Notebook for Fantastical Observations Read Free

some steep hills, but as the road snaked upward, Soltieg led me up to the edge of the rocks where there were no houses.
    “Where are we going?” I asked.
    He pointed to a shadowed area and an entrance to what looked like a cave. I forgot allabout going to his place. A cave! That was about the coolest thing I could imagine. It was damp and a little chilly inside, but I didn’t mind. I thought of making a fort or a clubhouse with lots of rules about who got in. I was just thinking up what the first rule should be when I noticed that there were torches flickering in the gloom. They burned with a strange blue fire.
    “This is where I live,” Soltieg said. “I’ll take you all the way in if you promise not to tell anyone about it and promise that you won’t try and bring anything from inside of the cave back out.”
    “Sure,” I said. “No problem.”
    He led me into a vast cavern. There was a whole city inside, made from gleaming gold and shining silver. Gems as large as grapes ornamented spires and hung from bronze trees as though they really were fruit. Overhead, even the distant ceiling of the cave had been painted with gold and hung with opals that mimicked stars. Occasionally a mechanical butterflywould fly by, its wings rising and falling in time with the key unwinding at its side. As I walked through the streets cobbled with marble, I noticed that all the inhabitants of this strange city were shorter than I was—even the ones with beards.
    Soltieg brought me to his home, which was a modest house on a sloping street, but still crafted from stone so polished that it reflected like a mirror. The whole place was topped off with a roof of glinting copper. He took me inside and we played a dice game with rubies, a board game where the pieces were warriors blown from glass, and a card game with cards that were etched in gold.
    His mother brought us dishes of things I couldn’t identify dressed in unfamiliar spices and with many sauces. Despite not usually being a fan of weird food, I ate all of mine.
    Before I knew it, it was time to go back. I didn’t want to go. It didn’t seem fair that Soltieg got to live in a magical place. Eventhough his mother told me I could come again tomorrow, I found myself overcome with anger and envy.
    I slipped the golden ball into my pocket. It wasn’t that I forgot about my promise; it was just that I figured the promise meant I better not get caught. I deserved it anyway—he had all of this; why should he miss one little toy? Following Soltieg to the entrance, the golden ball seemed hot in my sweaty grip, but to tell him now would get me in too much trouble. I said good-bye and Soltieg said good-bye back, but his voice was sad and one of his hands tugged at his hair.
    After that, I never saw him again. When I went to try to find the cave, the stone was solid. There was no entrance into the mountain.
    All I had was the golden ball.
    —Eric N.
    ANALYSIS: Dwarves are fine metalworkers with a deeply felt sense of honor.
    —H. B. & T. D.

An odd little creature I’ve seen around my neighborhood:

Here’s what else I know about it:
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My three favorite

Promises I’ve