The White Rose

Once upon a time, in somewhere far far away, there was a lush dark forest full of wild animals and wild plants. The forest was so lush, that it was almost completely untouched by humans—only one knight who traveled by a horse occasionally through the forest just to have a rest, and continued his journey the next day again.

The Raven lived in this forest. He was small enough to pass through the forest nimbly, and he had feathers as black as the black coal, his beak big enough to rip through flesh, but despite of his appearance, he had a loving and kind personality. Most of the forest dwellers were afraid of him because of his looks, yet he always helped the other unconditionally unlike the other ravens of his kind who always flew arrogantly.

The Raven was fond of flying around the forest with his friend the northern Cardinal, this northern cardinal had a really thick, vibrant red colored feather, as red as a blood, because of his feather everyone called him ‘the Red’, they were friends since they were small. The Raven once helped the Red who were stuck in the twigs, and since then the bond between them was strong.

One day the Raven was flying around the woods with the Red as usual, when the Raven caught his eyes at a beautiful White Rose. He immediately perched on a twig and watched the White Rose from the distance, the Red followed his friend, who was stunned by the beauty of White Rose.

"Why are you silent, are you hungry?" Asked the Red.

"No ... I'm looking at the White Rose ... I’ve never seen something so beautiful." the Raven replied, pointing to the White Rose.

"She was indeed beautiful but I heard from the deer that she was very arrogant, she always felt she was the most beautiful of all these forest dwellers" rejoined the Red.

The raven just mumbled and continued to be captivated.

"Let us continue with our journey, I'm hungry" the Red persuaded.

Then they just went on, and through all the way the Raven couldn’t take his mind off the White Rose to the point that his flying became really off and he kept flying towards a tree as he kept daydreaming about her.

The next day during the earliest of mornings, the Raven woke up and flew out of his nest to the woods as fast as he could. Without thinking, he went straight to where he found the White Rose. Again, he stared at her from afar, and wished that he could approach her even though he was so timid now. His heart began to race when he tried to flock his wings together to fly, and when it happened he just stopped trying.

Day after day passed, the Raven still had not built his courage to approach the White Rose. Until one time when the Raven was watching the White Rose, he saw a riding knight who stopped by right in front of the White Rose. The Raven was afraid that the knight would hurt her.

“This rose is so beautiful; I wonder why is it all by itself here? My wife would love to be given this.” He said to himself.

The Raven saw the knight who came down from his horse and approached the White Rose. When he was about to reach for her with his hand, the Raven immediately shoot off from the twig and started to flap his wings towards the White Rose. He knew the knight was going to take the White Rose and plucked her off, that would be the same thing as killing her, the Raven thought. He pecked the knight with his beak and screeched to scare him off—he was not ready to let the White Rose go, he decided that on the spot. The knight panicked and ran towards his horse and left the Raven and the White Rose.

“Are you alright?” Asked the Raven.

“Why did you hurt the knight? Why did you make him leave me?” Snapped the White Rose.

“I… I just wanted to save you.” The Raven replied nervously.

“Save me? That’s wrong! I hate you, why did you do this? It was the only chance for me to get out of this ugly woods!” The White Rose was miffed, and started to complain.

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t know…” The Raven apologized with his head down.

“Do not expect me to forgive you, ugly raven you are!”

The Raven straightaway left the White Rose, feared that if he continued talking to her it would make her angrier. He went back to his nest, and that night he couldn’t rest because of the event that took place earlier. He thought how stupid was he and he deserved the White Rose’s scolding.

The next morning, the raven woke up early as he couldn’t sleep well. He then flew to the deepest woods to find the best grains he could find; he wanted to give them to the White Rose and apologized to her for what he did. He never intended to give the White Rose a bad impression, and wanted to be given another chance. He carried the grains in his beak with great effort, then he went back to where the White Rose was.

“Good morning White Rose. Forgive me for what happened yesterday, this is for you”, said the Raven as he put the grains around the White Rose.

 “Are you really this ignorant? I don’t eat seedlings like the other peasants! Bring me water instead!” The White Rose said as she raised her voice, still feeling irritated upon what happened the other day.

The Raven consented to her request, and hastily flew towards the nearby river. He folded a fallen leaf as a container and took the water—although for the Raven, it’s not particularly an easy process, as the river stream was harsh that day. Upon finishing his duty, he flew back to White Rose, meeting the Red along the way.

“Hi Raven, what are you up to?” The Red noticed that his friend is in a middle of a laborious task.

“I’m taking water for White Rose.”

“Let me help you.” The Red said as he spread his wings.

The Raven politely refused, but in the end the Red insisted in helping him. The two set off towards where the White Rose was.

On the ground, the White Rose had never seen the Red who was always flying above her in the sky. She was captivated by the Red’s gracefulness and his brilliant red feathers, and she did not say anything even when the Red and the Raven were pouring her with water. Slowly, the anger in her face dissipated, and of course the Raven was the first to notice her sudden docility. He also noticed there’s something different in the way the White Rose looked at his friend…

“Who is he?” The White Rose break off the silence after the red left.

 “My friend, Red.”

The White Rose let off an awe and stood there quietly. The Raven continued to clean up the grains around the White Rose.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?”

The White Rose shook her head. The Raven left the White Rose frozen in her spot—in his head, he foreshadowed something weird, and felt a slight anger, although he was confused of what to do. He flew back to his nest with a long face.

The next day, the Raven came back to the White Rose, and like before the White Rose did not even try to land her eyes on the Raven. Some time passed until the White Rose asked the Raven about the Red.

“He’s alright. Why do you care?”

