The Lady of Shalott, a short story

 Resultado de imagen de the lady shalott

Once upon a time, in a grey tower, on an island, in the middle of a river which flowed to Camelot, there was a prisoner. Her name was Elaine. For years Elaine had been trapped in the tower by an evil curse. Not only was she unable to leave the tower, she couldn’t even look out of the window. In fact, her only connection with the outside world was through the reflections in a mirror which hung on her wall.
Elaine spent her days singing and weaving tapestries of the things she saw through the mirror: the moon above; the barley fields; the red cloaks of market girls; people in love.
No one knew she was there. No one even knew she existed. Those who heard her song thought that the castle was haunted. But of course, it wasn’t. Elaine was very much alive.
And then one day everything changed: Elaine caught an unexpected glimpse of a particular knight in shining armour. Captivated, and forgetting the curse, Elaine took three steps towards the window and looked out directly at the back of Sir Lancelot.
The mirror cracked from side to side. Elaine ran down the spiral staircase and left the tower. She got into a boat and went down the river towards Camelot. As she got closer, she sang her last song. The curse started to work its magic. The boat landed on the banks of Camelot. The people rushed to see the sight of this young woman – beautiful yet lifeless. Lancelot stepped forward and was struck by her beauty. He said: “God have mercy on her soul.”

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