A Fairy Story
Dan Scorpio
'Do you remember in your younger daze,' asked Miranda, the Furry Queen, 'and
you became annoyed because you were covered in incense, incensed and I asked
you silly questions about why would we turn up noses, yet turn down offers,
how a nose knows it's a nose, how we would chop down trees yet chop up wood,
and why we have an ear to hear here and here, but not here?'
'I remember it well I do,' nodded Elvil the gnome, settling into his
toadstool and whistling a little tuneless tune, 'well I almost do.'
'Well,' smiled the queen, 'I have something new for you today. Did you know
that some gnomes are very easy to confuse?'
'Pardon?' Elvil raised his eyebrows and looked perplexed.
'Exactly,' continued the queen, 'I'll talk to you about that in a little
while. When you were young, and in a daze, do you remember that once upon a
time you couldn't walk, couldn't talk or read or write either of those words
either?'
'I remember I couldn't read or write them, but I can't remember ever being
unable to walk or talk - even though I couldn't write them.' He whistled
nervously.
'And why is that?'
The gnome scratched his head: this was indeed a difficult question. 'I don't
know,' he replied eventually.
'So, you don't know, eh? Do you know why you don't know? That's a different
question you know, try to answer it and then you might know. People should
always ask themselves why they don't know for when you find out why you
don't know, you know something about knowing you didn't know before - and
eventually you get to know. I'll give you some help: first, remember
something then, when you've remembered it remember how you managed to
remember it.'
The gnome's eyes glazed over. He whistled and scratched his head again. 'I
remembered how I learned to write right. I had something to copy from, I
formed the letters and made sounds for the letters. Then I made the letters
into words and with some of the words I learned to write letters. The old
pixie who taught me made me write some strange sentences so I learned how to
make proper sentences, things like 'I heard a man using my ears,' 'I laughed
at the mess in my shoes,' and 'The man went to the castle without a name.'
The Furry Queen's eyes glazed over briefly. 'So, you remember how you
learned to write in pictures.'
'No, I learned to write in letters and words.'
'Yes, yes. But you remember how you did it in pictures.' The queen suddenly
turned and kicked the gnome. He fell off the toadstool and landed on the
ground with a thump.
'Ouch,' he cried, 'what was that for?'
'Just to remind you how you learned how to walk,' said the queen darkly. She
rubbed her chin gently as the gnome clambered back onto his perch. 'Now
where were we,' she mused.
As she was thinking, there was a buzzing of wings and Griselda, the Bristly
Queen, appeared and lit on a nearby branch. 'We were here in the magical
woods. I've been listening in, and I've come to help out with the gnome's
lesson,' she announced. 'Funny that: listen in, help out. Strange things
words, very strange. Do you know any riddles, gnome?'
Elwil shook his head.
'If I sit by the trees and the stone circle, where will I be sitting?'
'I don't know. There aren't any trees by the stone circle.'
'So, where will I be sitting?'
Silence.
'Let's try another one: if I knew a wood wizard in a bright crimson cape,
would he be a wizard made of wood or would he be a wizard who lived in a
wood, and who would be wearing the cape?'
The gnome stared. The Bristly Queen turned away and addressed her sister.
'Not very bright is he? What is his lesson by the way?'
The Furry Queen stared into the distance. 'Do you know,' she whispered
vaguely, 'I've quite forgotten. What was your lesson to be, gnome? Do you
know?'
'You were asking me why I could remember some things and not some other
things.'
'Ah yes! And the reason I was asking you that was in order to help you get
rid of that annoying habit you have.'
The gnome whistled nervously. 'W, w, what habit?'
'That stupid five-note whistle,' interjected the Bristly Queen, 'you don't
even know when you're doing it do you?'
'I, I do.'
'Oh no you don't,' the queen replied gruffly, 'you just did it again then
didn't you?'
The gnome had to admit that he did. He often whistled tunelessly when he was
either daydreaming or nervous.
'Question is,' murmured the Furry Queen, 'can you remember when you learned
to whistle like that?'
'N, n, n, no,' replied the gnome, whistling as he did, 'I've always done
it.'
