Tears of Adamas: A New Old-Fashion Fairy Tale Short Story (2 page)

             
“What must I do to you to make you weep?” he raged. But the maiden sat still and silent as ice. “How is it that you weep the finest and purest gems until now? How is that you shed but a single jewel, and that marked with inclusions that steal its worth?” And yet, the girl remained silent. The King abandoned her to her chambers, and held her freedoms ransom until she acquiesced to his cravings.

*          *          *

              Ages passed. The girl grew into a woman and found what little peace her three small rooms contained. Bitterness barked at the door of her heart, but she vehemently denied its entry. Only once a year did she allow herself to shed a single tear—a single tear for the man who was her King and would have been her Father. Always, she relinquished the gem of her grief when Poneros came calling.

             
“Why can you not shed tears this pure, this lovely for me?” demanded the King one day.

             
Adamas only smiled at him sadly and said, “For you, I will cry no more. For my King and Father, who gained my undying fealty, I will give but one and the finest.”

             
More angry than ever, Poneros stormed from her rooms.

             
But a different storm raged outside the castle walls. The peasantry was rising up in rebellion of the King’s excesses while their children starved in their beds. Adamas watched on in sorrow, but denied herself the liberty to manifest that sadness with tears. As long as she remained prisoner, her tears would be held at bay.

             
On a still, warm evening, when shadows crept long and slow across the land, a brave young knight camped in the woods surrounding the King’s court. Adamas’ story, a lovely young maid held prisoner by the King of excess, had spread like dandelion fluff on the wind. It whispered her name in his ears, as he slept by the fire in his encampment. All the next day, he gathered men to fight, and all the next, he schemed and planned for the freedom of Adamas, and perhaps, usurpation of the King.

*          *          *

              “How is it, wench, that you can betray me? After I brought you into my home, gave you food and clothing, a pillow for your head and a father for your heart?”

             
“You would dare to assassinate the kindest man in all the world in the name of your greed. You would enthrone yourself as King and wage your torments upon me—again, all for your greed. What you deposited in me, that you received out of me. You sowed only bitterness and darkness, and forgot the food of love and kindness.”

             
As Adamas words rebounded from the hard heart of the King, the revolt that roiled below in the cobbled streets spilled into the castle courtyard. Poneros rushed out of her chamber, sword drawn, and bounded down the grand staircase and into the roiling fray. He charged the brave knight, and the two engaged in the fiercest of battles. One by one, the King’s guard fell prey to the mob, until only the Knight and Poneros remained at odds. All the Knight’s kith and kinsmen gathered round about to look on at the spectacle of battle. Finally, after many wounds to both of them, the Knight disarmed King Poneros, and held him at bay at the point of his sword. As the Knight’s arm drew back for the killing blow, a voice like the tinkling of glass stayed his thrust.

             
“Stop! Please! I prithee, do not slay my lord and my king!” Adamas stood at the head of the stairs.

             
The Knight saluted the maid with a gracious bow. “My lady, your King is a cruel, wasteful man. While he stuffs his belly to overflowing thrice a day, his people starve in the streets.”

              Adamas nodded sadly. “Tis true, sir Knight. Greater than most, I know of his cruelties. But how better are we if we repay his cruelty with yet more cruelty?” she asked as she floated down the stairs.

             
“And what sentence would you deem acceptable, my lady?”

             
“Three things, and only three, I would ask. First, I beg my freedom, for my loss will cost him dearly. Second, that he be turned out of the domain, for the loss of his sovereignty will cost him more. And third…”

             
But the maiden never finished her demands. The King lunged at her and wrapped his fingers about her throat. The Knight charged forward, but Poneros eyes grew wide like saucers and his final breath gurgled in his chest. His body fell away and tumbled to the floor. A diamond-handled dagger dropped from Adamas’ bloodstained hand. Sparkling tears pooled in her crystalline eyes as they pleaded forgiveness for the death of the King.

             
“My lady…” gasped the Knight as her body swooned and he caught her in his arms. Scooping up her tiny body, he followed a waiting maid to Adamas’ chamber and laid her upon her bed. The maid staff scuttled and scurried to attend her. Presently, the girl’s eyes fluttered open to behold the Knight worrying the rug bare with his pacing.

             
“You must have a name,” she said and startled him from his brooding. “I cannot call you Knight.”

             
He knelt at the side of her bed and bowed his head. “I am…my name is Gennaios, and I am truly no knight. Only a man, a simple, common man, who would fight for a better life.”

             
Adamas reached out her hand and Gennaios lifted her to her feet.  “And you, common man, Gennaios, did you wage this invasion to become king?”

             
“No, my lady. The whispers of your captivity have spread across the land. I sought only to give you your freedom and return sustenance to the people.”

             
Adamas was very quiet as she pattered around her room and grazed her fingers over trinkets of gold—gifts from her father-king. Her very soul ached for his strong hand upon her shoulder and his gentle words of wisdom.

             
“You are the victor in this war, Gennaios. You have won the right to the throne.” The young man stood limp and gawping, his mind not fully understanding her words. “What would you do with me, my King?”

             
“I…” he stammered. “I would give you the gift of your freedom, my lady. That is all my heart has yearned for since the news of your captivity reached my ears. I did not come to be King.”

             
“And if I wished to stay, O King. Would you allow me my rooms and still my freedom?”

             
“If that was your wish but…I am no king, my lady.”

