The following is a children's story that I have written which I have entitled, "The Magician's Castle". My story is about a little boy who searches for knowledge. I have also included one illustration that I have done for it. While the story is completed, alas, the illustrations are not. Someday, when I have completed a few more pictures I hope to self-publish the completed form. Unfortunately, I have regular job and many grownup concerns, so progress is slow. However, if a publisher who actually advances money to writers, and doesn't ask for money, is interested in my story, write me.

Thanks and enjoy.

David Collis Hewitt
185 B, LCR 417
Groesbeck, Texas 76642
(254) 729-2942
dchewit@coolidge.isd.tenet.edu

Once upon a time, (you know, somewhere other than right exactly here and sometime other than right exactly now), there was a great, wide, colorful world. And somewhere in this once-upon-a-time world was a little village.

Now, or rather then, this little village was surrounded by a great, green forest. And in this forest of great, green trees were streams and rivers and ponds and marshes and lakes. And in this forest were also flowers and birds and bugs and creatures of all kinds -- including dragons.

As the forest moved away from the village, hills began to rise up, farther away still the hills turned into mountains. Some of these hills and mountains could be seen from the little village.

Now, the village was just a village with village things and village people. A great many stories could be told about the villagers, but this story is about only one little boy with a very strange sickness.

It may well be that there have been other people with this same sickness, but this story is about only one little boy.

Now, this boy did not see things around him the way everyone else saw things. This boy could not see the color in things. And this was a very strange sickness. When others saw bright reds and blues and yellows and all the other colors that people are supposed to see, this boy mostly saw only grays. Sometimes, some things would have a little pale yellow or brown or blue, but usually, the boy saw only mostly grays.

Now, the boy's sickness was not the only unusual difficulty that the boy had. Along with the strange sickness, the boy had a serious problem with dragons. Sometimes some of the dragons of the forest would come into the village and chase and scare people. This was no real problem to the people of the village because nearly everyone learned quickly to shoo the dragons away in much the same way as they would shoo away buzzing flies.

But the boy had never learned to shoo away the dragons that would bother him. His dragons frightened him and would sometimes jump out of shadows at him and chase him. The dragons did this for fun, but this was no fun for the boy.

Now there were two things the boy did that gave his world some color. One thing that he would do was try to watch the sunrise. Sometimes, just as the sun was just rising up from the edge of the forest, the boy could could see a quick flash of the kind of bright colors everyone else could see all of the time. The other thing the boy did that gave his world a bit of color was to study magic with the wise people of the village.

The magic that the wise people showed him helped him to see a little more color. And this new color helped the boy some. But after a while he learned all the magic that the wise people could teach him. And he still could not see all the colors nor could he shoo away his dragons.

So he remained a sad little boy. He thought about the magic he had learned. He thought about the stories he had heard about a magician and the magician's castle that stood on a distant mountain.

The stories about the magician and his castle both excited and frightened the boy. As the stories went there were many pathways to this place. Many people took these pathways, but not everyone who started, arrived. And the people who did arrive at this magical place were changed somehow - somehow charged with magic far beyond the magic the village wise people could teach. Some would talk about things that the common villagers cared for little. Some became magicians of sorts and would heal people or build new things or make art of all kinds. Some had even become village wise people in other villages and taught magic. But mostly, these people were never seen again in their old villages.

The boy only heard these stories in bits and pieces and whispers. And almost never from anyone but the wise people of his village. More and more he began to think about leaving his little village and traveling a pathway through the great, wide forest in hopes of finding the magician's castle.

Finally, one day, he began to plan.

He had often listened to stories about people doing things in the great forest and he thought he had an idea of the things he would need. So he carefully collected up this and that and made little kits of things.

He made a carry-bag and cut a walking stick. He readied the clothes he thought best for traveling in the forest and he slipped away out of his little home into the dark night.

Now, the boy loved his family so he left a note telling them that he was going on a short trip into the woods - an adventure - and for them to not worry too much. But he said nothing about the magician's castle.

