Tale #135: What Is A Child Worth?

There lived a lord who was so worried by his wife’s failure to produce an heir that he sought out a witch and tried to secure her aid.

The witch said, “The price of my help is that, while any son shall be yours, any daughter shall be mine.”

The Lord agreed, and soon he was the father of twins. The lord looked on in pride as his children were delivered. The boy was the image of the Lord, with black hair, a stern face, and a tendency to turn to tears and tantrums.

The daughter looked exactly like her mother. Skin as dark as night, hair as red as blood, a smile as joyous and free as a bird, and a nature as fierce as any wolf.

The lord soon returned to his duties, and left the child’s care to his wife, for he was a busy man, and had no time for the trifles of domesticity. And while the Lord’s paling wife found love in her heart for them both, she could not find in herself any forgiveness for her husband.

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Notes:

1. Written on July 1st, 2019

Bronto Time

Notes: I wrote this when I was about five, I think.

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“7 o’clock. Time to get up”

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“8 o’clock. Time to wash”
“9 o’clock. Time for breakfast”

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“10 o’clock. Time to clean up”
“11 o’clock. Time to go shopping”

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“12 o’clock midday. Time for dinner”
“1 o’clock. Time to dig the garden”

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“2 o’clock. Time to paint the fence”
“3 o’clock. Time to read”

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“4 o’clock. Time to play”
“5 o’clock. Time for tea”

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“7 o’clock. Time to have a bath.”
“8 o’clock. Time for bed”

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“12 o’clock midnight. Bronto is fast asleep”

THE END

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Further Notes: My mum found Bronto Time in a box of some of my old schoolwork last week, although I don’t remember making it at all, so it’s possible it’s actually my brothers. But that’s not going to stop me claiming it as my own. Because it’s beautiful.