The Ostrich Egg, Part Two

King Latif is searching for something, but he has forgotten what it is...

The King ran back to the palace and summoned the servant.

"Take the camels into the desert and look for the ostrich eggs. Bring me back as many as you can find."

"But master, the eggs are needed by travellers. It would be wrong to take them away."

"I don't care. We can replace them afterwards."

"Very well, but a sandstorm is coming. We could be lost."

"Take the best camels and stop making excuses," the King shouted at him.

It was a custom, in that hot and arid land, to put water in the ostrich eggs and bury them in the sand for travellers to find and use. The places where they were deposited were marked with sticks. The weather was unfavourable and the party were unable to go out searching until the fourth day.

At the end of the day, the party had found six eggs. King Latif received the eggs and put them in a large chest. He locked it and put it near the bed in his room.

"No one is to enter my room," he commanded - "No-one!"

On the seventh night, the King took the eggs to the witch. He was anxious for the consultation, but it was many hours before the witch looked up at him with her light-coloured hazel eyes. At last she said to him.

"Choose one of the eggs and put it here, but be careful, if you choose the wrong one, without the memory stone, the magic will not work." She indicated a cushion, covered with red velvet, which glowed in the light of her oil lamp.

The King looked at the eggs and the sweat broke out on his brow. Each egg was slightly different, but which one was it? He couldn't decide. He paced up and down and his heart began to race. If I choose the wrong egg, all will be lost. he thought. He examined the eggs carefully, turning them round and round in his hands. His hands began to shake. He couldn't decide which egg to choose. Turning his eyes to the heavenly sky, he looked at the stars for inspiration. There in the black, night sky was his favourite star. It spoke to his heart..."Choose the egg with a star pattern on it and you will not be disappointed," it said to him.

King Latif looked again, very carefully, at the eggs before him. He noticed that one of the eggs had a tiny star pattern on it. A rush of adrenaline cursed through his veins. This is the egg, I think. This one talks to me; this little star is like the star I see in the night sky just before I have the dream. I will choose this one.

He handed the precious egg to the witch.

"What is your wish? she asked him. "Think carefully but be quick. I can only grant you one wish, this day and the day is nearly over."

The King thought. He had thought of little else all week.

"I wish I could remember what I have come to forget!" he told her.

She looked at him searchingly and, outside her cave, the palm trees whispered as the desert wind covered the footprints of memory in the sand. Taking her magical wand, the witch tapped the ostrich egg as it lay on the velvet cushion and a bolt of lightning rent the sky. The egg split and a watery substance poured out and soaked the cushion. The cushion began to fluoresce and as it did so, the King could see a tiny stone had remained inside the egg. He reached out his hand to touch it...

"Wait!" shouted the witch. "You must pay me first!"

"Anything," said the King. "I will pay you anything you ask, only let me have the memory stone and retrieve what I have lost."

The witch looked him deep into his eyes. Her black cloak, with its red lining, flapped around her body. Her long, dark hair, streaked with grey, blew behind her like the mist in the morning.

There came a rushing in the King's ears as he heard the witch say to him:

"I want the emerald ring, which you wear on your wedding finger."

"But, but," cried the King in dismay.

"Without that ring, I cannot be King. Whoever wears that ring rules the Kingdom."

The witch laughed and turned away. She picked up the memory stone and held it over her cauldron.

"No matter," she said. "but then I will keep the stone."

The King made his large hands into fists and punched the sky. Love and anxiety drove him on.

"Take it, take it," he said, tearing it off his finger and offering it to the witch. "Now, give me the stone."

"There is more," said she and her eyes flashed.

"More? What more can you take from me?"

"You must marry me," replied she who held all the power in her crooked fingers.

"Oh my, now am I undone," said the King, as he sank to the floor and sobbed. Inside his head he heard a small voice saying..."Marry me, marry me, marry me."

He lifted up his head and looked the witch full on.

"I will marry you. You will be the Queen. Take everything, only now give me the stone."

The witch picked up the small memory stone and put it into his hand. He looked at it carefully. He turned it over. Outside, thousand-foot-high mountains of red sand rose from the flat, salt plains of ancient sea beds. It was a cruel land, which can cast a spell on those who live there.

His fingers closed over the stone as her fingers closed over the ring. The King's eyes closed. Through his eyelids he became aware of a green light. It grew brighter. Curious to see what it was, he opened his eyes and standing before him, dressed in green silk and wearing his emerald ring, was Astra. The memories came rushing back. One after the other, they flooded his brain as tears flooded his eyes. He stood up and wrapped his long arms around his lover.

"My Queen!" he said as he gently held her. "My darling."

Back in the palace, Astra walked slowly and seductively towards him and he felt her body touching his body. She kissed his lips, she stroked his arms. He held her tight in his loving embrace. They lay back on the sheets of his enormous bed and they made love.

There had never been two people so much in love. Their love had transcended all time. Every nerve in their bodies was alive to stimulation.

"Stay with me Astra, never leave me again. I can't bear it to be without you."

"I will never leave you again," she replied.

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Leonard took the travel brochure from his wife.

"So what do you think?" he asked her, patiently.

"Yes, she answered. I would like to see the desert. I'm told it is very beautiful in a stark sort of way."

He put his hand over hers as it rested on the side of the coffee table and, as he pressed his love into her fingers, he felt the hard, cold shape of her emerald ring.

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