There once was a young girl who lived at the top of a grate hill that faced a tremendous moor. Every day the wind would whistle and be carried up, up, up to the tree tops that surrounded her tiny little cottage. One day the wind brought to her a handsome stranger. She saw him making his way to the cottage and ran up to meet him. He had been traveling a long way he didn't know where he was going all he knew was that he would know when he got there. She was fascinated by this man and brought him into the cottage and fed him soup and bread that she had made earlier that day. He was very hungry and very grateful for the small meal and in turn told her stories of his wandering, people he had met, places he had seen, all excited the girl, she had never had a need to go any further than the bottom of the hill that held the cottage. The stranger stayed no more than an hour, leaving her with nothing but an embrace and a mind full of mysteries.
A week later the high winds set another stranger at the girls door, this time it was an old woman who claimed she was lost in the moor for hours trying to find the town. The girl let the woman into her house and gave her bread and wine. The old woman sat eating in silence for sometime when she looked up from her plate she told the girl that to pay her for her kindness she would tell her, her future. The young girl didn't believe in such things but decided to play along. After all the old woman was very poor by her dress and wanted so much to repay her. The woman took the young girl's hand and stared into the palm. "You must leave this place, A terrible storm is going to sweep up the moor and you will not be able to survive it". 'That's silly' thought the girl, 'This home has outlasted storms for generations, this is my home, I will not leave it'. The woman gazed into the girl's eyes, "Your true love waits for you at the end of your great journey, You will know who he is, you have seen his face before." With these words the old woman got up and left the cottage disappearing into the night, the wind whistling like a banshee behind her.
The young girl was so troubled by this prediction, she didn't know wether to take the old woman's predictions as true or not. Strange, there were never visitors to these parts and with these two she didn't know what to make of it. She decided to continue with her chores as she always had done and put the strange meetings in the back of her mind. However the face of the man that the wind had brought her remained in her minds eye, throughout each day that went on. She never had any desire to leave her home on any adventure. The cottage was the home where she was born and she always had figured she would live there the rest of her days. It was silly to think that, even if she did choose to leave her home, how would she ever find the strange man? She thought on and on about the stories that he had told her. More and more she wished that she was there with him exploring strange lands.
The days crept on, and as the old woman predicted a horrible wind blew in from the north. The girl looked out her window at the approaching storm. "I am not afraid of it" she said. "I have weathered things far more terrible than you". The wind blew on her door, rattled the windows, and shook the floorboards, "You must leave this place," the wind seemed to scream as it tore off the shingles. "You must flee, find your love", the old woman's voice rang in the girls mind. She flew to the window and screamed out into the night "Never! I will outlast you! Do your worst!". 'If I chose to leave it will be of my own accord and nothing else' and she wrapped herself in blankets and sat at the window. She saw the heavens opening up and the storm came crashing around her. The wind and hail pounded on her door as if they had powerful hands knocking urgently. Stray tree branches scraped the wall and the wind seemed to cry to her. The rain pouring on the window pane began to take the shape of the face of the old woman. "No," she screamed, "I will turn my back to you!" and she turned her chair. The lighting flashed and the rain poured. "If this is all you can do, I will sleep and not think on you another moment." With these words she got up and went and lay on her small bed the face of the old woman still beckoning to her at the window.
When the girl awoke the next morning the storm had ended. Looking out the window the morning seemed grey but the moor had grown green and lush over night. When she opened the door lying at the foot of the steps was the traveler that she had met weeks ago. With all of her might she pulled him inside and set him on the bench by the fire. It appeared he had been out in the rain the entire night. The rain had brought on a fever to the man and the girl began to nurse him back to health. When he regained the power to speak, he spoke of an old woman whom he met on the road the previous day who told him of new journey he must set himself on. She told him that through all his wandering he had never found the one thing that mattered most in life. She told him to set his sights on the north star and follow it for a day straight though. He had no where in-particular to be and was very interested in finding the one thing that mattered most in his life. He had always considered himself a happy man and was curious to know what was missing.
When the storm came upon him he couldn't turn back no matter how hard it raged. The black clouds eventually covered the stars but his curiosity and determination pushed him further and further, until he found himself in the middle of a moor staring at the old woman he had seen the day before. "My dear lady what are you doing out here in this monstrous weather?" She just looked up at him and smiled, "Madam are you alright?" The woman came forward and placed her hand to his forehead and that was the final thing her remembered until waking in the young girls cottage. The young girl hand her hand pressed to his forehead, he looked at her smiled, he knew he would find what he was looking for when he would arrive to it. The young girl smiled as she heard this story, for though she never believed in these sort of things she recognized the man's face. -J.M
