Do you know The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rollin? LEGO has some wonderful versions on YouTube.

Do you know the Chinese folk legend of the Jade Rabbit? This can be found on YouTube as well.

You can enjoy this story without knowing those tales, but if you do know The Tales of Beedle the Bard you will have a deeper appreciation of the story. This story is part of a chapter of my story Deductive Thought, but I thought it worked well as a single piece so I'm posting it as a separate story as well.

Scene One

Once there was a raven named Corvus that desired the best the world had to offer. Corvus tricked a witless king into giving him a golden chalice, jewels and a mural emblazoned casket. Corvus saw that many a raven lost their wealth and freedom when they were foolish enough to fall in love. To prevent any chance of the silliness of love occurring to him he removed his heart and replaced it with a plastic heart that would endure long past the muscle heart he had removed. Corvus secured his true heart in the mural casket. Corvus' parents passed on leaving him with a set of nest and perches upon which he stashed his prizes. He celebrated his inheritance while barley giving a thought, and certainly not a feeling regarding his parents' passage. Corvus possessed magical powers. Forest creatures approached Corvus, seeking magical aid. Corvus turned them away. Fixing the ills of mewling brats or the aching eld' would bring him no prize and he had not heart to care.

Scene Two

Many acres away in an oak shrouded wood a badger named Brock lay in a pool of his own tears. He had been be-set with a stone from Death himself. The stone, spun thrice in its paw conjured a ghostly image of his dead beloved. He sobbed at her translucent feet, begging for forgiveness for not coming to her aid on the day of her demise. "My love, I am loyal to you and our kind. I was angry that you sought to provide healing herbs to the ewe. It was only a knick to her leg and her tears will dry with the arrival of next year's lamb. The lamb was a tasty meal that we needed! I have not consumed lamb since your death and never intend to again. But I should have remembered my loyalty to you! I should have gone with you! I have hunted for the wolf that killed you but I have not found the wolf. Please forgive me, My Love!"

But she was angry and did not forgive. Brock, unforgiven and unable to forgive himself impaled himself upon the sheared point of a jagged rock. Brock left this world. Meles, his ghostly wife, did not. Her tormented soul was left to wander.

Scene Three

A wolf bayed at the moon. Surrounding him were the shattered remains of a wooden structure. Beneath her paws lay the corpse of two sues (pigs). Again she called to the forest warning off prey and calling her mates to dine. The pack responded with racing speed. The feast was consumed. Jaws bloodied they each retraced the paths to their homes. The night was yet young. Ahrima, the wolf that out witted two of three brother pigs and had once consumed a badger in a field of sheep, happened upon a girl cloaked in red. Ahrima stalked the child's path. Instead of frightened. The child was intrigued by the wild beast. The wolf, disconcerted by the child's curiosity and fearing the truth light would bring fled along the path and through the door to her home. In the moments before a knock rapped on her door the sun rose over the horizon and Ahrima painfully transformed into an ancient Grandma. Ahrima climbed into her sleigh bed and in a crackly voice hailed, "Come in!"

"Hello, Granny! I've brought you a basket of food." Aiyana removed her red cloak and hung it on the door. "It is curious Mama always knows when you will take ill."

"A seer, she is, my dear. " In truth Ahrima's daughter likewise took the guise of a wolf once a month, and one day Aiyana would join in the monthly hunt. Her lack of fear this morn showed she would soon be ready for the bite.

Scene Four

Jade Pika, the ancient alchemist rabbit watched the world's happenings from his home, the moon. Jade Pika frowned at the goings on. Corvus evaded death with a lack of a loving heart. Brock evaded pain with death. Meles, who had given of her heart in life, clung to her spirit with anger and pain. Ahrima alone sought not eternity through life or death, but through the continuance of parent to child.

Jade Pika had been granted the task of brewing and dispensing life's elixir. None but the chosen were allowed to live forever. Jade knew this better than any other for his imprisonment on the moon was due to giving into fear when a powerful witch demanded access to the elixir and out of fear; Jade had given it to her.

Perhaps his penance would end if he could set these souls on their proper path.

Scene Five

Jade Pika waited for the immortal serpent, Wadjet, to arrive for his millennial brew of eternal life. But Jade Pika added an eel eye to the potion which caused Wadjet to become blind. Then the rabbit made a deal with snake. "I will brew a potion to return your sight if you but convince Corvus, the raven, that he must have The Wand of Life. The wand cannot be simply given to Corvus. Corvus must earn it with true feelings of the heart."

