Eliza and the Music Spirit

Once upon a time a kingdom in the driest desert of the entire world existed under the rule of King Harold. The King did not allow music to be played throughout his kingdom. The people were very poor and because of King Harold they knew no sweet musical tunes to help them be happy.
One day a musical spirit saw this poor village and decided to play his flute to spread some joy. He stopped at a small house and knocked on the door. An old, grouchy man opened his door to the sound of the spirit’s flute. The melody was such a shock that he slammed the door in the spirit’s face.
The spirit went to another run down house. This time a woman answered holding a baby in her arms. Her face was angry and tired as the baby screamed. The sound of the flute just made the woman more angered, for she did not want to be bothered. As the spirit walked away sadly the baby’s cries were hushed.
By now the spirit was losing hope. No one in this entire village seemed to be able to appreciate the beautiful sounds. Then the spirit found the smallest house in the whole kingdom. The house was only a little bigger than a shed. The spirit opened the door to a small girl’s smiling face. The girl let the spirit walk in and she sat, mesmerized by the flutes sounds.
For three days the spirit taught the small girl, named Eliza, how to play the flute. Eliza soon became an expert at playing the flute; she was almost as good as the spirit himself. The spirit left her with the flute and the words “spread the joy”. So the young Eliza decided to spread the spirit’s message and play on the sidewalk. There she played and played, the musical notes flew through the air and people began to gather around her. After hours of playing a sum of three hundred people stood watching, listening to the beautiful sound they had never heard before.
A tall man dressed in silver walked up to the girl. He stood up straight and pulled out a lengthy scroll. The man began to read, “King Harold, his majesty, proclaims that Eliza Rouxse will be taken into custody for defying the King’s honor. Eliza will be taken to jail for purposely defying the King’s law of no musical instruments being played”. Tiny Eliza was to petite to fight the King’s guards and was torn away from her home and put in jail. They even took her precious flute.
In her jail cell Eliza cried and cried. She cried because she had failed, the spirit had trusted her to spread music and she could no longer play. But mostly she cried because she could no longer hear the tunes that she had begun to love.
The music spirit heard the small girls cries. In the dead silence of night he came down and listened to Eliza’s story of why she was so sad. Right as the sunshine began to shimmer into the jail cell the music spirit disappeared, and in his place was a new, shinier flute for Eliza to play.
She played for three days and for three days the prisoners listened to the new sound. Her music was even sweeter than it was before, the new flute made the notes flow perfectly. The sound soothed all the prisoner’s anger away. Each prisoner decided to tell the guards how sorry they were. Even the harshest murderer became a little bit nicer.
“You have saved me,” said Buck, the meanest criminal in the lands. “This sound you play…GUARDS! Listen to this sound. It is beautiful.
Word of the prisoner’s actions reached King Harold. When told that the prisoner’s change in mood was due to the girl’s music King Harold became furious. Immediately he ordered the girl to his castle to stop this music once and for all.
When Eliza arrived she stood in front of King Harold with no fear at all. The guards tried to take her flute but she held it tight with this new strength she felt. Eliza stood right in front of King Harold and looked him in the eyes, making sure he knew that she was not afraid. King Harold sagged with old age and the lines on his face made it seem as if he was forever frowning. He stared at Eliza right back and ordered her to play her flute.
“I need to see what all of the fuss is about, small girl play your flute. Play it well for if I am not impressed I will have you sent away from the country. You, Eliza, will never see your family or friends ever again. You will be forced to starve and never hear this music again,” said King Harold angrily.
Eliza took in a deep breath. She looked at the King and saw a faint shadow of the music spirit behind his throne. He whispered, “you can do it, let the music flow through” and then slowly faded away smiling the brightest smile to ever be seen. So Eliza, with this new courage instilled in her, played her flute. The music swept through the entire castle, all of the guards and servants crowded around Eliza humming along with the beautiful sound. King Harold refused to like it though, his frown stayed put. Eliza danced around as she played and let the music flow just as the music spirit had told her. King Harold’s frown slowly moved upwards and turned into a smile, a small smile but it was a smile.
“STOP!” yelled King Harold.
Eliza stopped playing at once and all of the people surrounding her clapped and cheered. King Harold walked right up to Eliza and asked, “Where did you learn how to play such a thing?”
Eliza, already knowing the answer, replied, “I’ve always known, music is a part of everyone.”
King Harold stood puzzled. He asked if he could try to play Eliza’s flute. She was nervous but gave the King the flute. King Harold slowly put the flute up to his mouth and blew into it. A note came out and the King immediately stepped back, amazed at what he had done. He gave the flute back to Eliza and sat down in his throne.
“Eliza,” said the King, “you have shown me something that I had refused to let in. My father, and his father before him, and his father before him all despised music. But now, I cannot see why they did such a thing. I now declare that music should be allowed in this kingdom for the rest of time!”
The people cheered and Eliza jumped up and down with joy. The King told Eliza to play from the roof of the castle so the entire kingdom could hear the wonderful sounds. So that is what Eliza did, she climbed to the tallest tower and played her heart out. After a little the music spirit appeared and accompanied Eliza with his own flute. Eliza smiled and they played side by side. The music flowed out the flutes and people heard the sound, everyone began to dance and smile. People became happy again. Then the music spirit snapped his fingers and out of the flutes came a faint smoke. It passed through the kingdom carrying each note with it. All of a sudden the dry dessert that had not seen rain in years saw rain, it poured down drenching everything in its path. Plants began to grow, gardens flourished. Slowly the bare desert turned into a lush green, happy place. Eliza was allowed to join her family again and they all played music together each day. The kingdom became a joyous place to live and everyone lived happily ever after.