The Black Forest – Jack And The Bean Stalk
Natasha Bedingfield; Unwritten
The fox and hare traveled again, slowing their journey as they cherished the countryside and world that had grown as they walked back towards the woods.
Between the path that laid on each side of the black forest and the mountains where they'd left a vixen waiting for her true love in a tower, Heimdall and Loki stopped on the road where they met a young bunny sitting with a horse. The horse was rubbing his feet and hissing as the little rabbit looked them over. Heimdall stepped closer watching the little bunny jump behind the large stallion as he tensed and curled his lip at the two strangers.
The fox lifted a brow, smirking as Heimdall looked back to the horse shaking his head. "Why does a horse travel with a wee bunny?" he asked as the horse narrowed his eyes.
The stallion shook his head, sending his dark mane fluttering around as Heimdall watched the young bunny peeking from behind him. "For the same reason a hare travels with a fox. Does he not keep others larger from harming you? Why would one travel with another who was born to take life?" The fox narrowed his eyes as Heimdall stood up grinning.
"One only takes life if it is necessary to protect others, even then it is not a welcome prospect. Why do you think this way?" Loki growled.
"Necessity breeds intelligence, fox." The horse stated as he continued to rub his feet hooves.
"Why have you stalled on your journey?" Heimdall asked, watching the little bunny peek around the horse again.
She looked at the fox with her nose twitching. "We travel to sell our straw, but we lost our wheel and he cannot carry more weight than I on his back with the splinters that have lodged in his hoofs." The small bunny said slowly, still peeking from behind the horse.
Loki watched the little bunny jump from behind the horse and start digging little rocks and splinters from his hoof as he sat back grinding his teeth. Heimdall stood up next to Loki, cupping a paw under his jaw as the hare shook his head. "Leave it, Jack. It will be the death of me." The bunny turned sobbing as Loki and Heimdall glanced at each other narrowing their eyes.
Heimdall stepped closer looking over the horse as the bunny beside him leaned into his side. "A splinter will be the death of you?" The stallion curled his lip and turned his paw over, shaking his head when Heimdall stepped closer looking over his hooves. The hare tipped a brow and frowned at their state. Worn, chipped and broken as dirt and small stones lodged into the sections that had broken away. "What causes such wear on the feet of one so great in these lands?"
Loki watched the horse curl an arm around the little bunny as he looked back at Heimdall in a deadpan. "What one does not work is useless and the lands I tend yield little."
The fox smirked as the little bunny snuck around the horse, examining the horn on Heimdall's belt. The hare looked down narrowing his eyes when it tilted and he felt the weight shift. "A lad should not be so bold as to steal in open light."
The horse shot forward grabbing the bunny and neighed as he shook his head. "SHE IS NO THIEF AND CURIOSITY SHOULD NOT BE ASSUMED TO MAKE ONE SUCH AS A THIEF!"
"She?" Loki asked with a smirk as Heimdall lifted a brow.
The stallion sighed as the bunny in his arms looked up at him and wiggled out of his arms before reaching into a sack sitting at his back. She pulled out a pie handing it to the hare as he curled his brow. "I did not mean to steal. I was only curious. I have never seen a horn made of bones that also had gold around it like a ring. It is very pretty."
Loki smiled as he looked between a gaping Heimdall and the horse who stuck his paw over his face shaking his head. "This is the second time I have seen this. Why do you tell others she is a boy? Hide her like she is a lad and not a lass?" Loki asked as he tipped up on his heels.
The horse glared as he ticked his eyes between them. "A young rabbit maid that travels with a horse is not as easy to protect as a lad. Jackelyn, come sit with me. Away yourself from those we do not know well." Loki smiled wider as the little doe jumped back to sit with the horse, while Heimdall stuck a finger in the pie and raised a brow as he pulled out a plumb. The fox laughed as Heimdall tipped his ears and looked back to them curiously. "It is a plumb pie. She makes them to offer to those when she feels badly or believes she insulted them."
Loki smiled as he took a seat and nodded at Heimdall as he tucked the pie under his shirt and into a small pouch. The doe twisted her head as she looked up, and slipped away, gathering sticks she sat in front of them as she set about making a fire. The fox snickered as she sighed when she was unable to get the kindling lit after she'd filled a pot with water from the broken wagon. "Why do you try to build a fire? It is still warm this night." Loki asked as he looked back and found the horse watching him. Heimdall tipped his ears as the little bunny looked back to the horse and watched him nodding at her, letting her know it was alright to explain what she was doing before she spoke.
"You are of another kind. You cannot eat the pies I make. We have no meat, but we have beans that hold the same thing your kind need to eat."
