Once Upon a Time

Long ago there was a sort-of-kinda fair maiden who lived in a land foreign to her nature.

It wasn't that she had traveled to this land. Nope. Not her....by golly, she had been BORN there. She had roots and history and people she could point to and say, "That group over there - the one not smiling and wearing biker boots to the opera. I'm related to them".

The not-so-fair maiden grew up with the distinct impression that she had been left behind by other people...perhaps some day they would return, step off the mother ship and declare, "Sorry 'bout that...we thought you were in the back of the space ship when we took off."

As time went on she realized that it wasn't anyone else's responsibility to understand her, it was her responsibility to find her voice and sing as loud as she could....and those who had ears to hear would hear....and those who didn't like her singing would eventually move across town and stop calling the cops every time they heard her voice to file a noise complaint.

Which is, of course, exactly what happened. Afterall, she may have been a stranger in her own land but the majority of the populace were reasonable and kind.

As she gained strength in her voice, she discovered that there was a specific group of people who not only heard her but sang the same tune. There was an even larger group that, while not singing the exact same notes, could harmonize with delicacy and taste - not over shadowing her song. Instead, they skillfully and sweetly added their own notes, which simply helped the maiden-not-so-fair AND contributed to an equisite symphony of sound.

The music was wonderful...until the day the Ugly Old Troll crawled out from beneath the neighbors garage and began to sing along.

It wasn't that he was not welcomed - everyone needs to sing, even those who are off key and screechy - it was his ever increasing demands to be the soloist that began to cause problems.

His notes were disjointed and harsh...but he didn't care. The people tried to teach him to sing with them but he became angry, declaring that they were trying to destroy him. Some of them stopped singing all together...they couldn't stand his sound and the tantrums he would throw when he was asked to try and moderate his needs, his wants, his demands. "Join us", they all begged him, including the not-so-fair-maiden. They all put out their hands for him to grasp. Some even went and stood next to him, convinced that if they just ignored his demands and complaints and pretended he was one of them he would just BE one of them.

But the not-so-fair maiden refused to compromise the beautiful music she had found....and while the ranks of the choir thinned (it's tough to stand strong in the face of loud, blaring, disjangled chords and refuse to call them music), enough people stayed so that the notes were not stilled. In fact, they grew more beautiful..delicate but strong.

The Ugly Old Troll became enraged...convinced that only HIS music was REAL music. Seeing the not-so-fair maiden as the reason for the ugly shrieks coming from his mouth, he started running up to the others standing near her. He would pet their arms and shine their shoes, telling them how wonderful they were but how mean and nasty she was...their music was wonderful, honest....but it was too BAD they were stuck with HER as part of the band.

Several times the Ugly Old Troll was told to stop bothering the choir...his demands, his tantrums, his insistance that everything she sang was horrible causing even the most forgiving of the members to ask him to stop. Each time this happened, he would skulk off to the corner, muttering against the not-so-fair maiden. He would don a disguise - usually a lousy one - and slink back, shining their shoes and trying to kiss their hands...but the smell of his breath never changed and no matter how many times he pretended to be someone else, everyone always recognized the Ugly Old Troll.

Eventually, the not-so-fair maiden became tired of all the attacks and constant whining coming from the Ugly Old Troll.

So she just ran him over with a tractor.


the end.