[Repost] Lyra and the Crystal Ball

~ by Rima Putriani

Once upon a time, there lived a cloudless young girl named Lyra. Since her mother was dead, she only lived with her father in a small city. Her family was not a rich one, but they lived happily although they had to work very hard just to get a food.

Her father was a blacksmith and Lyra herself worked as a messenger who sent message from one to another. She enjoyed the job where she could explore the whole city. She woke early everymorning to get dressed with her messenger-uniform and then got to work. Her bestfriend, Ronan, always stayed in the mouth of the alley to pick her up and then they’d walk together to work even though Ronan was a pipework, not a messenger like her.

Once, when Lyra was walking on the street with Ronan, she unexpectedly found a dirty and ugly crystal ball. That was the ugliest ball she’d ever seen but she brought it home because she surely thought that there was something uncovered in it. Ronan glanced at it in disgust but Lyra just said, “ Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Lyra put the ball on the table in her room and stared at it everytime she had a chance wondering what she should do with it. Until several times, she had no idea what to do and finally decided that it was just a ball, nothing special.

Some days later, the ball fell onto the floor accidentally and broke into pieces. Surprisingly, there was a light flew out of the broken-ball. It reached Lyra’s body and blew her away to somewhere undetectable. Lyra was unconscious for a while and when she was already awake, she was standing on a vast green grassland.

Something caught by her eyes was much more incredible. The grassland was a yard of a big beautiful castle that stood strongly in front of her. Lyra wasn’t sure what was happening, but this was too precious to be passed by. So she walked through the grass and met someone on the way. It was Ronan. Lyra couldn’t believe her eyes. What was he doing there?

“ Hi, Lyra.” He grinned at her. “ Welcome, home! Yea, this is your home now.”

“ Home? Why? And why are you here? Who exactly you are?!”

“ I’m one of the guards of this castle. I was sent to search for you. You are the chosen one to own all of these because of your sincere and your hard work. You’re lucky, Lyra. And your dad also. Other guards are taking him here.”

“ Sincere? Me? Tell me what sincere did I do!”

“ At least you took the dirty ball while no one had no willing even just to take a look at it. Don’t judge a book by its cover, remember? That was what you said.”

Lyra smiled.

So, Lyra lived happily with her father in her new living place. She wore splendid dresses, no more messenger-uniform. A few years later, she grew up into a very beautiful woman and built a kingdom with herself as the queen. Ronan was not a guard anymore. He married the queen and they lived happily ever after.