The Maiden and The Hound
Written by Jessica R Woehler
Photographed and Modeled by Marisa Lim
Long ago and long forgotten in a forest buried deep in the old country, there once lived a young maiden. The story goes that she was sent to spend her life alone because of a curse placed upon her father. The man was unable to learn the truth about selflessness and sacrifice, so an enchantress took his only child in hopes to make him understand the value of those characteristics. Yet even then the father’s heart remained cold and unchanged, focused only on his own personal gain. So the enchantress cursed the man to never know the satisfaction of true love, for true love is only found when two souls decide to walk through life together, placing the other person's needs above their own.
With a heart hardened and immoveable, the father grew calloused towards any display of affection, whether directed towards him or not. One day a young man came to his door, asking about the man’s daughter, for he had heard rumors of a beautiful maiden who was kept hidden in the woods. When questioned about his motives, the young man said that he merely wished to make sure the maiden was not alone, for no one should have to walk through the trials of life without someone to lean on.
The cursed heart of the father would not believe that the young man had such selfless motivations for seeking out his daughter, so he placed his own spell upon the young man. Through a mixture of herbs and hurtful words, the father transformed the young man into a lowly creature. A creature that no one would ever think about rescuing or seeking as a companion. So the years went by and the father died, leaving nothing behind for his forgotten daughter and leaving no remedy for the man turned mongrel. His dying breath was met with the satisfaction of knowing that at least two other souls would be doomed to live a life as lonely and loveless as his. Yet little did the father know that what is meant to be will always find a way.
So the daughter grew alone in the woods, still a stranger to love and all that it could add to the story of life. Unaware of the young man and his quest for her, as well as the curse that had befallen him on behalf of her, the maiden never suspected the meaning behind the arrival of the small companion that had found her in the woods. At first, she was unsure that it was even a companion at all, but the more the white creature came to visit, the more she found herself looking forward to its arrival. And while she did not know the definition of a friend, she couldn’t help but trust that what she was feeling was something that would add to the meaning of life.
It was a white hound who would appear during each full moon, bringing her gifts from his adventures throughout the neighboring kingdoms. The blossom of a cherry tree, the skin of a snake, he even once gifted her with a small jade stone which the maiden fastened into a necklace that hung faithfully around her neck. The visits of her four-legged friend were all she ever knew to look forward to. She often tried to follow him, to find her way out of the forest and into a life that would show her what love was but no matter how far she wandered she would always end up exactly where she had started; the forest seemed intent on keeping her. Until one fateful day when the moon grew full and the hound never came.
The sun was fading slowly in the west, the glimmering golden orb always seemingly reluctant to bid farewell to the planet she warmed so faithfully despite the trustworthy promise that the east would welcome her back in a few hours. Is that what love is? The maiden wondered aloud to herself as she awaited the arrival of her sole companion. Is love the desire to always be near someone? The maiden took those thoughts and opened her well-worn book, adding a line to her latest story
You see, writing is how she kept herself company all those years. She would spin together stories of all the adventures she wished she could have, of all the different people she yearned to meet, of all the love she wished she to experience. While she never knew who had sent her to the woods or how she had come to be there, she was grateful for the generous supply of ink and parchment they had left her. The cottage was small, food was often scarce, but the stock of writing material never seemed to wane, a mysterious gift she never thought to question.
But all that was far from her thoughts as she watched the sun bid its final farewell and the moon loomed large, seemingly resting perfectly on the tops of the trees silhouetted by its light. Her hound companion was usually with her by now and yet was nowhere to be seen. She watched as the blue blooms of the night floras came to life under the moon rays. Small but numerous they illuminated the night with their radiant petals, a service she had defined as a gift for the hours of writing their light had given. Though it was night and she was alone, she was no stranger to the loneliness of the night that now encompassed her; she would go and find her companion for she was not afraid.
Clutching tight the gifted jade that hung around her neck, the maiden ventured forth into the trees, guided only by the moon and blooms that surrounded her. The underscore of her own footsteps was the only sound to be heard. More and more time passed as she continued her search, and with each passing moment, her thoughts wandered further. What if you search for something but never succeed in finding it? What if you hope for something but never receive it? How then do you continue to move forward in life? The maiden's thoughts drifted from wonder to doubt to almost fear - she had grown so accustomed to having the white hound in her life, what if she truly was to never see him again? How could she go back to being lonely after having known what it is to have a friend? Surely life is too long to forge through alone. At least, that it was she believed now that she had glimpsed the alternative to being on one's own.
