The Other Side of the Fable

BY JAN FRASER

YOU WHO LIVE IN THAT HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND YOU THINK YOUR LOT IS HARD? WHAT OF US IN THE DARK WORLD WHO LOVE YOU? WHAT OF US, DOUBLY CURSED, WHO HOLD OUT OUR ARMS IN LONGING WHEN YOU RETURN TO THE SUNSHINE?

1, WHO HAD A DREAM, AM ONE OF THEM. DREAMED OF A HOME, A HOME WITH SOMEONE TO LOVE, TO LIVE WITH ALL THE YEARS OF MY LIFE. 1 SEARCHED THROUGH THIS SOMETIMES DARK WORLD. AND ONCE, WHEN | HAD NEARLY GIVEN UP, THE MOON SHONE ON THIS WORLD; AND I FOUND YOU.

FOR A WHILE MY WORLD WAS LIT BY YOUR PRESENCE. WHERE YOU WENT THOSE TIMES WHEN YOU LEFT, I DID NOT KNOW. WHAT YOUR OTHER LIFE WAS LIKE? I DID NOT CARE, FOR I THOUGHT SOON OUR LIVES WOULD BE ONE.

BUT NOW I DO KNOW, AND NOW I CARE. AND I KNOW THAT I AM DOUBLY CURSED. FOR YOU GO TO THE HOUSE IN THE FORBIDDEN SUNLIT LAND. I CANNOT COME WITH YOU. INDEED, | HAVE NO WISH TO. I WISH ONLY TO HAVE YOU HERE ALWAYS.

AT FIRST | RAILED AGAINST THAT LIFE. | URGED; | PLEADED. NOW I SAY NOTHING, FOR I SEE YOUR ANGUISH; AND I KNOW THAT IT IS AS GREAT AS MINE.

WHEN, AFTER A FEW HOURS OF

BUT YOU MUST NOT THINK IT IS EASY. HAPPINESS, YOU ARISE TO GO TO YOUR CHILD, YOUR HUSBAND IN THE OTHER LAND, YOU MUST NOT THINK I LET YOU GO EASILY. | WANT TO CRY OUT, "STAY WITH ME! GIVE UP THE LIFE IN THE SUNLIGHT. STAY HERE. FORGET THOSE OUT THERE." AND THEN HEAR A CHILD'S VOICE. SO I DO NOT SAY THE WORDS.

I WANT TO CRY OUT, "STAY WITH ME!"

AND I SEE A SHADOWY FORM, A

MAN, BEWILDERED BY WHAT HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND, HURT BY A WOMAN HE LOVED AND SHELTERED. AND I DO NOT SAY THE WORDS.

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