Read Kinard Mythology Anthology Volume III Page 26

  People eventually started to learn a lesson. And they realized that it was an important lesson. You need to be open and tell someone something even if your scared. You need to come clean and tell that person no matter what interferes with you, like when Poseidon interfered with Pablo, but he still tried to tell Jessica what he needed to. And if someone is interfering with you trying to tell someone something, just tell that person what is going on and nothing will happen to you like what happened to Pablo and Jessica.

  Why a Flamingo Stands on One Leg

  By Julianna

  It was a run-of-the-mill day in Flamingo, with people bustling about their daily lives. There were girls at the well and boys playing games in the streets, and the air smelled of smoke from the bread baking in the ovens. It was a classic ancient Greek town, with the gleaming, white pillars in front of the meeting pavilion, and the street vendors trying to sell you all kinds of things. Jaunice was usually one of the many girls in the long line to get water, but today she was on the beach thinking about the news her mom had told her.

  After the many years that they had grieved for her father who had been lost at sea, her mother was going to marry the local blacksmith. He was a poor man, not because his work wasn’t good, but because the townspeople couldn’t pay enough for him to earn a living. Jaunice had long, luxurious blond hair, and green eyes that sparkled like emeralds, and she knew that one day, she would probably marry a wealthy man, and could provide her family with all the might need or want.

  Suddenly, as she was gazing across the cobalt blue ocean, she saw the sail of a ship. She waited impatiently for the flag to appear, her heart thumping against her rib cage with anticipation and dread. When it did, she was shocked out of her skin. It was the dreaded Aracians. Were they coming to attack the peaceful seaside town of Flamingo, or were they going around the island to attack the large, crowded city of Nikaia? Either way, she thought, she should go back and warn the townspeople. She doubted it would be a danger.

  She mounted her patiently waiting horse, Keisha.

  Maybe once she was finished delivering her important news, she would go wander and look at the many statues of Flamingos, each with their own touch decided on by the family, and read the plaque dedicated especially to her father. Her mother had decided on an ocean ship to be painted on his. Her father had died a hero at sea, so it was only fitting that his flamingo should have a ship on it. The statues of flamingos were there to recognize the town’s heroes.

  She was nearly back to town when out sprang a party of Aracians. She knew that they were from Aracia because of the three stripes of the Aracian coat-of-arms, the top half being red, and the bottom white, and a blue stripe down the middle on their shields.

  Her horse, sensing her urgency, sped up. Thank goodness they’re on foot, she thought, and that I’m on the fastest horse in town. She eased Keisha out of a full-fledged gallop and into a steady canter.

  That was the mistake that resulted in her death.

  The spears of the Aracians caught up to her, prickling her and her horse’s body like spines on a cactus. She began to taste blood in her mouth. Must… tell… towns… people, she thought. Her pursuers had given up the chase, wrongly thinking she was on her was to Nikaia, and not to Flamingo. As she staggered into her beloved town, she cried out to the assembled citizens, “The…... Arabians…...are…...coming,” and with her news delivered, she breathed her last. The final thing she saw was her mother’s weeping face, and along with it, she heard the deep sobs of sorrow.

  The next day, there was an emergency meeting called and a speedy messenger was immediately dispatched to go and alert the Nikains of the approaching danger and to request troops to aid them in the inevitable battle to come.

  A week later, the battle over and won, the townspeople erected the many statues that the heroes who had died in battle deserved. Jaunice’s mother and soon-to-be husband decided on a gold plating for her flamingo with the words “a true hero” engraved on it.