the night

                                                           

In a tiny village, stood a solitary home where Maria resided. She faced a big issue, she couldn't get any sleep. Every night, while everyone else dozed off, she remained wide awake. She felt trapped in her own thoughts, with only the sound of the clock ticking away the moments.

One evening, Maria stumbled upon a hidden door concealed behind a drape in her house. Intrigued, she opened it and discovered a passage leading to a peculiar world. In this realm, time seemed to vanish, and everything felt like a fantasy.

As Maria explored this unfamiliar place, she encountered others like her who struggled to slep. Together, they journeyed through this peculiar world, forming bonds as they went.

With each passing night, Maria sensed the boundary between reality and dreams blurring. But instead of feeling afraid, she felt like she belonged in this surreal world.

Here, Maria realized that her sleep troubles weren't a curse but an opportunity to discover new things. She found delight in the endless possibilities of her imagination and knew she could wander here endlessly.

The forest at night

 

Once upon a time, there were two men who were joining the women of their lives. However, it was dusk, the wolves began to howl, the trees seemed to move by themselves, as monsters. The two men didn't have brought anything to light, anything to defend, anything to eat nor drink. Indeed, the two men were desperate. 

"What must we do? We are lost? What must we ...?" told one of the two men, with a trembling voice.

"I don't know? We may retrace our steps..." answered the other, who wanted to comfort his friend.

As a sudden, a light was coming to them in the darkness. It was approaching so that it was just in front of them. That light came out to be a big woman who was wearing a beautiful dress and a wand on one hand. 

"What are you doing in that forest? Didn't you know it was cursed?" the woman told them, in a snapping way.

"We just wanted to join our friends, our future wives..." one of the men, the most brave of them, answered slowly.

"I want to help you! I give you this light which will lead you to your wives. Do you want it?" the woman offered.

"Ok... I mean... Yes, of course we want".

The dressed-woman waved her wand, the two men left the woman and followed the light to go until the castle in which their wives were. Like so, they promised not to go into the forest at night ever. They lived happily, with this promise, with their wives.

Moral: Do never go to a place you don't know where it leads, it must be dangerous... especially at night and in the darkness.

The self-portrait of a woman

 

I'm looking on the mirror but, I guess, am I a woman? Am I an animal? In fact, I may be a hybrid: mid-animal mid-human. Yes, it must be this. It is difficult to see why I have become a hybrid. However, I must say that I am wearing beautiful and noble clothes, with girdles, a veil on my head instead of a hat. But how old I seem to be! In fact, I was so coquette in my life, it must be a punishment of God or of something like that, something out of my depth, metaphysical. 

Yes, I think a metaphysical being punished me for my vanity. Indeed, I seem very ugly...

What must I do to extricate myself from that situation? To do a good deed...?

The sins of a princess

 

A knight was approaching the Dark Castle and met the guards.

"Stop! Where are you going to?", they shouted.

"I want to get in so as to meet the King!", replied the knight.

The knight tried to force the passage, but the two guards raised their swords to prevent the unknown from getting into the hall of the castle.

"Dormite", pronounced the knight.

Suddenly, the two guards fell asleep and the knight got into the castle. The knight was trying to reach the room in which the king was, but in vain. As a sudden, his eyes meet those of a beautiful woman, a woman who seemed to come from the Paradise, a place of precious stones. He came nearer the woman and noted she was tied, magically tied. Thus, he tried to untie her, but a malediction from a warlock seemed to have been locked the members of the woman: she couldn't move, nor speak. She was a beautiful Stone. Then, he told an incantation, but nothing happened.

A man with a crown came nearer the knight. 

"You won't be able to liberate, she were mean, and that's her punishment", he announced him with a monotonous tone. 

"You are the king, right?" asked the knight.

"Yes, I am. And I punish my daughter for her sins. She was coquette, capricious, big eater, bad-tempered, know-it-all, lazy and jealous. That's why I asked a wizard to turn her into a stone, as she deserved it!" he declared with the same tone.

Suddenly, the knight took the woman with him, pronounced an incantation to make the king to fall asleep and take the woman out of the castle. Suddenly, the princess awoke and the knight lived very good adventures with the woman, who became his wife. 

