Gardening
One day, Grandma was not invited to help anyone, so she set out to arrange the garden next to Royal Prince the dog. It was really in need of some gardening, because she kept travelling the surrounding villages to heal wounds, to repair bruised ankles, to bring chlorotics back to life, to set up animals that became lame… Now, however, they had just woken up to time for gardening, and in the early morning sunshine Royal Prince threw somersaults beside her by wagging his tail, as she was digging a small pit for another rose stem next to the already pruned rose bush.
Granny’s Real Help
And Starcluster came and went around her, now she tried to catch the puppy’s tail, and sometimes she carried the watering can officially: she is Granny’s real help! Without her, she couldn’t plant roses or care for them… Whether Grandma thought the same thing, the little girl didn’t care. As Royal Prince jumped up next to the rose bush from a small pit into which he had fallen, Starcluster began to shout:
„Look, Grandma! The heads of the rumbler rose are all on the ground! Oh, oh, what will happen with the poor rose?”
„Don’t yell, we’ll help it right in the end… Bring your little watering cans instead, pour some water over the rose stem so it’ll sprout. Right here, right to its stem, then it’ll grow out…
Starcluster watered the stem ardently, and then jumped back to the hanging roses lying in the dust. She looked at them sadly, but the Royal Prince was rolling about there, so she was immediately comforted.
The Sun Kissed White Rose
And Medicine Granny carefully planted all the rose stems along the fence, explaining to the little girl:
„Here, far enough away from the rambler rose, we first plant a white rose whose petals were kissed by the sun when it first bloomed, and it is laced with pinkish stripes…”
„Did the sun kiss its petals?” The little girl opened her eyes wide with amazement.
„Yes, when the Rose Fairy’s garden was created…”
„The Rose Fairy?”
„Yes, my little granddaughter, the Rose Fairy’s garden always lives in everyone’s memory because it was beautiful…”
„Was she a rose herself, as well?”
The Queen of Roses and the Black Rose
„No, I’ll tell you right away, wait for a weeny flash” squinted Grandma, aligning her waist. „Let’s just put a tea rose here next to the sun-kissed white… That’s how it is! Now we put the stem of a fragrant rose with deep claret petals, reddening towards the middle, big-headed, velvety petaled, this will be the Queen of Roses! Its scent is as seductive as the Rose Fairy’s light, its colours are the velvet-petal image of magic; who can only see it, when it opens, they all yield to it… The line is closed by the Black Rose, the most beautiful of all roses, the smell of which is intoxicating and untouched. Its dark, delicately touching petals are silk and velvet, the whiff of spring breeze, joy of bees… And we’ll put a rose tree next to them at the end, which won’t run, but will grow high like trees, just certainly smaller…”
„And what’ll its flowers be like?”
„That’ll have smaller, pink ones… When the stems will sprout, you’ll see.”
„Won’t Royal Prince hurt them?”
„No, because he knows then he’ll look out for squalls!” Granny squinted. „Well, just water each sprout a little bit, and then we’ll fix the rambler roses, too… In the meantime, I’ll tell you what the Rose Fairy’s garden was like…”
Saying so, she walked to the rambling rose. Indeed, its bright red flowers lay in the dust almost all of them, but Grandma tied up the branches one by one, directed them back to the rambler and hummed a tune. The little girl didn’t understand, but she found it beautiful. So much the more as the blood-red petals for the melody were revived and the rose heads were fully restored.
The Rose Fairy’s Garden
„The Rose Fairy’s garden now lives only in memory”, said Grandma. „But once upon a time, everyone knew where it was, everyone knew and loved it. For the Rose Fairy was the fairy of roses, as her name implies, and when she moved to earth to live here for a while, she chose for herself a palace, but a relatively small one, the walls of which were protected by ivy, its windows were protected by thin grates, its gates were guarded by two dragons, and its garden was feral, being uninhabited for so long. But as the Rose Fairy moved into it, she only snapped, and the palace became beautiful: roses ran up on the grated windows, small heads blazing in carmine red peeked through its windows, also bright red rose heads, and in the place of the ivy the walls of the palace were decorated with rambler roses. And in her garden, flowers soon grew in the place of the feral weed.
