Many years ago, in a time of sunshine and flowers, there lived a young girl. She had been brought up in a well to do house, with everything she wanted, the best food, the best drink, the nicest clothes, and yet..somehow her life was not happy.
There was an unfulfilled longing within her that she could not reach. She searched all her pockets, but found nothing, she looked through all her drawers, and into her cupboards, she checked the roof spaces and the cellars, and yet still she could not find what she searched for.

Each morning she would get up and go off to work. The people were very nice, and the pay was good, and yet she would come home feeling lost and without hope.

One morning, on her way to work, she stopped her walk, and found herself standing by a large blue pool.
The sun shone brightly and sparkled like diamonds in her eyes. She quietly stepped off the path and sat down calmly on a stump and watched the ripples travel over the surface of the pool.

She noticed that the ripples stopped suddenly right in the middle of the pool, and a circular ripple spread outwards from the centre until it reached her feet. It was a ring of bright water, and carefully she stepped onto the rim.
Using each ring as a stepping stone she soon reached the middle of the pool. Sitting right in the middle on a large lily leaf was a young man. He was dressed all in yellow, with deep blue eyes and a moulton silver ring on his finger, which seemed to call to her.

"So, at last you have come - I have been waiting for you to hear my song - you must have heard me singing?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Arinor, and I am a Prince of Soulfleece"

"Soulfleece? What is soulfleece?"

"Soulfleece is the most important part of your heart. It is the truth that you hold most dear, the one thing that you need more than anything in the world, and the thing that you find it hardest to have."

"So. Is this the reason my heart hurts so badly? The part of me that I have searched for and not found? "

"Yes Belissa (for that was her name) - you had heard my song and the soulfleece was responding to it. "

"Arinor, I have lived with this feeling of loss for such a long time, and I can no longer live with the pain of it.
Tell me how to lose the hurt?"

"Belissa, all you have to do is ask. From the deepest depths of your heart, and being brave you must ask for what you need. No matter how difficult and dangerous it is, you must speak the words, truthfully."

Belissa sat for an hour, for two hours, simply looking at Arinor, and searching with every part of her soul, to discover the depth of her need.

Eventually she spoke "I know what I want."

"Then speak your truth".

"For so many years I have had everything that any person could want, a house, good food, wonderful clothes, a good job - and yet, when I return home, I feel completely empty - what is it that I must do to feel complete?"

"Have you no love? Where is your love Belissa? Have you ever offered yourself in complete service to anyone?
If you have never given of yourself freely then you can never expect to feel love for yourself."

"There are many people out there who are willing to give themselves to others, I like my life of ease and gentle living. Surely I don't need to do anything for anyone else?"

"Take this with you Belissa.." the young man handed her a soft purse, she opened it, and inside found a round hard stone.

"This stone is your keeper, when you have found your soulfleece, the keeper will let you know."

"What will it do?"

"That you will have to find out at the time - have no fear, you can be sure the knowledge will be there".

With those words Arinor disappeared, and the lilypad floated back to the shore where Belissa stepped off.
Putting the purse inside her shoulder bag - she made her way on to work, not noticing that no time had passed her and worked on through the day without thinking further about the strange conversation she had had.

Walking back past the pond she suddenly remembered the meeting that morning, and reached into her bag.
The soft purse was still there. Thoughtfully she took out the small round stone, it was cold and hard - she slipped it back into its place and found her way home.

Walking in through the front door, a great depression filled her heart, a deep sadness overcame her. For the first time in her life, she felt bitterness walking into this home, anger at the beautiful drapes, her feeling of loss grew deeper and deeper as she walked further into the building.

She felt for the soft purse, and took out the stone, it had become transparent and icy-white in its centre shone a turquoise heart, frozen like an insect in amber.

"The soulfleece, I must release the soulfleece..."

Belissa walked from room to room, searching all over the house, and the tiny heart remained blue and cold, nothing in any room seemed to make a difference.

