Today, the Wizards of the Coast site released a preview of the satyr race, brilliantly written by Rodney Thompson. Inset within the entry is one of the four short tales I wrote for Heroes of the Feywild. This one is called The Three Fair Beauties.
I'll re-post this tale from the excerpt and, in honor of today's satyr preview, I'll re-post one of the others I wrote for this book, The Ugly Satyr, which appeared on the WotC site earlier.
The Three Fair Beauties
Once upon a time, a prince rode through the wood regaling the animals and trees with songs in praise of his true love.
“She sings more sweetly than thee, little blue- bird,” said the prince. “I’ll wager my heart there’s no lady more beautiful in all Faerie!”
Just then the bluebird alighted in his path, trans- formed itself into a resplendent fairy damsel, and accepted his brash challenge.
The prince tried to rescind his words, but a wager spoken before the fey cannot be unsaid. The damsel said that she would show him three fair beauties in that very wood, and if his lady proved superior to them all, the fey would bless his wed- ding. But should the prince speak falsely, he must yield his heart to the shapeshifter’s dagger.
The damsel showed the prince a spring nymph that enticed his lust, and a hamadryad that awak- ened his wonder. As splendid as they were, the prince swore that neither was as fair as his love, and he spoke truly from his heart.
“But is she more beautiful than I?” said the damsel at last. The prince looked upon her dark eyes, her shapely form, and the sapphire feathers strung through her midnight locks.
At last, after great deliberation, he said, “Aye, even more so than thee.” The lady transformed into a bluebird and flew away, and the relieved prince was spared his life.
The prince married his true love and ruled his kingdom, but for the rest of his days, he never looked upon her or anything else of beauty without yearning for the fairy damsel, who possessed his heart as surely as if she had carved it from his chest.
* * *
The Ugly Satyr
Once there was a young man who loved a lord's daughter. Night after night he came to her window to woo her, but each time the lady refused him, saying, "My love's face is secret, my love is most rare, my love plays the music upon the night air."
One night, as the young man went out to woo his lady, he heard a beautiful melody in the wood. He followed the sound to a glade where an ugly satyr played the pipes with skill beyond mortal reckoning.
"If you would teach me that tune, I would give you anything you ask," said the young man.
The satyr agreed in return for a small vow, and he taught the man the tune upon the pipes. When the man played it at the lady's window, she consented to marry him. A wedding day was set, guests were invited, and all was made ready.
On the eve of the wedding, the ugly satyr arrived to claim his due: a kiss from the lady who adored his music. The young man scoffed at the request and turned the satyr away. The man then set a circle of cold iron around his beloved's chamber, for the creatures of Faerie cannot cross such boundaries.
That night, as the man slept, a beautiful new melody drifted from the forest and into the bridal bower. On the morning of the wedding, the lady was gone from the tower. The only trace of her was a single delicate footprint outside the circle of cold iron. Try as he might, the man who broke his vow to the satyr never discovered where she had gone.
Once there was a young man who loved a lord's daughter. Night after night he came to her window to woo her, but each time the lady refused him, saying, "My love's face is secret, my love is most rare, my love plays the music upon the night air."
One night, as the young man went out to woo his lady, he heard a beautiful melody in the wood. He followed the sound to a glade where an ugly satyr played the pipes with skill beyond mortal reckoning.
"If you would teach me that tune, I would give you anything you ask," said the young man.
The satyr agreed in return for a small vow, and he taught the man the tune upon the pipes. When the man played it at the lady's window, she consented to marry him. A wedding day was set, guests were invited, and all was made ready.
On the eve of the wedding, the ugly satyr arrived to claim his due: a kiss from the lady who adored his music. The young man scoffed at the request and turned the satyr away. The man then set a circle of cold iron around his beloved's chamber, for the creatures of Faerie cannot cross such boundaries.
That night, as the man slept, a beautiful new melody drifted from the forest and into the bridal bower. On the morning of the wedding, the lady was gone from the tower. The only trace of her was a single delicate footprint outside the circle of cold iron. Try as he might, the man who broke his vow to the satyr never discovered where she had gone.
5 comments:
Really looking forward to this Steve - I've already included some thematic elements from Changeling: The Lost into my game, so this will be a perfect addition. I'm also hoping to leverage Madness at Gardmore Abbey, as it seems the Deck would be just the thing for the tricky fae to either create or covet.
Glad to hear it, Phil! I've done my best to weave the Feywild and the traditional realm of Faerie together so as to truly evoke the sense of the wild, beautiful, and perilous that a wanderer in that realm might experience.
I love the way you're thinking with the Deck. The fey would certainly behave this way; I used a good contingent of fey in the module--perhaps you can find some connection there...
Absolutely - I was thinking of somehow using Berrian as a link to the Feywild for the PCs as they reach the low-paragon levels.
In particular I enjoyed Jeff LaSala's writings in Dungeon on the Eladrin Fortress of Fading Dreams (Taer Lian Doresh) and I think it could easily be ported from Eberron into the Feywild. Something similar to a Domain of Dread (like the old Ravenloft or more current Graefmotte in Dragon 375) in the Shadowfell.
Do you have any recommendations for darker fae stories or source materials?
While working on Heroes of the Feywild, I really enjoyed the "Fairies and Elves" volume of the Enchanted World series. That book was extremely helpful in giving a broad, varied overview of the fey as they were portrayed in our world's legends. I also read some Dunsany stories, and reread (again) Neil Gaiman's Stardust, as well as the Book of Invasions and the Silver Arm (Celtic myth).
I feel like the "Fairies and Elves" volume does a great job showing off the fey, seelie and unseelie alike. I could be wrong, but I think modern authors have made a much bigger deal of the "unseelie" fey than they were in myth and legend, just by categorizing them as such. As far as I've read, there's not too much difference between dark fey and light fey in our legends. They fey are dangerous, period. This is how I try to portray them in D&D.
The nymphs from MM3 are a good example. Spellbindingly beautiful and utterly deadly. I'm proud of that entry, so I used them in Gardmore and Heroes of the Feywild (hamadryad) as well.
To illustrate further, I think that of the 4 fairy tales ("bard tales") I wrote for Heroes of the Feywild, none of them ends particularly well for the characters that deal with the fey. :-)
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