But when the boy slipped out of his little home into the darkness of the village, his dragons were waiting.

So the beginning of the boy's great adventure began with his dragons snapping and yelping at his heels while he ran out of the village.

The boy ran until he reached the top of the first hill along the pathways out of the village. Somewhere along the pathway the dragons had stopped their chase, but the boy had not noticed until now. And now, in the light of a full moon, he looked back at his little village. In the quiet darkness he began to feel cold and more afraid. For a long while he stared at his little village. Until now it had been the boy's whole world and it had seemed to be very big. But now the boy began to see how very small his village really was and how very large the rest of world might be.

So he put his back to the village and again faced the path and the forest, the great, dark forest he knew was surely filled with many new and wondrous things.

The boy walk along his pathway for several days. During his walking he saw much of the wonders of the great forest. What proved to be the best thing was the meeting of other children along the path way and the sharing of stories about the magician and his castle. One thing he heard was that all travelers have their own paths to follow to reach the magician's castle. And because of this the boy thought himself fortunate to find three whose paths had come together with his. These three with whom he now walked were named Hann, Wric, and Lin May.

The boy never talked with his new friends about his strange sickness and he had been so busy with all the new things he had seen and done and learned, he hadn't even thought about the grays.

Finally an evening came when the boy and his three close friends and several others were camped together. The path had slowly sloped upward for sometime and a heavy fog had come early in the afternoon. Another night was spent visiting and exchanging stories of the magician and his castle. But this night had a strange feel of excitement that everyone felt, but no one could explain. Finally, sleep did come to the group.

The morning was still foggy and everyone was awake for awhile before they could move again up the pathway. When the sun finally burned away the mist, rising up before them was a twisting, narrow pathway which went up to a great, wondrous, frightening castle.

For a while little was said by anyone though eventually the group moved up the pathway. Even though this was what he had come for, the boy almost did not start up with the group. Even though he could see flashes of color about the castle, he almost let his fears stop him. It was as though the greatest dragon in existence blocked the pathway. But finally the boy's three friends started upward and the boy moved with them. The climb was difficult and frightening, but it took only a short while. The stories about the magician's castle told many things. And one of these was that there are many paths to the castle and not everyone who starts the trip finishes. And this must have been true, because when the boy finally reached the great doors only his three friends were with him.

They talked the stories again and said their goodbyes, because they all knew that once inside they might become separated even as they had become separated from the other children who had started with them a little while before. The stories said that the magician's castle is a big place with many rooms and hallways and stairways and gardens and places and things of magic and wonder - and danger. And those who enter are changed.

These other three who were about to enter the castle, as well as the boy, were prepared for this adventure. All had done their own studying of magics in their own ways; and all wanted their share of greater magics....

The four friends pushed the great doors open and walked into the castle.... Before them lay a very long, dark and scary hallway. The boy had never seen anything like this, not even in the magic he had learned from his village wise people. He was very frightened, but he was at the same time very excited. He could not yet see what he wanted to see, the color that was in things - but he could feel something here, something strong....

Suddenly the great doors slammed shut behind the four. They had been so taken by the sight before them that they had not noticed the creaking sound of the doors as they had begun to close.

Now, the boy had brought many things in his pockets and his pouch, as had the others. They all began fumbling for matches and candles, but before any could be lighted, torches along the hall began to burn. But the four could see no one in the hallway lighting the torches.

With this new light came sights of many doorways and wondrous furnishings as far down the hall as eyes could see.

"This is a long hall", Lin May said softly. "It seems to have no end."

"And look at all those other doorways branching off," said Wric.

The boy only stared. He could see something he didn't think the others could see -- little bits and flashes of color all about this strange place.

"This is a big place," said Hann. "Sometimes people who go into this place together are separated and never see each other again."

They looked at each other for a moment. Lin May and Wric stood closer together.

"The adventure that we seek we must take as it comes," said the boy. "We must move or it will not come to us."

"Perhaps we will meet some others, maybe even the magician himself," said Wric.

"Few stories ever mention anyone actually meeting the magician," scoffed Hann.

