![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Okay, so like I said, I needed to create a bit, so I just wrote this on a whim. I have no idea where this came from or what the hell is wrong with me, but here it is, the tale of man who flies in his sleep and his grand idea. Written in the form of a messed up fairy tale or child's story. Or whatever.
Once upon a time in the land of Nod lived a man who slept aloft. No one was quite sure why he did so nor, for that matter, how in the hell he managed such a precarious and obviously fantastical perch as he did, yet night after night and, occasionally, day after day, he continued to slumber amidst the denizens of the air and sky. There were times, far too frequent for those of a stiff and proper manner, when he would gibber about on the wind like a ragdoll tossed about by a dog or errant child. Children who throw ragdolls about are always errant, as everyone knows who has read this. The man loved to sleep soundly upon the air and drift with the gentle wind and saw no harm in doing so, regardless of what the neighbors might think. Well, one day, as the man was taking an ever so slight, day-dreamy sleep, an incredible notion popped into his head.
With a cry, he leapt up, a mere fifteen feet or so (one is always leaping much higher than usual when gravity has given up fighting a person) and promptly fell a sturdy 30. One must always be wary of gravity, for it never tires for too long, and needs but an instant to snatch you back. The man, being too busy with his excitement to notice, promptly returned to his lounging about -- on a nearby cloud, as it turned out -- and promptly began to gyrate in ecstasy over his daydream thought. It was magnificent! It was marvelous! It was stark raving mad! And darned if he wasn't going to do it! He laughed uproariously at the grand picture that coalesced in his mind: a floating castle of such immensity and shear braveness that it would cast a shadow longer than any pitiful castle resting upon the stationary soil. Oh, what bold design, what lofting architecture and grace the thing would have! The man could hardly contain himself at the images dancing lofty dances and singing winsome songs before his eyes. Ah, such beauty and majesty this skykeep would have, what elegance and stolid nature!
This errant thought (and errant it was, due to a child having hidden it away there when an angry mother came looking for her foolish progeny) so consumed his moments, that the man had hardly any time to dream along with the wind and sleep with the birds. But oh, how worthy of his time was his plan. The man spent every cent and every moment of time he could scrap together; though, truth to be told, his vision cost him not much, for he wisely managed to wrangle every child within miles to his cause. Some children he so infused with gleaming joy, they came gladly, whilest others he simply convinced their mothers that the task would keep them from trouble and thus it was. Day by day grew the shimmering spires, the lacy arches, and grand stone walls. The man, as he soared at night in half-sleeping reverie, wove clouds and stars into tapestries, ropes, and rooms for the grand work. Week by week shone this extraordinary beauty, this masterpiece of dream and child slave-labor. Oh how the people crowded and marveled and the magnificent monstrosity, whispering words of awe or shouting words of derision. The man did not care, nor did he notice the talk over the fact that it did not yet fly. It rested on the ground, like an overweight baby bird, unable to rise. The man knew better.
Then, one day, it was finished, final and complete. Yet still did it not fly. The children gazed raptly at the work of their little hands and the man smiled sweetly in anticipation. The man knew what to do, and so he did. He ate a hearty dinner and promptly fell asleep. As he lay dreaming, aloft among the creatures of the night sky, his castle began to rise along with him; for his castle, being but the dream of a flying man, did not know how to fly until it was shown. Complete, this radiant vision flung itself into the night as if with the wings of a most powerful bird. And as it rose, it began to sing. Birds of the air (as well as a few of the more unfortunate children) had been woven into the very skykeep with strings of cloud and brilliant star. The man drifted slowly with his creation, snoring and dripping bits of drool on the occasional gawker. It's purpose now known, the skykeep danced the night air, twisting and gamboling in delight...and occasionally crushing those who had not liked the man's choice of distasteful sleeping arrangements. And the man was content.
Once upon a time in the land of Nod lived a man who slept aloft. No one was quite sure why he did so nor, for that matter, how in the hell he managed such a precarious and obviously fantastical perch as he did, yet night after night and, occasionally, day after day, he continued to slumber amidst the denizens of the air and sky. There were times, far too frequent for those of a stiff and proper manner, when he would gibber about on the wind like a ragdoll tossed about by a dog or errant child. Children who throw ragdolls about are always errant, as everyone knows who has read this. The man loved to sleep soundly upon the air and drift with the gentle wind and saw no harm in doing so, regardless of what the neighbors might think. Well, one day, as the man was taking an ever so slight, day-dreamy sleep, an incredible notion popped into his head.
With a cry, he leapt up, a mere fifteen feet or so (one is always leaping much higher than usual when gravity has given up fighting a person) and promptly fell a sturdy 30. One must always be wary of gravity, for it never tires for too long, and needs but an instant to snatch you back. The man, being too busy with his excitement to notice, promptly returned to his lounging about -- on a nearby cloud, as it turned out -- and promptly began to gyrate in ecstasy over his daydream thought. It was magnificent! It was marvelous! It was stark raving mad! And darned if he wasn't going to do it! He laughed uproariously at the grand picture that coalesced in his mind: a floating castle of such immensity and shear braveness that it would cast a shadow longer than any pitiful castle resting upon the stationary soil. Oh, what bold design, what lofting architecture and grace the thing would have! The man could hardly contain himself at the images dancing lofty dances and singing winsome songs before his eyes. Ah, such beauty and majesty this skykeep would have, what elegance and stolid nature!
This errant thought (and errant it was, due to a child having hidden it away there when an angry mother came looking for her foolish progeny) so consumed his moments, that the man had hardly any time to dream along with the wind and sleep with the birds. But oh, how worthy of his time was his plan. The man spent every cent and every moment of time he could scrap together; though, truth to be told, his vision cost him not much, for he wisely managed to wrangle every child within miles to his cause. Some children he so infused with gleaming joy, they came gladly, whilest others he simply convinced their mothers that the task would keep them from trouble and thus it was. Day by day grew the shimmering spires, the lacy arches, and grand stone walls. The man, as he soared at night in half-sleeping reverie, wove clouds and stars into tapestries, ropes, and rooms for the grand work. Week by week shone this extraordinary beauty, this masterpiece of dream and child slave-labor. Oh how the people crowded and marveled and the magnificent monstrosity, whispering words of awe or shouting words of derision. The man did not care, nor did he notice the talk over the fact that it did not yet fly. It rested on the ground, like an overweight baby bird, unable to rise. The man knew better.
Then, one day, it was finished, final and complete. Yet still did it not fly. The children gazed raptly at the work of their little hands and the man smiled sweetly in anticipation. The man knew what to do, and so he did. He ate a hearty dinner and promptly fell asleep. As he lay dreaming, aloft among the creatures of the night sky, his castle began to rise along with him; for his castle, being but the dream of a flying man, did not know how to fly until it was shown. Complete, this radiant vision flung itself into the night as if with the wings of a most powerful bird. And as it rose, it began to sing. Birds of the air (as well as a few of the more unfortunate children) had been woven into the very skykeep with strings of cloud and brilliant star. The man drifted slowly with his creation, snoring and dripping bits of drool on the occasional gawker. It's purpose now known, the skykeep danced the night air, twisting and gamboling in delight...and occasionally crushing those who had not liked the man's choice of distasteful sleeping arrangements. And the man was content.