             
“What? Not chivalrous? Not kind? Not brave? Not a leader of the commoners? How do you say ‘not a king’?”

             
Adamas withdrew a roll of parchment from the folds of her gown and clutched it in her hand. “And if I were Queen, by right or by writ, would you then be King?”

             
Gennaios bowed his head to her and curled his fist over his heart. “With undying love and fealty, my Queen.”

             
“My Father-King knew of the hardness of Poneros heart even when the boy was but a child. He prayed the heavens would send one who is strong. Someone with as kind a heart as his own. And within a fortnight, I slept within his walls, brought here by his own calloused son.” The maiden unfurled the roll of parchment and held it before the young man. “My father, the King, declared in this testament that I should succeed him as monarch.” At this, Gennaios took a knee and bowed before her. “Not even his own son knew his will. For my life, despite my gifts, would have been forfeit at his leisure.”

             
“Gifts, Your Majesty?”

             
A tear formed on Adamas’ long dark lashes and deposited on the tip of her finger. “Is it witchcraft to cry precious gems? Wizardly to draw the facets of tears into jewels? Demonic to weep a treasure? The father of my birth gave his life for the cause of this gift. My master slew him by the sword and took me hostage for his own gain.” The perfect, fiery diamond rolled into her palm and she dropped it into his hand. This one small stone would feed the kingdom for a month. And a single man for years.

             
“I am your humble servant, my lady. No matter the fortune, I would not cause you to weep.”

             
“Then arise, my King and let us take our kingdom.”

*          *          *

              With the King’s will in hand, Gennaios and Adamas stood before the people. The high priest anointed them, first as man and wife, and then, King and Queen. The good people of Kalos Province cheered, overjoyed at the salvation of their children, and deliverance from starvation. The new King and Queen opened their coffers and fed all the peoples of the land. And when the coffers ran dry, they sold Poneros’ stolen tears of Adamas for more.

*          *          *

              The next spring filled the countryside with the jewels of mother nature. Lavender scattered in the emerald fields, roses of ruby climbed the castle trellises. And the cries of a babe, a daughter, added music to the beauty. On that day, Adamas cried tears of joy—blush-pink diamonds warmed with a mother’s love for a child. Birthed in the throes of Spring, the child, Esmeralda, with glittering green eyes cried emerald tears.

             
Gennaios was a good king, a kind father, a beloved husband. All he could do to stay tears from all their eyes he set his hand and heart to do. For never did he want cruelty to taint their hearts. Each year, Adamas shed the purest tears for her murdered father, for her murdered father-king, and a single dark, cloudy jewel for Poneros, that she cast into the darkness of the chasm. Kalos Province thrived all the days of Adamas’ and Gennaios’ reign, and under the reign of their benevolent children. And their kingdom lives on to this day—in the hearts of the good, and the kind, and the generous.

             
Dedicated to all the good, the kind, and the generous people who have shared their lives and gifts with me.

Did you know?


        
Diamonds form in vertical pipes filled with
igneous rocks
.


        
The hardness of diamond and its high dispersion of light gives the diamond its "fire", and this dispersion of white light casts it into spectral colors


        
There is a weekly
diamond price
list
released as the price of diamonds fluctuates


        
The clarity of a diamond is measured by internal defects called
inclusions


        
There are mathematical guidelines for the angles and length ratios at which the diamond is supposed to be cut in order to reflect the maximum amount of light.


        
The
round brilliant cut
is considered the optimum cut for a diamond that calculates the ideal shape to return and scatter light when a diamond is viewed from above. The standard cut has 33 facets on the
crown
(the top half above the middle or
girdle
of the stone), and 25 on the
pavilion
(the lower half below the girdle)


        
Brilliance refers to the white light reflections from the external and internal facet surfaces.


        
Fire refers to the spectral colors which are produced as a result of the diamond dispersing the white light.


        
Scintillation refers to the small flashes of light that are seen when the diamond, light source or the viewer is moved


        
Historically, some jewelers' stones were misgraded because of smudges on the girdle, or dye on the culet. Current practice is to clean a diamond thoroughly before grading its color


        
Historically, it has been claimed that diamonds possess several supernatural powers:


        
Panics, pestilences, enchantments, all fly before it; hence, it is good for sleepwalkers and the insane.


        
It deprives lodestone and magnets of their virtue (i.e., ability to attract iron).


        
Arabic diamonds are said to attract iron greater than a magnet


        
In traditional Hinduism one should avoid contact with a diamond whose surface area is damaged by a crack, a crowfoot, a round, dull, speckled area, or which is black-blue, flat, or is cut other than the (ideal) hexagonal shape.

Info from:

Geology.com –
Igneous Rocks

Wikipedia –
Diamond (gemstones)

Wikipedia –
Diamonds as an Investment

Wik
ipedia –
Round Brilliant Cut

Wikipedia –
Brilliant (Diamond Cut)

Thank you for reading
Tears of Adamas: A New Old-Fashion Fairy Tale
. I hope you enjoyed my little story and will consider leaving a review for it. I was inspired by another author’s story (
Ellen Mae Franklin,
Tarkeenian series
) in which she created
a character, a fire sprite, who cries molten silver tears.

I’ve included the following excerpt from my
Sunshine & Daisies
novel.
Sunshine & Daisies
is a ‘feel good, anecdotal anthology’ meant to inspire memories of happy days gone by.