The Rose Fairy’s Casket
It is said that the Rose Fairy had a casket: a small silver casket decorated with roses, and the roses were studded with ruby. When she opened its lid, she could see everything in her mirror: her palace, her garden, the places near and far, the people, plants and animals. And she could see into other worlds through it. Well, she opened it up, took a good look at it, and figured out with its help what her garden should be like. Then she set up herself, dressed neatly in her silk dress, threw her robe decorated with velvet petals and rose leaves on her shoulders, turned her colourful veil of rose petals onto her hair, squirted her rose-decorated high heel shoes, and turned out in the garden. She went to the very middle of it, stopped there, and began to hum.
Rose-bringing Fairy Tune
„Did she hum what you just hummed to the rambler roses?”
„Yes, but in fairy language. Well, the melody poured out, waving around the garden, and the weed disappeared everywhere, and in its place rose grew. Blood-red rambler roses climbed on the stone wall in the blink of an eye, and rosebeds were grown in the garden. In each, a different rose grew: the Queen of Roses emerged majestically around the center, where a stone pedestal rose from nowhere. The Queen of Roses flourished in majestic deep claret petals, reddening towards the middle, big-headed, velvety petals, fragrant roses. What fragrant! The garden itself was embraced by such a succulent scent that even butterflies and birds forgot to flutter with their wings, and became prisoners of the Queen of Roses, for they fell next to her. The bees and flies got drunk, and their buzz lured the swallows there… And they also yielded to the magic of the Queen of Roses… Thus, the garden gave quite an interesting sight.
Love of the Sun
However, the allurement was not exhausted by this: the circle of the Queen of Roses was surrounded by the snow-white rose with velvety petals, which was only opening when the sun saw her from the sky, and he fell in love with her. He coddled, caressed her with his rays, then kissed the flower, and with it in a strip, thinning from the middle of the petals, the pink of the sun kiss appeared, which can still be seen on her to this day… This rose became the Sun-Kissed White Rose, a symbol of innocence and true love.
„But that must have been beautiful! And what did the Rose Fairy do? Didn’t she want to protect the snow-white rose from the sun? For it was her, wasn’t it?”
„It was hers, of course, but if she wanted to, she could not have protected it: even in the garden of the Rose Fairy, the flowers are the beauty of nature, and if its masters, such as the sun, wind, rain, snow, and others, choose them for themselves, they fall in love with them, not even the Rose Fairy can prevent them from it! No one, my little granddaughter, because this is nature’s order…
Children of Red Roses And Golden Yellow Magic Flower
„But to continue, the snow-white sun-kissed rose circle was followed by the circle of the tea rose: a circle of small-headed roses with yellow petals, from the bottom of which the colour spots that bended from pink to reddish started stripped from the bottom of the petal leaf, and on the top of the petals they bloomed quite red. And their smell! Hmm, it was heavenly!” Granny sighed. „Then came the row of the larger-headed, stuffed roses. These were also tea roses: the golden colour of the petals was surrounded by redness on the edge of the petals bending back on tops, their scent emanating from the seventh heaven to the Earth… And the third tea rose circle, with its pale yellow petals, opened big, on the edges, which were also bent backwards, pale pink strips showing that they were born from the wedding of red roses and the rose grown from golden yellow magic flower…”
The Queen of the Night’s Rose Ornaments
„Well, Grandma, what did the Rose Fairy do with these roses?”
„Wwell, what? You’ll find out soon enough!” Grandmother squinted. „The circle of the tea rose in the garden was followed by the black rose, the favorite of the Queen of the Night, just like the one we have just planted. It has a huge flower, its dense petals are fit tight together, its scent stuns and tempts you to daydream even during the day, its petals are black from the stem, above it blazes with a slight glow and has a velvety touch. Her cool touch evokes silk, and the Queen of the Night has her starry robe woven with them. A star is always accompanied by a black rose. Either a black rose is surrounded by three gold stars, or three black roses around a star pour their scent of velvet…
Earthly Replica of Heavenly Roses
Oh, yes, the Rose Fairy smoothed them with her finger, and they became exactly like the heavenly roses, the roses of the seventh heaven, the rose ornaments of the Queen of the Night. But they smelled, bent and flourished on Earth. And if there was anything wrong with her flowers, the Rose Fairy, in her rose-embellished silk dress, with his mantle decorated with velvet petals and rose leaves on her shoulders, with a colourful veil woven from rose petals on her hair, with her rose-embellished high heeled shoes, swept through her garden, humming a fairy song that healed them.”