The fox ticked his eyes between them as the horse kept a guard up, watching the young bunny. "An obedient child. She asks your permission to speak or give gifts when she feels she has wronged another?" Loki tipped his ears as the horse folded his arms over his chest and flicked his ears several times.
Heimdall narrowed his eyes as the bunny stayed close to the horse and looked at him with raised brows. "Why does she travel with you? Where is her family?"
The stallion frowned as he looked between them and pulled her closer as Loki smirked. "I am her family. There are no others and it matters not how she came to be with me."
Heimdall narrowed his eyes as Loki looked to the kindling and watched as the horse and bunny jumped when he waved a paw and lit a fire. "You are magic!" The doe squealed and Loki laughed as the horse shook his head trying to keep her from jumping forward.
She looked back to the horse as he hesitantly leaned forward, motioning for the doe to cook her beans, and watched as she sat them on the flames. Loki kept a sneaky smirk as the horse ticked his eyes back and forth between them, and leaned forward as Heimdall shook his head. "You fear us, and yet you still guard the young one, allow her to feed us?"
The horse looked at the bunny and sighed as she gazed up at him. "It is unwise to upset those who hold power you will never have. It is wiser to offer a token, instead of offence." The horse reached into his pocket pulling out four silver coins, and leaned over as the bunny blinked. "Here. It is not a great deal to offer, but if it pleases you and we are allowed to go on our way without trouble, it will be a good trade."
Heimdall lifted a brow as the horse held out the coins and the bunny shook her head as she pulled at his long mane. "We cannot give them all we have, we must use it to fix the wagon and your hooves!" Loki smiled as the doe kept her voice low, watching as Heimdall's ears set straight. He took the coins from the horse and Heimdall blinked as the bunny jumped from his arms. "We will both die and starve if he cannot work the land! There must be something we can do to change this fate!"
Loki laughed as he shook his head. "Ask that one, he can tell you of your fate, if you can accomplish a simple feat." Heimdall lowered his brow as Loki smirked.
"What feat?" She asked as the horse dipped his ears back. Loki snickered as he took a single stick from the fire, sitting it in the ground. "Jump over it without killing the flame and he will tell you of your fortune." Heimdall glared at him with an incredulous tint as Loki chuckled.
The doe looked back to the horse biting her lip as he sighed and nodded. "You are a good jumper Jack. I am sure you will accomplish the feat."
Heimdall shook his head as the doe jumped over the flame and squealed as she rushed to the hare. "You hold magic too? You can tell me of the future!?"
Loki bit his lip as Heimdall blinked and smiled as he nodded. He narrowed his eyes on the fox as he took her paws and the red fox lifted a brow curiously when Heimdall shot him a sinister smirk. "The coins your guardian offered will protect his feet for the entirety of his lifetime. The beans you offered the fox will take you to a place where you will find a great fortune, and the wheel of the broken wagon will spin, and create a future that will be enough that the lands you work will always bring forward a good harvest."
Loki smirked as he tilted his head and looked to the coins before he stood up and nodded. The coins in his paws melted in his fire, and the horse jumped from the ground as the molten material swirled around all four of his hooves, becoming shoes held in place with nails as they pulled all the rocks and splinters from his feet.
Loki and Heimdall looked up at a large raven that flew over and perched in a tree. The horse grabbed rocks he started throwing as the little bunny pulled out a sling shot and started shooting at it. The bird flew away cawing and the horse looked back to find the fox and the hare scowling at him. "You act as if you do not know the bird will steal my crops! They devour more than half of what I plant each season."
Loki sighed as he cast a paw and sent the wheel of the wagon spinning. The bunny cupped her paws over her mouth, giggling as the wheel from the wagon was lifted into the air and repaired, before it reattached to the wagon. She watched in awe as the horse stood and stepped beside her. Each time the wheel turned it spat seeds that flew into the ground. The horse raised his brows as each seed that fell to the Earth sprang into a field of golden grains, where once only poor land had been. The horse and doe turned back at the fox and hare as Loki picked up several beans from the pot that still sat cooking over the fire.
"Each bean will give you what you need to find your way." He held them down smirking as the doe looked them over, before turning to the horse as he nodded. She took them from his paws and Heimdall chuckled as Loki looked back at him grinning. "Plant them and see where they lead you, Jack." Loki said as he kept a mirrored smile on the hare. Heimdall narrowed his eyes as Loki stood, after she'd taken them. The hare watched as she planted one in the field they were resting beside. The horse frowned as vines grew large enough to be trunks of trees as they twisted around each other and she looked up wide eyed as they spread though the sky as if creating a new land above the clouds. "Because the hare thought this the way to help those who helped us, he will wait for you there. You are the only one who can climb the beanstalk, little Jack. At the top you will find a giant at the end of a rainbow. He will give you three eggs that will always keep you and the one who cares for you safe."
