The Magic Plum
a short fable
Greetings! Bear with me while I navigate the ins and outs of Substack!
I’ve decided to hold off on publishing Darkness Holds the Son since the serialized novel is available on Patreon, and the book will be available as pre-order on Kickstarter on the 15th of November. Instead, I’m going to be publishing some of the short fables I’ve been writing. I think you will enjoy them. They are all fantasy fables and most of them take place in the Cho Nisi world.
The Magic Plum
Hamo wandered, and that’s why his mother rarely took him to market. Every morning when she wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and took her basket from atop the cupboard, Hamo begged to go with her.
“No, Hamo, you scare the life from me when you disappear.”
But today the clouds hung over the seaside village, and when she mumbled something about less of a crowd on sultry days, he pleaded that she had nothing to fear if she’d take him with her.
“Very well! And should it rain, and you get away from me, you’ll be no better for it, young man, for you’ll be rained on and I might not let you inside! Now wear your coat.”
Hamo slipped on his woven tabard, adjusted his cowl onto his head, and stomped his feet into his boots, tugging away from his mother as she tried to curl a lock of hair that fell over his eye.
At first, he had every inclination of obeying his mother. He even held her hand once or twice. But as they left the neighborhood of adobe houses and moved into the market, there were many sights to see and few she shared an interest in. His patience wore thin as she stopped at a booth and tried on aprons, and shawls, and other woven things.
“How does this look on me, Hamo?”
“Fine. Buy it and let’s go.”
She patted him on the head and tried on another shawl, and then another. It seemed she would try on all the shawls the vendor had. How long would that take? Hamo wanted to see the sweet cakes across the way, and then there was the fruit stand with apples and juicy melons. Though a lean fellow, Hamo loved to eat, and he especially loved fruit. He tugged at his mother’s sleeve and pointed, trying hard not to interrupt, nor to make her angry. But she waved him away, and he understood her gesture as permission to go.
So, he ran.
Lost among the crowd in the food court, Hamo worked his way to the fruit stand and, seeing a tray of purple plums bursting with juices, he reached for one.
“Be wary!” The voice rang as sharp as an iron gate slamming against the ground. Hamo held the fruit near his open mouth but did not taste it.
“You’d be calling the gods on you, young rascal! The fruit is magic.”
Hamo swallowed the shock that froze him, and without a stutter, found his tongue. “What will it do?”
He saw her now, a small woman with hair whiter than lamb’s wool and just as thick. Her frown revealed one broken tooth that protruded over her lower lip, and her eyes were small, dark, and accusing.
“The magic will suck you away. Steal you as if it were a thief in the night.
“And where will it take me?”
The woman lowered her voice and with the sound of an asp, whispered, “To land you’ve never laid eyes on. A strange land of tall mountains and rustling grass. A land with no ocean, no sea, no storms. No sun.”
“What would my life be like there?” Hamo asked, a crooked smile parting his lips. An adventure would be exciting for him. Nothing exciting ever happened at home!
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“On how you came to take that bite. If it be given with a blessing, the land would be filled with treasure. Gold,” she leaned toward him and breathed the word into his face. Hamo stepped back.
“Gold is good,” Hamo said. “I should like to visit that land.” He moved the fruit toward his lips, but she grasped his arm, her bony fingers and sharp nails pinched his skin.
“And the dragons should like you to visit, for they are keepers of a great and terrible dungeon.” She held out her other hand palm up, her tooth glistened in the daylight and Hamo thought it should fall out at any moment. She nodded at him, her frown threatening.
Hamo placed the plum in the woman’s hand, and she quickly tucked it away on the tray with the others. “Will cost a pretty sixpence for you to see the dragons though.”
“I haven’t a sixpence.”
“Well then all the worse, or perhaps better, for you, isn’t it?” she said and shuffled to turn her back to him.
Mother found him then and took him by the collar.
“What’s this, Hamo? You’ve ventured away from me again.”
“Not too far. Have you sixpence? I would like some fruit,” he whispered but his mother took his hand and hurried him away.
“We’ve no money for fruit nor do we have time either. Carry this,” she said as she pushed a bundle of the fabric against his chest. “You’ve been wandering again after promising me you wouldn’t. What should I do with you?”
Before they reached the road, Hamo glanced back at the old woman, and the pile of plums he left behind. His mouth had watered for a taste of that fruit, and if it would take him to a magic land with gold and dragons, he swore he’d return to fetch it.
Hamo’s brother Cadby greeted them at their shanty, a stack of firewood in his arms and when Cadby placed the wood by the hearth and ruffled Hamo’s hair he winked at him.
“You were lucky to go to market with Mother. Did you bring back a present for me?”
Hamo shook his head and hurried to the table to drop his bundle there. His mother immediately retrieved the package and left the room.
“Why must we always be poor?” Hamo asked his brother.
“We’re not poor,” Cadby said. “We’ve a roof over our heads and Papa has worked with the blacksmith so there’s food on our table every night. Many folks are worse off.”
“But we never eat fruit.”
Cadby laughed. “Few can afford fruit. Even the noblemen eat very little fruit. Why? Did you see something at the market that you wanted?”
