The Collection

The Winged Goddess of Dreams

The Winged Goddess of Dreams

Once upon a time, there was an old wives' tale that went like so: when someone's heart breaks, so does a piece of our world; this creates fissures, valleys, even cracks in the road. Upon this time, a little girl named Libitina created the Grand Canyon.

Libitina lived in Rome, an orphan. A greedy woman by the name of Mother Lucretia took her off the streets, but for her own gain. Lucretia wanted a worker to make tapestries on the loom to sell for a good price.

And so Libitina toiled in her small, dingy room, with only a pallet, her work, and a window overlooking the square.

Now, Libitina was a dreamer, often creating whole worlds in her head while she worked. This led to many tangles and knots in her cloth, which Mother Lucretia harshly reprimanded her for. She created fantastical works of art on that loom, with only a few drab colors and poor quality woolen thread to work with. Of course, Lucretia refused to sell these tapestries, claiming them to be too frivolous to sell, ripping them up and throwing them out the window.

One day, Libitina created a wonderful tapestry of a bird-winged child goddess, innocent and angelic. She knew Lucretia would disapprove, so she hid it under her splintery pallet. When Mother Lucretia went out to the market, Libitina would pull out the tapestry and stare wistfully at it, wishing to fly up to the girl.

Each day she grew more and more infatuated with the goddess, gradually noticing how the thread became more and more vibrant, the cloth smoothing out into silk. One day, Lucretia came home to find Libitina staring at the beautiful tapestry.

"Libitina!" She cried, rushing over and seizing the tapestry. "How dare you keep this hideous thing! You've created a demon child from the underworld, with Hell-fire raging around her wicked face. How dare you create such a hideous creature, let alone make it! I shall rip it up and leave you without food to punishment." With that, she tore the maiden into pieces and tossed her out the window.

Libitina cried for days on end. How could her beautiful winged goddess look like a she-demon? How could Mother Lucretia tear her fair lady up? As her tears dried, she came up with an idea, one that possessed her so much that it reached her heart. Surely this goddess had to be real, like all the other Divine Ones. Since she lived in the clouds, I could create my own wings and fly to her!"

After her idea took hold, she couldn't let it go. So when Lucretia was gone, she stole thread from her room to create wings. She designed them after the starling that perched on her windowsill, their great feathers tightly woven together. As Lucretia slept at night, Libitina fit on her wings, stood in her window, and willed herself to fly.

All this had taken root in Libitina's very heart, the entangled vine choking it, threatening to drive straight through her heart. The bird girl was the only hope she had left, as she thought, pushing everything and everyone away from her. She had made her life dependent on this one fantasy, or else that vine would thrust through her heart, and break it.

One night, Libitina finally saw who she was looking for-the winged goddess. She had created a fantastic tapestry of dragons earlier, which Lucretia had torn up and scattered to the ground. The girl was swooping down, ebony wings delicately flapping until she reached the road, gathering up all the pieces and making them whole again.

Overcome with joy, Libitina suddenly leapt from the windowsill, crying out with excitement. The bird-goddess looked up, alarmed, and winged her way up to her cloud. She could see into Libitina's heart, the disease she had given herself. She could tell there was no help. She knew that Libitina would never be whole again if she didn't see the bird goddess, but the goddess wisely knew that Libitina would have nothing left to keep her going once she had seen the girl. Mortals could not come and live with immortals above, so there was nothing the goddess could do.

With a heavy heart, the winged goddess knew what she had to do. She gently glided down to Libitina, cupped her earnest face in her flawless, glowing hands, and whispered, "I'm sorry." With that, she laid a finger on Libitina's fluttering umber wings, stopping them, and sealing Libitina's fate.

Libitina's eyes, suddenly clear, fell to the ground, unhazed by her enchantment. Her already lifeless body thudded to the ground below, her broken heart killing her before she reached the ground.

The girl spiraled down, trailing tears. She looked weary and worn, revealing her immortal woes. When she lightly touched the ground, she conquered all the beautiful tapestries Libitina had created in her short, sad lifetime, and gently covered the dead girl in her tapestries. When the tapestries fluttered away at dawn, there was nothing left to see.