A long, long time ago there once was a quiet little village.
Far away from the main towns or large roads it was more of a meeting place for the farmers in the fields around it then anything else, but it was a peaceful little village. Though it didn’t have a lot of many things the one thing it had plenty of was bees. And, as such, honey.
They were proud of their honey. Why, once a pot of honey from their village had graced the tables of the High King. And although the village was much too small for official name, they called themselves The Golden Village.
And they were happy.
But one day a band of greedy brigands heard of the Golden Village. Their leader the Mighty Varro thought the name meant that there was treasure hidden there and the village, being so far from any help, would be easy overrun.
The greedy brigands descended on the Golden Village, overturning carts, beating up the men, terrorizing the women and they ransacked the little village. But, of course, they found no gold. Varro gathered all the villagers and demanded of them that they turn over any treasure they had. They had three days to pile them with gold or else they would burn the village to the ground and kill every last villager.
The villagers were terrified. There was no gold and there was no way the brigands would be happy with some pots of honey. Even if a messenger was sent to get help there was no way the Knights of the realm would arrive within three days. They were helpless. One of the beekeepers of the village had noticed that, terrifying these brigands might be, they will also cowards, for he’d spied one of them getting close to a beehive only to be run off when they tried to swarm. The beekeeper gathered the villagers and hatched a plan.
They may not be able to get the Knights of the realm in time to drive these brigands off but perhaps all they needed was the appearance of a band of Knights. Now the village was small and did not have much. They certainly did not have enough metal, stone or wood to carve statues of Knights within three days. What this village had in abundance of was bees. Which means, what this had village had in abundance of was beeswax.
And so, skilled candlemakers carved life-sized statues out of beeswax to make these knights.
When the brigands returned at sunset of the third day, they advanced towards the village and could see on the menacing band of Knights in the poor light. Frightened, the brigands stopped and did not dare go closer. But Varro was as greedy as he was terrible and spurned his men forward. The villagers, hiding behind walls, shivered in fear as it appeared their ruse had failed. Varro, in an effort to push forward and to spurn his men to action, threw his torch towards the Knights and the the wax caught fire. To the brigands watching it looked as if the Knights had turned into fierce demons as the wax melted slowly in the blaze. Terrified they turned and fled.
Varro fled the fastest!
And so the village was saved and the villagers rejoiced. Lit by the giant burning candles of knights, they celebrated with honey cakes and Mead and peace once again returned to the Golden Village.
Story by x-T-me
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