“I did, and it cost a whole sixpence just to sample. But it’s magic, Cadby.”
“Magic?”
“The old woman said it would take me to a land I’ve never seen before, a land where dragons keep watch over a mountain of gold. She said there was a dungeon there too.”
“Ah! Then it must be good fruit.”
Hamo shrugged and his shoulders drooped. “I shall never know. I came this close to tasting it.” He held two fingers to his lips.
“You were going to steal it?”
Hamo stared into Cadby’s smiling blue eyes. He wanted to deny that he’d have stolen it, but if the woman hadn’t caught him, he surely would have bit into that plum.
“I have an idea, Hamo. Why don’t you come help shear the ewes for Lord Briley tomorrow? He’ll pay you well. Then you can go to market and give an honest coin for this magic fruit.”
Hamo focused on his brother’s skillful hands as Cadby placed kindling in the hearth, tucked a tuff of cotton under it, and struck his stone against his knife. Cadby was a hero to him, the way he could shoot a spark so quickly and start a flame. Hamo had tried many mornings to make a fire, with no success. Cadby owned a special magic, it seemed.
“How do I sheer sheep?”
“It’s not hard. I’ll teach you.”
“Sheep are rascals and always try to get away.”
“Oh, it’s not so hard to keep them still. Just hold the sheep between your knees. You’ve seen me. It’s easy work. You’re strong, you’d have no problem, and Lord Briley’s flock is docile. They’re used to being sheared.”
“Will he pay me a sixpence?”
Cadby laughed. “Maybe if you work a week he would. Half would be taken out for the king so if you need sixpence, you’ll have to work two weeks. But there’s plenty of work. You might enjoy it.”
“If it means I can travel to a distant land where dragons live, then I suppose it’s worth it.”
Cadby nodded and laughed.
Hamo’s brother was right in that the sheep were docile, but he had to catch them first and that was no easy feat. Sliding in the mud made Hamo feel like a fool.
“You’re scaring her, Hamo. She doesn’t trust you,” Cadby laughed when an ewe wiggled away from him.
“That’s fine. I don’t trust myself either.”
“Watch me,” his brother said and simply took hold of the trembling ewe by the scruff of her neck and pushed her rump to the ground. “Hold her between your knees,” he said, backing away so Hamo could straddle the sheep. She felt odd, a creature heavier than he was, giving into him. Cadby handed him the shears, and eyeing the row of other men shearing, Hamo leaned over and began to cut carefully so as not to poke her. Cadby had already taken down another sheep, and before Hamo had finished shearing the thick wool off the belly of his ewe, his brother was done.
“How do you do it so fast?” he asked.
“Practice.”
At the end of the day, Hamo’s back hurt from bending over, and his hands were calloused from handling the clippers. He’d been hot and sweaty and smelled like wool and manure. He couldn’t think of anything pleasant about the hard work he had done other than the ability to buy a plum by the week’s end and travel to a magical land where dragons guard the gold. He fell asleep shortly after supper and dreamt someone had tried to suffocate him with a pile of wool.
Cadby woke him the next morning, hurried him through breakfast, and while the sun made golden streaks in the sky that reminded him of where he might be traveling, they walked the distance to Lord Briley’s farm.
He worked and worked and every day he worked again. By the end of the week, Hamo’s aches subsided for his body had grown accustomed to the strain, and soon the walk didn’t seem as long either. In fact, he looked forward to the job because he had learned to work faster, almost as fast as his brother and the men he worked with were friendly to him.
He was paid sixpence the first week, but the king’s tax collector gathered the Crown’s allotment, and Hamo tucked the change away in his pocket. One more week and he would go to market, by himself if he had to, and take that magic journey.
The day came none too soon. Hamo had been good about saving his coins, and so when payday came again, he had sixpence in his pocket and an undying will in his heart. He kissed his mother goodbye that morning, for now, that he had earned his own money, he was his own man. He could go to the market alone!
It was a sunny day, and so he wore his cap and tried to make his pauper clothes look smart by buttoning all the buttons and pulling his tall boots over the ragged hem of his pants. He tossed his coins before stepping outside. Cadby lay on his sheepskin on the floor and watched him.
“Going out?”
“I’m going to a land unknown, brother. If I don’t return tell Mother I love her and will see if I can send some gold home to her.”
Cadby chuckled. “I’ll do that.”
Hamo nodded and met the fresh air, closing the door quietly behind him.
Like the sea breeze that chilled his cheeks, excitement hit him, and he laughed as he took a breath. He didn’t walk to the market, he ran, dodging into the crowd that had already congregated under the morning sun. He skipped the clothing merchant tents and all the other drabby booths and hurried to the fruit stand that already buzzed with buyers. There they were, the dark purple plums, fresh and juicy as he remembered. He licked his lips and his mouth watered but he didn’t pick one up. Instead, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his coins, waiting for the attention of the merchant.
The old woman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a young man stood in as the merchant and dropped apples into a woman’s basket as he counted them. After she paid him, and he tucked the coins into his purse he looked over Hamo’s head.