"I don't think any of those stories mention meeting him," said Wric.

"Are you sure the magician is not a woman?" retorted Lin May.

After a while the four began to explore. The more they looked, the more they began to see. And each saw things the others saw and things the others did not see. And if one of them looked at something, looked away from it, and looked back, one would see something new the second time. Each found things in the furnishings of the place that caused wonder, for the walls contained books and pictures and cabinets and statues and strange things of all sorts.

The boy would touch things and see bits of color and magic that the others would not see; and likewise, each of the other three would see magic that the others would not see. The boy would open books and see magic that the others would not see. The boy would open books and see even more color and magic - and because of the magic he had already learned from his village's wise people, he was able to understand some of the new things he was experiencing.

New bits of magic and color came quickly for the boy. So quickly for the boy that he paid no attention where he wandered. When he finally stopped to rest, he was standing in a room filled with books and next to some doors that opened into a great walled garden. He gazed out onto the garden for a few moments and then realized that his friends were nowhere about. He called out to them and ran through doors and rooms and hallways, but his friends were gone. He had expected something like this could happen, but he still felt very distressed that it finally did happen. And he felt very alone.

But he knew he must continue his adventure, so he went back to the room which looked out onto the garden. This time he found a table he had not seen before. On the table was a single meal, so the boy sat and ate.

On the inside, the boy was changing. He looked the same, but his magic was growing in strength. His magic was becoming stronger because of the new magic and color he was seeing and learning. The more he studied the stronger he became.

Now, the time the boy spent looking and seeing doesn't really matter in this story - it might have been an hour later or a day later or even a year later - but after a while he was in some room filled with books and things. He had just examined something and had set it down when he turned and saw her.... And for the boy she was surrounded with color.

They talked and walked through the castle for a while.

The boy learned that she was a child seeking her own magic just as the boy sought his magic. And in her seeking, her path had now touched his path. She had come to the magician's castle in much the same way as the boy had come - from the desire to learn more magic. She was also someone who would be very special to the boy. The boy did not know why or how, but he knew she had some special importance for him. What importance she had for the boy, he did not know. He did know that the colors that he saw around her and the feelings he felt about her were different from the colors he saw and the feelings he felt when he had been with people important to him. She had a "specialness" separate from the "specialness" the boy felt about his family, his village wise people, and his three now-lost friends.

Now that the boy was with the girl, the magic he was learning was stronger and the colors he was seeing were even brighter.

The boy and the girl explored the magician's castle, learning new things and new magics. Through the books in the many libraries, they explored places that the boy had never heard of or even imagined existed.

The castle provided for their needs during their wanderings. The boy and the girl would find sleeping places and food-laden tables in different rooms as they studied. But in all the time they had spent studying they never met anyone else in the castle except the people in the magician's books. They never found the boy's friends nor other students nor servants nor guards nor the magician.

The boy and the girl wandered the castle for a long while exploring the magic that was there. But eventually the magic the girl explored began to fade for the boy and the magic the boy explored began to fade for the girl. So they began to explore separate books and to have times when one would study and the other would not.

Then one day the two came to a great, dark, unfamiliar hall. They stood at its great double doors and stared into the place - a place that seemed strange even for the magician's castle. It had only darkness on its walls instead of the myriad of strange and wonderful things and shelves of books. In the center of the hall was a great table with many great candles around a great, closed book. The boy was greatly afraid of this place, although he did not know why. And he thought he heard the sounds of wings beating the air -- could they be dragons' wings?

But while he was afraid, he was also drawn toward the table... and the book. He walked toward the table. It was only a few feet, but it seemed to take a very long time. When he finally stood by the table and the book, he turned to face the girl but she was not by his side. She still stood at the doors which now seemed to be a very long way from where he stood. He looked at the great, strange book before him. It was now open. He thought it was closed when he first walked to the table. Then he looked again to the girl standing in the doorway -- only now she was not there and the doors were closed. He turned once more to the book, but now strange, eerie colors shown from it. Colors unlike anything he had yet seen in this castle. And before he knew his own will, he was drawn into the book.