Wadjet hissed, "Why should I not kill you for your insolence?"

"Do you wish to be a blind snake fated to die in 1,000 years? Or would you prefer to be a sighted snake traveling space expanse forever? Only I have been granted the knowledge of the elixir of life."

The snake consented to complete the task. Jade Pika attached the wand to the snake's back.

Scene Six

Wadjet slithered down to Earth and located Corvus, the raven. Wadjet observed Corvus for many moons and plotted and planned before the blind snake approached the bird. Tongue flicking, smelling the air, Wadjet made his offer, "Raven Corvus, I have seen that you are a great collector. I possess a powerful wand, The Wand of Life. It would be a grand addition to your treasures!"

"You would give it to me?" cawed Corvus.

"I could, but then its power would be diminished. Wands choose their owners and only grant their full power to those that have earned it."

"Prove to me the wand's power," demanded Corvus.

Wadjet had anticipated this. "Follow me," he hissed. The two made their way to a wood. Just as the sun was setting Corvus saw a woman cloaked in red. Wadjet smelled the were-women. "The power of this wand will morph that woman into a wolf. Watch." Wadjet lifted the front of his body and moved the wand attached to his back by swaying side to side and up and down as he sibilated words in Latin. Before Corvus' eyes the women became a wolf.

Corvus salivated, "I must have that wand. How do I earn it?"

"It is The Wand of Life. It is earned with true feelings for the living," Wadjet explained.

Corvus warred with himself on what to do. The desire to own the wand won out. Corvus sliced from his chest the plastic heart and replaced it with the live one he had preserved in the mural casket. With the real heart feelings returned to Corvus. The onslaught of sympathy for the weeping ill and the loss of his parents were sensed by the wand and it tore from Wadjet's back and flew to the clasp of Corvus' beak. The wands flight jostled branches causing Corvus' bobbles to disentangle from the branches that held them. In Corvus beak the wand remained for the briefest of moments before Corvus' heart squeezed with such ferocity that the heart stopped its beat. The wand clattered to the ground as Corvus' soul escaped its body and took flight into the sky. Seven of the loosened jewels were carried away with his spirit. Together they formed the Raven constellation in the western night sky.

Wadjet rode the River Aurora back to the moon. Jade Pika honored his promise and returned sight to Wadjet. Wadjet jettisoned away not to appear for a thousand more years. In his wake he left the 5 glittering gems of the serpent constellation of the northern sky.

Scenes Seven and Eight

Jade Pika awaited Aetos Leo, the eagle lion. In due time the griffin arrived for his millennial dose of eternal brew. This time Jade Pika added moonstone to the potion. Aetos Leo drank deeply and glowed bright.

"What is the meaning of this!" roared Aetos Leo as he flapped his wings, "Why have you stolen my stealth?!"

"Meles the badger has trapped her eternal spirit on Earth. Her anger and fear holds her there. She rages at those that hurt her and weeps for the wounded she was unable to help. Take her to the Pensive River which flows about the Fountain of Fair Fortune. Allow her to release her tears and fears. Guide her spirit. When this is done return to me and I will gift you with a cloak of invisibility so you may continue your stealthy hunts."

Aetos Leo cawed in anger, front talons racking the moon's surface, back paws forcing a mountain from the flat ground.

Jade Pika cowered in fear of the great griffin and hid himself in the dying light of the waning moon. A sonorous spell caused Jade Pika's voice to rebound from the shadows. "Help Meles and the cloak is yours."

"You would make a tasty morsel, Jade Pika."

"True, but then you'll burn bright, unable to hunt with your death guaranteed a thousand years hence. Only I have been granted the knowledge of the eternal potion." Jade Pika purposefully did not remind Aetos Leo that he likewise was immortal due to the rejuvenating effects of the Potion of Eternal Life.

"Give the recipe to me," crowed Aetos Leo.

"It is protected by Fidelius. I am unable to divulge the makings of the brew," Jade Pika explained.

"Have the cloak ready. Drop it to Earth when I succeed. Must I come near you soon I will likely consume you," growled Aetos Leo. Aetos Leo, the griffin, eagle-lion leapt from the moon's surface and winged his way to Earth and glided over the weeping Meles. Aetos Leo, being an impatient being, attempted to grasp Meles with its talons. The sharp claws glided through the ghostly spirit. Aetos Leo huffed in frustration and came to land near Meles.

