The Golden Peacock of Cheldari

 The Golden Peacock of Cheldari

A fairy tale to be read out loud

by Adam Manning 

 

Lyanna and her cat Ribbles had, at long last, escaped from the townhouse that belonged to her uncle, the notoriously mean cobbler, Master Firebeard.  Her bad uncle was always thinking of things for Lyanna to do round the house, such as sweep up the cobwebs in his workshop, or sort out big sacks of shoes into matching pairs. She was never allowed to play with the other children, but today her uncle had decided he had been too hard on her in the past and let her go out into the town on the condition that she promised to be back by sunset.

The cobbled streets of the town were wide and long and soon the pair got totally lost, though Ribbles was not worried.  “Never mind”, he said. “If we keep going, we are always where we are, wherever we go”, he said, for he was a wise as well as brave ginger cat and had read many ancient scrolls on philosophy.  They had lots of fun looking round about and soon came to the part of the town where the temples to the ten thousand gods were. They passed many strange priests, wizards and nuns.  Some were clad in purple sheets from head to toe, looking as if they were in bed asleep even while they walked up and down. Others wore tall caps that made their heads look as if they scratched the sky and tickled the clouds.

On the next street corner, they found a statute of a gold peacock which caught the eye. It was about half as tall as a man. Ribbles, in particular, liked it for it was almost (though not quite) the same colour as his fur and he went up and rubbed it with his face. At once a fat genie popped into existence and floated over to them with a beaming grin on his face. “Hello!” he enthused. “My name is Cheldari. I am the genie of the golden peacock”. His fat fingers fidgeted as he spoke. “I am able to grant three wishes to whoever should call on me.”

Lyanna thought at first that Ribbles should have the wishes. It was he after all who had made the genie appear. But it soon became clear that there was nothing that Ribbles wished for and so Lyanna quickly decided to make a wish instead.  “I wish for, umm, a beautiful red silk jacket.”

“Ah ha”, the genie chuckled, “that is easy.” And with that a gorgeous scarlet jacket appeared around Lyanna, replacing the previous dull brown coat she had worn.  “And the next wish?”, the genie asked, bobbing up and down in the air.  Lyanna looked at her beloved ginger cat.

            “I wish for a black velvet collar studded with diamonds for Ribbles.” With a wave of his chubby hand, the genie made a collar studded with diamonds for her cat.  Although Ribbles had said he didn’t want anything, he couldn’t quite contain his pleasure in receiving this present and looked as though he was the smartest cat in town.

            “And now your last wish?” the genie asked.  This time Lyanna thought long and hard. She wanted it to be a really good wish as it was going to be her last. Finally she looked at the golden peacock.

            “I wish that the golden peacock could carry me and Ribbles on its back and fly off into the sky.” The genie looked a little dismayed and Lyanna wondered if she had wished for something that was a little too hard.  But the genie waved his arms, said some magical words and the peacock began to grow in size.  It soon became as tall as a house and stooped down for Lyanna and Ribbles to climb on its back. Then it shook its wings and swooped up into the air just as some soldiers with swords drawn ran up to see what was going on.  The peacock took off and was soon soaring along at about the height of two trees above the town.

Lyanna was enthralled and sat at the base of the peacock’s neck, lounging on its golden feathers. Even Ribbles was mildly impressed and he walked casually down to the head and sat on top, looking out. It seemed as though he was guiding its flight. Soon they had left the town far behind and flew over mile upon mile of countryside.  They soared over the seashore where a fishing village stood and saw a gigantic lobster bigger than the village trying to eat the villagers! Two men, one with a giant axe and the other with a sword, were trying to see it off. They swept on and came to a jungle. Three large tigers stood in a clearing and as they flew over, Ribbles spat angrily at them safe in the knowledge that they couldn’t get him.

On and on they flew for many hours. Soon the world became a cold, snowy place and Lyanna wondered when it was going to land. She was hungry and wanted to go home. She even missed her uncle.  She beseeched the golden peacock to go down and stop, implored it go back and shouted at it too listen to her.  But it carried on regardless. Ribbles rubbed the golden peacock again as he had before in the street and again the genie appeared.  “What is it now?” the genie asked, somewhat less amiable than it had been.

            “Make it stop”, Lyanna pleaded.

            “That wasn’t part of your wish”, answered the genie smartly.  “You asked me to make it fly and make it carry you. There was nothing said about making it stop”.

            “You must be able to do something”, Lyanna begged, tears in her eyes.

            “No, I’m sorry. I’m bound by the promise that I made to you to grant your wishes. Goodbye.” And with that he disappeared with a popping sound. The golden peacock flew on and it had already become night.  Lyanna was very cold and wrapped the red jacket around her more tightly to keep warm.

            In the town, Bad Uncle Master Firebeard wondered where his niece had got to. Despite all his meanness, he loved Lyanna and was very worried about her. Lyanna wasn’t to know, but her uncle was secretly a feared sorcerer, one of the most powerful magicians in the country who only pretended to be a cobbler.  He looked into his magical shoe-chest that always answered his questions. “Where is my niece?” he asked and the chest showed him. He was amazed by what he saw. But he still knew what to do. He cast a spell and magically tied a thousand shoe-laces together to make a long lasso. Climbing out onto his roof in the middle of the night when everyone else was tucked up in bed, he twirled the lasso round his head.  Longer and longer the shoe-laces became until up in the sky it whirled round half of all the world. It finally caught the golden peacock around its neck.

Bad Uncle Master Firebeard pulled and pulled and with a mighty tug, which loosened one or two of the tiles on his roof, he pulled the golden peacock in. Finally it landed on top of his roof, loosening more roof tiles. Lyanna and Ribbles hopped off the golden peacock. Lyanna was overjoyed to be home and hugged her uncle. Her uncle was happy to see her as well and even gave her a little smile and a pat on the head. Ribbles ran into the house to see if anybody had left him anything to eat in his bowl.

            “That genie was the genie of big promises”, her uncle explained, “and I think there is a lesson for you in that.” They went in and everyone was much the wiser for what had happened, apart of course from Ribbles. The golden peacock took off and can be seen to this day flying about. He became their friend and still lays them a golden egg the size of a pig every night there is a full moon.