A part of Goddess work is honoring your imagination and time to be silly. I did not do that two weeks ago. I forced myself to be serious. I told myself I had to make a serious story post for my SageWoman blog. Instead of listening to my inner girl, I forced her into a corner which lead to a total writer’s block. How did I break it? By playing a silly game! My partner and I celebrated our anniversary by playing a storytelling game. With no expectations of being serious or publishing what I shared, my imagination was let loose!

The following story is the one my Goddess self actually wanted to tell instead of the one I was felt needed to be told. Hope you enjoy it sisters!

---

Once upon a time a young woman named Sanaa was ostracized from her village along with her mother because the villagers thought them unlucky. Sanaa and her mother were blamed for everything that went wrong. Eventually they were kicked out to live in nearby caves.

One day Sanaa was exploring the caves and found a group of elementals cavorting around a fire. The elementals, each a mixture of different animals, danced and sang about their lucky egg. They sang of hours burning the negativity out of the egg—infusing it with their positive thoughts and intentions. Sanaa was determined to take the egg to her mother. She dressed herself in moss and sticks and confidently strode into the Elementals’ presence. She presented herself as the Queen of Elementals and admired their egg. With a regal nod Sanaa accepted the lucky egg so she could show it off to the surface Elementals. In return she gave them a rock to make another egg.  

Out of the caves, Sanaa took off with her mom and egg. Soon they came upon a group of lost ladies and lords. Using the lucky egg, Sanaa and her mother helped them back to their kingdom. The grateful ladies and lords gifted them with bags of silver and gold. With their riches and the lucky egg, Sanaa and her mother started on their journey.

Months passed before the elementals figured out they had been tricked. They decided to send their “ugliest” Elemental to search for their lucky egg. Ila was a turtle and bird elemental who looked too human for her own good. She was given a wand that at midday always pointed to direction of their lucky egg and got warmer the closer it was. As she followed the wand, a hungry Ila found herself in the middle of deepest and darkest part of forest. In the midst of the forest, she found a decrepit looking hut. When she knocked on the door, a hag answered the door. She had just finished eating two children and was ready to snack on her next visitor.

 

As the hag was faced with Ila’s smile and positive aura, she felt remorse for the first time in a long time. She found herself wanting to change her evil ways. Bringing Ila inside the hut, she told her about the loss of her name. She had kept it in a special box her mother had gifted her. Every day she took the box out for an hour every day to warm in sunlight and an hour every night to cool by moonlight. One night her name was stolen and she was unable to find the thief. Without her name, she had no sense of what was wrong or right. Every day without it, she became more evil. Ila the elemental promised to help her find her name and the hag felt hope for the first time in a long time.

Traveling together, they came to a village when Ila’s wand became very warm. Following the wand they came upon a castle. As they stood outside it, they could hear strange noises. A passing villager warned them about the castle’s insane owners who would surely kill them. Ila the elemental and the nameless hag decided to try anyway. They took a deep breath and knocked at the castle doors. Before long Sanaa opened the door covered in paint. Quickly Ila explained how the elementals had forgiven her for her trickery, and how they just wanted their lucky egg back. She explained to Sanaa how much of themselves was in the egg and how now she needed it to help the nameless hag who wanted to change her ways. Sanaa heard her and let them into the castle.

Sanaa lead them into a huge ballroom where they saw youth of all ages at various tasks. She explained to them how they had been using the lucky egg to help orphans and homeless youth from the village. Despite what the villagers thought, they were not disappearing for evil reasons. In the castle, they were feeding, dressing and teaching them skills. They also got to play, paint, sing and have fun. As for the other weird noises the villagers heard, those came from the homeless cats and dogs they took in. Sanaa, her mother and the children worked with the animals to get them cleaned up, fed, and made available for adoption. Sanaa and her mother felt very fulfilled with their work. They had saved a lot of gold thanks to the lucky egg and felt they no longer needed it. Grateful for the chance to make it right with the elementals, they gave it back to Ila.

With the lucky egg, Ila and the hag joined a caravan. The hag was hired to scare off villains and Ila entertained the caravan members with her songs. As they traveled, they gathered clues about the whereabouts of the hag’s name. They found out that the thief traveled throughout the lands selling her name then coming back to steal it back. Using this method, he gathered a lot of gold and enemies. Finally he sold it to a Cyclops who figured out his trick. Before he could steal it back, the Cyclops killed the thief and kept the name. So off they went to visit the Cyclops who lived at the top of a tall mountain.

As they got there, they were bombarded with stories of the evil Cyclops by the villagers. They were told about how it would eat all visitors, how animals disappeared in its mountain and how its castle was filled with bones. Despite these stories, Ila and the nameless hag went up the mountain towards the Cyclops’ castle. As they were going up the mountain they came upon an elderly Cyclops who introduced herself as Mother Cyclops. It turned out she was the mother of the Cyclops living there and she was appalled to find out her daughter was buying stolen names. Leading them up the mountain she brought them into her daughter’s castle. Ila and the nameless hag were surprised to see no bones or blood. Mother Cyclops hear their exclamations and surprised them further by explaining that her daughter was a vegetarian!

Finally they came upon the daughter Cyclops dancing in her room full of her animal companions. She was happy to see her mother but mortified to find out she had bought a stolen name. Taking the box out of her treasure box, she gave it back to the nameless hag. As soon as the hag opened it up, her curse was broken. She reverted to the age she was when her name was stolen and introduced herself as Senka. Senka was so happy to have her name back. She could now know right from wrong and wanted to give back for her years of misdeeds. Thanking the Cyclops, they traveled together to return the lucky egg to the elementals. Ila and Senka decided to stay together as they had grown to be very good friends. They traveled back to Sanaa’s village where they were welcomed with open arms. Together they cooperated in helping those in need with plenty of time set aside to dance and play!