The Wonderful Country

Fairytale The Wonderful Country Author: Karen Li Long time ago, there was a legend widespread in the suburb (S). It was a fantasy place where there were no crimes and no one needed to work, and the place was called The Wonderful Country (CCX). There was a boy who lived in the orphanage since he was born, and he had heard the legend countless times. As he grew up, he was tired of the ennui in the orphanage and also curious about if the legend was true, so he decided to leave the orphanage and hopped on the journey at night.

When he entered the forest, the rain plotted heavily onto the ground and the wind whistled throughout the dark forest (CX). The boy didn’t stop his step, shortly after, he met a woman, but strangely, her clothes were dry with not even a drop of rain. The woman spoke first, “Oh, what are you little kid wandering here?” “I am looking for a place called The Wonderful Country.” The boy answered without questioning. “Oh, I’m a resident of the country.” The woman said confidently. The boy seemed excited about the information the woman gave, “Can you please take me there?” “Oh, of course, but…” The woman answered. Then, the woman told the boy to drink the potion before she took him there, but she didn’t say what it was for. Apparently, the potion smelled like a mix of lettuce, blood, and strawberries, which was extraordinarily strange for a drink. 2

Although it smelled weird, the boy still drank it for days. Until a day before setting off, the boy was so excited that he could not sleep, and as he walked out his room, he heard: “Oh, my little draco, I’m gonna bring back you the treasure.” The odd voice gave people a shudder. “Oh, that boy is getting stronger by my potion, and just one more day, the potion can control him, he’s gonna be a useful force.” The boy finally realized the woman was the witch, and totally not a citizen of The Wonderful Country (C). Not only killing the treasure protector of The Wonderful Country, but also exposing the boy to mortal danger (PCC). The boy was astonished, and he soon decided to fight with the witch. The boy stepped out of the shed, and the witch and her dragon were shocked by the sudden appearance of him. The intrepid boy against the dragon with a poniard, yet he was facing the big disparity situation but didn’t withdraw. The dragon glanced at him contemptuously and roared, “Wasting time.” The dragon rapidly approached the boy’s direction, but as the dragon was getting closer to the boy, the boy instantly came around the dragon’s back. Then, he stabbed the dragon using his extreme power without any hesitation. The dragon seemed to be in pain, but before it died, it spat out a rusted key. Though the key looked old and spattered, the sliver of gold was still visible inside. The boy picked up the key cautiously and wiped the key carefully (PL). After the golden color had all shown, the boy finally put away the key in his pocket satisfied. 3

Meanwhile, the dragon’s life was counting down. The dragon’s body was like the tiny white flakes of drifting snow, even a blizzard could easily blow it away. Not over a minute later, the dragon had disappeared in front of the boy. “Oh, no, it’s not like that, that’s not what I’m working for.” The boy heard a woman’s shrill voice of cries from the back. The boy then noticed the witch was also dying because her life was connected with the dragon’s life; different from the dragon’s pacific death, the witch was burnt by an eerie blue fire. For minutes, the witch was suffering from panic, and at the end, she died in a horrible way. The sun hidden under the dark clouds eventually showed its head, and brought back the dazzling light to the forest. When the boy finally recovered from his surp, he found out he was on the previous path that he met with the witch. He kept going along the path, didn’t know how long it had been, he saw a shiny golden gate, just as the same as the key, at the end of the path. The boy speeded up his walk, and with the gate, there’s three big words inscribed with: “The Wonderful Country.” The boy took out the key from his pocket, and used it to unlock the gate. With a crisp sound, the gate opened slowly, soon the boy stepped into the gate. For a long time after, he lived in The Wonderful Country happily ever after. 4