"Stop that infernal weeping," Aetos Leo grumbled.

Startled, Meles bared her hackles as she backed cautiously away.

"Too caught up in your emotions to notice I am unable to harm you and you are unable to bite me, "Aetos Leo said, disgustedly. As proof, Aetos Leo rushed towards the quivering badger. Meles bit and clawed at the griffin, but her weapons went straight through. Despite not being able to be injured, the event shook Meles and her tears began anew.

"Enough!" roared Aetos Leo, "I am to take you to the River Pensive."

"Why should I go with you?" Meles bared her teeth once more.

"I grow weary and hungry. I smell sheep on the air. I shall feast then return for you."

"No!" shouted Meles, "We shall go to the river now." Aetos Leo led Meles up the steep mountain. Her mood had transformed once more from anger and fear to weeping. She fell in the River Pensive and allowed the currents to carry away the salty drops from her face and also to the water clung her anger and fears. Returned to her were the memories of those she had helped in life and of her mate Brock, and his consistent loyalty to her in all but that one task. She wished to join him in the hereafter. Meles looked up as a shimmering fabric drifted from the sky. The cloth descended upon Aetos Leo and he vanished from sight. Meles was astounded! But her speedy brain seized on one last opportunity to assist her friends the sheep before rejoining Brock. Meles seized the edge of the cloak that had landed on her paw. She hid herself beneath its folds as she sped down the mountain toward the sheep herd. Aetos Leo followed her scent and occasionally Meles' paws as they appeared from under the cloak. Meles slowed her pace and worked to conceal her trail as she neared the sheep herd. And near it she did. With a force that bellied her size she swung the cloak out and over the sheep. Her task complete she dashed into the sky. Aetos Leo, finally spying its prey, followed Meles into the sky. Her body transformed into the 8 starred Badger constellation of the east which would forever be chased by Aetos Leo, the 12 Moonstone Griffin constellation of the southern sky.

Scene Nine

Jade Pika sighed in contentment. His task complete, though not precisely in the way he intended. He closed his eyes and breathed deep. Upon opening his eyes he found himself not on the moon, but on Earth. Before him stood Aiyana, in all her human beauty, a fully grown woman. Jade Pika, the rabbit animagus transformed into Bab, the former laundrymen of a castle in a far off land.

The two shared their names, their stories, their lips in a succulent kiss.

But when the full moon struck Aiyana divested of her red cloak and became her wolf form. Bab, so as not to be turned into a werewolf bunny (for who knew if such a creature could survive) reverted to the bunny, Jade Pika. Aiyana's mind was lost to her during her plight. The instinctive hunger of the wolf overtook her and she consumed her true love, Jade Pika. Jade Pika's spirit rose from his furry remains. Though immortal Jade Pika fled to the safety of his moon prison. There his body re-grew around his soul. Jade Pika watched his love from the safety of well above. Each full moon Aiyana saw the image of rabbit hiding in reflected sunlight and she howls as she mourns her lost love, while Corvus, Wadjet, Meles and Aetos Leo chase each other as sparkling diamonds in the sky.

References

Aiyana means forever according to the site Dogs and Dogs Advice.

Ahriman: the creator of wolves...Middle East fable...according to Wikipedia. I dropped the n to make it a girls name.

griffin: the front half is an eagle; the back is a lion.

Aetos...Zeus' eagle...according to the site theoi.

Leo: Lion

Corvus: genus name for ravens...Wikipedia.

Brock: ancient Scott word for badger...Wikipedia.

Meles: genus name for badger...Wikipedia.

Pika: absurdly cute Asian mammal

Ili Pika: very rare Asian rabbit like animal

Jade rabbit: Chinese fable...A rabbit sacrifices herself to starving men. In return they gave the rabbit eternal life and the skills to make the pill of immortality, which must be taken every one thousand years. The jade rabbit was approached by a women from the west who demanded a pill for herself. Jade wasn't supposed to give the pills to just anyone and as punishment was sent to live on the moon. Watch the story of the Jade Moon Rabbit on You Tube for further details.

Wadjet: Egyptian snake goddess...protector of lower Egypt...Wikipedia. I changed Wadjet to male.

Moonstone shines bright...HP Wiki.