“Next?” he said to several people browsing.
“Me, sir,” Hamo said.
The man did a double-take and then approached him.
“What can I do for you, young fellow?” he asked.
“I wish to buy a magic plum,” Hamo replied. The man laughed.
“A what?”
“These are the same kind of plums that the old lady was selling are they not?” Hamo asked.
“They come from the same trees, yes.”
“She said they were magic and that they would take me away to a different land,” Hamo said. “I wish to buy one.”
“Lady Tellingham has quite a sales technique,” the man chuckled under his breath.
“Is it not true?”
“It’s whatever you believe. They are delicious and very well could take you away to another land,” he laughed.
“I have sixpence,” Hamo said.
“Sixpence? I will sell one to you for half that.” The man picked up the biggest juiciest plum he could find and held it up to him, but Hamo hesitated.
“I need the one for sixpence.”
The man tossed the plum in his hand, his brown eyes fixed on Hamo. “I don’t want to steal your money, son.”
“But I need the magic one.”
“This is the magic one,” he said. “The magic is half price. A special deal for a young man such as yourself.”
Could he be telling the truth? Hamo studied the plum. It looked just like the one he had chosen before. He reached in his pocket. “Three only?” He counted the coins and dropped them into the man’s hand, thrilled that he’d still have money left. Once the plum was in his possession, he spun around, tucking it in his pocket, and took off at a jog. He should be alone for this. What if someone saw him disappear? What if the dragon showed up here?
No one knew his favorite little cove hidden away among the rocks. No one, save for his brother and Cadby already knew his plans.
He trotted through the market and when he reached the sandy shore he took off running. Once on the wet sand, far away from anyone else, Hamo removed his boots. He took one look back at the village, the busy market now glistening with life in the mid-morning sun. Would he miss this place? Maybe. But I won’t miss being poor, and I won’t miss smelling like sheep in order to have money. I will be rich like a prince.
“And if I’m rich, my family will be rich too. Cadby and Mother and Father won’t have to worry anymore about paying the king, and we can have all the fruit we want.”
With that last thought, Hamo rounded the bend and splashed through the tide pools. Tiny crabs wiggled away from him, and sea stars brightened his path. When he reached his hiding place he sat down on a wet rock, dug his bare toes deep into the sandy surf, and pulled the plum from his pocket. What a beautiful fruit, he thought as he inspected its purple skin, royal-like the robe of a king, and inside, peeking through a slight bruise of ripeness, its gold essence enticed him. He took a breath, closed his eyes, and bit into it.
Sweet, only mildly tart, and its juice trickled down his chin. He chewed and swallowed and waited. Nothing.
Perhaps I need to eat the entire plum to make the magic work!
And so Hamo sat in his damp little cove and devoured the fruit, picking every morsel off the seed until there was nothing left.
And still, he did not travel to a strange land, nor did he see a dragon.
The surf rolled in, salty foam tickled his toes. A seagull called and landed not far from him and pecked at a clam.
He should wait. Be patient. He would stay here away from people until he’s taken away. Maybe this was a test of his patience.
Hamo waited all afternoon. He tired of watching the sea and so he lay on the sand and dozed. When he woke, the rising tide had saturated his clothes. He sat up quickly.
“Hamo!” Cadby called. “What are you doing here, little brother?”
Hamo blinked, still half asleep.
“I saw your boots and worried you might have drowned. Hurry out of the cove. If you stay much longer the tide will wash you away.”
Hamo let his brother help him up and dust the sand off his pants.
“Mother will be furious when she sees you with your clothes all wet.”
“It didn’t work,” Hamo said as they stumbled through the rumbling waves that now swallowed the tide pools.
“What didn’t work?” Cadby asked.
“The magic plum. I think I bought the wrong one. I should have paid a sixpence, but I only gave three.” Hamo wanted to cry but he held back the tears. Why was life always unfair?
Cadby’s grip grew strong around his hand. It was a good thing too, for the waves filled the cove with such force, Hamo might have succumbed to them without his brother’s help. When they climbed out of the hollow and slid onto the sandy beach, Hamo sighed. The sun had already sunk beyond the horizon and the sky took on a golden hue that seemed to cover the entire earth. He stopped to catch his breath and Cadby let go of his hand.
“Life isn’t unfair, Hamo,” Cadby said.
“There was no magic plum. I ate the entire thing and look I’m still here.”
A smile warmed his brother’s face. “I don’t think the magic worked the way you expected it to.”
“What do you mean? I’m still here. The woman said I would be taken to another land.”
“You are!”
Hamo frowned, and grit his teeth. That his brother made fun of him added to his misery.
“Look how you’ve changed since you first discovered the plum. You’ve worked hard and long shearing sheep. You’ve learned a new trade and made enough coins to purchase what you wanted. You stepped out of the house this morning as if you were a man on an adventure. All because of the magic plum.”
“What are you saying?”
Cadby just smiled.
“You mean the magic is me growing up?”
Cadby ruffled his hair. “It’s a new world for you, Hamo! And look at the sky. Why if I didn’t know better I’d say we’re walking in the dragon’s gold!”
The End
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