Meg's Scary Tale
Twas midnight at the old castle, and cold
So the kitchen fire stayed lit, the flames bold.
Meg and Diana sat near the heat
Shooting the breeze and warming their feet.
Outside the wind blew, and the leaves fell down
And once in a while cracks of thunder would sound.
“I don’t like this evening.” Meg said very uneasy
Strange things always happen when nights are this breezy.
She shivered and stared into the fire’s light
Diana looked fearful, she too shared her fright.
Then Meg smiled and cocked her dark head
“Tis a good night for telling tales of the dead!”
“Must you?” Diana said uncomfortably
“Those stories scare me so easily.
I’ll have nightmares all night.”Princess said with a scowl.
Then outside they both heard a most mournful howl.
“No, no, I never listen to scary stuff.”
said Diana disgusted, as she ate a creme puff.
“You mean, when you were a girl,” said the cook
“That you never heard the old tale of ‘The Hook’?”
Diana rolled her eyes and shook her head “no”.
She knew very well where this conversation would go.......
**It all began on a night just like this.
The servant lowered her voice to a hiss.
The Druids were dancing on that special night
When the ghosties rise up from the earth and take flight.
Two lovers were riding on a lonely road
When their wagon broke down, cruely spilling it’s load.
The young lad tried vainly to fix up the break
Mending the wheel with a plain wooden stake.
His hasty solution just wouldn’t work
The wheel would still wobble and stop with a jerk.
“I have to go back to the village to find
Another replacement wheel of some kind.”
“I will go with you”, the maid said distressed
“This place is so lonely. I’m scared.” she confessed.
She slid off the seat to alight to the ground
But twisted her ankle on the way down.
“Eeee oh, it hurts, I can’t walk you see.
I guess you will have to go without me.”
The boy didn’t like leaving his lady
On a road like this one, so dark and so shady.
But there was no way she could walk to the town
So he relented letting caution break down.
She watched him go further and further away
And began to regret her decision to stay.
As the howling wind whipped her hair round her face
Her heart started beating at a more rapid pace.
Suddenly she heard a scratching from under
The bed of the wagon. Her eyes filled with wonder.
It stopped for a moment. She thought, “ Well, I guess
I didn’t hear anything.....I’m such a mess!”
She laughed at herself for letting her mind
Get the best of her instincts in the moonshine.
The scraping began once again on the side.
“This isn’t my wild imagination!” she cried.
She sat there rigidly glued to her seat
Unable to move her very own feet.
Tap tapping, tap tapping the sound grew much louder
“Oh gods!” she screamed, Fright was beginning to crowd her.
She turned very slowly and took a quick look
What she saw on the side of the wheel was a hook.
It’s shiny metal bent around in a curve
The poor girl completely lost all her nerve.
She tried to scramble off of the seat
The hook grabbed her skirt, she met with defeat.
It tore at her bare legs drawing blood true and red
She bent down to grab it. It plunged into her head.
She gazed up at the moonlight for one final look
But the last thing she saw was the large metal hook.
When later the lad came back to repair
He looked for his love, but the wagon was bare.
A small human heart lay upon the cold ground
Her young man buried it without making a sound
He blamed himself for her death on that cold fateful day
So he took his own life on the spot where the heart lay.
Now, they say when you travel that dark lonely lane
And stop where she did, you will know her great pain.
You can still hear her heart beat underneath all the dirt
But you’re best not to stay there and keep quite alert.
For you never know what’s lurking up in the trees
And never let yourself be entirely at ease
Keep your wits about you and make sure you look
Cause it’s still out there, so beware of the........***
“Oh Meg your imagination is crazy.”
Diana exclaimed, her eyes looking hazy
“Well your highness you don’t have to believe
I do know such things are quite hard to conceive.
But see for yourself that what I speak is true
Tis to the castle that the pair traveled to.”
Diana stood up, her eyes popping in fear
And ran from the kitchen holding back tears.
Meg watched her run, this Princess perfect
Then silently smirked at her story’s effect
She hummed to herself as she opened a drawer
And took out a hook she had found on the floor
She turned it over admiring it’s shape
Knowing that from it there was no escape
Then she walked out into the cold, clear night
And disappeared into the pale moonlight..........
The End
RedPrincess {{~_~}}
Graphic is from Xena: Warrior Princess episidode entitled
"Warrior Priestess Tramp" ©1998 MCA/Universal Studios
Rennaisance Pictures.