„Sing it! You surely know it!”
„Well, I don’t even know…”
Fairy Songs
And Grandmother began to sing in a tinkling, silvery voice, and then hugged Starcluster, who was quite enthralled by the song:
„That’s what the song is about”, she told her. „Listen!”
„Queen of the Night, I summon you!
Night-black blood of your rose wounded me,
Come and help her come to life!
Golden light of Sun, I summon you!
Your rose-love falls into death,
Don’t let her die innocent!
Royal Prince of Sun, I summon you!
On your golden red sun-chariot
Shoot over your roses!”
Song of Roses
„Of course, the Rose Fairy always hummed what was needed of these songs. And the summoned power, for they are all that, arrived and repaired their flower in the blink of an eye, and then disappeared. And the Rose Fairy talked to the roses in her fairy language, and her garden became the most magnificent rose garden on theround planet. And the roses, though they are told to be envious, always responded with the whisper of their petals, with the glorious scent of their flowers, with their silky-velvety touch, with the indescribable charm of their beauty: all these poured into song, which the Rose Fairy understood precisely, and when the roses complained that they were defenseless, theRose Fairy blew silver dust from her box on them, and they pushed forth thorns. But if she nicknamed them, if she passed among them, the roses never stabbed him: they knew that she had summoned them into earthly existence.
Magical Fame of the Garden Flew on Wings
Magical fame of the Rose Fairy’s garden flew on wings: it reached every nook of the Earth through the flight of butterflies, the glide of the wings of swallows, the chirping of birds. Those who later became rose gardeners came to admire it in a row… And the suitors: there were countless of the suitors of the beautiful fairy, and there were all sorts and ranks among them! Kings, royal princes, princes, counts, barons, nobles, commoners, even poor men came hoping…
She Forgot Her Heart in Heaven
But the Rose Fairy forgot her heart in heaven with the Angel, who lived in the seventh heaven. She used to look at him in the mirror of her box, and the Angel looked back at her beautifully at all times. Everything was in vain, however, for although the Rose Fairy had arrived on Earth on the shimmering threads of the spells, the Angel could not descend from the world of the seventh heaven.
The Rose Fairy kept sighing, thinking about what to do, so that she could have her sweetheart, the Angel, by her side.
The Statue Remained Only a Statue
And one nice day, when the full moon was approaching, she had a splendid idea: she opened the magnificent box, and with the mirror she enchanted the light of the full moon into the pedestal embraced around by the rose circles. The light of the full moon gathered all the charms of the Queen of Roses, the Sun-Kissed Rose, and the three kinds of tea roses – because roses have a spell! – together and the angel stood out on the pedestal. But unfortunately, as a statue, he didn’t live, the poor Angel… The Rose Fairy cried because she wanted to see his beloved alive, not to admire him as a statue in the depths of his garden… But the statue remained only a statue.
Host of Suitors
The rose fairy thought, and she announced if so many suitors had already flocked to her: she would marry anyone who, being whatever order or rank, would be able to bring the Angel to life. The suitors even tried everything. Who set off into the world, who quizzed the dragons who kept the gate, who was looking at the statue, to see if he realized the secret of bringing it to life, but no one succeeded. Then, one nice day, a poor young man found himself in the Rose Fairy’s garden. The poor young man was so poor that he could have envied even the temple’s mouse if his heart had been envious, but he was selfless. And he came to the Rose Garden from such a distance that even the fame of it couldn’t reach him: he left from the edge of the end of the world to the wide great world to see if he was lucky. He had no idea where he came, only the rose scent of seductive power guided him. He had no idea whom it belonged to, nor did he realize that the multitude he saw was the Rose Fairy’s host of suitors. However, there were chariots pulled by six horses, their windows were covered with velvet, on them came princes, crowned kings, royal princes and all kinds of nobles, and poor young men of his kind. But he thought he had time, therefore he took out some crackling scones baked under the ashes from his hollow bag and snacked.
„What could I wish for?”
As he waited to get close to the scents, the Rose Fairy marveled at seeing him in the mirror of her silver casket. She asked him in, to herself:
„What brings you here, you poor young man?”