'Oh no you haven't. You must have been able to whistle before you learned to
whistle that stupid tune. And you can't learn to whistle before you learn to
walk. Isn't that true, sister?'
The queens nodded their heads in unison.
'Well, gnome, don't you think it would be a good idea to be rid of that
whistle? Do you see how it hampers you when you stalk rabbits? Are you aware
how dangerous that whistle would be if an ogre came to the woods looking for
his breakfast and you let out a little peep?'
The gnome had to admit that his habitual whistle was an impediment and that
it would be useful to get rid of it, but he just couldn't help himself.
'We can get rid of your nervous whistle for you,' the queens announced
together, 'but first you must realise that it's a habit you acquired a long,
long time ago. We must recover that memory for you. Are you prepared for us
to do that?'
'Yes, but how?'
'Leave that to us, we are experts on recovering memories. I can even get
memories out of a stone - problem is getting it to tell me what they are,'
said the Furry Queen. 'I recall from our earlier discussion that you
remember in pictures.'
'Yes.'
'And you can't remember learning that whistle. Do you know what that means?'
'No.'
'You don't have a picture of it.' She turned to the Bristly Queen. 'Can you
picture a whistle sister?'
'Picture a whistle? How on earth do you do that? She screwed up her eyes and
tried to imagine a picture of a whistling sound, but she couldn't. Next, she
tired to imagine the sound made by the colour green and what the sound of a
waterfall tasted like - but she failed again.
'Strange creatures these gnomes,' continued the Furry Queen. 'However, it is
possible to store memories in different ways - pictures, sounds, tastes,
smells and touches. If your memory isn't stored as a picture, gnome, it's
stored as one or more of the others - probably in sound and/or touch Sit
here, here on this patch of grass between us.'
The gnome did as asked, and the two queens arranged themselves one against
each of his ears. 'What are you going to do to me?' he whimpered.
'Don't be such a baby,' replied the Bristly Queen, 'we aren't going to hurt
you, in fact you may find what we are going to do to be rather pleasant.
Just stand still and be quiet, quite quiet and listen to our voices.'
The two queens began to speak to the gnome in soft, reassuring voices.
Sometimes they spoke separately, sometimes together. Some of the time they
used the same words, at other times others. Before long, the gnome became
quite confused and didn't know which queen was speaking and who was saying
what and where and why.
'We are searching for the events causing your nervous whistle: you must keep
that clearly in mind as we begin. You should also keep in mind that we
aren't really interested in curing your nervous whistle - although we will -
that's just a metaphor for something else, a something which only you know
about so you had better think about what that problem might be as we
commence. Now, what we have to do first, and last, Mr Gnome is to put you in
a receptive state of mind in order that you can properly access the memory
of the memory of where you store the memory. All you need to do is do
nothing, just listen closely, and be perfectly silent. I was speaking of
memories and memories aren't real, whatever that means, other than as
memories and they're rather tricky, sneaky things. Close your eyes and think
about what you were doing earlier today when you awoke. See if you can
remember everything that happened, and I'll guarantee you can't, because the
memories are so difficult to pin down. I can pin them down though, for I
know a lot about them. Memories can hide in various places: some hide in
noises, so you have to listen carefully for those, listen in the sound of my
voice, listen in the sound of your breathing, listen in the sound of the
surrounding sounds which are neither my voice nor your breathing. Now, as
you listen to the sounds, you can easily become aware of the spaces, the
absences of sound, between the sounds, so there is now the sound of my
voice, the sound of your breathing, the sound of the surroundings and the
sounds and absence of sounds between the sounds to attend to. As well as the
sounds, there's something else going on here which you are going to become
increasingly curious about while you listen to the sounds. I'm going to show
you a new dance, and it would be useful if you could remember the taste of a
succulent pear and the faint scent of wood-smoke whilst you learn it. Are
you continuing to be aware of those two sensations and which is the
strongest as I show you the dance? This is a dance that you do in time with
the sound of my voice but without moving any part of your body. As you
follow the sound of my voice, and the spaces in-between the sound, it will
lead you through the dance. You do this dance by becoming aware of the parts
of your body that might dance - like your left hand for instance, not your
right hand - and you become aware in time with my voice as it points to
them, like it is pointing at your right foot now. Blinking is a tiring
