I belong to an Art Forum called The Angry Crayon.  They're a fun group, with novel ideas for new art projects, fun ideas!  The first one I've gotten involved with is called Something Offensive.  The idea was to take two Faerie Tales, and twist them together and use one of your own characters as the main character.  Or so I thought.  I got it a little confused, but still, this is my Faerie Tale, starring the Oberon's Captain Eurydice Morgan as the Heroine.  My two faerie Tales were The Seven Swans and Li Chi Slays the Dragon.

Dicey Slays The Serpent

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a prosperous farmer and his wife gave birth to seven beautiful daughters. Each was unique and wonderful in her own way. The farmer would have welcomed a son, but he could not find fault in his lovely offspring, and loved each dearly, spoiling them shamefully.

In the mountains over their valley home, a terrible earthquake awakened a dragon. The farmer and his family survived the earthquake, but the dragon now demanded payment, in exchange for not terrorizing the valley. He demanded that each year, starting the next, the community would have to send him one maiden – the most beautiful, the most wonderful. Each year after that, they would send another maiden, and the dragon would hunt elsewhere for his regular meals.

The village conferred, and it was agreed upon, sadly, but truly, the Farmer’s daughters would be the first to go. There was no question they were the most beautiful, and the most wonderful. With every family in the valley preferring NOT to nominate their own daughters, the choice was easily made. The farmer, being a rich man, agreed, in order to protect his neighbors.

His eldest daughter, Astraea, was well known for her skill with a needle. She embroidered, stitched and whipped together the most wonderful dresses. Given one year to prepare herself for her meeting with the dragon, she meditated in silence, preparing for herself a beautiful dress to wear to her death. In red silk, embroidered all over with yellow tiger lilies, she sewed in silence for a whole year. At the end, she donned her finery, and went out to meet the dragon. She walked up to him, gave him a deep, full curtsy, and was gobbled right up. Licking his lips, the dragon went away again.

The second eldest sister, Ariadne, was known for her skill with plants. Her garden was the most lush, and her advice to her father on his crops always paid off. She grew flowers, vegetables, and herbs. She began her year of preparation, while her sisters watched, silent and fearful, imagining what it might be like when it was their turn. She spent time in her garden, working with her plants, and sitting in the sun. At the end of her year, she donned her yellow and red Sunday best, and marched up to meet the dragon. She outdid her sister’s curtsy, in grace and style, and the dragon gobbled her up, licked his lips, and went away again.

The third eldest, Briseis, was famed far and wide for the intricate rugs and tapestries she produced from her loom. She decided to be different. In silence, she worked a loom, and wove a broad cloth of finest lawn. She spent days on end in the village chapel, praying to god. In the last week, she cut and sewed a simple shift, and went to her fate wearing her modesty and a crown of daisies. Her sisters watched her go with varying expressions, from fear to puzzlement. She knelt humbly before the dragon, bowing down once, and looking up with her fine, wide blue eyes. The dragon gobbled her up, licked his lips, and went away again.

With four sisters left, the fourth eldest, Clio, went sadly to prepare. Clio had always had a talent for food, often using what her sister Ariadne grew to make meals for her family and the poor in the village. She had been known to take baskets of her creations to families in need. In silence, she made a simple a dress, and ate as little as possible, determined to give the dragon nothing but skin and bones to eat. She wore her old blue cotton dress, and tied a big red ribbon around her waist, like a bow on a present. She walked resolutely toward her fate, trailing her whispering sisters behind her. Hiding her face in her hands, eyes closed tight, she was gobbled up by the dragon. Licking his lips, he went away again.

The fifth sister, Clytia, was renown in the town for her skill with a brush. She painted portraits, murals, and lived her life trying to make the unattractive lovely. She spent her year painting. She painted everything she saw, her family, her home. She painted her dead sisters, and those she was leaving behind. She painted on the side of her father’s house, on the ceiling of the town hall, and over the front door of the church. In the end, she walked out of the house wearing her paint-smeared smock, a paintbrush in one hand. She met the dragon meekly, looking down at her hands, and the dragon gobbled her ups. Licking his lips, he went away again until next year.

The sixth sister, Eos, was always the quietest sister. She preferred the company of birds, to people, usually, except of course for her sisters. She simply chose a favorite old gown, and spent her year with her best friends, her birds. Silently stroking their soft feathers, or spreading seed for them to eat, she had always loved them best. When the end of her year came, she went with her birds following her, no matter how she tried to shoo them back. She went to meet the dragon, and her last, little sister, watched her go. When she bowed before the dragon, one of her birds tried to alight on her shoulder, and we gobbled up with the maiden by the dragon. Licking his lips, we went away again.

The last sister was the rebel, the wild child. She ran wild through the woods, played rough games with boys, and never remembered to comb her hair or wipe her feet. She was told she didn’t have to go – as the last child, it wasn’t fair to take her too. Eurydice, though, insisted she was just as brave as her sisters, and she would go! Unable to dissuade her (and glad not to give up their own daughters), they allowed it. Eurydice spent her year locked away, busy at some mysterious task she didn’t share with anyone. She was silent, never speaking, as her sisters had before, but no one knew what it was she did to prepare herself for the final meeting.

When the day dawned, and it was time, and she finally emerged. On her feet were her favorite boots, snug and familiar and sure-footed. Her mismatched armor looked menacing, She was only 16, but she was ready to end this terrorism. She’d cut her hair, short in the back, swining long to points along her chin. A heavy leather belt supported the scabbard to the deadly looking sword she carried in one hand. Under one arm, she carried the helmet, winged for Eos, painted with flowers for Ariadne and Clytia. Over one shoulder was the cloak Briseis had woven for her, sewn and embroidered by her oldest sister, Astraea. With Clio’s voice a memory in her ear, she ate a good breakfast, and went out to meet the dragon. She found him waiting, among the remains of her dead sisters. Tatters of their dresses lay rotting amid the gnawed clean bones.

This time, when he tried to gobble up his prize, he found he couldn’t! The armor protected her, and she danced out of his way. She swung her sword with a flash, and removed the dragon’s eye. Blood gouted forth, dousing the piles of bones. He lunged again, and again she danced out of the way. Her sword flashed out, and Snick! She removed his other eyes. The blood poured out, and covered the bones of her sisters. Blinded and enraged, the dragon lunged again, with a mighty roar. Snarling in fury, she swung again, and lopped his head clean off! The blood of a dragon is powerful magic, and Eurydice found herself and her sisters full swimming in it.

In fury at her sisters’ willingness to die, their lack of spirit enough to fight, Eurydice spoke harshly at her dead sisters spirits. "For your timidity you were devoured. How pitiful!" The blood formed around the bodies, and one by one, the bones joined together. A form seemed to rise out of the mess, a mannequin of fine fabrics, wearing her eldest sister’s red and yellow finery. Formed like a girl, but silently meek, waiting patiently to be dressed. Another cluster of matter formed, and from the muck rose the form of a beautiful girl, kneeling, one hand outstretched as if to touch a blossom. She didn’t move, and as the form solidified completely, her stone skin was visible.

Another formed, this time only a small disturbance in the surface of the red, and a small string of prayer beads floated to the surface, coming to rest at Eurydice’s feet. As she bent to retrieve them, a pair of chopsticks floated up next to them. She picked them up as well, looking at them sadly. Around her, the blood was soaking into the earth, changing the color of the dirt and stone forever. As a flock of birds suddenly burst into the sky, wheeling around against the cloudless sky, they could see below them in the earth itself, the solemn face of the sister that had slain the dragon.

Base by Nikki Faith