Page 32 - The Woven Tale Press Vol. V #3

The little King held them while his sister outfit- ted the birds in stirrup-ed saddles made of white leather. Our children mounted the all-white birds, the spray of cream-colored feathers behind them shiny-soft in the room of opal, their jeweled reins and jeweled riders sparkling dully, but not so dull that the King and Princess did not notice their own stardom. We are beautiful, they thought.
two kitchens, one smaller than the first, until the troupe reached the ballroom.
The two rode the animals at a trot, the birds’ spindle-legs more silent than even their child- sized feet had been on the carpeted halls. The birds were purchased through back channels and trained for showmanship such as this, so their cracked feet did not buckle under the children’s weight. Together they crossed the full length of the enormous palace, moving through spaces of various diameters and with varying purposes, in and out of great rooms and parlors and through
Tucked into the saddles were white leather whips with white-gold handles. Our King and our Princess stilled at the ballroom’s entrance and brandished their whips like swords. They thrashed the birds lightly at the start. The royal peacocks did not screech but instantly reacted, moved like water, all swiftness and elegance and soft sounds. The ballroom seemed infinitely long to the unlaughing children. The birds raced neck-and-neck. The floor-to-ceiling windows
of the room let moonlight in. It hit the jewels of their crowns, the shininess of their royal hair, the spark of diamond reins and black eyes in albino peacock skulls.
Our children thrashed their birds harder, each
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bronze approximately 10” x 8” x 10” By Susan Stamm Evans
Together III