Sadly, Belissa ate a beautiful meal, and after a warm bath, went to bed.

On her way to work the next morning Belissa noticed an old man sitting by the pool. She stopped to watch him.

"What are you doing here? This is a private road!"

"Oh, I see, are you the owner?"

"Yes I am, please move on.."

"Young lady, I would move on happily, but as you can see I have no legs, I need help."

"I don't have time for this, you must have found a way to get here, so why don't you just move on - and hurry I 'm late for work."

The old man lifted himself up by his strong arms and began to drag himself forwards, a few inches at a time.

"Be quick, I'll be late!"

After what seemed like half an hour the old man finally reached the end of the path and disappeared out of sight.

Belissa continued on to work, and got through her day easily enough.

That evening returning home, she continued her search, looking for ways to turn the blue heart to rose red, but to no avail.

Her sense of loss and emptiness grew daily, and each morning, the same old man was waiting for her, by the pool, and each day her temper got shorter and shorter.

At last - one grey morning, she faced the legless man, anger boiled up in her soul and she screamed at him

"Alright, I've had enough of you, why don't you just go away and LEAVE ME ALONE.."

"Belissa, I see your heart is broken, and it is time to mend it - how can you help yourself?"

" I don't know, I just don't know, tell me WHAT DO YOU WANT???"

"Carry me, on your back, to your house, give me a warm bath, feed me good food, and put me to sleep in your bed."

Belissa was silent for a moment "Old man, you ask much of me, and in return I ask you - how will this help me?"

"Belissa, the answer to that question lies in your own heart - when you are able to ask for what you really want then you will find out how it helps you."

Reluctantly, Belissa pulled the old man up and carried him on her back. She staggered slowly back to the house, and setting him gently on her bed, ran a warm bath and undressed him. He stank of vomit and his clothes were rags - she struggled to clean the inches of dirt off his skin, and finally he emerged fresh and shaven dressed in her white dressing gown.

Tucking him into her bed, she ran downstairs and made a hot meal for the old man. Impatiently she watched him mouthful by mouthful finish the meal and then tucked him into bed.

"Old man, I still don't have the answer, what do I do now?"

"Belissa, the answer lies in your heart - you need to ask for what you really want - and that takes courage - go now and sit by the pool, where I have sat these last few nights, and find out what your heart wants.

And so Belissa spent a damp and miserable night by the pool, struggling with the sense of loss and pain that racked her heart.

When the sun arose the next morning, she took out the small soft purse to look at the tiny blue heart, and noticed that one little section had begun to turn rose pink..what was this? Quickly she ran back to the house, and to her surprise, found that her empty feeling had become a little less.

She ran upstairs to the old man, and found him sitting up in bed, blinking in the sunlight.

"And so, what have you learned Belissa?"

"My little heart, it's begun to turn red, and I feel ..warmer inside."

"And so it will, for the first time in your life, you have given freely of yourself, and begun to love yourself for that. When you begin this process, it is unstoppable - the more you give of yourself, the more you will love yourself."

For the first time in years, Belissa smiled, and she reached over and kissed the old man on the forehead.

Within the blink of an eye the old man disappeared, and in his place sat Arinor.

"Belissa I am well pleased with you, you have begun the journey, and have had the courage to ask for what you want - by serving the old man, you learned a valuable lesson, and have given yourself some of the love and self respect you needed. This is only the beginning, and it is a good one."

Belissa smiled again, and took up the tiny transparent stone, it's tiny rosy glow twinkled at her.

"Arinor, thank you, will I see you again?"

"You may and yet you may not, who knows...when the soulfleece is fulfilled, I will return to take back the keeper"

With that Arinor disappeared.

And Belissa - well that is another story for another day, and you can be certain that Belissa is still working hard today to keep that heart red rosy ...

Astorymouse October 2009

Excellent

Very nice adoremouse!