He now stood before the great doors of an unfamiliar castle. This new castle was like the magician's castle, and yet very unlike the magician's castle. The magician's castle had, at first, seemed scary enough, but it was light and cheery compared to this place. Great dragons decorated these doors. It was nighttime with a great shining moon and dark, silvery outlined clouds moving across the sky. The boy could see wings and shapes flying high in the air. The trees around the castle were twisted and ugly and lacking leaves. Here and there a pair of eyes would shine and blink as if watching the boy.

After looking about, the boy pushed open the great, creaking doors and stepped in. The place had torches about, but it was still darker and colder that the magician's castle ever was. And its furnishings were much stranger.

The boy walked boldly in, as if he knew where he was and where he was going. He walked until he was walking down a stairway. As he stepped downward he could hear the occasional flapping of wings - leathery, dragon wings. Finally, after a great many downward steps he stopped and stood before a great mirror. It was a strange mirror with a great decorated frame -- decorated with frightening images of dragons and demons.

At first the mirror showed the boy -- just as a mirror should -- but after a moment the thing clouded. Then the cloud changed. Now there were people in the mirror, standing motionless as if in a trance. And in the front of the group stood the girl and the boy's other three friends and other children from the journey to the magician's castle and many others.

Then the mirror changed again. Now there were dragons and they began to move toward the boy. He panicked and turned and ran away from the mirror toward the stairs. The dragons jumped from the mirror and chased him.

Suddenly the boy was not running away, he was once again standing by the table and the book. He was shaking with fright and breathing hard.

After a few moments the boy realized someone, or something, was standing behind him.

"This has happened before," came a slow, deep voice.

The boy raised his head and looked straight ahead and spoke, "Are you master of this castle? Are you the magician?"

"Partly and mostly. Mostly partly when things like this happen. But this is your test. You must use your wit and the magic you have learned to free your friends and rid my castle of your dragons. You have leave of anything here for your efforts. You can run from your dragons or you can face your dragons, but you must defeat them for the freedom of your friends and for any real kind of life."

There was a moment of silence. The boy did not move for he feared seeing the magician as much as he desired to see him. Finally the boy turned, but the magician was gone!

For a moment the boy only stood. Then he turned and walked out of the hall. Everything and everyone depended on him.

For a while he thought and wandered and gathered things. The boy had his choice of anything in the magician's castle -- and there was much to choose. The place had weapons of all sorts (some very impressive). He collected things that some of the books mentioned as standard dragon-fighting things; and, here and there, he added a few things of his own invention. He had: a shield with a big red cross on his left arm and a nasty-looking spear in his left hand; a hooded-shirt of chain mail under his cloak; a sword that glowed and made a whining sound when drawn from its scabbard; a dagger; a funny-looking gun (but he had to save this because it would only shoot once); and a lot of little boxes, bottles, and bags tied to handy places on his clothing and concealed in pockets and pouches. (He didn't wear any of the armored boots that he had found because they all hurt his feet. He didn't wear armored gloves because he needed to find things quickly in his bags and packets and boxes.)

Finally he stood before the doors of the great, dark hall ready to return to the book that would return him to the dragon's mirror. He stepped through the doors and into the dark hall.

The hall had changed. There were now dragons in the darkness. He could see shining red eyes in the darkness -- watching him as he walked to the table. He could hear faint flappings of wings and scratching of claws on the stone floor. He kept his right hand on the handle of his sword, ready to draw if a dragon came at him. But none did. As he stepped toward the table and the book, he was suddenly stepping toward the gate of the dragons' castle. This time there were dragons in sight and they moved toward him.

He pulled his sword. It whined and glowed and the dragons held back until he walked past them. But they closed behind him as he moved.

The castle seemed far away but he did reach the doors and pushed through them just as the dragons began toward him again. He closed the doors behind him quickly and pulled the bar. Then he started walking the way he had gone before that led to the stairs and then to the mirror. But this time he was more aware, more cautious. This time he knew that there were dragons he must fight.

