High in the Alpine mountains, it was just past Beltane and all the villagers were getting their shared community park tidied up. These joyful communities, both the trolls and the local country folk, loved to celebrate the Wheel of the Year holidays together. They always had a wonderful time! They were sorry to see the end of this week long festival. It was one of the grandest and most important of the whole year. Beltane marked the beginning of the sunny, warm, growing time of the year. The young couples had joined together around the great balefire to profess their love and many blessings were given and received for a productive growing season.
The next celebration was 6 weeks away. While only lasting one day, it was no less important. This day would mark the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. Litha or Midsummer was a celebration of High Summer when the countryside burgeoned with lush greenery and beautiful flowers in full bloom. It was an important time, when those who had become betrothed at Beltane would Handfast and begin their new lives together for at least one year and one day. During that time period, they would keep house together to see if they enjoyed each other enough to stay together in a more permanent way.
This is a gorgeous day thought Tasha, as she went walking through the warm, sunny, meadow collecting daisies. The flowers were beginning to bloom everywhere and were a wonderful sight to see after the long, cold, Winter. Tasha was going to make floral crowns for everyone to wear at the annual Warrior Troll Princess gathering. Daisies were one of her favorite flowers. They had tough stems that were easy to weave and made a nice base to poke in other colorful flowers and vines. Her basket was nearly full and as she straightened up from her picking she noticed a girl sitting on a boulder near the brook.
Tasha was thirsty and a bit tired, so she headed over that way for a cool drink and a rest. When she got closer she thought she heard weeping. She quietly approached the small troll girl and saw that she was indeed weeping. Her face was damp from her tears and she had a mild case of the hiccups from all her crying.
“Why, Sparkle! I almost didn’t recognize you with your eyes all swollen from crying. Whatever is the cause of all this sobbing?”
To read more of this story visit: amazon.com/author/sharonmerlier
The next celebration was 6 weeks away. While only lasting one day, it was no less important. This day would mark the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. Litha or Midsummer was a celebration of High Summer when the countryside burgeoned with lush greenery and beautiful flowers in full bloom. It was an important time, when those who had become betrothed at Beltane would Handfast and begin their new lives together for at least one year and one day. During that time period, they would keep house together to see if they enjoyed each other enough to stay together in a more permanent way.
This is a gorgeous day thought Tasha, as she went walking through the warm, sunny, meadow collecting daisies. The flowers were beginning to bloom everywhere and were a wonderful sight to see after the long, cold, Winter. Tasha was going to make floral crowns for everyone to wear at the annual Warrior Troll Princess gathering. Daisies were one of her favorite flowers. They had tough stems that were easy to weave and made a nice base to poke in other colorful flowers and vines. Her basket was nearly full and as she straightened up from her picking she noticed a girl sitting on a boulder near the brook.
Tasha was thirsty and a bit tired, so she headed over that way for a cool drink and a rest. When she got closer she thought she heard weeping. She quietly approached the small troll girl and saw that she was indeed weeping. Her face was damp from her tears and she had a mild case of the hiccups from all her crying.
“Why, Sparkle! I almost didn’t recognize you with your eyes all swollen from crying. Whatever is the cause of all this sobbing?”
To read more of this story visit: amazon.com/author/sharonmerlier