„The scents have guided me so far, beautiful fairy!”, replied the one.
„And what more do you want yet?”
„What could I wish for?” The poor young man wondered, „I would like to admire the source of the fragrance and suck in the flavour that emanates from them. Then I’ll continue on my journey…”
„Do you know who I am?”
„I know you’re beautiful, and I’m sure you’re some kind of fairy…”
„I am the Rose Fairy, and the people you saw outside came here to propose to me. But I will only give my hand to the one who can bring the Angel to life on the pedestal in the middle of my garden!”
He Took the Plunge in the Mirror of the Casket
The poor young man even lost the power of speech. But then the Rose Fairy’s silver casket sprang up on its own, and in its mirror the path to the Queen of the Night lit up: a star path led to her, and the poor young man could ask her for the magic power of the Queen of Roses. Then the wanderer could have reached the Sun from there to ask him for the spell of the sun-kissed rose. From there, the man who wanted to ask for the tea roses’ charm, had to sit on the Sun Prince’s chariot… And the Sun Chariot took him to the Sun Prince… Then the rose veil woven of the magic of the three mighty beings, flew him into the Moon and he could have reached the Earth on the moonlight path to bring the veil, which had been penetrated by the silver charm of the Moon in a silvery shade, and this had to be laid on the Angel at full moon midnight, so that he could be thrown at the same time by the roses… The poor young man was amazed, but he was not foolish: he immediately understood that he had found his luck, and he liked the Rose Fairy very much. He wanted to marry her, but even he did not want to marry her, because he understood that the Rose Fairy loved the Angel. But his good heart persuaded him to help her, and so he took the plunge in the mirror of the casket.
Deceitful mirror
The mirror was deceitful, for being a fairy mirror, it could not have been any other: therefore the poor young man could not make his way to the Queen of the Night, but he got to the original Angel, who rose above him reaching even the sky. The Angel extended his wing over him, and the poor young man became his earthly representative. So the poor young man easily walked the star path to the Queen of the Night! The Queen of the Night gave him the Queen of the Roses’ magic woven into a veil and initiated him towards the Sun King. The Sun King weaved the golden charm to the veil, and with it the poor young man stepped up on the driver seat of the Sun Chariot. He barely touched the rein when the horses had already attached him to the Sun Prince, who weaved the scent magic of the tea roses to the veil. Then the rose veil took him to the Moon. The Moon silvered the rose veil with finesilver, because it makes the power of the Sun King, the Sun Prince and the star power of the Queen of the Night fertile and vivid.
Descended on the Moonlight Path
Then the poor young man descended on the moonlight path, attracting a petal from all the roses of the Rose Fairy’s garden to the veil, and then, at midnight of the full moon laid it over the statue of the Angel. And then the statue shook, the Angel stepped off the pedestal, and became one with the poor young man. Since then, the poor young man and the Angel, the Rose Fairy’s sweetheart, have been one being, and will remain so until the end of time. Or even further than that. And the Rose Fairy happily gave her hand to the Angel, and they wedded. And the Rose Fairy’s garden enchanted the world with its magical splendour and even its more magical scent, as long as the happy couple lived on Earth.”
Rose Veil for Royal Princess Briar Rose and the Little Deer
„Oh, Granny, then let’s ask the Rose Fairy to lay the rose veil on every rose bush on the Earth! Then Royal Princess Briar Rose can wed her sweetheart turned into a deer!”
„It cannot be so, my granddaughter”, said Grandma, shaking her head. „The Rose Fairy cannot set free neither the briar rose nor the deer. Only the Morning Star or the Moon Fairy, or even the Sun King, can do that.”
„But the Sun King owns the Sun-Kissed White Rose! Then tell him! You surely can do it!”
„No, Starcluster, I can’t tell him and anyone can’t do so. However, the Rose Fairy and the Angel have long since moved back to seventh heaven. But do not grieve”, she said to her granddaughter, seeing her disappointed face, „they will surely be released from punishment at some time, for all punishments will end at a certain time… We’ll figure something out next time!”
Starcluster was comforted by this, and Grandmother began to cook lunch.
Written: 07 / 06. 2022., by J.W. Cassandra
Translated: 14 / 07. 2022., by J.W. Cassandra
