Ivy's Tale

In a small hut at the top of a hill lived a young maid and her faithful doogie. They spent their days with her hands molding the earth to produce foods for their meals. In the cool evenings Ivy loved to wonder through her flower garden and playing fetch with doogie in the meadow on the outskirts of the forest. Life was simply fun filled until that fateful day…

At the far end of the known world lived an evil wizard. He jealous of all who lived a happy life for his own life was nothing but darkness and gloom. One day as he was scrying looking for someone to bring misery to he spied how happy Ivy and doogie were as they played in the meadow. As jealousy took over and his body began to quiver he hatched a nasty plan in his warped head. The light bulb bursts into life…take the animal and misery shall follow. "Ha ha ha!" the evil wizard cackled.

So he began to plot his trip. He would give himself a pleasant trustworthy disguise and move to the far side of the meadow. With the aide of his magic he would easily win the trust of the foolish girl and most importantly the trust of that animal. Then he would transform it into something else…a non-sounding something. It had to be something that the silly girl would n ever suspect as her missing animal. He could hardly wait to enjoy Ivy's misery.

Several months later he had his plan all figured out. With his magic he had a run-down looking hut built slowly as no to alarm Ivy that he was different in any way. He wanted her to believe hew as simple as she herself was. And so he took his time in establishing himself.

Finally after three seasons had passed he began to doubt that his magic was a strong as he had thought and maybe he would not be able to accomplish the goal he had set out for himself. It was well into the fourth season when he managed to be able to get Ivy to leave doogie with him alone. He was very tickled with himself as his persuasion spell began to work. As in added precaution he also casted a mild sleeping spell to encourage to rest and not muddle in his plan.

Yawning Ivy patted doogie on the head and stumbled toward home. He continued to play ball with doogie where they were when Ivy left until he was positive that he could not see her anymore. Slowly he began to back his way to his hut while playing with doogie. He could not believe he was about to actually accomplish his goal. Within getting home seconds only passed and before stood a stool, an ordinary stool nothing fancy. Then in blink of an eye the wizard, the hut and the stool were no more. His laughter echoing across the land was the only evidence that he had ever been there.

It took a month for Ivy to finally wake from that horrid sleeping spell. Once she was able to put herself back in order she began to look around. Still groggy from the spell she wasn't quite sure where she actually was. The last thing she remembered was heading out to the meadow to play ball with doogie. Where was he anyways? The place was a mess of cobwebs draping everywhere. As the fog began to lift from here mind she recognized the room as her home. But something was really wrong. Yesterday the room sparkled as it usually did, so clean and today it looked like no work had been done for weeks.

Once the house was in order once again, she went outside to whistle for doogie. He must be outside playing somewhere. Whistling as she always did and expecting to hear the familiar bark and rustling of grass as he ran back to the hut. She was left with no sound coming back, instantly filled with dreaded panic, worry and despair.

As she tried to remember the evening before and what she was doing for falling asleep, the only vague image was of the meadow and the broken down hut on the other side. She headed out to see if her memory was true or if it was remnant of a dream. The owner of the hut she remembered as a funny odd man who just was there. He was shy and slow to make friends (this we know was to lull Ivy into a false sense of security) and seems to genuinely like doogie and always wanted to play with him. Maybe he knew where that dog had gotten himself off to. Gathering some warm biscuits to share and a coat of the shelf Ivy headed out the door venturing off to the other side of the meadow.

It was colder then it should have been for that time of year. She was extremely grateful that she had thought of grabbing the coat for she normally wouldn't have thought of a coat during the late summer months but the day was turning out to be just plain weird. She still had no idea that she had been asleep for a month and it was indeed later on in the year and perfectly normal weather.

As she entered the meadow she began to whistle for doogie. But still there was no answer. By the shadow of the sun she knew she would soon have to turn for home for everyone knew not to be outside when the world turned dark. Even though she wanted to be home long before the evening came she also knew that she should have seen the hut by now as well. Maybe she shouldn't really trust he memory of what should be. She knew it was time to head for home and yet she longed to find doogie, her dear pal doogie.

The next morning Ivy missed doogie more then anything. As the days past to weeks then months and on to years Ivy spend all day whistling for doogie with no response. She just didn't understand where doogie had gone off too.

Far away at he end of the world where the evil wizard sat on that very stool that once was doogie he was still laughing with delight at the misery he caused to Ivy.

Years later Ivy decided it was too painful to stay in the hut where she and doogie had spent many happy years together. Everywhere she looked she was reminded of doogie at different stages in life…what he was like as a puppy who got into everything, how he would snore while he napped in front of the fireplace. It was little things like this that she was bombarded with daily that kept her pain raw and fresh. So she gathered together what she could carry and off she went to look farther into the world for doogie. She spent many seasons traveling meeting several nice people along the way. But with each new place it just never felt like home. She continued to travel along her way only pausing long enough to rest a night or so and on she would go. Through her years without doogie she no longer looked like she had the year she left the meadow for the evil wizard had stolen her beloved pal and misery took any amount of youth that remained. So when her travel brought her to the end of the know world and to the doorstep of the very wizard who had caused all her grief. The evil wizard did not recognize the miserable person who had entered in land.

Something amazing began to happen as she continued to venture into this strange land. She began to feel like this could become home. It was like a misery emanated from the land like it had been created just for her. Strangely it was being to match the way she felt.

Over the past few years the evil wizard's latest delight had faded and he had returned to his gloomy self. The stool sat just off to the side of the store with a very generous layer of dust. So when this new person arrived, he immediately thought they might bring him some exciting new fun but when he looked at her there was an ache beyond measure. He did not want to hurt her but instead to make her laugh and smile. This was a very new concept to him and he had no idea where to go or how to go about accomplishing his new task in life.

He tried to remember what the last thing that made him happy was. He had a glimmer of thought of sitting on a stool and laughing for years. He wondered if he still had that old stool it must've had some magic in it if his laughter had lasted years. He began to look around the castle for that stool-he was so close to the object he desired to find and yet he scoured from top to bottom. Still finding nothing he was beginning to get discouraged when there was a knock on the door.

The knocking brought him back to the present. There at his door was the most miserable person imaginable. She was dripping wet, shivering and the sadness seemed to pour uncontrolablely from her eyes. Taking the cloak he was wearing from his shoulders he placed it around hers as he ushered her closer to the fire for warmth. There in the corner covered in dust was the fabled stool he had been looking all over the castle for. Quickly he dusted it off and brought it over for her to sit upon.

As soon as Ivy sat on the stool all the years, all the misery washed away immediately. The wizard did not count that he spell upon the dog would also have affects on the girl from the meadow. The young maiden full of happiness stood once more in front of him. As she transformed so did the stool back into doogie, and so did the wizard. He no longer wished to be remembered as evil or to live here at the end of the world all by himself. In a blink of an eye all three of them were back at the meadow. Ivy and doogie were back together like the last 20 years never happened and with the magic from our wizard friend they would never know what it was like without each other.

Even though the wizard out lived Ivy and doogie he never returned to the gloomy darkness he once lived in. he had several friends during his lifetime but none more dear to him then Ivy and doogie for there showed him what true happiness was and how to make it last forever.

The end.