Falcon: the Story of Avrielle's Enchantment

So Avrielle's namesake asked me to post this. So for the sake of posting, I am posting a fairytale....

FALCON

Once upon a time, there was an evil witch named Mandie. She was an ugly old hag who was withdrawn, ridiculed, and grouchy. Misery loves company, and because she was so unhappy Mandie could not stand the happiness of others and wanted to ruin it. So she wove a net of shadows and hung it on a frame, and she turned the net into glass to make it into a mirror. Whenever she was in the mood to cause mischief, she would look into her mirror and say:

Looking glass, O looking glass

show me what joy has come to pass.

The mirror would show her the happiness of other people, their celebrations, their tender moments, their beauty, and their laughter. All of this happiness of others made Mandie sick, and so she would set out into the world and ruin the happiness of the people she saw in the mirror. She kidnapped their children and sold them as slaves to goblins; she caused warts and moles and wrinkles to grow on flawless skin; she burned down houses and barns; she made prized farm animals fall ill and blighted whole vegetable crops; anything that was a source of happiness to others, she ruined. And all this mischief gave her great delight. 

One day Mandie looked into her magic mirror and said:

Looking glass, O looking glass,

show me what joy has come to pass.

The mirror showed her a farmer and his beautiful daughter. The farmer's name was Peter and the daughter's name was Avrielle. Avrielle was extremely beautiful, with brown hair that she would braid flowers into and a porcelain-white face and amber eyes. Men who turned to look at her as they walked by tripped and fell, and the roses bloomed and the birds sang wherever she went. She was very kind and gentle, and she was as merry and lively as a summer's day. The sight of all her loveliness and merriment in the mirror made Mandie sick. What made it even worse was that she heard Peter boasting, “Of all the women in the world, my daughter is the Happiest One of All!” 

“Is that so?” sneered Mandie at the image in the mirror. “Well, I'll show him!” Mandie got on her broomstick and traveled to the place where Avrielle lived, and she spied on her and her father to find out how to destroy them.

It was Mandie's luck that on the day she arrived, a wild falcon swooped down and killed one of their chickens. Peter was furious. “If another falcon ever comes to my farm, I'll kill it on sight, dead chicken or no!” he vowed. Mandie laughed. Now she knew how to get rid of Avrielle.

That evening when Avrielle came out to feed the chickens, Mandie sprang on her just as she was leaving the chicken coop. “You won't be the Happiest One of all anymore if others don't love you, and certainly your father won't be so proud of you if you are a creature he hates!

Change hair for feathers,

feet for talons,

lips for a beak!”

Avrielle changed into a falcon. Mandie then ran to hide behind the chicken coop and watched as Peter came out to look for her. Seeing a falcon and not his daughter, Peter took a shovel and swung it at the falcon. Avrielle squawked in terror and flew into the forest. After Peter left, Mandie the witch had a good laugh. Then she followed Avrielle into the forest. She caught Avrielle in midair with a magic rope and held her fast.

“I'll have one more word with you, birdie,” cackled Mandie. “You are a falcon now and no longer a human. You will be hated by your father and all the other farmers in the land as a scourge who eats their chickens. The forest creatures will shun you as a predator. The other falcons will despise you because you are a stranger. You can never love or be happy again because of what you are. Try to overcome the hatred of others and you might break the spell, but up against such odds you'll never succeed. Good luck, birdie.” Mandie gave a final cackle and released Avrielle into the forest. She flew away on her broomstick, cackling and singing,

“Who's the Happiest one of all?

The one who makes the Happiest fall!”

One of the first things Avrielle figured out as a falcon was that she was still able to cry. The wind brushed the tears off her downy cheeks as she flew over the forest, but when she could not bear to fly any longer (and she was flying very clumsily), she landed on a tree branch, buried her face in her wings, and cried hard for a good long while.

The talking animals of the forest heard her crying and came to watch her cry. She told them that she was really a human under a spell and not a falcon who wanted to eat them. Some of them laughed at her. Some of them shied away from her.

“She's less of a problem as a falcon than as a human, I say,” said a fox.

“Once a human, always human,” said a weasel.

“Just don't eat the talking animals,” said a squirrel.

Avrielle had no idea how to be a proper falcon. She waddled clumsily on her talons and she flew in lopsided loops. The forest creatures were disgusted with her because she was so melancholy. Her only desire was to break the spell, but she did not know how that was going to happen because she did not know how she was supposed to be happy. 

