Asperula's Rainbow (youngsters:fairy tales, 2534 words)
Author: Ian Hobson	Added: Jan 08 2006	Views/Reads: 4672/2544	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
'I don't have black cats in my garden; they're bad luck. Now shoo, before I turn you into goat!' Another bedtime story from the fairytale land of Astrantia.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

she could find a spell to make it rain enough for a rainbow, then maybe 
she could give it a try.  Perhaps a black cat in the garden was not 
such bad luck after all. 

For the rest of the afternoon, Asperula studied the spell book,
struggling with some of the ancient writings, until finally, on the 
very last page, she discovered what she was looking for: spells for 
making rain.  One was for storms, with thunder and lightening, and one 
was for night-time rain, for people who wanted their gardens watering 
but didn't want to get wet.  Then she found just the one she wanted: a 
magic spell to make long summer showers, complete with rainbows.  And 
she began preparations for trying it out on the very next day.  She 
stoked the fire under her cauldron and danced around it, throwing wild 
flowers and herbs into the boiling liquid, and chanting: 

'First Hog Weed and Borage Go into the pot (I must get some more Because
I use them a lot) 

'Then Hawk Weed, for Orange And Curds Dart for Blue And King Cup for
yellow What a colourful brew 

'Now, Hair Grass for indigo Hart's-tongue for green And a sprig of fresh
nettle To keep the pot clean 

'That leaves Columbine for Violet And Poppy for red Give a really good
stir, and Then straight off to bed' 

And so off to bed she went, leaving the window open so that the steam
from the simmering cauldron could make its way out into the night air 
where it could do its magic.  And sure enough, when Asperula awoke in 
the morning, there were clouds gathering in the sky.  So she dressed 
and put on her best apron and best black cloak, and carrying the old 
spell book, she set off towards the river where most of the clouds had 
assembled. 

*** 

Thymus slipped in through the cat-flap in the back door of the old
tower.  The tower was more like a house really, as over the years, a 
roof and a chimney, and doors and windows, had been added.  He padded 
across the stone floor of the kitchen towards the staircase.  The 
kitchen was circular in shape, as was the tower itself, and the 
staircase ran around the wall in a spiral and led to the circular 
living room above and then on to the circular bedrooms above that.  
There was even a circular dungeon below, as the tower had once been 
part of a castle, most of which had crumbled and fallen. 

'Hello,' said Holcus, sleepily, when Thymus appeared at the top step of
the first floor and padded across the room towards him.  'Been out all 
night?'  The warlock, wearing an old grey dressing gown, was sitting in 
semi-darkness in his favourite chair beside a huge fireplace.  The 
sunlight that filtered through a large curtained window showed that he 
was old and thin in the face, and his hair was grey and straggly, but 
there was a proud, intelligent look in his eyes.  He reached down and 
stroked Thymus who lifted his tail and arched his back and purred. 

'No, I've not been out all night,' Thymus replied.  'But I woke early,
so I thought I'd go out and see what the weather was doing.' 

Holcus laughed at this.  'I could have told you that without going
outside,' he said.  'The sun is shining and the weather's set fair, as 
always.'  He reached for the crook that was leaning against his chair, 
and gave one sharp tap on the floor with it, and the curtains opened to 
reveal a lovely view of the fields and river but with rain clouds not 
far away. 

'Not quite, you see,' said Thymus.  'The sun is shining, but there are
some thick black clouds out there and it looks likely to rain.'  He had 
an idea he knew why, but decided to say nothing to Holcus.   He took 
his usual place on the rug in front of the fireplace.  The fire was not 
lit, as it was the middle of summer, but at other times of the year, in 
front of the roaring log fire was one of Thymus's favourite places to 
be. 

*** 

With the sun behind her and feeling very pleased with herself, Asperula
made her way across the fields towards the gathering clouds.  Hanging 
from a gold chain around her neck was her talisman, a jet-black stone 
from the middle of a shooting star.  The talisman was relatively new 
and it had taken time for Asperula to get used to it, but gradually it 
began to yield its magic and slowly it had enhanced Asperula's powers 
and increased her understanding of spells like the one she was planning 
to use to ride a rainbow. 

Rainbow-riding, as practised by witches since the beginning of time, is
a novel way of getting from one place to another.  It's especially 
useful for getting over obstacles like fast flowing rivers or for 
simply getting from one side of a valley to the other.  Though many 
witches think it a ridiculous way to travel because, firstly you have 
to find a rainbow, and secondly you have to get to it - which isn't as 
easy as it sounds because rainbows do have this habit of moving away as 
you approach them - and thirdly, the other end of the rainbow has to be 
in the place you want to get to.  So mostly it's just done for 
enjoyment – a joyride, in fact – or sometimes just to show off. 

