The Wall

Elle, the third and middle child, did not know any of her sisters were in the garden with her. She came to a stone wall in the exotic place. Light from the other side of the wall glowed and pulsated, and she was drawn to it. She tried to climb over the wall ... but was repulsed by an invisible force. She tried to go around it ... but she could not find the end of the wall. Finally she found a strange looking, almost invisible key lying in the leaves and moss.

The key was made of crystal! She turned it over in her hand, and it sparkled and glowed. Maybe there was a way to use the key to get to the other side of the wall! She started to examine the wall a bit more closely. Time seemed to drift away as she looked at each stone. Each one was individual of course, and each one seemed to have a story embedded in it.

There were many stories, about kings and queens, fauns, centaurs, gods, fools .... but nothing about a crystal key, and no stone had a place to insert the key. She grew tired and sat down with her back to the wall to rest. Her eyelids drooped and things looked more and more blurry. What was that coming toward her through the garden? A white horse .... she opened her eyes, and it disappeared!

Slowly sleep claimed her consciousness and the white horse came for her again. This time she mounted it, with the key in her hand. The horse circled, in a gentle canter. When he came back to the wall, he leapt over it as if the stone wall were nothing but a twig in his path.