The Nymph

The sun beat down through the treetops in the forest that always stayed green. Some say it was a unicorn that made the forest ever-living but others knew it was a nymph for she could be glimpsed through the trees if a traveler was quiet enough on the road that ran through it.

The road didn't have many travelers, and no one ever stopped in the forest for fear of magical creatures that were not friendly. Though no monsters had ever been seen, people often feared what they could not understand. The forest held magical properties, that much was obvious for not a leaf fell during the winter. Instead it remained the lush green of late spring during all the seasons of the year. The chief resident of the forest, the nymph Ivy, sometimes regarded the travelers with a careful measure of curiosity and caution from the shelter of the canopy. Ivy chiefly spent her days dancing in the clearings, splashing in the rivers and lounging on tree limbs in the forest. Her days were spent in idle persuits and her innocent laughter rang out through the trees. Many outsiders suspected it was the forest itself that laughed since no one had ever glimpsed the wayward fairy.

One lonely traveler heard the laughter. Never knowing much joy in his heart before, the sound pulled at him like a witches spell until he was compelled to leave the path and search out the source in the hopes that there may be a way he would be able to savor that feeling, even if but for a short time.

The laughter rang out, the sing-song melody called and he followed as best as he could, searching almost franticly for the source of the laughter. The feeling that her laughter brought out in him entranced him and pushed him onward. He'd never known much joy until he heard her laughter, never known his heart could ever be so light. He had always been a dutiful person, and not one for frivolity, but now his errands were forgotten as he sought out the source of such a bewitching call.

The trees seemed to fight against him, as if they greedily hid the source from him and countless times he would choose a path only to find himself at a dead end and would have to pick his way back and choose another one. Over and over, relentless in his goal he tried. Angered and frustrated by the trees blocking his path he tried over and over to force his way through to no avail. He simply could not force his way, he would have to find another way.

Night fell and the nymph drifted off to sleep in the meadow by a stream, unaware and unafraid of any intruders into her home. When the laughter stopped the traveler wept from frustration of his fruitless search but he vowed he wouldn't give up until he uncovered the prize he sought. He too drifted off to sleep, tears in his weary eyes and a stirring urgency in his heart.

The sun shone brightly again the next day, and the nymph ran through the forest, dancing with trees and singing to small creatures and laughing. Her laughing woke the traveler and he sprang to his feet, his resolve renewed by her sounds and doubled his efforts, patiently picking through the underbrush and circling around trees he tread softly as to not disturb them.

Finally his determination paid off and he came to a clearing where Ivy was sitting on the bank of a stream. She was kicking her feet in and out of the clear water and laughing at the drops as they rippled the stream when they fell. She did not see the stranger.

He approached her, meaning to snatch her up and claim her as his own and carry her away with him, but the closer he got the more he couldn't bear to harm the nymph, whose sounds of joy lifted his heart and filled it when it had felt so empty. The man had learned that in the search for the nymph he'd found what he sought. The man dropped to his knees, the realization of the love he felt towards the little creature. It had been love that had lifted him while he searched out of loneliness, and she had been with him the entire time.