In my “Writer as Observer” workshop I was asked to choose from a set of pictures and write about what I saw. Here are the pictures I chose:
The Adventure of Little One
My father was born and raised in Kassel, Germany. I’m sure if I went there I could write a very descriptive piece about its beautiful scenery and their inhabitants. If my father were a storyteller, I might have been able to tell you all about Kassel just from his descriptions. Alas, he was not a talebearer and never shared much about Kassel. So I will have to rely upon another of Kassel’s famous inhabitants, the Brothers Grimm. I am well versed in their stories. The pictures that I chose this week inspired me to relate a tale, like the Brothers Grimm, that just might have happened.
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There once was a diminutive woman. Though she was small in stature, she was large in heart. And she was brave. She had been born to normal-sized parents. It was never explained how it came to be that she was born so tiny. It might have been a wish for a child that her parents made that was misinterpreted by the wish granter. It might have been a revengeful curse as the end result of an uninvited guest to her parent’s wedding. But born she was. She was called, “Little One” and her parents loved her and did all they could to protect her. As she grew older though she was allowed to venture out more on her own and had many adventures. Some of her adventures were of her own choosing, others were not. This is one of them.
—
Little One had decided to leave home one day and have an outing in a nearby town. Being as small as she was, and usually having to scale tall objects, she made sure to pack her climbing gear in her backpack. The trip to the village was uneventful. When she got there, however, there were wonderful sights to see. There was the park, just down from the castle. A beautiful fenced-in area bordered by trees. She was careful as she meandered through the grasses to avoid a passing herd of spotted deer. As light of hoof the deer were, her frail small body wouldn’t have stood a chance.
The densely wooded hills leading up the castle and its grounds were less problematic. A good walking stick aided her ascent. By the time she got to the town square just below the castle, she was tired. She saw what appeared to be a large cart on wheels standing with no one in attendance. On the top there appeared to be a collection of small shelters. Each had a round base that rose up to a point following a conical shape, similar to a sorcerer’s hat. There was a slight crack in the side of one of them that she knew she could fit through. It had a waffled siding of light brown on the bottom, covered with a dark brown striped section that led all the way to its pointed roof. It seemed like a good place to rest.
—
It was a hot day. The tall man looked at his watch and realizing that he had time before his appointment, went to the ice cream cart and ordered a double-decker ice cream cone. Pistachio and Raspberry were his favorite.
—
Suddenly, Little One’s world was turned upside down! It became very dark and there was a chill in the air. Looking up she could see a thick, solid mass of some fruit smelling material blocking her way. She began to scale the waffled walls as best she could to get a better look. It was ice cream! She was trapped. But then the unexpected happened…
—
The man hated eating ice cream cones the normal way. He remembered his youth when he could take a spoon to his dixie cup and squash and swirl around the ice cream until it became soft serve. That was the best. But you can’t do that with a cone. But as it begins to melt, you can do something even better. If you bite off the bottom point of the cone, you can then suck the melted ice cream through it like a straw. “Oh to be young again…But who says I can’t do that now even though I’m an adult,” he thought to himself. So that’s exactly what he did.
—
Suddenly there was an opening beneath Little One. As she looked down she could see the small jagged hole. She could also see the inside of a mouth covering it and felt the force pulling at her to drop into its deadly grasp. She looked up. What was once a solid mass of ice cream blocking her way, now became a swirl of loose soft material spiraling down towards the hole at the bottom. Towards the top of those spirals came light. It was now or never. She found whatever foothold she could reach. She pushed on each side of that layered wall, finding those still frozen spots, those pieces of fruit and nut that she could attach herself to and began her ascent again. As the smell of pistachio left her and the smell of raspberry filled her nose, the fear that had been building inside her began to wane as there was a different light now which appeared above her. It wasn’t muted and translucent but rather blue and clear; It gave off a smell of clean air and escape.
She made it to the top of the cone and jumped down without looking back. The man, himself so entrenched in the joy of eating his cone, did not see a thing.
That was enough adventure for Little One that day. She decided to head for home. She was greeted by her parents, who by now were used to seeing their daughter come back from her sojourns somewhat less kempt than when she left. They were glad she had made it back safely.
They continue to worry about her whenever she leaves on her own. And Little One…well, she continues to have adventures and do amazing things. But those stories are for another time.
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Now if you ever do go to Kassel, Germany, I suggest you go see the open-air Brothers Grimm Festival that occurs each year from July to August. I know you’ll love their stories. I would also be careful where you step when you’re there and make sure to look at your food as you eat it. You never know what you might find.
