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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:20:24 GMT -5
A Simple Thank-You, My Friend by warmhrt
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:21:31 GMT -5
Into the dim lit, bare walls of my world,
You entered, bringing light and life to me,
The vivid colors, painted with a swirl
Of wit and charm, of personality,
With tender care, you added comfort, warmth,
And images that line the now bright walls.
I look upon them fondly, bringing forth
A thankfulness that you walk in these halls
With me; our friendship has become a part
Of my world now; it has its special place,
Within my being, life, and in my heart,
Your name hangs right beside your smiling face.
Rememb'ring just how drab these walls had been,
I have to thank you for the light, my friend.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:22:02 GMT -5
The Magic Ball (Argentina)
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:22:31 GMT -5
Many years ago, a cold-eyed witch lived in the Andes Mountains. All through the summer she slept, but when the first snow fell, she awakened, full of glee. For winter was her hunting time and her eating time.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:23:31 GMT -5
By some strange magic she was able to draw children to her one by one, and how she did it no one knew. But the truth is that she had a magic ball, a ball bright and shining and of many colors, and this she left in places where children played, but never where a grown man or woman could see it.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:23:59 GMT -5
One day near a lake, a brother and sister were playing and saw the magic ball at the foot of a little hill. Delighted with its brightness and beauty Natalia ran to it, intending to pick it up and take it home, but, to her surprise, as she drew near to it the ball rolled away; then, a little way off, came to rest again. Again she ran to it and almost had her hand upon it when it escaped, exactly as a piece of thistle-down does, just as she was about to grasp it. So she followed it, always seeming to be on the point of catching it but never quite doing so. As she ran her older brother Luis followed, careful lest she should come to harm. The strange part of it was that every time the ball stopped, it rested close to some berry bush or by the edge of a crystal-clear spring, so that she, like all the other children who had been led away, found at the moment of resting something to eat or drink to refresh herself.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:24:57 GMT -5
At last, chasing the ball, Natalia and Luis came to a place in the valley where the Rio Chico runs between great hills. The land was strewn with mighty broken rocks and here and there were patches of snow, and soon great snowflakes appeared in the dark and gloomy air. Then brother and sister were terror-struck, for they knew with all the wandering and twisting and turning they had lost their way. But the ball still rolled on, though slower now, and the children followed it. The air grew keener and colder and the sun weaker, so they were very glad indeed when they came to a black rock where, at last, the ball stopped.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:25:21 GMT -5
Natalia picked it up, and for a moment gazed at its beauty, but for a moment only. For no sooner had she gazed at it than it vanished as a soap bubble does, Nathan, age 13and she cried out in grief. Luis tried to cheer her and finding that her hands were icy cold, led her to the north side of the rock where it was protected from the wind. There Natalia coiled herself up and was asleep in a minute. Luis, sat down, thinking that as soon as his sister had rested they must find their way back home. He tried hard to stay awake so he could keep watch, even holding his eyelids open with his fingers, but that only seemed to make him sleepier. Then, with the pine trees slowly nodding about him and the leaves softly whispering, soon Luis, too, slept.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:25:39 GMT -5
Natalia, being out of the blustering wind, was very comfortable in the niche carbed within the great stones, and she dreamed that she was at home. Her mother, she thought, was combing her hair and singing as she did so. But her mother, she thought, grew rough and careless and pulled her hair, so that she gave a little cry of pain and awoke.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:26:10 GMT -5
Natalia tried to rise, but could not, and her heart was like stone when she found what had happened. It was this: While she slept, the old witch of the Andes Mountains had stroked and combed her hair, and meanwhile wrought magic, so that the girl's hair was grown into the rock so very closely that she could not as much as turn her head. All that she could do was to stretch forth her arms, and when she saw Luis a little way off she called to him most piteously.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:27:05 GMT -5
For you see, the old witch had bound Natalia with a spell, so that there was an invisible wall around the rock through which her brother could not pass, try as he might.
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:27:32 GMT -5
Brother, come to me, I am afraid!," called Natalia through the invisible wall, and she started to cry. "Sister," he said, "I try but I cannot. There is something through which I cannot pass. I can see you but I cannot pass through." "Can you not climb over, dear Luis?" asked Natalia. "No, Natalia. I have reached high as I can, but the wall that I cannot see goes up and up. But I shall stay here with you, so fear not." Nearby came the voice of a great white owl, which sung:
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:28:01 GMT -5
Things of the dark and things without name, Save us from light and the torch's red flame.
After a while Natalia spoke again, but through sobs. "Brother mine, did you not hear what the owl said?" "Yes, sister." Deandre, age 12"Does it mean nothing to you?" she asked. "Nothing," he replied. "Listen," said Natalia. "These were the words: 'Save us from light and the torch's red flame.'" "I heard that, Natalia. What does it mean?"
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:28:27 GMT -5
"It means, brother, that the things in this horrible valley fear fire. So that's what you must bring here. Leave me for a while to find fire, and come back with it swiftly. I'll be terribly lonely, so hurry, please."
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Post by ---gush!--- on Jun 19, 2007 7:28:57 GMT -5
Hearing that, Luis was sad, for he was in no mood to leave his sister in that plight. Still she urged him, saying, "Speed, brother, speed!" Just then a condor passed with a great swoop over the rock and the condor said as it wheeled low, "Fire will conquer frosted death." "Did you hear that, brother?" said Natalia. "The condor says the same thing. You must go quickly and find fire and return before nightfall, before it's too late for me."
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