The other falcons in the forest heard about Avrielle within days of her arrival. Two of the young male falcons, named Sidney and Farley, decided to go meet her. They gaped at her because, even as a falcon, she was still beautiful. Avrielle, however, thought she was ugly as a falcon and that the males were teasing her.

“May one of us take you for a mate?” Sidney chirped at her.

“No, back away!” Avrielle squawked, frightened. “You don't want me! I'm, a human under a spell! Don't show me any kindness.”

Sidney, Farley and their gang of falcon friends watched her, however, and soon realized that even if she was a falcon she was a very clumsy one The male falcons watched Avrielle all day and amused themselves with her folly. Avrielle's life became all the more dark from their teasing, and Mandie loved to watch her misery in her magic mirror.

One day Mandie said to her mirror,

Looking glass, O looking glass,

show me what joy has come to pass.

In the forest where Avrielle was living, the king of the land built a new summer palace. On Midsummer Eve, he held a grand ball to celebrate its completion, and lords and ladies came from all over the kingdom in their finest clothes to dance and feast.

Avrielle was living in the trees near the new palace, and she watched the king's servants preparing for the ball. She ached to go to the ball and dance with her fellow humans.

Mandie decided she would make Avrielle's life even more miserable. On the night of the ball, Avrielle was watching the courtiers' carriages pull into the drive when, out of nowhere, Mandie appeared on her broomstick.

“What do you want of me?” Avrielle asked, frightened.

“I came to see how you were doing, my sweet,” Mandie said in a honey-sweet voice. “Is there anything I can do to make your life better?” she asked.

“Well, I would like to go to the ball,” sighed Avrielle.

“Very well, then, you may go to the ball,” said Mandie. She turned Avrielle into a human with a snap of her fingers, and with another snap she was wearing a scarlet and gold ball gown. Mandie warned her, “The magic ends at midnight, so be careful to leave before then.” Avrielle thanked Mandie and then crept onto the palace grounds. She entered the ballroom from the garden door.

Everyone who saw Avrielle was soon enchanted by her beauty. She was a very graceful dancer and won the hearts of many of her dance partners. The ladies of the court were riled with envy the magnificence of her dress. All of the courtiers assumed that she was a foreign princess. Avrielle was the happiest she had been for many weeks, and she had so much fun that midnight crept on her unawares. Frightened, she tried to leave the ballroom, but the king's son and a few of his friends seized her.

“Where are you going?” asked the prince.

“Nowhere,” said Avrielle, beginning to panic.

“Why would you leave me?” asked one of his friends.

“I must,” Avrielle insisted, trying to wrench herself free.

“Don't you know I care for you?” asked another.

“You wouldn't if you knew what I was,” said Avrielle. But before she could escape, she changed back into a falcon. The ball guests gasped in horror.

“She's a witch!” shrieked one.

“She's a sprite!” said another.

“She's a demon!” screamed a lady as she fainted.

“She's cursed!” someone cried. “We're all going to be cursed!” The guests began to flee the ballroom screaming.

“Guards, seize the falcon!” shouted the king. Avrielle tried flying out of the ballroom, but the guards closed and locked all the doors. She flew to the ceiling and perched on the chandeliers. The guards put up ladders and tried to reach her. She flew around in circles trying to evade capture. Finally a guard bagged her with the gardener's butterfly net. The guard presented the captured falcon to the king. The king rewarded the guard with a thousand pieces of gold for the bird and made him a knight, and then he ordered the guard to take Avrielle to his aviary and lock her in a cage. Avrielle looked to the prince for help, but the prince—who was disappointed that Avrielle had turned out to not be human—showed her no sign of pity. 

The king's aviary was a room full of the strange and unusual birds that the king liked to collect. Some had bright-colored feathers, some sang songs in foreign languages, some were strangely shaped or looked more like beaked lizards. Avrielle was taken to a small, dirty cage in the back corner. She cried herself to sleep and slept for a good part of the day. In the evening, the bird keeper brought her a piece of meat and some water.

Avrielle lived in the aviary for several days. Sometimes the king would come with important visitors and ministers to show her to them and tell them the story of how she had seduced the best young men in the kingdom, his son included, in the guise of a woman. Sometimes the other birds would make fun of her for being so dun-colored and make up rude songs about her. Avrielle kept her face to the wall mostly, to not be seen. And from far away, Mandie said to her magic mirror,

Looking glass, O looking glass,

show me what joy has not come to pass

and she saw Avrielle weeping in her cage. Mandie laughed so hard she cried.

One day, however, Avrielle's fortune changed....

And for the sake of not spoling the end, we shall leave off here.  
But as you can tell, I am pretty excited about this story because I made sketches of the characters :)