The Tower of Flowers & Blossoms

Legend tells us of a...

The tower stood in the centre of the large, dense forest. Ten stories high, it bore only one window at the very top. Abundant vines of poison ivy wrapped their way around the cylindrical structure, and weeds sprouted from the cracks in the bricks. There was no door of which to speak of. One would literally have to climb the tower somehow and enter through the window. However, the vines provided no strength, and would crumble away on human contact.

Yet the tower remained as popular as ever, and for one main reason: the way it sparkled. At night, the structure was well camouflaged, but in the morning, when the sun's rays hit the walls, a sparkle was emitted that turned the tower into a proverbial lighthouse.

The reason for this that no one knew was the flowers that lined the building. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires...all these grew from the flowers.

Their blossoms were longed for as well. They produced the most beautiful smell in the entire land. But there there flowers and the blossoms remained, far away from all human contact.

And there was one more mystery.

The light in the window.

At night, there was a flickering light in the small window. But who was the inhabitant of this sole tower? No one knew. Some said that a horrible monster lived in the tower. Others a beautiful princess, waiting for her knight in shining armor.

*

And so it was that Sir Peter Strawberry Wuffs was journeying through the forest, apparently lost.

*

"You know, Wilfred," said Sir Peter to his horse. "I have the strangest little inkling that we are lost."

The horse whinnied, as if mocking him for something so oblivious.

"Oh, don't worry, Wilfred. We'll find our way out, just as soon as we find that blasted castle."

Sir Peter was looking for a castle, one in which his betrothed lived. But he was not at all keen on the marriage. In fact, the princess was was to be his future wife was the ugliest woman in the entire kingdom. His father wanted it for him, so as to fuse alliances between another kingdom.

They travelled and travelled, for days on end, and still no castle. And when the prince, and his poor, tired horse were just about ready to give up, they saw a light in the distance.

Coming to a halt below a tall tower, the prince looked up and saw a light in a small window. He circled the tower and finally found a door.

"I'm sorry, WIlfred old boy, but I'm afraid you're too big to enter." Sir Peter tied the horse's reins to a rock and then entered the tower. The door shut behind him with a creak, and an aura of foreboding covered the prince. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure he wanted to go on. The room was large and circular, and many tapestries hung from the walls, as well as candles which illumined the darkness. A staircase led to the next 'wherever', and the entire space was coated with a green sickly tinge.

Turning around, he saw that the door had disappeared. He felt the wall, cold to the touch, and pushed with all his might, all to no avail. He decided that the only way left was forward.

The stairs were covered by a red carpet. A portrait of some person adorned the walls as he climbed, higher and higher. And, after what must have been about thirty minutes, the floor levelled off, and found a small room where a fireplace was roaring. Carpets lay everywhere, as did candles, robes of all colours, and finally, a four-poster bed with curtains.

A breeze tickled his cheek lightly, and the prince diverted his gaze to the window opposite the room. And at the foot of the window, sat a maiden, combing her long, golden hair. She gazed at the full moon, like she wanted to reach out and embrace it with all her might. Her hair was strayed with flowers that sparkled like diamonds, and blossoms that smelled like heaven.

And then, she looked at the prince, her hand coming to a halt halfway through her hair. Her eyes were big and blue, and her cheeks were the rosiest the prince had ever set eyes upon. And when she smiled, it was as if all the worries in the world had been washed away.

Author's Note

When I found this story, I remembered that I had been inspired by a random episode of He-Man, where they're trying to get into a tower that's covered in these sentient vines that just push you off if you attempt to climb...or something like that. As far as I remember, that tower was situated in a desert. The jewel flowers were taken from Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights, which I used to love watching.

Upon reading this again, I didn't expect this to end where it did. Definitely cliched. I could have sworn the knight had a lackey with him. Perhaps for the sake of excusing a mistake, I'm assuming it's daytime when the knight finds the tower seeing as how he sees the light shining off of it, yet when he reaches the top of the tower, the maiden is gazing at the moon - maybe a time lapse to show how large the tower actually is. I can also imagine the maiden jumping out of the window for some reason, probably because I was so disappointed to read that ending after all this time.

Written 22 October 2009.