This is an original fairy tale.
There was once a snow guard, who married a woman who had been
an ice maiden in the Snow Queen’s palaace. They lived in a
house carved from crystal, and together they had five
daughters.
These girls were very beautiful. Each had a different hair
colour: the oldest black, the second deep brown, the third
auburn, the fourth honey-coloured, and the youngest gold.
They all had grey eyes. They wore dresses of silver - dresses,
it was told, that they had worn from birth, and which had
grown as thye had grown. They sat all day on five silver
thrones, completely still but for the occasional gesture,
which was capable of breaking a man’s heart. They never spoke
a word, not once - and for this reason they were known as the
Five Silences.
The day came when their mother entered the room, and stood
before them. “You are all full grown now,” she said, “so I am
sending you into the world. Once you enter it, you will no
longer be visible, or tangible - you will be silent spirits,
and as such will have freedoms which the people of the world
lack. What you must do is find a place in the world where
silence is needed, or can be put to work - that will be your
home.” She went to each of her daughters, kissed them
goodbye, and left.
THe eldest went first, spreading her arms so her silver
sleeves billowed like wings. She passed from the room into
the world with a sound like breaking glass. Soaring above the
earth, she was below her a sleeping child, and swept down to
look more closely. The child looked so still and vulnerable
that she could not resist wrapping her arms around it, to
protect it. And so the first of the silences found her place.
The second daughter followed in the same way, and soared above
the earth for a little while. Then she saw a room where a
group of people stood, gathered around a bed. She saw that
they were sad, and went down to comfort them. Stretching out
like a long cool breeze, she encircled them all, binding them
in a circle of silent grief. And she had found her place in
the world.
The third daughter was neither as beautiful or as clever as
her two elder sisters. She did not know the difference
between binding and separating. From above the earth she saw
two people, a man and a woman, sitting beside each other, but
not together. She swirled down like a whirlwind, and squeezed
between them. Then she tried to grab their hands, and bring
them together. But because she was not tangible, she could
not touch them. And because she was there, she could not
leave. From that day on she stayed with them, and always came
between them.
The fourth daugher, as she flew from her home, saw a scene of
ugly noise. A mother and her son were screaming at each
other, fighting to the death with their words. Quickly, with
the best of intentions, she placed herself as a buffer to
absorb the noise being thrown across the rooms. It struck her
body like stones, and she reeled from the blows, but the noise
faded. And in its place came a total silence, a silence that
could not be penetrated. And it remained there forever, for
the fourth daughter was too bruised and battered to move.
The fifth daughter had golden hair. She was very beautiful.
She did not want to leave yher home, where she had always been
spoiled for her beauty. Because she was forced to go, she
became bitter, and delibrately cruel. Her hair flying behind
her like a sunbeam, she soared over the whole world, seeming
the place where she could cause the most pain. And, having
flown over battlegrounds, over cities, over tiny communities
and vast assemblies, she made her choice. She swept down, and
wrapped herself between a woman and her thoughts, curled up
like a baby in her brain.
And the silence was unbearable.
