The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Catherynne M. Valente
- Publish Date: May 8, 2012
- Language: English
- Genre: Teen & Young Adult Fairy Tales & Folklore
- Format: PDF , EPUB
- Size: 2.4 MB
- Pages: 288
- Price: Free
EXEUNT ON A LEOPARD
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In Which a Girl Named September Is Spirited Off by
Means of a Leopard, Learns the Rules of Fairyland,
and Solves a Puzzle
Once upon a time, a girl named September grew very tired
indeed of her parents’ house, where she washed the same
pink-and-yellow teacups and matching gravy boats every
day, slept on the same embroidered pillow, and played with the
same small and amiable dog. Because she had been born in
May, and because she had a mole on her left cheek, and
because her feet were very large and ungainly, the Green Wind
took pity on her and flew to her window one evening just after
her twelfth birthday. He was dressed in a green smoking
jacket, and a green carriage-driver’s cloak, and green jodhpurs,
and green snowshoes. It is very cold above the clouds in the
shantytowns where the Six Winds live.
“You seem an ill-tempered and irascible enough child,”
said the Green Wind. “How would you like to come away with
me and ride upon the Leopard of Little Breezes and be
delivered to the great sea, which borders Fairyland? I am
afraid I cannot go in, as Harsh Airs are not allowed, but I
should be happy to deposit you upon the Perverse and Perilous
Sea.”
“Oh, yes!” breathed September, who disapproved deeply of
pink-and-yellow teacups and also of small and amiable dogs.
“Well, then, come and sit by me, and do not pull too
harshly on my Leopard’s fur, as she bites.”
September climbed out of her kitchen window, leaving a
sink full of soapy pink-and-yellow teacups with leaves still
clinging to their bottoms in portentous shapes. One of them
looked a bit like her father in his long coffee-colored trench
coat, gone away over the sea with a rifle and gleaming things
on his hat. One of them looked a bit like her mother, bending
over a stubborn airplane engine in her work overalls, her arm
muscles bulging.
One of them looked a bit like a squashed
cabbage. The Green Wind held out his hand, snug in a green
glove, and September took both his hands and a very deep
breath. One of her shoes came loose as she hoisted herself
over the sill, and this will be important later, so let us take a
moment to bid farewell to her prim little mary jane with its
brass buckle as it clatters onto the parquet floor. Good-bye,
shoe! September will miss you soon.
“Now,” said the Green Wind, when September was firmly
seated in the curling emerald saddle, her hands knotted in the
Leopard’s spotted pelt, “there are important rules in Fairyland,
rules from which I shall one day be exempt, when my papers
have been processed at last and I am possessed of the golden
ring of diplomatic immunity.
I am afraid that if you trample
upon the rules, I cannot help you. You may be ticketed or
executed, depending on the mood of the Marquess.”
“Is she very terrible?”
The Green Wind frowned into his brambly beard. “All little
girls are terrible,” he admitted finally, “but the Marquess, at
least, has a very fine hat.”
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