the midst of the fiery scene stood a small shack, no bigger than one room. The couple who dwelled there were slow to rise in efforts to prolong the charm of early morning. Will and Layla had been together for almost thirty years now. Their love never weakening, through the good years and bad. They looked into each other’s eyes with the same passion and adoration as the day that they wed.


The day they wed was also the day that they ran away from their little village. Their marriage was not approved by either of their families. Sure that they would be cast out on their announcement of marriage, the new couple took all that they could carry and set off to find a new home. After walking for almost a week, they found this meadow, so beautiful and serene, they immediately knew that this was where they were to live for the rest of their lives. Tucked away from the rest of the world, they escaped the judgement of those who could not understand how profound and unadulterated this connection was they shared.


Working together they created their little house from what they could find in the surrounding woods. Growing up, Will was a carpenter’s apprentice in the village. He was good with his hands and was fluid with his work. The house was ready just before the winter winds blew from the north and covered the meadow with snow. While Will worked on the house, Layla gathered what she could before the frost came. She was talented in the way of herbal medicine and set out into the forest to find the array of herbs she liked to keep on hand.






Photo Credits: Pixabay



Winter seemed to go on forever that first year. Their rations were dwindling and there was little game in the forest. The hollows of their cheeks were more pronounced than ever and their bodies were struggling to produce enough heat to keep them going. They held each other close at night, terrified at the thought that it would be there last night together.


Just as they were about to give up hope, the snow started to melt. The two were overjoyed when they saw the vivid green slivers of grass peeking through the melting snow. They were quick to learn how to live on their own. Having been in arms reach of death, they were more determined than ever to make every moment count.


It was then that they realized that just like the waves of fiery flowers that returned every spring, their love would never end. Not even the cold grip of death could stifle something so absolute.





Bibliography: The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1903).







Author’s note:

I really loved the opening of the story that I read. It was a very vivid image in my mind and I wanted to take that and create something with it. I did not like how in the story the wife offers her child as sacrifice to the creature in the water. All of the characters in the story seem to be very self-important. The husband thought that it wasn’t fair of the wife to ask for different honey when she was very sick. So he decided once he was better that he would have her fetch water for him. It was a very childlike relationship and I didn’t want to write about those elements of the story. So I essentially just took the scene of the story and created something totally different. Although there is less of a plot in my version, I think it simply tells the story of two people who were not self-centered and cruel. I hope you liked reading my version of it!