The Black Forest (standard:fairy tales, 3926 words)
Author: J.A. Aarntzen	Added: Oct 17 2005	Views/Reads: 4252/2971	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Four young elves discover an abanadoned baby in the middle of the Black Forest.

The Black Forest 

In that part of their country that the Germans call the Black Forest was
born a boy on December 6, 1795. He was a cherubic boy with brilliant 
blue eyes and a mouth that was always smiling. 

However, even in his first few hours of life this boy had already
experienced great sadness.  For this little tot with the abundant 
paunch had been left on his own in the Black Forest by his mother.  She 
did not want to be a mother.  She was a very unhappy woman whose 
unhappiness kept her mind in a fog and could not think straight.  She 
thought that it would be better for the baby to die than to grow up an 
orphan.  So with cloudy intentions she left her newborn son at the 
roots of a gnarly old tree. 

She wept a little and then she was gone. 

Shortly after the sad woman left, the little baby began to cry for he
was hungry and he was cold.  But there were no ears to hear his 
mournful wails.  And thus the little baby spent his first night of his 
long life alone and without anybody to feed and fend for him. 

In the morning the winds picked up.  The snow that blanketed the Black
Forest's floor was blown about to form monstrous banks that took the 
most menacing of shapes.  Trolls and goblins could not be as 
frightening in appearance as some of these drifts.  One of these 
fearful snow banks began to creep slowly toward the baby.  It was 
almost as if it had the murderous intent of suffocating the child. 

He was growing very weak.  He was terribly afraid.  Even before
attaining the concept of death the little boy was upon its frightful 
gates.  He wanted to cry but his snow-clogged lungs did not afford him 
the opportunity to bawl his protest against cruel life. 

... 

Now, somewhere nearby to the sad little boy were four curious beings
that had lost their way because of the unexpected blizzard.  These 
creatures called themselves elves.  They were musty green tunics that 
covered very little of their bandy legs which were bare to the wind.  
On their feet were silly shoes with long toes that curled up over their 
arches.  Their faces were of the type that little girls would call 
sweet.  They had button-noses and big oval eyes that seemed to see more 
than there was to see.  Upon the tops of their heads were mops of curly 
hair that listened more to the wind than to the comb.  Two were 
redheads while the other two were blonds. 

Normally, elves are quite cheerful and footloose but on this particular
morning with the fierce winds beating against their small bodies, any 
notion of joyfulness was as hard for them to grip as a bar of soap in 
the bathtub. 

Ho was the leader of this forlorn, lost group.  His wild red hair was a
good indication of the angry fire that burned within him on this day.  
He carried a staff that helped him trudge through the snow.  A burst of 
chilling wind pushed him into the bank. 

He got up angrier than ever and began swinging his staff at the other
three. 

“Who pushed me down?” he growled in his chipmunk-like voice. 

“It was not I!” cried blond-haired chubby Diddo. 

“Nor I!” added the other fair-haired member of the company.  Unlike
Diddo, Hum was thin. 

“If it was me I would have made sure that you would have stayed down!”
said flame-haired Kiddo.  “It is because of your lousy directions Ho 
that I shan't be home for Christmas!” 

“How dare you say that it was my fault!” snapped Ho.  “It was your idea
Kiddo that we stay one night longer to help the cobbler.  And for what? 
 He did not even say thank you!  He took all the credit for those 
wonderful shoes that Hum designed.  If we would have left when I said 


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