by Tim J. Myers.
Once a poor family lived in a cottage near a forest. One day their landlady came and said, “There are too many people here!”
“But we pay our rent!” the father protested.
“Yes,” said the landlady, “but your new baby makes five of you. Either pay more money or leave!”
But they had no more money.
Late that night after everyone went to bed, the father sneaked off. “People say there’s a magic circle of stones in the forest,” he told himself. “Maybe I’ll find help there.”
Soon he was cold to the bone and lost besides. Suddenly a great shaggy bear stood before him, roaring till the trees shook. The father fell and covered his face.
Then he felt a wet nose against his hand. “I heard about your landlady,” said the bear quietly, “and I too am worried about my children. They’ve wandered off. Have you seen them?”
The father shook his head.
“Well, God bless us both,” said the bear. “Perhaps you should go to the Circle of Truth. It’s in that grove.” She pointed with a huge paw.
“What is the Circle, Bear? Who made it? How does it work?”
The bear shrugged. “No one knows. It’s always been here. When you’re inside it, you see things that are true—even if they haven’t happened yet.”
So they parted and the father went to the circle. When he stepped into it, he was suddenly back in the cottage, with a fire on the hearth and his smiling family around him. When he stepped back out, he found himself in the cold woods again. “The Circle is saying we must stay together!” he cried. So he returned to the cottage and slipped back into bed.
Sometime later the mother woke and crept out too, thinking, “I’ll look for the Magic Circle.”
After a time, the path she was following came to the top of a cliff. Beside her was a big nest of sticks, with two eagle chicks in it.
Just then she heard flapping and an eagle’s cry, and she cowered in fear. When she looked up, a huge eagle stood in the nest. “Poor dear,” said the eagle. “I heard about your trouble, and I know what it is to make a nest for my chicks. Go to the Circle of Truth—this is the path. But please tell no one where my nest is.”
“You are so kind, Eagle,” said the mother.
When she stepped inside the stones, she and her family were suddenly in a new house, its pine-boards still smelling sweet. When she stepped back she was in the freezing woods again. “Could a new home be waiting for us?” she wondered. The thought gave her hope, so she hurried back to the cottage and into bed.
The brother and sister couldn’t sleep either. So they too got up and tiptoed away, saying, “We can work on some farm, and Mama and Papa can stay with our baby.”
After hours in the moonlit forest, they came to a meadow. Suddenly five wolves bounded from the shadows. The sister and brother held each other. “Goodbye,” the brother whispered.
But the wolves sat on their haunches. “Don’t worry,” said a black one. “We know what it’s like to be forced from our home—the duke’s hunters chased us from our den in the valley a year ago. You won’t tell anyone you’ve seen us, will you? Good. You should go to the Circle of Truth—we’ll show you the way.”
When the children stepped into the circle they were suddenly in warm beds, with their mother and father smiling down at them. When they stepped out, they were alone again, cold winds sweeping through the trees. “We belong with Mama and Papa!” they told each other. They slipped back into bed just before dawn.
In the middle of the night the baby woke up crying, but no one was there. So she climbed from her cradle and went out to play. Digging with an old spoon, she struck a half-rotten chest. She reached in the hole and pulled something out. It shone in the moonlight. Then she felt cold and went back to bed.
In the morning the landlady came banging on the door, the sheriff beside her. They walked right in.
“Pay me!” the woman shouted.
But suddenly, at a window where the others couldn’t see, a huge bear reared up, showing its claws and great teeth. The landlady gasped.
“Do you order them to leave?” the sheriff demanded. Before she could say anything, she glanced at another window. An eagle hovered there, its great wings beating furiously as its yellow eyes flashed with anger.
“Do you order these people to leave?” the sheriff insisted. But then the landlady saw, through a third window, five wolves baring their fangs.
“They can stay,” the landlady whimpered. Then she hurried away, the sheriff with her.
Just then the baby came smiling and said, “Bluh bluh bluh!” In her hand she held a golden coin.
“Where did you find this?” the father asked. The baby laughed and toddled to the woodpile. When they dug they found an old wooden cask packed tight with gleaming florins. “Now we can buy land and build our own house!” the mother said.
“And sleep in our own beds!” said the sister.
“And sit by the fire together!” said the father.
“Bluh bluh bluh!” said the baby.
So they all joined hands and danced in a circle.
END