On a dark night in the woods by a lake

I am bored now so let us try something for fun. Let us walk around the woods in the dark and try to get to the lake. Let us make up a story for ourselves as we go along. There has to be a hero in it and a heroine and we will add a few other characters. There will be a lot of incidents, some funny, some sad, but all interesting, and our hero and heroine will experience most of these. We will place them in some place in some time and we will decide that they have certain names. Or maybe we won't name them. But still we will have to describe them. The hero has to be a tall, fair and handsome guy who steals the heart of every damsel in the vicinity. He is strong and brave and intelligent and knows a lot of things others do not. He can sing, dance and maybe we will use him in some romantic situations with the heroine where he will woo her with the most beautiful song ever sung. And he will write it too. Mind the branches.

The heroine is the prettiest lass ever of course and she is also humble and quiet and intelligent and brave. She knows sewing but can ride a horse with gusto too and sings to the birds in the most dulcet tones imaginable. Of course our hero heard her sing in the woods and lost his heart to the voice before he even saw her face. But that is a different episode and we still aren't done with our characters. So let us add the treacherous uncle who takes care of our heroine and covets the riches her parents left her. He hasn't told her all this yet but there is a magic seal on the treasure chest that only the heroine can break when she is 21. So let us make her a few days short of her 21st birthday. There are wild animals around so stick to the path.

Then there is our hero's evil stepmother who wants to get his father's kingdom for her stupid son, who is good at heart but a total nincompoop and numbskull. The father is old and weak and so our son decides to ease his burden by walking away from the kingdom and living an adventure for himself. That is how he comes to the forest and hears the heroine sing. While he is hunting. Or maybe he is just trying to get to the lake to watch the river flow. His friend is with him too. A good friend, loyal and devoted to the hero and also brave and intelligent and with a hundred other virtues. Only a bit hot-tempered so the uncle better watch out. But of course the uncle has his foolish but brawny henchmen who wield the hammer and the axe. Don't go too far out or we will lose each other.

So the hero meets the heroine and they fall in love naturally. They sing and dance and pick flowers and talk and tell each other wonderful stories and blush and kiss and do all the thousand nothings that is normal in these times. Then there is the rain. Though it is glorious and summer, there is a mild thunderstorm and these two have to find shelter in a cave. There they find the ancient witch, a good one, but with only one tooth and dark and grey and wizened and wise and ugly and frightening. She tells the hero and heroine of the story of the heroine's father who was the original king and who had been killed by the heroine's uncle, who was not her uncle actually but a wizard after a scroll in the treasure chest that will show him the way to great things. The hero's father, the general has taken care of the kingdom and good care too but he is a weak man in policy and short-sighted and without glasses too so he can't see clearly and so the wizard's sister has been able to kill the hero's pretty, good and loyal mother and marry his father. These bushes are thorny and dense - take care - but the lake is near.

So the hero and heroine come to know all the truth but they decide to wait the few days - two? three? - till it is time for the Uncle to bring out the chest so the the heroine can open it. The hero's friend will take care of the two henchmen and the hero will take out the wizard using the magic the witch has brewed for him. It all goes well until the wizard brings the chest out and sees the hero's friend disposing of his henchmen. He casts a spell that immobilizes the princess and kills the hero's friend. The hero tries to fight him but is wounded in his heart and so the wizard makes good his escape. The chest lies there and near it the frozen princess and fallen at her feet is the poor hero of ours with bleeding heart and broken spirit. And in time the forest swallows up the place and in the time of the great flood, it is cut off from the mainland and becomes an island in the lake. There it is now, the lake and the strange landmass in the centre of it. It has been a while but atleast the story kept us going. Now that we are tired enough, let us go back and catch some sleep. But no more stories on the way. I have run out of ideas.