TM Prompt #220
TM Prompt #220: If you could buy a magic potion, what would it be?
A magic ... potion? Like in the bedtime tales Daddy used to tell me?
In those stories, magical potions could be used for good, or for evil. Sometimes there was an evil healer and he had put an intelligent and handsome prince under a spell so that the woman the prince loved couldn't be with him and was doomed to search the galaxy forever. The only way the woman could find the prince again was to get a special potion which would show her the way. And in order to find the potion she had to survive many tests and prove herself worthy of the prince. Then, when they had found each other at last, they would live in a beautiful house covered with roses, right next to a lake.
That was my favourite story.
Then, there was the legend of the girl who married a humble villager from Theed and became pregnant with his child. On the night before she was to give birth, a wicked spirit appeared and killed the woman's husband. The spirit said that it had harboured a grudge against the man and his kin ever since it was tricked by one of his ancestors thousands of years ago. It was determined to haunt the family forever and the time had now come to put an end to the line once and for all. It would be back when the baby was born to steal it and kill it.
The young mother panicked, of course, and sought advice from a mystic in town. The mystic, a wise old woman, told her that the only way to defeat the spirit was to make it "earn" the child. How you were supposed to do this, the mystic didn't exactly explain, but as the woman was walking home she had a sudden idea. That night, she gave birth to a baby girl, and the wicked spirit came to her as it promised it would. The mother held her daughter back and told the spirit that it could only have the baby if it proved itself worthy. Now, the thing about evil spirits is that they can never refuse a challenge. So the spirit was forced to accept. The mother poured out two glasses of wine and said that she had added poison to only one of the glasses. If the spirit could figure out which glass did not contain the poison, it would be allowed to take the baby.
The spirit mulled over this puzzle for many hours. Finally, it announced that it had made its choice. "But to be absolutely sure," said the young mother, "let us drink. That way, we will know if you have picked the correct glass." And so each picked up a glass and drank. For a few moments nothing happened. Then the spirit seized, and fell dead on the floor.
The mother had taken advantage of an old family secret. Her side of the family was immune to all poisons, so she had put a deadly substance in both glasses.
I always begged my father to tell me that one on dark, rainy nights.
But neither of those tales are real, though I wish they were. They each speak to smart, intelligent women who used magic potions and poisons to their advantage. I'm not sure what I personally might use a magic potion for. There are a few Senators who, on my more difficult days, I might ponder poisoning, but I would never wish to do that in actuality. No: there has to be a different usage.
Maybe I would want a potion like the woman in the first story. Not a potion that would permit me to free a prince from a spell, but a potion that would allow me to stop time so I could just be Padmé for awhile. Not Senator Amidala. Just Padmé. And I could take my handsome and intelligent prince, Anakin, and we could live on Naboo in a rose-covered house. I already own one; it's called Varykino! We could live there for as long as we wanted, just he and I, and whenever I wanted time to begin again I would just take another sip of the potion.
But that's even more of a fantasy tale than the two I just described. It's not going to happen.
Though I will still dream.
Padmé Amidala
Star Wars
726 words
A magic ... potion? Like in the bedtime tales Daddy used to tell me?
In those stories, magical potions could be used for good, or for evil. Sometimes there was an evil healer and he had put an intelligent and handsome prince under a spell so that the woman the prince loved couldn't be with him and was doomed to search the galaxy forever. The only way the woman could find the prince again was to get a special potion which would show her the way. And in order to find the potion she had to survive many tests and prove herself worthy of the prince. Then, when they had found each other at last, they would live in a beautiful house covered with roses, right next to a lake.
That was my favourite story.
Then, there was the legend of the girl who married a humble villager from Theed and became pregnant with his child. On the night before she was to give birth, a wicked spirit appeared and killed the woman's husband. The spirit said that it had harboured a grudge against the man and his kin ever since it was tricked by one of his ancestors thousands of years ago. It was determined to haunt the family forever and the time had now come to put an end to the line once and for all. It would be back when the baby was born to steal it and kill it.
The young mother panicked, of course, and sought advice from a mystic in town. The mystic, a wise old woman, told her that the only way to defeat the spirit was to make it "earn" the child. How you were supposed to do this, the mystic didn't exactly explain, but as the woman was walking home she had a sudden idea. That night, she gave birth to a baby girl, and the wicked spirit came to her as it promised it would. The mother held her daughter back and told the spirit that it could only have the baby if it proved itself worthy. Now, the thing about evil spirits is that they can never refuse a challenge. So the spirit was forced to accept. The mother poured out two glasses of wine and said that she had added poison to only one of the glasses. If the spirit could figure out which glass did not contain the poison, it would be allowed to take the baby.
The spirit mulled over this puzzle for many hours. Finally, it announced that it had made its choice. "But to be absolutely sure," said the young mother, "let us drink. That way, we will know if you have picked the correct glass." And so each picked up a glass and drank. For a few moments nothing happened. Then the spirit seized, and fell dead on the floor.
The mother had taken advantage of an old family secret. Her side of the family was immune to all poisons, so she had put a deadly substance in both glasses.
I always begged my father to tell me that one on dark, rainy nights.
But neither of those tales are real, though I wish they were. They each speak to smart, intelligent women who used magic potions and poisons to their advantage. I'm not sure what I personally might use a magic potion for. There are a few Senators who, on my more difficult days, I might ponder poisoning, but I would never wish to do that in actuality. No: there has to be a different usage.
Maybe I would want a potion like the woman in the first story. Not a potion that would permit me to free a prince from a spell, but a potion that would allow me to stop time so I could just be Padmé for awhile. Not Senator Amidala. Just Padmé. And I could take my handsome and intelligent prince, Anakin, and we could live on Naboo in a rose-covered house. I already own one; it's called Varykino! We could live there for as long as we wanted, just he and I, and whenever I wanted time to begin again I would just take another sip of the potion.
But that's even more of a fantasy tale than the two I just described. It's not going to happen.
Though I will still dream.
Padmé Amidala
Star Wars
726 words