A howl echoed through the trees, disrupting the trail of doubt that the maiden's thoughts had begun to follow. The maiden ran; she had never heard a sound of such pain before and while she wanted to believe that it was not her hound she couldn’t help but feel that it was. She came to a clearing and her fears were confirmed. Her hound lay helpless and suffering as another creature circled it with menacing and meticulous precision. This beast was unlike anything the maiden had ever seen or even knew to exist. Houndlike in shape but monstrous in size, its eyes gleamed red with an evil from another world. Blood dripped from its fangs, matted mounds of fur clung to its ridged back, its footsteps made the ground tremble beneath her. The monster poised itself to strike again and the maiden didn’t think twice.
She isn’t altogether sure what happened in the following moments, all she knew is that in a breath of brazen bravery, she threw herself between the hound and the monster and for whatever reason that action triggered a train of events that still remain unexplainable. But she did remember light; a light so brilliant and blinding, a light too perfect for the presence of such a beast of darkness. A shriek escaped from the sinister creature as it withered and writhed as if in pain from the light. And then suddenly it was gone, taking with it the fears that had been pounding on her heart. The light faded, and the maiden turned to look for her hound but instead found something else entirely.
In the clearing under the glimmering light of the moon, a young man now rested where her hound had been. The maiden watched in stunned silence as he slowly made his way to his feet. The wounds the hound had suffered had vanished, white fur turned to a white tunic, framing well his handsome silhouette. He turned and their eyes met and the maiden knew - this was still her friend. The man pointed at the jade he had gifted her.
“That belonged to your father. I stole it from him the day he turned me into a hound. And it was your act of selflessness just now that saved me; you were selfless in a way your father never could be. You see, I had heard of a maiden who lived alone in the woods and I believe that no one should have to go through life alone, so I tried to seek his help in finding you. But he told me that you had been taken because he had failed to be selfless, couldn’t understand love, and in his stubbornness he refused to bend towards anything that might prove him wrong even if it meant the return of his daughter. So in an attempt to prevent me from ever finding you myself, he transformed me into a white hound. I wandered the woods alone for years until that fateful night that I finally found you, scribbling away under the light of the full moon.
You had looked so peaceful, so content, that for a moment I nearly turned back. I was unsure if I could add any value to your life for you seemed happy as you were. But I had finally found you after years of searching so I pushed past my fears and approached you. And I kept pushing past them until. . .until I felt you growing close to me the way I was growing close to you. I saw the excitement in your eyes every time I approached, the joy in the small trinkets I would give you, and the fear inside me grew. You deserved more than I could give, than I could bring you, and I didn’t know how to be what you needed. I didn’t know how to get back to the man that I knew I still was, deep down. So I left. I had to let you go in hopes that perhaps someone else more suited would come along and find you one day.” The man paused for a moment. Tears slipped down his face and his eyes tore away from the maiden's gaze.
“Why did you come looking for me?” He whispered, pride broken and heart laid bare. The maiden stepped towards him and gently turned his face back to hers.
“Because you’re my friend. The first one I’ve ever known. ” The maiden searched for the man's eyes as she spoke but his gaze stayed downcast.
“Surely you must think so little of me now, for letting fear win, for running away. And now you can see that surely I cannot give you what you need.”
“But don’t you see? You have already given me everything I could ever want or need - a face to look forward to seeing, a hand to hold when the night grows dark, a shoulder to lean on when life is less than easy. What more could anyone hope to find than that?” The maiden now held his face with both hands, praying her words would find their way to his heart and help him understand his worth through her eyes.
“You really believe that, don’t you? That the value of life can be so simple?” He asked, finally looking her in the eyes.
“I’ve written a lot of stories, dreamed about a lot of things, and yet in all of my wildest wonderings and fanciful fictions, my plots always let me to the same conclusion; it is not the number of days that we have on this world, nor even how we spend them, that truly matters. It is with whom we are lucky enough to spend our days that adds the greatest value to life. For what more could a soul crave than to offer understanding and be understood in return?” A small smile cracked across the lips of the man as the maiden spoke.
“And besides,” she continued, “Didn’t you once believe that yourself? So much so that you desired to look for me in the first place?” The man nodded, a flicker of his old self coming to life inside him. She believed in him, and that was enough. They were together, and that was more than enough. The crack of a smile turned into a grin as he soaked in the grace that flooded unashamedly from her eyes. His thumb traced away the tears that spilled across her lips and slowly leaned in.
“May I?” He gently asked in a whisper, the flicker inside him growing stronger, turning brave.
The maiden nodded as a laugh escaped her lips in her reply, “You may.”