business isn't it, and you've only just become aware of it as you think of
your right knee and your right hand makes you aware of your left foot, and
your right foot and as you now think of your left knee. All you have to do
is follow my voice - and don't forget the taste of the pear and scent of the
smoke and the gaps between the sounds. As this experience is a feeling
experience, an inward journey in touch and sound, you don't really need to
use your eyes and may feel more comfortable, find it better to close them to
avoid distractions as you've already got enough to do. Are you aware that as
your attention is focusing inwards you follow my voice to your right elbow,
your left knee, your right foot again and now your right hand and that a
marvellous feeling is coming over you. And as you listen to my voice, you
become aware of the joyful nature of this dance as you avoid thinking of
your left foot but consider your left knee, your right elbow, your right
foot, and you hear the space between the words which makes you feel at ease
as you perhaps begin to realise, to remember something you shut out that
happened long, long ago that your right knee witnessed, because your right
knee was there then like it's here now. So was your left eyelid and your
right eyelid, as close now as they were then. Your body, your left and right
hands, your arms, the legs, your left foot, your right foot each have their
own form of memory you know, and they can remember that certain something,
that time, with their own perfect clarity. This is a memory you are
experiencing, in a hand, a foot, and elbow, and you are perfectly aware it
is a memory and as such cannot hurt you. At the time you experienced this
memory with your arms and legs, you also experienced it with your eyes and
ears and, as you feel your left foot and your right hand and listen to the
sound of my voice, other aspects of that memory are becoming available to
the other parts of your sensory apparatus. As you continue to relive the
memory in a foot and a hand, the visual memory of this certain event returns
to you and becomes perfectly clear to you. The memory is there with you
perfectly clearly now: you are fully aware of the events surrounding the
beginning of your behaviour, a behaviour which at the time was a perfectly
reasonable and logical behaviour. But that was in the past: your left hand
knows this, your right elbow knows this, as do your left knee, your right
foot, your left elbow, but maybe not your right knee which is beginning to
know this as is the tip of your nose and your left thigh. Although your body
knows this was appropriate behaviour at the time, even your ears knows as
they hear the sound of my words, it also knows that it is conditioned, and
no longer appropriate behaviour. The body is old, far far older than the
mind which is of a temporary, fleeting nature, and the body is wise,
incredibly wise. Now the body has been made aware of this inappropriate
behaviour it may, if it chooses, find a way to correct it - indeed it is so
swift and intelligent that it can review vast numbers of ways of harmlessly
correcting this behaviour in moments. Should one of these corrections be
suitable, the body will no doubt implement it and monitor it's development
such as to ensure no imbalance in the overall system occurs due to the
correction. You have followed my voice, to your right elbow, your left knee,
your right foot again and now your right hand. You have followed my voice to
the memories stored in your body, and the memories associated with those
memories in order to access the root of a problem that has been bothering
you for some time. You have accessed that problem and asked your body to
direct it's vast resources into viewing it and ascertaining a cure. Now, as
you follow my voice, you become more and more aware of the surrounding
background noise. You become more visually aware of your surroundings, and
you slowly find yourself back where you were when we started all this - with
the exception that you now have the knowledge that the problem you sought to
address is now being addressed by your body and that your body will choose
whether or not to have access to the root cause of the problem in your
normal waking awareness.'
The gnome shook his head as the two queens backed away and peered at him.
'Well?' he asked, 'When are you going to start?'
'Give me a whistle,' demanded the Bristly Queen.
The gnome tried to whistle, but he couldn't.
'Where are you?' asked the Furry Queen.
'I am here, in the magical woods with you.'
'And where have you just been?'
He scratched his head and tried to whistle again. 'I can't remember
properly. I was in another time.'
'Correct,' she said darkly. 'In that other time, you could whistle - and you
had one or two other problems as well. Now, you are here and now and your
whistling has gone, and some other things are going - some things just take
longer than others, but it'll still be here and now when they've gone. Good
luck and goodbye. Come back when you want another lesson.'
With that, the two queens took to the air and were gone in a flash.
Mr S Moon
my piles have completely disappeared