The Music Box

The Music Box

The box was exquisite.  Finely carved out of oak, it had weathered to a beautiful deep gold in color, darker in the deep creases.  To see it was to long to touch it, to stroke the grain; to feel the warmth of its glow, deeply contained within the wood.  If you were to take the box up in your hands, you would find no flaw.  The carving was perfect, the wood unmarred, its sides polished so that one could look forever into its depths.  No flaw, except for its location...

The box sat alone in a field, unmarked by time or weather.  The last of the sun's rays reflected off the box's deeply polished lid, sending forth an amber ray of its own; a ray which caught the red-rimmed eyes of a small girl.  Her face was dirty, as was the tangled blonde hair that hung over her face, but the hair was too fine to hide the tear streaks that cut down the grimy cheeks or the rapidly darkening bruise left by the casual backhanded blow from her drunken father. 

Harmony glanced back over her shoulder to see if her father was following her.  He usually didn't, but you could never tell.  When he'd been drinking he could do just about anything, it made him so mean!  When she saw no one at the door to their cottage or around the yard, she ran down the hill toward where she'd seen the shiny thing.  Maybe it was coins, or some jewelry.  She could give either of those things to her father when he woke up, and then he wouldn't be angry with her anymore. 

When she got to the box, she sat down next to it in the weeds and reached her small hand out to it.  She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but she was sure her father could get some money for it.  She stood back up, bent over and struggled to reach her arms around the box to carry it home.  As she was fumbling with it, she felt a hidden clasp give somewhere underneath.  The top sprang open so quickly that she almost dropped it back into the weeds.  Then she saw what lay inside the box, and her mouth rounded in awe.

A beautiful faerie princess was in the box.  Music was coming from it, and she was dancing around and around, without a care in the world.  Just to look at her made Harmony feel better; even her face didn't hurt as much.  What a wonder this beautiful box was...

After a few minutes, or forever, the music faded away, the faerie stopped dancing and the box closed itself up.  Harmony started to breathe again and carefully, oh so carefully, picked up the box and carried it home with her.  She hid it in her closet, because her father would never look in there.  She knew that this box was meant for her, and she would never give it to him. 

*  *  *  *  *

Adam didn't know what was different about his daughter, but he was sure that something was.  She didn't hide from him all the time anymore, even after he came home from a night at the pub.  And sometimes his supper was late.  Little brat!  He'd find out her secret tonight, and then she'd learn her place.

*  *  *  *  *

Adam had already ripped through all of Harmony's clothes in her drawers, and found nothing.  She'd actually tried to stop him!  Well, he'd put a stop to that, hadn't he?  He walked into the little girl's closet, never giving a glance to the crumpled little heap of nightie and blonde hair against the wall. 

After a few moments a roar of triumph echoed out of the closet and Adam returned to the room with the box held loosely in one large hand.  He set the box on Harmony's bed, and then struggled with the lid, trying to open it.  Failing to find the cunning hidden catch, he quickly grasped the lid and box in separate hands and wrenched the two apart.

What Adam found in the box was no faerie princess.  Instead, a fully armed elven warrior, four inches high stood on the tiny dais, turning to the martial beat of the music.  Adam gave an ugly laugh and reached out to rip the tiny doll from its place, but somehow he managed to nick his thumb on the diminutive warrior's sword.  Within seconds, Adam's lifeless body lay across the floor of his daughter's room, his face an ugly shade of grayish blue.

The military style music faded away, to be replaced by the hauntingly lovely melody that Harmony had first heard out in the field.  The warrior also changed, between one turn and another, back to the original faerie princess that had caught Harmony's heart.  But this time she didn't let the box close back on her.  Instead, she stepped out, and walked toward the little girl lying against the wall.  With each step she grew, until the tiny faerie stood revealed as an elven Queen. 

The Queen lifted Harmony into her arms and stroked her head, closing the wound that had opened when she'd been thrown against the wall.  Murmuring words of love and safety, the Queen bore the rescued child away to her Kingdom Underhill, to live happily with many other rescued human children.  Elves can have but few children, so each one is precious to them; even children that are human.

By the time the constable arrived, there was no sign of Harmony or the box.  She was safely away, and the box had another job to do.........

*  *  *  *  *

The box sat alone in an abandoned lot in the middle of the city, unmarked by time or weather.  The last of the sun's rays reflected off the box's deeply polished lid...