She became good with the knight and they lived happily ever after.

A gloomy day

Henry and Thomas stood at the edge of a high hill, their eyes fixed on the gray sky and the somber landscape below. The wind whipped at their coats, but they remained rooted to the spot, captivated by the melancholic beauty surrounding them.

In the distance, they spotted a lone figure trudging along a winding path. Henry and Thomas watched with empathy, imagining the struggles that the solitary traveler must face on their journey.

Suddenly, a gentle voice broke through their reverie. An elderly man had approached, his presence comforting in the desolate setting.

"The view is quite something, isn't it?" he remarked softly.

Henry and Thomas nodded in agreement. "It's sad, but there's a certain beauty to it."

The man smiled, his eyes reflecting understanding. "Sometimes, being alone in a quiet place can bring solace."

Henry turned to him, curious. "Do you find solace here?"

The man nodded. "Yes, solitude helps me clear my mind and find peace."

As they stood together in silence, a sense of tranquility washed over Henry and Thomas. The weight of their worries seemed to lift, replaced by a newfound sense of calm.

"Thank you," Henry murmured gratefully.

The man nodded in acknowledgment. "We all have our burdens to bear. Sometimes, finding moments of quiet reflection can help us make sense of them."

Together, they watched as the clouds parted, allowing slivers of sunlight to filter through. In that moment, Henry and Thomas felt a glimmer of hope amidst the gloom.

As they continued to gaze at the changing sky, Henry and Thomas realized that even on the darkest of days, there was always a ray of light to be found, if only one took the time to search for it.

The Grim Reaper

 

The planet has gone, what a shame!

Who could the humanity blame?

The Grim Reaper has done his job,

He didn't learn that on-the-job!

He killed everyone;

The work is done:

Each animal, each plant, each life.

He needed a big reaper, not a knife.

He killed the lesser life on Earth:

The cradle which gave the humanity birth!

They didn't respect their house,

The ravens warned them to be careful.

It was no use to be prayerful:

The punishment they deserve, they roused!

The old woman

 

Once upon a time, there was a woman who worked in a mansion. Her boss was mean and cruel, she gave her more tasks than it is was possible to do in one day. At night, she dreamt of becoming rich and of having employees. But, she would make the things differently than her tyrant: she would be kind, generous and benevolent; the exact opposite of her cruel tormentor.

One day, which seemed to be the exact same of each day, her malevolent boss wanted her to go and take water on the village centre. When she arrived at her destination, an old hooded woman told her:

"You seem poor and unfortunated, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am", replied the young woman, "my boss is mean... and cruel.. and... is a tormentor...!!", as she spoke, her voice was more and more tripper, as if she were babbling.

The old woman took off her hood, raised a wand and said an incantation.

"When you are kind with someone, you will find money in your apron."

The young woman didn't want to trust her and was scared. She took back the pitcher she had filled up and ran away to the mansion. She told "sorry!" to a child she pushed and gave kindly the pitcher to her boss.

"You are late", her boss snapped.

"I am really sorry, Boss, but an old woman, and kind, made me late...", she replied timidly.

She came back to the cellar she slept (a dirty place with only one bed and rat poops) and noted her apron was a little bit heavier than usual. There were two coins in it. She thought the old woman gave her an ability... the ability to earn coins when she told good things.

The following day, her boss noted she had earned money and thought her story wasn't that insane.

As a consequence, she had her daughter take water on the exact place than her employee.

When the little girl arrived, she came nearer to the fountain and the old woman approached her with a wand and told:

"You seem spoilt rotten... and rude!!", she told her.

"Yes, and what? What business is it of yours?", she replied rudely, without babbling.

The old woman said an incantation.

On the way back to her house, the little girl pushed an old woman, told her mother she wanted to have a bath, in a non-conforming way, because the old woman had touched her with her dirty nails and said: "She is a witch!!"

In the bathroom, as she was looking her face on the mirror, she noted that three big spots had appeared on her face. She was crying as her mother was comforting her.

The following days were fortunated for the woman: she was more and more rich thanks to her kindness; on the contrary, the mean little girl was becoming more and more ugly because of the spots that appeared on her face.

Moral:

 It is in the nature of the world to reward the nice people, but also to punish the mean ones.