The Tale of the Witch & the Gryphon

Once upon a time, there was a girl.

She was plain, her hair was mousy, her face nondescript, her body average.

Even if this girl had a makeover by Tyra Banks herself, she would still be plain.

But being plain didn't matter to the girl because she was bright, intelligent, full of common sense and gumption.

The girl, lets call her Cara, was just about to go on an adventure, although she didn't know it yet.

One day, Cara had finished work, and was walking to the train station. No one took any notice of her, unless to mistake her for someone else, because she had 'one of those faces'.

She was listening to music on her phone and imagining hills and countryside. She worked in the city. She could see flowers on the hills as she walked and hear birds singing.

As she passed the Tesco Express she popped in to get something for her tea and some cat food for her cat, Woof. She picked up some spaghetti and the cat food and headed off again.

Before she had her headphones on, she saw Harry, the homeless man she passed most days, she always stopped on the way home from work to give him a £1 towards a cup of tea and for a chat.

Today Harry seemed a little worse for wear. Cara asked Harry what was wrong. He explained that there had been an incident with a Gryphon and he had left his sword at the shelter so was unprepared to help it.

Cara was used to Harry's tales of Gryphon's and swords and other mythical creatures, this was a standard part of the daily conversation, but it was unusual for Harry to get into a fight with one.

Cara asked, 'Why were you fighting the Gryphon, Harry?'

'Oh, I wasn't fighting the Gryphon, Kandor is my friend, I was fighting the witch'

'The witch' said Cara 'What witch?'

'Let me start from the beginning' said Harry, Cara sat down next to him sensing this may take some time.

'The wicked witch, Greswold had found out that Kandor, my Gryphon friend, had laid his egg, and as you know, Gryphon eggs are famously filled with gold before they hatch and become Gryphon kittens.'

'I did not know that, but please go on' said Cara now fascinated by this tale. Harry continued.

'Greswold has been keen to get hold of a Gryphon egg for many years, because the gold is not only valuable but magical. It can be used in spells to increase power, and if used correctly develop immortality for the witch, this does of course kill the kitten within, and can make the Gryphon so sad that they die of sorrow.'

'The Gryphon will only lay one egg in their life time. The Gryphon will nurture the kitten until it is fully grown and capable of living its life alone, then the Gryphon parent will burst into flames and disappear forever, going to whatever magical heaven exists for them.'

'Oh gosh,' said Cara now totally absorbed in the story, 'So what happened with you, Kandor and the witch?'

'Well' said Harry, who wasn't sounding very well at all, by this time.

'Kandor and I heard that Greswold was coming and we decided to make a stand, we could not let her get the egg.'

'Kandor fought as proudly as any eagle and as strongly as the strongest lion and I assisted where I could, but being a mere human there was little I could do.'

Kandor and the witch went head to head, they fought for a day and a night, the witch used many spells, Kandor  pushed them away, but his strength weakened.'

'By the morning Kandor had nothing left, and the witch threw one last spell which killed poor Kandor dead.'

'Oh no!' said Cara, Harry continued,

'Then Greswold turned her attention to me. She hit me with one spell, but I was already running and Kandor had whispered the secrets of hiding to me, so a witch couldn't see me'

'This is why I live on the street, I am invisible here.' said Harry, 'But she can sense what I hold.'

Cara looked at him quizzically, and he pulled out of his pocket a large egg, the size of a bag of sugar, and handed it to Cara.

'Now you, must take this.' He said as he placed it in her hand. Cara looked at the egg, it looked like a massive chicken egg, there was no indication of the magical thing within.

Then Harry whispered some words in Cara's ear and stopped breathing. The witch had fatally wounded him.

Cara, looked at Harry, and with tears streaming down her cheeks she quickly walked away with the large egg in her bag, which she carefully cradled in

her arms, like a baby.

What had Harry whispered? why, the secrets of hiding of course.

Cara had to save the egg.

And so her adventure began.


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