The Troll-Tear.
A Children's Story
for Samhain.
(Author
Unknown – Edited By George Knowles).
It
was a very dark night in October, with a full Moon hanging in a cloud filled
sky. The air was crisp with the
feel of late autumn, and the doorway between the worlds was wide open.
Carved pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns lit the porches of houses in the
little town, and laughter of children dressed in costumes could be heard up and
down the street.
But
this was a sad night for little Beth Drummond as she climbed a small hill behind
her house. In her arms she carried
her pet cat Smokey, carefully wrapped in his favourite blanket.
Her father had already dug a small grave on the top of the hill, for
Smokey had died earlier that day.
"Do
you want me to go with you?" asked father Drummond.
"I’ve dug the grave beside MacDougal's at the top of the hill,”
he said gently. Beth clearly
remembered when their pet dog MacDougal had died after being hit by a car, she
had cried for ages afterwards. "No,
I want to go by myself," she answered.
Beth
stopped at the top of the hill and knelt beside the little grave.
She carefully laid Smokey’s blanket-wrapped form in the earth and
covered it with soil, laying several large rocks on the top.
Then she began to cry, she had been holding it back till then wanting to
appear adult in front of her parents. "Oh,
Smokey, I miss you so much!" Beth looked up at the Moon as tears streaming down her
cheeks. "Why did he die?"
she asked.
"It
was his time to rejoin the Mother," said a deep gentle voice in the
darkness.
"Who
said that?" cried Beth. She
looked around a little frightened, but couldn't see anybody?
"Dying
is part of the cycle of life, you know,” said the voice.
Then one of the boulders on the hill stirred into life.
"Who
are you?" asked Beth a little startled, but strangely no longer frightened.
The moonlight shone down on the little woman, and Beth could see she was
not human.
"I'm
a troll-wife," said the creature as she came to sit across from Beth.
"This
is a sad night for both of us, child. I
too came to this hill to bury a friend. "The
troll-wife wiped a crystal tear from her cheek.
"My squirrel was very old. Still
it makes me sad".
Beth
stared at the troll-wife. The
little woman was the colour of rock in the moonlight, making her face hard
to see, it was shrouded with hair like long strands of moss, but her eyes shone bright
like shining crystals. She wore a
dress woven of oak leaves and tree bark.
"My
squirrel and I lived together for a long time," the troll-wife said.
"We often talked to your cat when he was hunting here on the hill.
Smokey and I were friends. I
shall miss him, too". The
little woman patted Smokey's grave gently.
"Sleep well little friend. When
you are rested, we shall talk together again".
"But
he's dead," Beth said, her voice choked with tears.
"Yes
child, but this is Samhain. Don't
you know the ancient secrets of this sacred time of the year?"
The troll-wife motioned for Beth to come and sit beside her.
"It is true that our friends have gone into a world where we can no
longer physically touch them, but the Mother has given us other ways of
communicating with them. We can do this at any time, but the time of Samhain is the
easiest".
"I
don't understand how this can be done," Beth said, "or why Samhain
makes it easier".
"At
this time of year," the troll-wife answered, "the walls between this
world and the world of souls and spirits are very thin.
If we are quiet and listen, we can hear our loved ones and they can hear
us. We talk, not with spoken words,
but with the heart and mind".
"But
isn't that just imagination," said Beth, looking down at Smokey's grave,
tears once more clouding her eyes. "Like
my thinking I can sometimes feel MacDougal get up on my bed at night like he
used to do?"
"Sometimes
it is, but mostly it is not imagination, only our friends who have come to see
us in their spirit bodies". The
troll-wife reached up her hand and patted something Beth couldn't see on her
shoulder. "Like my friend the
raven. He’s here now".
Beth
looked hard and saw a thin form of hazy moonlight on the troll-wife's shoulder.
"I've seen something like that at the foot of my bed where MacDougal
used to sleep," she whispered. "I
thought I was dreaming." She
jumped then as something cold and wet nudged her arm.
When she looked down, there was nothing there.
The
troll-wife smiled. "Close your
eyes and think of MacDougal," she said.
"He has been waiting a long time for you to see him".
Beth
closed her eyes and at once, the form of her little dog came into her mind.
His tail wagged with happiness. She
felt a wave of love come from him and she sent her love back. Then she felt the dog lie down against her leg.
"Can I do this with Smokey?"
Beth asked.
"Not
yet," the troll-wife answered. "He
needs tine to sleep and rest for awhile. Then
he will come to you. He needs this
time to adjust to his new world, and you need the time to grieve for him. It is not wrong to grieve you know, but we must not grieve
forever. Life must go on".
"I
never thought of it that way," Beth said.
"It's kind of like they moved away, and we can only talk to them on
the phone".
"It’s
the same way with all creatures, not just animals," said the troll-wife.
She stood up then and held out her hand to Beth.
"Will you join me, human girl?
Although I buried my friend the squirrel this night, I must still dance
and sing to all my other friends and relatives who have gone on their journey
into the other world. For this is a time to honour our ancestors".
Beth
joined the troll-wife, and in the moonlight they danced an ancient slow troll
dance around the top of the little hill. Then
Beth watched quietly while the troll-wife called out troll-words to the four
directions, words she couldn't understand.
Deep in her heart the girl felt the power of the strange words, and knew
they were given in honour and love by the little troll-wife.
When
the troll-wife was finished with her ritual, she hugged Beth.
"Go in peace, human girl" she said, "and remember what I
have told you about the ancient secret of Samhain".
"I
will," Beth answered. "But
will I ever see you again?"
"Whenever
the Moon is Full, I will be here," said the little troll-wife, "and
especially at Samhain".
"I
wish I had something to give you," Beth hugged the little woman, "you
have taught me so much". She
felt tears come to her eyes again.
"Then
let us exchange tears for our lost friends," she said.
The troll-wife reached up a rough finger, catching a tear as it fell from
Beth's eye. It glistened on her
finger and when she gently touched the finger to her cloak, the tear shone there
like a diamond in the moonlight. Beth
reached up carefully and caught one of the troll-wife's tears as it slid down
her rough cheek. In her hand, it
turned into a real crystal.
"Remember
the secret of Samhain and remember me," said the troll-wife softly as she
disappeared into the darkness. Beth
walked back down the hill, the crystal clutched in her hand.
Her father was waiting on the porch.
"Are
you all right?" her father asked, giving Beth a hug.
"I
will be," she answered. She
opened her hand under the porch light and saw a perfect tear-shaped crystal
lying there.
"Did
you find something?" asked her father.
"A
troll-tear," Beth answered. Her
father smiled, for he too knew the little troll-wife and the secrets of Samhain.
The End.
Sources
The
original Story came to me by E-mail from a very good friend called "WhiteRaven".
Best
wishes and Blessed Be