The bunny looked back to the hare and raised her brows as Heimdall lowered his eyes on the fox. "How will he be there, if he is here? How will I climb the vines that are bigger than a tree?!" she asked as the horse shook his head in protest.
"She will fall to her death!" the horse shot as Loki pointed to the other beans.
"Plant them and see what grows." The doe waited until the horse nodded before she set the other beans in the dirt and stepped back as they sprouted, tilting her head as each plant opened. The first had become the stalk that grew, another became a small green outfit that fit her perfectly, as another shifted to a four-leaf clover she plucked and held up examining curiously.
Heimdall ran a paw down his face chuckling. Loki smirked at the horse after the little bunny furrowed her brow. "Keep it inside your shirt as you climb. Be nimble and quick as you jump from branch to branch and it will keep you safe from the elements as you move. The Earth beneath your feet will stay at bay, the rain that falls will never touch your skin and the wind will keep you dry. Treat each branch as if it is fire while you jump and it will keep you warm as you move."
Loki smirked as the horse gaped. "Even if she is safe climbing a giant will wait for her?! How will she survive that?!"
Loki chuckled as he waved a paw at Heimdall and the hare shook his head as he became a goose. Heimdall honked several times giving Loki a dirty look as the fox snickered. "He will fly to the top, open a rainbow and wait for you there. Sing for him and he will change back after he has given you the three eggs." The goose narrowed its eyes on the fox as he retook a seat and lowered his voice as the goose leaned close to his face, scowling. "This was your idea, Brother. You should have thought about telling them the truth instead of leaving it to me." The horse and rabbit hesitantly sat again as they watched the fox talking to the goose that had once been a hare. They sat eating as Heimdall kept his eyes narrowed on the fox. Loki shrugged as he smiled wider. "You wished it, Brother." Heimdall looked back to the beanstalk and sighed before he took to flight, with the young doe watching as he landed on the vines that had formed a floor in the sky. The horse huffed a breath as he looked to the vines and let his head fall as the bunny removed the pot from the fire letting it cool. She cleaned it out before she slipped into the clothes and Loki picked it up handing it to her as the horse lifted a brow. "Take it with you. Do not forget to sing to the goose. He will give you three golden eggs and you can use the pot to carry them back."
The bunny tilted her head as she looked it over and tied it to her back as the horse cringed. "The giant will not eat her?" he asked as the little bunny stepped closer to the vines.
Loki chuckled as they looked back at him and shook his head. "No. All gods are giants. When you sing, he will return to the shape of a hare and the goose disappearing will lay the eggs you can carry in the pot. He will open the bridge and show you his true form, if you ask him, little Jack." The horse looked I over dan Loki smirked as he shook his head. Mumbling something about gods.
The little bunny took off up the vines giggling, and Loki sat with the horse for three days, smiling as they watched a rainbow appear over the vines. It stretched over the lands and into the sky as the fox rested under the tree. The horse jumped as the little bunny hit the ground again. Laughing as she looked at three golden eggs. Loki tipped his ears chuckling as Heimdall stepped off the fading bridge. The horse lifted his head as she held out the pot filled with three gold eggs, and returned his attention to the fox and hare who stood up playfully glaring at each other. "What are we to do with these?"
Heimdall tipped a brow at Loki as he motioned to them grinning. The hare rolled his eyes as he looked over the fields and nodded. "Jack will open the first, and from it she will be able keep the frost from all your fields. The second she opens can be placed within a pumpkin that has been carved with a face. It will light the darkness and keep all who wish to harm either of you at bay as it guards your door and any path you may carry it through. It will also scare away the birds that will harm your crops. The third egg will be opened, and from it you will gain strength in your feet. They will spring each time you jump, and you will stay lean from the movements, little Jack. The horse that carries you will be the one who keeps his girth and will draw his strength from the same grains and vegetables you both eat, but will grow stronger to help keep you safe."
The doe looked back at the horse smiling as he sighed. "Magic is not a good way to gain things in this world, Jackelyn."
Loki snickered as Heimdall tipped his head. "Explain why you think this, horse? What is your name?"
"Gabriel. I think that because no one should expect something from nothing. "Your magic, it must come from somewhere. If you did not work for it where does it come from, no energy is put into it and how can it be a good thing if that is the case?"
