4 FOOT FOLDING TABLE

The Letter

Kieran decided he had had quite enough of walking, and instead decided to stay nearby his stand of corn, and work out exactly what he was able to do in this forest. It had become clear to him that he was able to create things that he wished for or needed to have. It also occurred to him that he may have even created some of the inhabitants of this world even if it was inadvertently. Hiscuriosity was a powerful force that morning as he woke. He created for himself a nice fruit and granola breakfast with milk and honey, on a table spun from vinesthat grew out of the warm, black earth.

He sat down on a rock afterward and thought about writing his Sister a letter, to tell her that everything was alright and that he was enjoying himself in the forest. A piece of fine parchment appeared in one hand, and a pen with a gold-inlaid nib appeared in the other. This pen was itself a wonder, and never seemed to run dry as Kieran wrote the letter to his Sister. After signing it, and folding it carefully, the raven that he had met the previous day flew over and landed on a lichen covered rock at his feet.

"I see you have a letter to be delivered, and I will do this if you bid me to." said the raven dancing from one foot to the other as if it was very uncomfortable to be on the ground.

"Yes, I would like that very much. This letter is to be delivered to my Sister, who must be quite worried about me by this time." Kieran said to the raven. Marta would indeed be very worried, perhaps even presuming Kieran dead. She would be so surprised to find him still alive.

"Your Sister lives outside the forest, but I cannot leave the edge of the woods. What would you have me do?" the raven had cocked its head to the side, and was alternating viewing Kieran from one eye, and then with a flip of its beak, the other eye.

"If you would set the letter down at the nearest edge of the forest to my home, so that Marta may find it and not have to come into the forest to pick up the letter, that would suffice." Kieran supposed. Still, he did not fully trust this bird and so he started to think about how he might verify that the letter had been delivered.

The raven picked up the letter in its shiny black beak, and flew off with it promptly. Kieran started thinking about creating something that would allow him to see the delivery of the letter for himself. He was reminded of the witcher woman of the dark town to the north of his small village. It was said that she possessed a crystal of such clarity that anything could be seen though it, even things that had not yet happened. Kieran found himself holding a dark stone. When he touched it, the dark stone began to warm, and in its flat, shiny, face he was able to see the back of the raven with the letter he was carrying to Marta.

As he watched, the bird flew down to the ground and walked slowly toward the closest edge of the wood nearest to the small thatched roof house that he lived in with his sister and parents. Marta could be seen nearby playing with a small toy mouse. She noticed the raven with the letter in its beak shortly after it had landed, and she watched as it dropped the letter, turned and began to fly away. The image in the stone shifted back to the letter at the command of Kieran's thoughts, and he was able to watch Marta pull the letter up and out of the forest edge and read it. Immediately she fell to one knee and began to weep, so happy was she that her dear brother was still alive and well within the forest! She took the letter, ran back inside the house, and later came out again with the paper folded differently and placed the letter back where she had found it. As she backed away slowly, the raven who had flown to the top of a nearby tree, flew down, picked up the letter and flew off with it again, back to Kieran.

Shortly, the raven flew back to the clearing where Kieran was sitting, and flapped down to the stone perch. Kieran took the letter and read what his Sister had written to him.

Dear Brother,

News from you is much welcomed, and I am very sorry I was teasing you before you went into the forest, I meant no harm. Mother and Father were distraught but strangely enough they are recovering quickly. I will tell them of your letter, but I fear they will not believe me. I worry about you daily, and hope you will come home soon. Be careful, you must have encountered some of the many who have ventured into the forest by now, do not become one of them. If none here miss you, I am not among them.

M

A tear rolled silently from its perch in the corner of Kieran's eye, and fell to the ground. He was not surprised by his parents' lack of concern, but he was very touched to find out that his Sister, of all people, would actually want him to come home safely. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events for him, and he spent a good deal of time before he accepted it. In his see

I've had this simple prop in my upstairs window for the past 5 years, and it's always a crowd favorite! People have asked me if it was a hologram or projection ;-) I'm almost embarassed how simple it is. Now, it's not a proper crank ghost, it only has one up and down motion, but with the fan billowing the strips of cloth, it really doesn't matter. Check out the notes above to see what I use to create this cool ghost.

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