Suddenly he heard a quick, nervous scratching and huffing and growling behind him. He turned quickly. There stood a very large, very ugly dragon huffing and hissing. The boy stepped backward away from the beast, and brought his shield up just as the monster blew a great burst of flame. The boy's cloak and pants and shoes were burned a bit, but he otherwise survived the breath of fire. (Luckily this dragon was the kind that only breathed fire. If it had been the kind that spit burning spit, then the attack would have been far worse than a little singeing!)

The dragon quickly began to huff and wheeze to work up another fire blast. At the same time the boy pulled a string of fire crackers -- special magician's firecrackers -- from a pocket. When the dragon blew fire again the boy threw the firecrackers into the fire blast. The flame ignited the fuses -- just as the boy hoped -- and the things began to explode, some in the air and some at the dragon's feet. The "bangs" were very bright and colorful and shimmered for a long while. As the things popped in the air butterflies appeared from the flashes. They quickly filled the air around the dragon's head. These butterflies bothered the beast so that it began to claw the air, trying to drive them away. The firecrackers that exploded at the dragon's feet turned into wads of squishy chewing gum. So as the creature danced about on its hind feet, clawing the air with its front feet, it began to squish and pull the gum. The stuff quickly began to wrap around the dragon's hind legs. As it pulled one foot up and then the other up, it made more and more thick, sticky strands which wrapped and tangled around its legs. The creature fell down and began clawing and biting at the gum, trying to free itself. But this did it no good and in minutes the dragon was wrapped from head to tail and could only growl and squirm.

The boy continued toward the mirror. He moved straight ahead, taking notice of the growls and flashing eyes about him, but showing no hesitation. But the further he went, the louder grew the growls and the more shadowy shapes and flashing eyes he saw. Finally he came to the stairs that led to the mirror and he started downward. His heart was beating as if it would explode from his chest, both from fear of the dragons and from the excitement of the game of fighting them. He expected an ambush on the stairs -- either from below or above -- and he was ready for either. He got both.

When he was halfway down the stairs, several dragons appeared in front of him. He stopped and when he did, he realized that several more dragons were coming down the stairs from behind. These beasts were not as large as the one he had just beaten, but they did have size and were mean-looking. And they were coming fast. The boy quickly pulled a small box from a pocket, removed its lid, and threw it upward toward the dragons coming down the stairs. Without waiting to see the results, he opened a small pouch and emptied it downward toward the dragons coming up the stairs.

Now, this is what the boy did: upward, he threw tacks and downward, he threw marbles. Most of the tacks landed on the stairs to be stepped on by the tender-footed dragons. The boy had to dodge a few dragons as they fell screaming from the stairs, but the marbles had completely cleared away the lower dragons. (The boy might have laughed at all this if he had not been so afraid!)

He now hurried to the bottom of the stairs. He could see the mirror, but he could also see the dragons gathering.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and faced more dragons that he had ever seen. But they did not attack. Instead, they parted and moved back leaving a large open circle. Suddenly he faced the largest, fiercest, ugliest dragon he had yet seen -- larger and fiercer than he had ever imagined.

The dragons that had bothered the boy when he was in his little village -- now it seemed very long ago -- were not large and fierce at all compared to these brutes he now faced. In fact, the dragons from the boy's village were no more than yelping dogs next to these monsters. There creatures were ugly and scaly with great dirty claws and teeth. These things had glowing red eyes and smelled awful.

The way the boy now faced these dragons made it hard for one to believe that the puny village dragons had ever bothered him.

But now he faced the worst of the worst. If there was any one of these beasts that was the king of them all, this one must be it.

For the most part, his fight to get to here had been easy. He had stayed calm and acted well. But now he trembled, but he still kept thinking....