Asperula hurried along, with a spring in her step that she hadn't had
for many a year.  She even giggled at the thought of riding a rainbow.  
And suddenly ahead, as the clouds began to shed their rain, there it 
was: a beautiful rainbow, with all the usual colours – red, orange, 
yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet – arcing across the sky and 
reaching over the fields and across the river. 

Asperula opened her spell book at the right page and referred to the
text.  She knew that the first step was to make the rainbow keep still 
while she made her way to it.  As she walked on, she read aloud the 
magic words, but the clouds and the rainbow seemed to drift away as 
though pulled by the river as it meandered downstream.  Asperula 
clutched her talisman and repeated the words, over and over, and at 
last found that she was getting closer and closer to the rainbow.  But 
she was also beginning to get quite wet so, as she walked on, she tore 
a bright green bracken stem from the ground and uttered more words of 
magic and immediately the bracken stem turned into an umbrella which 
she held aloft to keep from getting wetter. 

Once more she referred to the book of spells before dropping it into her
apron pocket, and with talisman in one hand and umbrella in the other, 
she reached the rainbow and stepped into its brilliance, reciting the 
rainbow-riding spell.  For a moment nothing happened, then with an 
exhilarating whoosh, she was carried away, spiralling head first and 
with her black cloak flapping behind her, up into the rainbow's 
colouful core - but a little faster than she had expected for, almost 
immediately, the umbrella closed about her head and she couldn't see a 
thing. 

'Get off me!' she cried, as he fought with the umbrella, finally
flinging it aside and letting it fall.  Now she could see, and what an 
amazing site it was too: she was surrounded by colour and yet, through 
it, she could see the greenery of the surrounding countryside and the 
sparkling blue river below and the charcoal-grey rain-cloud above.  And 
then she crested the top of the rainbow and began to descend, shrieking 
with laughter, and still spiralling headfirst, and having the ride of 
her life. 

Anyone watching would have been quite amazed, for this was most unlike
Asperula.  But this was where things began to go wrong.  The rainbow 
had obligingly kept still at one end while Asperula stepped inside it, 
but all the while the other end had continued to drift, swinging ever 
nearer to the old tower across the river.  And as Asperula neared the 
end of her ride she saw with horror that she was not going to have the 
soft grassy landing that she had expected. 

*** 

Both Thymus and Holcus had fallen asleep beside the fireplace as they
quite often did, regardless of the time of day.  But when a tremendous 
crashing noise came echoing down the chimney, they both awoke with a 
start.  In fact Thymus, who was closest to the fireplace, was so 
startled that he shot up into the air and across the room as though 
someone had just stamped on his tail.  And lucky he did because a great 
fall of soot came tumbling down and landed in the fireplace, before 
issuing a sooty black cloud into the room. 

'Lightening!' exclaimed Holcus, as coughing, and choking, and blinking
the soot from his eyes, he got to his feet.  'We've been struck by 
lightening!'  But just then there was another crashing sound and more 
soot came down the chimney followed by a huge bat-like creature that 
Holcus thought must be some kind of demon.  It was as black as night 
and as it landed headfirst, in the fireplace, it wailed like a banshee 
and clawed at the hearth with its scrawny talons, and its two pale eyes 
flashed with a terrible malevolence. 

'Be gone, you evil spirit, you incubus, you demon of the night!' cried
Holcus, as he peered at the creature through the soot-filled air.  'How 
dare you come down my chimney, unannounced?  Be gone!' 

Covered in soot and looking quite demon-like himself, Holcus reached for
his magic crook and pointed it at the terrible intruder.  In his 
younger days he would have instantly remembered the correct magic 
spells to ward off such an evil creature and send it on its way, but 
his memory was not what it used to be.  But as he tried to remember the 
words, the creature got to its feet and, trailing its great black wings 
and more clouds of soot, it fled across the room and sped down the 
staircase and left the house by the kitchen door. 

Thymus jumped up onto the windowsill and peered out.  The garden and the
adjacent fields were in shade, as a large black cloud hung overhead, 
and the ground was wet from recent rain.  But almost immediately, as 
Asperula, with sooty hair and a torn black cloak, hurried away from the 
tower, the clouds vanished and the sun shone once more. 

'Bless me,' exclaimed Holcus, as he reached into the fireplace and
lifted something from the soot-filled hearth.  'How ever did you get up 
the chimney?'  He blew the soot from the old spell book, and watched as 
the face on the front cover began to smile at him.  The spell book was 
glad to be back with his master. 

*** 

So, next time you see a rainbow, look carefully; there probably won't be
a witch riding inside it – but you never know. 


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