The well and the Harp

Behind the door was an empty, spotless room made entirely of obsidian, only a single, round window faced westwards, revealing the setting sun. In the middle of the room sat a young girl, between her scrawny legs was a beautiful, golden harp. Her hands caressed the strings, creating the most enchanting melody the prince had ever listened to.

Although she was dressed in rags, and tears were running from her eyes like streams of silver, she had a radiant beauty of her own which bathed the room in a vanilla haze.

The prince, who did not know what to do when he saw what he saw said in a loud and confident voice: "Are you... the witch... who put the spell...ah...on the forest...down below?"

"Oh no! Oh no!" said the girl in a frightened voice. She told him that her father had stolen a precious elixir from an evil witch and fled to a faraway land, out of her reach.

In order to take vengeance, the witch took his daughter and imprisoned her on the mountain, to play the harp from dusk till dawn, allowing her only an hour’s rest, or else the tower will crack and collapse and crumble to dust, along with the mountain, and with her on it. The prince, who was taken by her beauty, asked if there is anything he can do.

"There is a way, but it is dangerous." said the girl.

"What...what is it?" asked the prince.

"The evil witch lives in a small shack at the middle of the forest. If you will go there and destroy her, the spell will be lifted," said the girl while returning to play the harp with her lacerated fingers. The prince promised her that he will do so, and hurried back down.

The prince came down from the mountain, tired and confused. He decided to stop for the night at the outskirts of the wood. He built a fire, and after it burned well, he sat on the ground, took a few meat sticks out of his bag, and thought to himself: "How will I know who speaks the truth, the girl who plays the harp or the girl who delivers water from the well?"

He sighed and put a meat stick into his mouth, and at that exact moment, the elk emerged from the wood. The prince just sat there, staring at the elk, which stared right back at him. This was an opportunity the prince couldn’t afford to miss. He reached to his crossbow and the elk vanished once more into the trees, the prince leaped from the ground and chased him, determined to hunt him down.

He reached the bank of a river. The elk was nowhere in sight, but its footprints were on the ground, the prince hunched on his knees and inspected them in the torchlight, he got up and surveyed his surroundings.

The river was wide, and the prince was not able to see the opposite bank. The forest was quiet, too quiet. The prince turned swiftly back.

Someone was there.

"Hey, watch it...it." said the child in the bubble.

The prince fell into the river.

They were near the fire. The prince tried to dry himself as best as he could. In front of him, about 10 feet behind the circle of fire, was the most magnificent thing the prince had ever seen in his short life. Inside a big , perfectly round and transparent water bubble, sat a smiling child. He seemed to be about three or four years old, he had yellow hair, and he wore blue slacks, his upper, ivory skin body was naked, and there was a glow in his blue eyes, like blazing stars. He was barefoot.