Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away from here, lived a little girl who was very special. She was chosen from birth, and grew up in the grandest of houses on the most peaceful little city street. Her parents were educated and quite well employed, and her siblings took care of her like good brothers and sisters should take care of one another. The little girl's mother and father could see right from the start that the little girl was anything but ordinary, and they nourished and kindled her abilities in every way they knew how. For you see, the little girl was not only remarkably intelligent, but quite adept at reading people's characters. She was more compassionate than any woman, and more caring than even any convent nun. However, where her capabilities truly lay were in her adeptness with creatures of the earth, for she saw in them what no other could, and was like to read their minds and sooth their frightened souls, or, if the time called for it, call them to her in the fiercest of armies.
Throughout her young life the little girl lived quite differently than most little girls. Yes, she went to school and made many friends, and picked up hobbies here and there that eventually she tired of (as little girls are bound to do), but with the blessings she was gifted she found great talent in the taming- nay- the befriending of horses. For horses, you see, carry within them the strength and grace and beauty of the world, the dedication of the most patriotic of soldiers, and in their eyes hold the secrets of the earth. Seeing this, the little girl dedicated her life to the creatures who she was certain would be her guiding light, her strongest support, and her elevation to great heights.
As the little girl grew into a not-so-little girl, but more-so into a beautiful young lady, many people, young and old, were blessed to meet her, and any who knew her, and those especially who knew her well, would whisper among each other of the greatness they knew the girl would amount to one day. She, in turn, strived for perfection and achievement, always carrying with her the burden of the worry of letting down those who believed in her so dearly. But just like any girl, this special beauty had one weakness within her, one which she knew was destined to be her downfall, yet permitted it to consume her nonetheless. The weakness I speak of is the most contradictory of things, for it can be as strong as a diamond taken from the depths of the earth, or as weak as a hummingbird in the jaws of a feline. It has the ability to evoke the greatest of joys within the beholder, or the most immense of sorrows and floods of tears.
Even still, when this weakness first sought out our little girl (for she is still a little girl in my mind) she was ignorant of the power of this superior element, and knew not the dangers which could befall her. The element I speak of is one I'm certain you can by now guess, for it is the element which resides within all our hearts for one thing or another. Some feel it for others, some for their pets, others feel it for money or for power, and others still feel it for far different things which may not make any sense to us, but that does not make it any less significant, for love is the root of many goods. As it happened, love found our little girl in the form of a young man who she had befriended. To many others, and even sometimes to himself, this young man was a simple, ordinary boy. To many, the union of the two was as a union between a princess and a blacksmith. But the little girl saw within the boy something which others did not have the blessing to see. Even she to this day can not tell precisely what gift the boy had been bestowed, but she knew within her heart that he was more than what he seemed. The boy showed the girl, who was a stranger to the outside world, many things which she had not yet experienced, and she found within herself a much happier being, who relished in the joy of the free and unburdened world which she had happened upon.
Over time the boy and girl grew closer and closer together, and were soon met with feelings that were foreign to either one, feelings so strong that they seemed overwhelming at times. The feeling which I speak of is, of course, love. And not the little loves of the everyday world, such as the love a grandmother has for her heirlooms, or the love a man has for his fancy car, but the greatest love which is shared between two people who are destined to be together. But as I said, the element of love can bring forth not only smiles and cheerful laughter, but tear-streaked faces and heavy hearts. For it came to be that the little girl could no longer be called little, not even by me. She was now a young woman, and as young women tend to do she knew that she had neglected her calling long enough, and it was time to return to the path which would lead to her great ambitions. After many long hours of holding her in his arms and placing sweet kisses upon her head, the young man watched through tear-soiled eyes as the young woman drove away, and he knew that she would not return for many, many years to come.
The young woman travelled many hundreds of miles, and settled in a school where she knew for certain she could work toward her dreams. And yet, though surrounded by horses, who had always filled her heart with happiness, and by new friends and exciting places, the young woman found that she no longer held within her the joy and elation which she had when her boy had been in her life. Slowly, she turned into a person that even she did not know. Unhappy and grievous, solitary and unsociable, her few moments of content were when she heard from the one who she missed so dearly, and she would wait anxiously by the phone for his calls, or by the office for his letters, and when at last they came she was happy. For the grief which she felt within her heart when she was not with him was almost more than she could bear, and she often cried herself to sleep at night, clutching tight to the pictures which showed the happy times which she remembered, which she held within her heart with determined stubbornness.
But it came to be one day that our young woman was met with the most grievous of all things, for it was months after she had gone that she was introduced to the bitter taste of betrayal. Her one true love, who she had gifted with her heart and soul and very being, had betrayed her trust, and had been discovered with another girl. The young lady was heartbroken. For days she was frightfully ill, and would speak to no one but to cry to her horses of the pain and hurt which was in her heart. She came to recall later to me that it was if God had taken a knife and cut her soul in two. But you see, never in this time did she feel anger or fury, never did she feel as if she had been victimized, for she was above that, too good a person not to see that every human has their flaws, their errs which they are burdened with, and the young man who had broken her heart, expressed the utmost of regrets and pleaded with her to take him back. The girl, still seeing within him the goodness which she had seen before, and understanding the nature of humankind, took him back with the promise that such a disloyalty would never again occur, and the young man, to show his love for her, agreed to travel the great distance from his home to visit her, to prove his worthiness.
So he arrived, and once again the girl became the happy and joyful person she had been. Her friends and even her tutors could see the remarkable difference within her, and even her horses seemed to understand that there was cause for celebration. But, I am afraid, the delight was not long to last. You see, the girl, because of her great love for the young man, often felt as if she had no control over what was to be in her life any longer. After growing up completely independent and capable of free-choice without strings attached, she was not accustomed to being under the influence of such a powerful drug as love. Even worse, she was so deathly frightened of losing her love once more that she often did not express to him when something was bothering her, and would allow grievances to sit within her mind and stew, until she was a walking contradiction of emotions. Finally, one day, she decided that it would be best to reveal these emotional difficulties to the young man, believing him to understand her problems and to help her through them. Yet, as love-struck girls often do, what she knew was in her heart and mind was much harder to recall on her tongue, and she only resulted in upsetting her lover.
The rest of the story I can not tell you, for I myself do not know it. What I can express to you is that the girl was woefully sorry for her jumble of words and contradictory statements, and really only wished the young man to understand how greatly she loved him. By "weakness" she simply meant "lack of independence" and by "anger" she merely implied "burdened" and "bothered". Perhaps, one day, we too will know the ending of the story. Maybe there will be an ending, maybe there will be simply a new beginning. All we know now is that the love that that little girl held in her heart for that young man was greater than any love I've ever seen in all my years, and, if he would let her, the special little girl could surely make his life happily ever after.