The Abandoned House: A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a strange looking little house on the edge of a beautiful blue lake, surrounded by snow-capped mountains.  But the people who lived there were not happy ones.  Both parents had survived traumas in their youth and were constantly arguing and bickering, unable to provide the “climate of love” which the children needed.  

One day in the spring the mother left her house, carrying only her pretty little black purse, and never returned.  Vanished from the face of the earth!  The father and children were devastated.  After a while they took a small apartment over a bakery in the village and got on with their lives.  No one ever mentioned the mother, but they all missed her and secretly blamed her for abandoning them. 

Many years passed.  Finally the mother got tired of traveling around.  After several marriages and divorces and numerous love affairs she ran out of her inheritance and came home.  When her family heard that she had returned, they too returned to the abandoned house.  There was a great celebration that lasted for a week.

Delicious foods and beverages were ordered from near  and far.  Friends were invited.  Gypsies were hired to play music.  The house was aglow with light, and fires were blazing in all the fireplaces.  They were very happy to be together again.  They redecorated the house, making it bright and colorful. They planted fruit trees and a vegetable garden.  Also lots of flowers in front and in the window-boxes.  It became the most beautiful house in the region.  The children married and had children of their own.  The house was enlarged to accommodate the new generation.

Eventually the old people died.  But at the beginning of every new year, the legend of The Abandoned House was told to the young people and a silent prayer of thanks was said to the mother who came home to her family.