The Art of Raven's Shire
A gallery of art inspired by the stories of Raven's Shire
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Raven's Shire Fairies Tales
Saga of a Nix
The Kelpie and the Washer Girl
Cerys
Worth rearranged her heavy bundles of cloth and nearly dropped the last
of the load as she tried to balance them all before stumbling along the
roadway once more, her arms burning with the strain. It was a cool day,
but she didn’t notice for the heat of her effort. The birds were
chirping prettily, but she didn’t hear for the pounding of her heart
from the exertion of her work. The flowers bloomed brightly, but she
didn’t notice for the sweat in her eyes.
She heard a horse whinny on
the path before her and looked to be sure it wasn’t a lord about to be
cross with her when she beheld a magnificent black pony standing rider
less in the road. His long mane and the wealth of fur on his back let
her know that he hadn’t had a rider for some time. Yet he seemed tame,
so she tried to put some of the clothes she carried on his back and to
her surprise it seemed to work. With the horse carrying most of her
load she led him carefully down to the road by the river to do her
washing. However, when she got there the horse nudged her with his head
to the water’s edge, and then pushed her with his heavy body down into
the depths.
Cerys sputtered and pleaded, but the Kelpie cared not as
he continued to push her into the water until the last of the breath
had gone from her lungs.
The Nyx and the Miller
Now
a nix, Cerys Worth rode happily on the side of the miller’s waterwheel,
the light of the sun shone just right to make a rainbow from the water
dripping off the old planks. The little nyx chased the water droplets
with glee. Another nyx giggled happily as she also climbed up onto the
waterwheel and rose up high before being plunged back into the fast
moving river.
The waterwheel creaked in protest as four more nyx’s
climbed laughing onto it. Within moments six became a dozen of the
water fairies chasing playfully after each other. There were so many of
them that even their light weight was enough to cause the wheel to
grind to a halt.
Wondering what had happened the miller came out to
see if perhaps a log had gotten clogged in the mill. The nyx’s quickly
dove into the water, leaving only the sound of soft giggles and gentle
ripples to denote that anyone had been there. That should have been
enough warning, but the miller was tired as he walked down to the edge
of the water.
Cerys grabbed his foot and gave it a jerk; with a
heavy splash her fell into the water where she began to tickle him. The
other nyxies were drawn by his laughs like sharks to blood. They
tickled and tickled the miller until his laugh came out as a raucous
bloody cough.
Cerys kissed him once, her cold lips pressed against
his fading warmth and then he gasped inhaling water into his lungs at
last before going still.
The miller’s body drifted a few miles down
the river before Cerys pushed it up to the shore where the miller’s
soul grew out into a field of flowers and a little lark.
The Nyx and the Flowers
The
sun shone hot and the clouds drifted like dreams across the blue sky.
The wild, gnarled trees gave way to a field of flowers and a beautiful
little river. Out of the water and among the flowers came a nyx riding
a kelpie. The nyx’s dark, green hair cascaded with seemingly endless
water that fell to help the flowers grow.
A lark sang its love song to the fairy girl who smiled cheerfully at the soul that landed on her finger and nuzzled her bosom.
The
souls lay with each other under the clouds and blue sky and recalled
their first meeting. Together they wished for a child as red as blood
and as blue as the river.
Spring gave way to summer and the flowers changed form, and the lark made its nest in the high trees.
Autumn came and the flowers gave up a rich fruit, bitter sweet to eat for the birds that passed south for the winter.
Winter
came and the flowers wilted, the lark burrowed into the snow on the
cold night and when the morning sun rose a child was nestled in among
the wilted flowers that was as red as blood and blue as water.
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