The Castle of Voices

Once upon a time there was a young man. Not a handsome and strong prince worthy of a princess' love, but just a man. This young man had long been wandering the world aimlessly, stopping here or there to take bread or water, but never for very long. In short time he would grow bored again, and his wanderings would continue to take him far and wide over the landscape of life.

One day while out and about, as he wandered through the forest, he crested a hill and saw in the distance a castle with many flags and pennants fluttering in the breezes. With nothing going on in his life, and nothing better to do, our young one decided it might be worth a trip to the castle, to see what it was about.

He slowly made his way to the castle and stood looking up at it. It was a fairly nondescript place standing here in the middle of nowhere, he thought to himself, and he wondered how on earth it had come to be here. But with nothing better to do, he decided it might be worth a trip inside the castle, to see what he could see. He began to wander around the castle until he came to the main gate. How strange there was no-one there to guard them. Shrugging, he plodded across the drawbridge and entered the main doors which stood open to him, as if they had been waiting his arrival this whole time.

What wonders awaited his eyes inside! The walls surrounding him were completely without decoration, but upon them was door after door. Hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands! And painted in strangest colors imaginable. Some were starkly black or white, while others were fanciful with polk-a-dots or other strange and odd designs. It was a castle full of doors. But what on earth were they there for? What did it all mean?

Finally, because he simply had nothing better to do, and nothing pressing upon his time, he decided to try his luck at opening one of the doors. But which one should he choose? He supposed it might be best left to luck, although really and truly, what did it matter? They were just doors after all. Closing his eyes, he began to turn around (only twice, though -- really, what purpose would there have been in spinning more than twice) and opened his eyes upon a door with pink trim, upon which flowers of some sort had been painted. Again, because he had nothing better to do, our young man walked slowly to the door, opened it up, and stepped inside.

He almost instantly regretted doing so. Why is it so dark in here?, he thought to himself. But after the initial shock wore off, and his eyes began to adjust, he began to hear voices in the darkness -- voices which spoke of and promised beauty, wealth, pleasure, love and lust. His head was spinning. With so many voices to choose from, how was he ever to know what they meant or what they wanted from him. But what was worse? He couldn't find the door he had come in! As he fumbled around in the pitch another voice reached his ear, and while he was initially want to ignore it, this one was different. It didn't speak of physical things, but of something different. This voice spoke of courage and bravery, and of having a loving, caring and considerate spirit. And as he strained into the darkness, he noticed something he had not before -- not only was his room full of voices, but also of slowly pulsing lights dancing in the distance. They pulsed in different ways, some brighter and some dimmer, some faster and some slower. But there was little doubt in his mind -- one pulsed faster, and stronger than all the rest. And suddenly, seized with an urge he could not explain (and certainly had never felt before) he ran full-bore into the sea of lights around him, looking for the one that was so strong.

Now it just so happened that the one thing, the only thing our young man carried him at the time was a small, transparent glass container to hold treasures in. The only problem was up to this point our young man had never truly found anything to treasure. But now he had. He must have this light and voice that was before him! How beautiful it would look in his jar as he traveled the world. It would light his way and whisper the most extraordinary things to him. How he would love it, if he could just catch it! Yet every time he approached it, it moved away. It was like a will-o-the-wisp in the distance, just constantly out of his reach. Finally, in a fit of desperation (and emotion again never seen in our young man) the young man screamed aloud, asking the voice how he might catch it. And as all the other voices quieted at last and only one remained, in the stillness his voice answered him; "Just ask me to, and I will come with you and be yours forever." The young man, who had not truly spoken in quite some time asked, and the voice came with him, and filled up his container with its shining light.

The young man left the castle that day, knowing that he would never return, carrying his voice with him. And to this day, if you come across the young man, you will see that he is still carrying that jar of light and voice with him everywhere he goes, through all of life's journey and adventure, almost as if they were lovers holding hands...