The others will be finished over the weekend and placed in a new post.
STORY:
Two sisters, Rose-Red and Snow-White, live in a cottage in the woods near Lake Inari, Finland. Their parents died a few years back of illness, and were buried beneath the rose bushes where the girls' got their names. Traumatized by the deaths, the girls stayed in the house with little contact with anyone. Eventually, the little contact turned into the girls holding themselves up in the home in a subconscious effort to hang onto the one thing that reminded them of a better time.
On the day of the area's first blizzard of the season, the eldest prince of a nearby kingdom came knocking on their door. He explained that his youngest brother had gone missing several weeks back, and that his search was becoming desperate. Neither girls had seen anyone near the cottage in months, so they told him they would keep an eye out.
Later that night, weary scratches were heard on the door; Rose-Red opened the door. Shivering in the cold was a large orange dog with tired eyes. Instead of barking, the dog opened its mouth and spoke to them. He asked if he could come inside and warm himself by the fire. The girls were so shocked and mystified by the dog that they immediately brought him in, sat him in front of the fireplace, and draped every blanket in the house on the poor thing. He thanked them profusely and told them he had been searching for an evil dwarf that cursed him for accidentally destroyed its home. He had been searching for weeks for the dwarf, but he was at a loss when the snow began to fall.
The girls offered him their home for the winter. The giant dog greatly appreciated their kindness and accepted. The three of them talked deep into the night, and the girls felt happy to have someone new to talk to.
The winter passed, blissful and fun, into a bright Spring. The dog told the girls he very much needed to find the dwarf and regain his humanity before it was too late; his family had to be absolutely devastated. They had a tearful goodbye. The girls watched as the dog bounded off into the dense forest.
In an excuse to get out of the house for awhile, Rose-Red talked Snow-White into helping her fish for their smokehouse had been running low. They held hands and tried to act happy as they went to Rose-Red's usual fishing spot. As they approached the stream, they heard a great hollering and swearing along with splashes. They ran over to see a small grubby man with toadstools on his skin trying to wrestle his beard out of a giant fish's mouth. The girls yelled to the man telling him they were there to help, and ran to him.
Rose-Red grabbed the man's waist while Snow-White took hold of his beard, and with all of their might, they pulled. The little man yelped and swore even harder, throwing wordy curses of wine-seasoned sauces for the fish to be boiled in. The girls pulled and pulled and pulled. The man swore and swore and swore.
Finally, Rose-Red realized there was no other way to get him free other than to cut his beard. She told Snow to keep pulling, and she grabbed the gutting knife from her satchel. In one fell swoop, Rose-Red chopped off at least a foot of the man's beard. The fish grabbed its half and swam down stream. The girls smiled at the man. He stood there, dumbfounded. Almost immediately, his face turned to fury and he began screaming at the girls for ruining his beautiful beard! He flipped out a small, rusted knife from his belt and lunged at the girls. They screamed and ran.
Clutching each other's hands tightly, the two sister ran as fast as they could. They called out for the dog as the small man swore at them and waved around his knife. Snow-White tripped over a branch, bringing down her and her sister. Just as the man was about to lunge at them again, knife in hand, a blur of orange sprang out of the cluster of trees and pinned the man to the ground. It was the giant dog! Both the girls scrambled to their feet and stood behind him.
The dog gnashed his teeth together and barked madly at the man. It was the dwarf who had cursed him! A surge of anger came over the dog, and he sunk his sharp teeth straight into the dwarf's neck. Blood covered his muzzle. The dwarf was dead.
With the last breath of the dwarf, the giant dog dropped the body and sunk to the ground, shivering. The girls came to face him and ask if he was okay. He just continued to shiver without speaking. They brought him back to their house, lit a fire, and laid the dog before it. Snow-White placed the dog's favorite blanket on top of him. For awhile, they tried to get him to speak, but he only whimpered and shivered. The girls decided to let him stay the night again. They would check on him through out the night.
At some point, the girls must have fallen asleep because the sun was breaking through the shudders with fresh morning light. They went to go check on the dog only to find a lump of blankets on the floor. It was shivering, but it was much smaller than the dog. Slowly, they lifted the blanket up to reveal the face of a young boy, probably Snow-White's age. He had bright orange hair and tanned skin. The girls sat still, confused, and just looked at the boy. Suddenly, his eyes opened.
All at once, the girls realized he had been the dog! The death of the dwarf had rid him of his curse, and so he finally had his human body back. The boy told them that he was the young brother of the prince who the girls had met the same night as the dog. Immediately, they knew he had to get back to him family as soon as possible.
The three of them packed items for the trip, and for the first time in three years, Snow-White and Rose-Red left their home and went out into the world.
-Sami
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