Then the dragon moved. It made a quick lunge -- its claws flashing like knives. But the boy jumped to one side and the only damage was long scratches across his shield. There were several more lunges and misses. The boy's sword knocked the dragon's claws away, but without doing any real harm to the beast -- even though the sword shown like fire and it made a terrible song that frightened the lesser dragons. Then the beast began to blow fire, but the boy was quick enough with his shield and feet to avoid serious burning. (Even though his cloak was beginning to smoke in places!)

The boy realized his opponent was getting the better of the fight, so he had to try something different. This time it was he who charged and not the dragon. But the dragon did not retreat. Instead, a great clawed foot shot out and pinned the boy to the floor, knocking away the sword. Then great gaping jaws moved toward the boy's head as if to devour him. But the boy was still able to come up with a trick despite being held to the floor. A handful of red pepper was slung into the air -- into the dragon's face and eyes and nostrils and mouth.

Fortunately for the boy, as tough and as mean as this dragon was, the pepper still burned it. The monster roared and coughed and sneezed so much that it almost burned up the boy and the other dragons by accident!

The dragon's agony allowed the boy to retrieve his sword. And as the dragon was coughing and sneezing and blowing fire, it was rearing back on its hind legs. The boy rushed to it and drove his sword deep into the beast's soft underbelly. (The one way that was supposed by many dragon experts to be a very good way of killing a dragon.)

For a moment the beast seemed to take no notice of the sword sticking in it. Then it stopped its sufferings caused by the pepper, reared back again and clawed at the sword.

Then it seemed to laugh and it spoke: "Traditional ways won't work on me, boy. You'll have to keep thinking."

"Then a new way I'll try," replied the boy. And he brought up the gun and aimed it at the monster.

"That won't have the chance, boy," growled the dragon.

An instant later, a small, flying dragon swooped down and grabbed the gun from the boy's hands. And with this, all the dragons roared with laughter.

"One of my tricks, boy. A gun-grabbing dragon just when the good-guy needs a gun has usually worked for the likes of me. Of course, you weren't going to use it properly anyway. You've put up a good fight, so I'll be generous and finish you off quickly."

For a moment the boy did not move. The dragon grabbing the gun away so surprised him that he could not think what he should do. But just as his scaly opponent was about to grab him, he moved back. He readied his spear for another charge. As he braced himself for what he expected to be his end -- for he had run out of ideas -- he saw the mirror off to one side. And just as the dragon seemed about to pounce, the boy threw his spear -- not at the dragon but rather at the mirror. The spear flew true and the mirror shattered. And its shattering was unlike any mirror's shattering before. There was a breaking of glass, and then the flying shards shattered into tiny grains of sparkling sand. Then the tiny grains of sparkling sand exploded into tiny bursts of light, and then everything was brilliant white light. Then everything was completely black.

And then everyone: the boy, the people in the mirror, and the magician were sitting around a great banquet table in a dining hall in the magician's castle. The magician sat at one end of the table and the boy sat at the opposite end and all the other people sat along the sides. Everyone was laughing and joking and singing. But the magician and the boy looked at each other as if they could hear each other's thoughts. And hear each other's thoughts they could.

"Well boy, you and the others will leave my castle soon to live your lives. You may see some of your friends again, but to some your goodbyes will really be goodbyes. The girl -- the special girl -- will be special to you for a long time. In this you have been greatly fortunate. Many lovers who meet here part after they leave. You will most certainly meet some of your old dragons and you will most certainly meet new, more terrible dragons in your time. But your old dragons are as small as slithering lizards and the new dragons will face a greatly changed you," so said the magician.

The boy smiled and looked about the crowd and began making plans. And as he looked at his friends and at the magician and at his plans, he saw brilliant colors shining from everyone and everything....

I hope you liked the boy's story. You might even know someone like him -- I have. I'm tired now and in need of a nap. You may go find another book to read now. Maybe you will learn something, or maybe you will read a story just for fun. Maybe, just maybe, you'll write a story. Myself -- I've always liked stories that start off: "Once upon a time...."

For now, the end.

David Collis Hewitt
185 B, LCR 417
Groesbeck, Texas 76642
(254) 729-2942
dchewit@coolidge.isd.tenet.edu