The Black Flower and The Three Ghosts

*** The Black Flower ***

 

All his life a young man searched for a black flower. People offered him blue and yellow and red and all other colours of flowers but he was never interested and turned them away saying, “It is not black enough”.

 

Family and friends, trying to make him happy, would bring him flowers of dark blue and dark purple that were almost black but even these would not satisfy him because he would only say, “Take them away. They are not black enough. What I desire is a flower that is truly black; black as the darkest night”.

 

Then, however, one very dark night indeed, a stranger came to his house with a box saying, “I hear that you are seeking a black flower.  I have such a flower; the blackest flower there ever was”.

 

Eagerly he welcomed the man in and he was handed the mysterious box and, when he looked inside, he said, “Yes, yes, that’s it; finally”.

 

But then, looking around him, the man saw that he was in a place where everything was black.

 

“Wh-wh-wh?!”, the man stammered, terrified and confused.

 

“This is the land of death”, said the man, who was now dressed from head to foot in black, “Everything here is the blackest black and there is no other colour”.

 

The young man was horrified and protested, “But I can’t die. I’m too young and there’s so much I haven’t seen”.

 

“But you weren’t interested in those other things. All around you were bright colourful, beautiful things but you ignored them. You only wanted a black flower”, replied the man in black, “And the black flower you desired only grows in my kingdom but those who look upon it look upon nought else”.

 

Then the young man saw the stranger’s true face; the face of a grinning skeleton and as he screamed he felt a hundred, strong but skeletal hands dragging him into the darkness.

 

The man awoke from the terrible nightmare and remembered now what was in the box and who the stranger really was; an opium dealer and the flower in the box, an opium poppy.

 

“Now do you see how black my flower is, sir?”, asked the stranger, laughing.

 

But the young man was not interested in dark things anymore and he threw the stranger out of his house. He only wanted to go out and breathe the air again and smell it; touch the world and see all the beautiful colours of life.

 

 

*** The Three Ghosts ***

Once, a poor peasant girl called Arroway married a rich widower; a nobleman called the Marquis of Saldana and she was very happy because, as well as being very rich he was also very handsome and seemed nice and kind, not to mention charming and charismatic and they had the most beautiful wedding upon a large white boat at the centre of a broad lake near to the Marquis’s mansion and she wore a beautiful long golden gown covered in golden roses and he his bright red military uniform.

 

But then, after the wedding, as Arroway was in her boudoir making herself look beautiful for her husband, suddenly, in front of her there appeared three ghostly women; one in a yellow dress; one in a red dress and one in a blue dress.

 

Arroway was horrified at first but the ghosts, speaking softly to her, assured her,

 

“Do not be afraid, Arroway. We have come only to help you. We are the past wives of the Marquis of Saldana ; the ones he married before you and who he murdered”.

 

Arroway could not believe that her husband would do such a thing but then the ghost in the blue dress took hold of her hand and she saw through the wall of her boudoir as clearly as if it were made of glass and in the bedroom next door she saw her husband pouring poison into her glass of red wine and heard him saying to himself,

 

“One sip of this sweet poison and pretty Arroway will breathe no more”.

 

Now, convinced that her husband was planning to kill her, Arroway went to the window of her boudoir, hoping to climb out but, leaning over the balcony and looking down she saw that it was too high up.

 

Fortunately, the ghost who was dressed in yellow and who had been hung by the marquis materialized her noose and made it stretch until it hung all the way to the ground then, tying it to the balcony, Arroway used it to climb down.

 

But when she had gotten safely onto the ground her husband came into her boudoir with the poisoned glass of wine in one hand, saying,

 

“Come now, Arroway. You are beautiful enough. Come and have some wine”.

 

And, discovering Arroway gone, he looked out of the window of her boudoir and saw her running away.

 

Trembling with anger and hurling the wine glass to the floor so that it shattered loudly, the Marquis then ran downstairs to fetch his sword and then, mounting his black stallion he rode after the fleeing Arroway, chasing her into the dark forest.

 

But then, as he was riding after her through the forest, the ghost in the red dress who the marquis had had beheaded materialized the axe that had cut her head off and started to chop down trees so that they fell in front of his horse blocking its way.

 

But still, mad with rage, the Marquis refused to give up the chase and, getting off of his horse he clambered over the fallen trees and started to pursue Arroway on foot waving his long sword in front of him.

 He chased her all the way to the edge of a deep lake; the one upon which they had held their wedding and Arroway felt sure at that moment that there was nowhere else she could run.

 

But then the third ghost, the one dressed in blue, who had been drowned by the Marquis touched the waters of the lake with her toe and the lake waters became hardened so that now Arroway could run upon them.

 

But the evil Marquis would not let her go and he ran after her across the hardened lake but then, just as Arroway reached the opposite side of the lake, the water beneath the Marquis’s feet started to soften and he went crashing down into the water and was pulled down deep under the water by the hands of the ghost in the blue dress, never to be seen again.

 

Now with her wicked husband dead, not only was Arroway safe but she inherited his Mansion and his entire fortune and lived very happily ever after.        ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------