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After reading books by Grimm and Lang to steep myself in fairy tale language and conventions, I wrote The Crystal Butterfly, a tale of betrayal, redemption, forgiveness, and hope. An excerpt follows.

THE CRYSTAL BUTTERFLY (A Fairy Tale for All Ages)©

Text Box:      In a far north land where winter's hoarfrost hangs heavy on the aspen and the aurora borealis skitters scarlet across the night sky, there once lived a gentle but very poor widow named Flora and her raven-haired daughter, Kreena.      One day, when the bromegrass still swayed in the soft summer breezes and the swan sailed silent on hidden ponds, Flora felt a hint of autumn caress her cheek. Knowing that her young daughter, with her tattered skirts and naked feet, would not survive the winds of winter, she traveled to a nearby village to beg a job at the inn of the Antlers, kept by a man named Grymm.      When Grymm smiled, the sun glistened off his sparkling teeth and off his spun-gold hair, and dazzled Flora. She did not see the hungry way he stared at her and how wolfish his face appeared, so she eagerly accepted his offer of a position.      "Whatever you do, do with your might, for things done by halves are never done right," Flora had crooned to her daughter ever since the girl had become word wise. Now Flora lived her words, toiling at the inn from sunup to sundown, fetching wood and water, scrubbing tables, grinding corn, turning the spit, and bleaching the linens.      One day Kreena visited her mother at her work. "I am   fortunate to have your enchanting mother at my inn," Grymm told the girl, fingering his bristly chin. "She is so willing a helper. Together, we will make the Inn of the Antlers prosper." He smiled at Kreena's mother. Again Flora was dazzled and did not see his hungry look, and her pale cheeks bloomed like wild roses. But Kreena was not dazzled, and her stomach quivered with dread, for she saw before her a man with two faces.

Oval Callout: "Don't bother me! I'm reading an excerpt from Queen Cat. Click on me if you want to read it too.

 
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