literature

The Seller of Stars

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AydenSilverflame7's avatar
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Literature Text

There was once a man with a crooked leg, who carried on his back a bag made of dusty, dark leather. All along the seams hung small strands of beads, beads of all kinds. There were beads made of metal and glass, wood and bone, clay and even precious beads of gemstones hidden amongst each other.

To counter his infirmity, he walked hunched over a plain wooden staff, the head carved with a simple symbol- a star, seven pointed. It was cut deep into the spherical stave-head, a colour much lighter than the rest of the wood.

If asked the man with the crooked leg would smile and say the star showed the heart of his staff, the heart of the tree from which he took the wood to create his walking aid. He would then gently nod his head as he tipped his dusty hat, and be on his way, to sell the mysterious wares in his dark leather bag.

If you happened to happen upon him, you'd find all sorts of magical things inside his bag. The man with the crooked leg's eye would twinkle up at you (or down, for he would always stop for children) as you oohed and ahhed over the things he had for sale. Bright chips of plain stone, beautiful pieces of paper which shone like sheets of ivory, or inversely crumpled brown papers from the great cities which shouted headlines of days long past. Bits and pieces of metal would fall from his back, rusty or shining in the light. Some looked old, other pieces were nothing more than rusty cans and yet people still stopped to look at his wares, because he was the man with the crooked leg who wandered the world with a bag on his back and a staff crowned with a star. And because they pitied him, for they saw him as nothing more than a doddy old man with a crooked leg and a bag beaded with all the years of the life of a sad wanderer.

Sometimes though, a stranger would come across the old man and see what he truly sold. Shining before them, their eyes caught by the truth before them, instead of the lies that pity told. The man with the crooked leg sold stars.

They shone bright as truth, sharp as love, of all sizes and colours, just waiting to be bought by the right person. They were more precious than one can imagine, little globes of light that sang when you touched them.

You could grant a wish with a start bought from the man with the crooked leg, or give it to a lover. They shone brighter the more fervently you believed, and they only dimmed when you lost the touch of magic in your life.

So if you manage to come across a man walking down dusty paths or paved roads, clean or dirty or derelict remember that the trinkets he offers up for sale might be wholly something more than they appear, for looks can be deceiving.
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© 2012 - 2024 AydenSilverflame7
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kareeanne's avatar
I've been searching for the best fairy tales in dA and I'm so glad I found you! Your stories are rich and original and I must collect them all!! hehe...*ahem* Thank you.