The Castle Of Manayli

• Sarah Dougherty, Grade 6, L B Morris Elementary School
• Short Story
• 2001

Finalist in the '2001/2002 Schools Short Story Competition - Magic and Mystery Theme' competition

There once was a young girl. Her name was Amilia, Amilia Marie. She always heard the legend of the enchanted castle. It’s not too far from her. But no one could ever get in after Princess Manayli died. They say her presence is still in the form of a small fairy. Nobody knows how she died, or if the legend is even true.
They say, soon, only one will hold the key to the legendary castle of Princess Manayli. Amilia Marie always dreamed she would hold the key. But every time she thought about discovering the key, all of these questions began to whirl through her mind – What does it look like? Where do I begin to look? How hard will it be to find?
Through the years, Amilia Marie tried every waking hour to find the key. She looked in, on, around and under things, and every other place she could possibly look…except for under the ground.
Amilia Marie bought a metal detector from a downtown store. She started using it as soon as she got home. She began covering the entire neighborhood. Nothing was found whatsoever that left any type of trace of a key. She began to say to herself, “maybe there isn’t any key. Or maybe, someone had found it already.” She went up to the castle to see. She could tell no-one had found it because the castle was still locked shut.
While Amilia Marie was walking around outside, she saw an old lady. She was crippled and something was wrong with her face. It was deformed. Amilia Marie felt so sorry for her. Especially when some neighborhood bullies came up to the lady. They all started making fun of the poor, old, crippled lady. Then they pushed her down. Amilia Marie tried to ignore it, but she felt so bad for the lady, she couldn’t ignore it. She walked over to them and said, “What are you doing? Why are you being so mean to this lady? What did she ever do to you?”
Then, the bullies said, “Well, nothing.”
“That’s right, she didn’t do anything! So, leave her alone!”
As the bullies were stepping away and Amilia Marie started helping up the lady, the old deformed lady got down on her knees and magically and mysteriously began to morph! Amilia Marie couldn’t believe her eyes! She was staring at the morphing figure in astonishment as it began to shrink, rise and grow long pointed wings! Her dirty, old, wrinkly clothes morphed into a flowing, sparkly dress in many different layers and colors – blue, purple and pink. Amilia Marie knew now. That was the princess. In the form of a small fairy.
“You have unlocked the power of the key.” Princess Manayli started to say, “The key was not to be found, but to be earned by kindness.” The spirit of Princess Manayli handed Amilia Marie the key to the castle and faded away.