Heimdall bit the side of his cheek hiding his smile as the fox's face lit up. "True, Gabriel. Hard work will lead you to all you desire, but this takes time and energy, the energy and time you put into something is what will make things grow. What grows will be everything that matters to you. The more you care for these things, the more they will give you in return." Loki held up his paws and let them glow lightly before they burst into flames. The fox snickered as Heimdall shoved him and shook his head.
The stallion cringed nervously as Loki and Heimdall both tipped their ears up waiting, both grinning as the bunny tugged on his mane. Heimdall nodded, "Magic will only serve you if you serve it. Work is the way to happiness. Because you see things this way and teach it to one you have taken as your charge, that is what you will benefit from. All the days you work will return you to the same happiness you offered. The magic is from the work. The wheel on the wagon will not turn if you do not pull the cart to grow the seeds in the fields on four feet, using the shoes made of silver that will protect your feet from harm. Jack cannot open the eggs if they are not kept warm by the wood and fires you will build. Nothing will grow if the fields are not tended to. This strength is what your species will be known for and you will be seen as one of the most beautiful for it." The horse let his jaw fall as his fur glistened in a high sheen and his mane grew longer as the hair on his tail grew to the length that drug the ground behind him.
The fox and hare chuckled as the little bunny jumped on his shoulder and giggled as she braided the strands of his long mane. Loki tipped his head as she tried to find a way to keep them from unraveling after she'd twisted them into several strands. The fox sighed and Heimdall tipped his ears and grabbed Loki's arm in protest as he removed the ring from his finger. "Loki, you cannot give that away! Not when it was what-
The fox closed his eyes and smiled as Heimdall stepped back raising both brows. He handed it to the little bunny and she stuck it over the end of the stallion's braided hair, her eyes lighting up as it shrank around the bottom of the braid. "Some connections never fade Heimdall, and a trinket is only a symbol of what is." The hare smiled as the horse looked it over and back to the beanstalk.
"What will become of the stalk? Surely you cannot leave it for others to climb? If there is nothing there now, they will go seeking and fall over the edge to their deaths."
The hare smirked as Loki blinked and looked up nodding, a smile slowly spreading over his face. "Heimdall?"
Heimdall ticked his eyes up, shaking his head. "Why do you keep putting me in the position to guide your actions?" He frowned as Loki smirked and shrugged as he rubbed his brow. "Fine, if you wish to take it down, either give me an ax to cut it or shrink it back to something that will warn others they are close to the black forest."
Loki nodded as he held his paws up. The horse and little bunny still sitting on his shoulder gaped as the vines shrank, awed when it became a juniper tree that sat not far from the trail that led back into the black forest. They all said their goodbyes happily, and left to continue on their journey as rain began to fall. Loki huffed as he tried to flip his ears back. "We need to get out of the rain."
Heimdall chuckled and threw his arms out. "Let the rain wash away your troubles, Loki! There is always a rainbow after the rain. Do you not know we are writing history in this world?! It is an open book with blank pages! Lower the flames and feel the rain on your skin! Only you can let it in!"
Loki chuckled and shook his head, looking into the sky as thunder rolled. He held his arms out laughing after Heimdall nudged him, grinning as the fox smiled and tipped his head back to the path as he lowered the flame of his fur and ignored the rain, letting it soak through to his skin. The hare chuckled as the sun peeked through the clouds, shining on both of them as they continued their journey….
Notes; Stories used from the brothers Grimm may not all be listed, and a few other fairy tales popped up. Some were brought to life through Loki, while others came from Heimdall or both of them working together.
A reference as to why horseshoes and four-leaf clovers are considered lucky. The pot at the end of a rainbow and finding gold. Little Jack takes the pot up the beanstalk to help her return with the golden eggs Heimdall gives her. Heimdall is connected with eggs because of his nose and how the tree of life took them and made them part of itself. The golden goose who laid golden eggs. The raven in the tree is a shout out to the nursery rhyme a carrion crow.
The green clothes Jackelyn is wearing and finding a giant at the top are references to a leprechaun and Jack and the beanstalk. There is a reference to Jack Horner as (her/his) curiosity led her to Heimdall's horn and she offered a plumb pie as an apology that he sticks his thumb in. Jack and the beanstalk- the horse is a reference to the cow he was meant to sell. Jack be nimble Jack be quick. Jumping over a candlestick was an old game of fortune telling in past times. The wagon the hay is still sitting in and the wheel that was repaired and turning seeds into the field that became golden grains is a reference to Rumpelstiltskin and spinning straw to gold. Jackelyn singing to change Heimdall back into a rabbit after Loki turns him into a goose is a reference to the golden harp. The things the eggs provide are references to Jack frost, jack o lanterns, Jack Sprat and scarecrows. Some of these things become connected to other holidays.