Assignment

A Patient Friend

By now Sara had been asleep for 32-years. In that time Josiah had seen sadness and tragedy. As promised by the Twelfth Wise Woman, the spell he begged to be cast upon him came with sacrifices and tragedies that must be endured, After all, nothing in this life came without strings attached.

Josiah had been there when the Thirteenth Wise Woman apparently scorned and embarrassed by the King’s refusal to invite her to his daughter’s christening promised little Sara’s death on her fifteenth birthday. After all, why would he invite her. The whole town knew that he’d broken his promise to marry her when his kingdom fell into hardship and he’d married the Dutch princess to bring great wealth back to the kingdom and the surrounding villagers. Senselessly, the Thirteenth Wise Woman promised that death would befall Sara upon the prick of her finger on a spinning wheel near the time of her fifteenth year. But the Twelfth Wise Woman could not allow this to occur. It was quite excessive to sentence the child to such a short life because a difficult political decision had had to be made. She stepped forward and diluted the spell for death to a mere spell for sleep, though a long sleep it would be.

Josiah had been 5-years old at the time but remembered it as it had been yesterday. The Thirteen Wise Woman had eventually disappeared in a puff of black smoke, not to be seen again in her human form by again by the kingdom and faithful villagers. It was at that time, Josiah decided that the terrible tragedy could not occur. Josiah was the second son of the King’s cousin from France. Josiah’s parents had died leaving him in the care of his cousin’s kingdom. Josiah was raised by the same nannies as Sara. There was not a school day that past or a holiday that was celebrated in the next 14-years that Sara and Josiah did not spend together. They were the best of friends and each one would do anything for the other. Though the King had long ago destroyed all of the spinning wheels in the Kingdom, choosing instead to import all fabric from surrounding areas, nevertheless, Josiah was always on the lookout, and would do anything to prevent the prophesy from coming true.

On the 357th day of Sara’s 14th year, Josiah was taken ill. Because cholera had been rampant in nearby kingdom’s he was forced into isolation in small cottage outside the Village with his nanny until his fever had passed. Though it had not been cholera, it had been nearly fatal illness and he had lost consciousness for seven days. By the time he woke from the fever, the tragedy had already befallen Sara. Not only she, but the entire kingdom were in a deep sleep and a briar patch over 100-feet tall and 100-feet thick had surrounded the Kingdom.

Josiah was devastated. He turned to the Twelfth Wise Woman for advice. She confirmed that Sara would sleep for no less than 100-years and that the briar wall was impenetrable to keep invaders from plundering the kingdom. Josiah begged the Twelfth Wise Woman, “Please, give me the same fate, put me to sleep.” The Twelfth Wise Woman had refused but instead agreed to another spell for unending youth. That way, Josiah could live his life and wait until the time the spell over Sara came to its end.

For the past 32-years, Josiah had done just this. Lived his life and waited. He returned to his Kingdom in France and managed the village at the behest of his elder brother, the King. Josiah did not marry looking forward only to the day that Sara would wake up. Though he did not age, no one lived long enough to notice. The town was virtually wiped out many times over by the plague and cholera.

Over the next 50-years Josiah continued to work. From time to time he heard great tales of the “sleeping beauty” across the sea and the princes of other kingdom’s who were unable to penetrate the great briar wall to awaken her. He did not fear for their success however, because he knew that only time would awaken her. By the time his brother, the King was 86 and on death’s bed, Josiah determined to begin his journey back to Sara. 81-years had now passed.

Josiah arrived in the small town of the great briar wall. He settled in as a mason having learned many trades in his great lifetime. There he worked diligently and patiently for the next 19-years, no one having known him but the Twelfth Wise Woman, who herself was still youthful. Though he appeared to be a young man in his mid twenties, Josiah was nearly 115. He had seen a lot of tragedy and was not the same boy he had been. He and the Twelfth Wise Woman passed the time talking of the old days.

On the eve of the 364th day of the 99th year of Sara’s sleep, Josiah stood outside the briar wall waiting for its imminent collapse. Men appeared from time to time to try to scale the great briar wall, still none having been successful, most having died in their quest. As the moon rose, a young man rode in on a grey mare and jumped off the horse. Josiah, identified himself and asked the young man who he was and what was his intent. The man replied that he had come from France, the great grandson of the King and he had come to scale the wall. Josiah, knowing this was his great nephew told the boy, “wait until morning.”

The next morning, both awoke and the briar wall was gone, Josiah sent his nephew into Sara’s chamber to awaken her and he returned to the Twelfth Wise Woman and they lived out their days together, happily.