Willow Wisp Tales

Follow me

A voice from the forest called to a man a strange, peculiar voice that was. It beckoned the man into the woods which were cold and wet. In a daze the man followed the voice into the cold and wet forest, there he saw a ball of flames, but this was blue, and had white,thin lines for eyes. The creature called fourth the man and he came, much like a dog being beckoned by his master. The creature led the man to a willow tree were the creature phased through the tree and looked back with its thin eyes. The man was shocked and intrigued so he followed the creature with no consideration. The man shivered and shoke but the creature spared no care towards the mans frigid antics and continued leading the way for what may seem the mans demise. The creature led the man to a old, Victorian age well. It was in a clearing of the forest where the rigid areas of the clearing had rocks and bushes, even a stream could be heard in the distance. The creature started to speak, the voice sounding soft,child-like voice,and it made the mans hair stand on end. "Oh wayward soul, please retrieve thy keys from the well", the voice sounded rough and sounded like the creature has been in this forest for centuries. "What are the keys for?" the man said calmly. "I need the keys to open the great golden door!" the creature stated like the man was suppose to know this information. "But we should not dwell on that!" the creature said as he gestured towards the well "retrieve my feather keys from the well and I will reward you!". The man opened his mouth wanting to reply but he heard the voice fade away and the creature went out of sight. 

The man stared down at the well and thought over why he felt the need to do this even if the creature was a hallucination of some sort. The man closed his eyes and then threw himself into the well. He felt his hands go numb from the water. He scoured the area of the well and then felt his lungs give out. He lifted his head out from the water and found closure on a small rock near the walls of the well. The man thought things like "why am i doing this", "ill never get out of this well", until he spotted something shiny, and golden near the deep edge of the well. The man summoned all of his courage and then jumped in the frigid water and put all his energy into kicking his way to the keys. He grazed the feather on the keys and then felt his whole body go numb. The man opened his eyes and he was in a white room and in front of him was the creature from before. "You scarified your life to get my keys and would even if i was just a figment of your imagination". The creature seemed to be smiling at the man. "Where am I?" the man asked as he stared at the room. "Thats not important whats important is what do you want?" the creature said cheerfully. "What?" the man said, the creature looked confused. "You of course want something correct?" the man stared at the ceiling while the creatures statement echoed in his head. "I have a family, a good job as a blacksmith, friends. Whats left for me to desire?". The creatures eyes glistened and then he spoke "very well done", "what?" the man asked. "You could have asked for anything in the world but yet you asked for nothing, you didn't even ask for good luck after all that bad luck you have been having" the man smiled sincerely. The creature and the room started to fade away and the man awoke to being on the dew drop grass. The man rubbed the back of his head,walked out of the forest all while humming a chipper tune...

The end....