Just A Crow & A Pear Tree: A Short Story of Cowardice.
This is a short story that I did for my writing club on the subject of ‘Cowardice’. It is inspired by Hannah Lynn’s “Athena’s Child.” and the stories of Natalie Haynes. I hope you enjoy it! Here is…
For Mika, as you are a fine archer.
Myla Perry shook out her glossy feathers. She used to look at those feathers of hers and wish with all her heart that they would just become human hands again. The feathers were also a constant reminder of what she was now branded. A loser, a failure, a coward.
Myla flew free over the trees to spot a carcass. This one was a deer. She was glad to find food and began to help herself. Well, no one else was going to eat it. The deer carcass must have been weeks old but Myla didn’t mind. She was just glad it wasn’t a boar. If it had been a boar she would have puked. That is if crows could puke, Myla wasn’t sure, but if she could have puked she would have. She simply couldn’t look at a boar ever again, not after what had happened.
Myla’s mind wondered to Sheryl, which was no surprise as it often did. Myla asked herself if her love would even recognise her now. She knew the answer though; no one in their right mind would think a common crow could be the once famous archer beloved of Diana. Oh three curses on Joanna and that boar!
***
Far away, in the stormy clouds of Olympus, a goddess raged. “That girl should be treated with contempt, not congratulated for disobeying my orders! Why ask for something that would make me into a soppy deity of forgiveness? Do you wish me to be a laughing stock?” Diana demanded.
“No, of course not. It is just that ‘that girl’ has now served her three years now, my child,” soothed Diana’s father, Jupiter. Diana snorted. Jupiter and his daughter weren’t on the best of speaking terms but, to be honest, they usually weren’t.
Sensing the tension, the Queen Juno stepped forward, took Diana’s hands in hers and spoke.
“Diana, I hate to agree with your father, I really do… but he is right.” Diana was stunned. These were rare words from the Queen’s lips indeed.
“But Myla Perry was the best archer in Venice, why would she miss a boar by five inches?”
“I don’t know Diana, but there must be a logical reason. It must have been either an honest mistake or it was deliberate. And if it was deliberate, then maybe find out why.” The Queen said.
Diana snatched her hands back.
“You think?” she asked Juno, pondering. The Queen nodded.
“Alright, I will,” Diana said and then vanished into thin air.
***
Myla had finished her carcass and was now cleaning out her feathers. It could be quite lonely as a crow and more than once she’d wished she had someone to talk to. Someone to share this burden of hers until the gods allowed her to become human once again. If ever, thought Myla as she shivered in a cold gale that was sweeping over the land.
***
Leaning on a windowsill overlooking the starry night sky, the goddess Diana wondered what she should do. Suddenly the answer appeared before her very eyes. A pear tree!
***
Myla rested her weary claws on the branches of an old pear tree.
“If only you could talk to me,” she told it.
“Why? Do you wish for someone to talk to?” boomed a voice from within the tree’s core. Myla jumped and her feathers caught the wind making her hover for a minute.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve never heard of a talking tree before,” she explained to the tree as she settled back down on its branches.
“It’s alright our numbers are few and far between these days. Anyhow, what was it that you wanted to talk about, my friend?” the tree asked her.
“Well, some time ago, it must have been three years now, I was a human.”
The tree’s branches seemed to move as if it was nodding. “My name was Myla Perry,” continued Myla. “And I was the eldest of the three Perry sisters — the most skilled sportswomen in all of Venice. I myself was the best female archer that Venice had ever had, and I was most beloved of the goddess of that sport. Then one day, a festival was held in Venice, in honour of the goddess and I was there to shoot the festival boar, as a sacrifice to her Greatness.
The chase began and I was ready with my bow and arrow. But when I saw the boar’s face… I can’t describe it… but somehow the boar just was my sister Joanna. To my eye it seemed to transform into her. I couldn’t shoot it… I simply couldn’t. When I leashed my arrow I pointed it ever so slightly off course… and I missed.” Myla the crow was crying now, tears glistening on her feathers and beak. The tree gently dried them with its leaves.
“And then that monster of a hot-headed goddess turned me into a common crow, left to bring death on the world and scavenge for food for the next three years. Now I was a failure, a loser, a coward.”
Inside the tree, Diana tried not to hit the crow at the words “hot-headed monster”. Instead the tree spoke calmly.
“And do you still accuse the goddess of being a monster?” it asked Myla.
The crow shook her head.
“Deep down I know that she had every right to be angry and so… I forgive her.”
The tree seemed to smile.
“And she forgives you too.” and with that Myla felt her wings sprout hands and her talons become feet again! Myla shrieked with joy as she transformed into the sixteen year old girl she was meant to be.
“Many blessings on you, Great Goddess Diana!” she cried and then ran down the path, skipping as she went.
Myla turned back and looked at the tree.
“By the way, what is your name?” she asked it.
For a while the tree didn’t answer but then it said “Caparinda Jyotivasina,” as if it had just remembered.
“Well thank you Caparinda Jyotivasina,” Myla shouted back and then left.
***
“So, why did you forgive her?” the Queen Juno said, startling Diana who had been gazing at her companion the moon.
“Well, you might not remember as it were many moons ago but when I was first made a goddess I was a little lonely. Yes, sure, I had my nymphs and some priestesses but I missed my mother Leto. she was only mortal and so she died and left me for my uncle Pluto. I was heart-broken but carried my grief wisely, as a woman should.
Then one day I came upon a Golden Retriever and like Myla I couldn’t explain it but that dog was Leto, every inch of her. So, I named it Leto and it became my most faithful hunting companion. However, that is not the point. The point is that I thought that Myla Perry was a coward, that’s why I turned her into a crow. But I was wrong; she was not a coward at all, she was just a kind heart.”
The Queen Juno nodded and smiled.
“I believe you are right, my child,” she said.
***
Myla had been dancing her way back home when she suddenly stopped short. No, it couldn’t be… she thought as a tall blonde young woman came into view. When the young woman saw Myla she gasped and started to run towards her.
“Myla! Oh, Myla!” the young woman cried as she embraced Myla tightly.
“Oh, Sheryl! Sheryl!” Myla exclaimed back.
“Has the goddess let you go? Has she?” Sheryl asked anxiously.
“Yes,” said Myla. “Yes, she has.” And the two lovers kissed each other passionately, tears of joy pouring down their faces.
“Do you hate me for being a coward?” Myla asked Sheryl.
“A coward? What are you talking about Myla? You didn’t shoot one of the goddess’ boars and so you had to face her wrath. Anyone who faces a deity’s rage must either be very brave or very foolish. And you are no fool Myla Perry,” said Sheryl wisely.
“You know what, my love? I don’t think you ever spoke a truer word,” Myla declared and the two of them walked back home together.
The end!
Hetty Monksea