“No, I’m just wondering when will he fly pass this dark side of the forest again.”

The Raven stood in silence, he couldn’t reply nor say anything right to her. The day passed by very slowly; all the Raven did was sitting beside the White Rose. As the sun went back to its nest and came the moon, the Raven stayed besides the White Rose with his mouth locked, paralyzed for he felt a slight pain in his chest. Even after the White Rose finally rested her body, the Raven was still in the same spot, looking out for the person who wouldn’t show care for him.

The night was over and came the dawn, the morning dew reflected light and sparkled on one of the White Rose’s leaves. The Raven flew off to take water from the river, where he encountered his friend the Red. The Raven asked to join him.

“To whom is this water for? Don’t tell me it’s for the white rose.”

The raven replied with a silent yes. “I’m only doing the right thing.”

“Are you out of your mind? Look at the situation! I’ll help you, but you need to rest.”

The Raven didn’t reply, and continued doing his task with the help from his friend. Then once the two had arrived in the White Rose’s spot, the White Rose was surprised to see the Raven who brought along Red. The Raven saw the look on the White Rose’s face, and immediately concluded that she’s fallen for his friend. The Raven poured down water onto the White Rose, as the White Rose and the Red had a conversation. The two were having fun, and feeling that the Raven was just a bother to them, he left. Along the way the Raven couldn’t stop thinking about the White Rose’s expression when she was talking to the Red—her smile was so dear to the Raven, but the fact that it wasn’t for him, the Raven felt his heart shattered to pieces.

Days went by, every day was the same routine; the Raven brought water to the White Rose while his friend accompanied her and talked for hours. Albeit, the Raven was proud to see that the White Rose began to smile more and more every day, and she looked even more beautiful than the first day he met her.

One day, the Red was absent at the White Rose’s spot, but the Raven continued to see her. He did his routine as per usual, until the White Rose spoke to him.

“I wish I was born red.”

“Why do you want to be red? I think you’re already very beautiful right now.”

“That’s not true… Being white is boring.”

The Raven looked at her in confusion. “I’m sure that’s not the only reason.”

“You’re right…”, the White Rose sighed, “look at Red. His feathers aren’t like any other. Even I was fascinated with his figure. If only I were red so I could match up to his beauty…” She then let a small chuckle. “My imagination is too much; don’t you think?”

The Raven replied with an insincere chuckle. “So you like Red in that way?”

“Forget about it. I feel down thinking that I was born to be colored white.”

“Believe me. You are very beautiful, even more than the Red. I really think so.”

“Ah, Raven, you won’t understand.”

The silence came back again. They spent time without saying anything else to each other, until the White Rose fell asleep. The Raven didn’t move and guarded the White Rose until morning came.

The next day, the White Rose was still asleep when the Raven flew off to get water for her. When he came back, he saw that his friend Red was already there, they were back to being busy chatting with each other. The Raven didn’t want to bother the white rose, so he waited for them and perched on the twigs of a nearby tree. He waited, but his friend stayed and didn’t go. He felt isolated, and decided to go back to his nest.

In the next morning, the Raven came back to see the White Rose. But Red was already there to accompany her. He didn’t dare to go closer and kept watching them on the same twigs from afar. He paid close attention to the White Rose’s smile, and how the sun brightly enlightened her face that morning, which magnified her beauty to a whole new level. The Raven fell even deeper with his feelings for her, but he still felt hurtful that he wasn’t the reason she smiled.

One week passed. The Raven stayed in the same place, resting on the twigs, looking out at the two creatures who already became best friends… But he noticed that as time passed, the smile on the White Rose’s face tend to grow weaker, and it’s the same thing with the Red; sometimes the White Rose turned grim until one night, the Red wasn’t there to accompany the White Rose. He left her for some reason. As the White Rose turned teary, the Raven finally approached her, he felt the need to because it was heartbreaking for him to see her cry.

“What’s wrong? Please don’t cry… Why are you down?”

“Red left me. He said we’re not meant to be together. I’m sure it’s because I’m white. I HATE MYSELF FOR BEING WHITE COLOURED!” She shouted into the darkness, sadness and anger was all she could felt.

“That’s not true. There’s nothing wrong with you being white. You have to realize you’re beautiful this way.”

“I just want to be red colored, so I could be with him, so that he could love me!” The white rose insisted.

“If he really did love you, he shouldn’t mind, he should accept you the way you are.”

“You don’t understand. You don’t know love. Go back to where you belong, I don’t want to see you ever again!”

 The Raven flew off without a fight. Tears started to fall down his cheeks, for once he couldn’t bear the weight and quit being strong. He went back to his nest, and felt disappointed that he couldn’t cheer her up.

The entire residence of the forest knew that the White Rose was in grieving. It seemed as if nothing could end her crying. All the residence complained about her endless crying as they felt disturbed, especially during the night when they all needed to sleep but couldn’t do so peacefully. The White Rose kept calling for Red and pleaded that she wanted to be red, everything red. Even knowing about all that, the Raven couldn’t dare to see her after he was told to not to by the White Rose herself. He couldn’t find the Red too, he seemed to have already taken off to some other forest like how he usually did before Winter…

This went for days, the Raven still feared that he wouldn’t be able to ease down her desperation, until he heard that the White Rose fell ill. The Raven could imagine how the White Rose neglected her own body without someone to care for her; she was never close with the other dwellers in the forest after all. Then, the Raven gathered his courage and set off to see the White Rose, picking up water from the river along the way.

As the raven expected, when the white rose saw him, she felt angry.

“Don’t give me water, just let me be!”

However, the Raven kept giving her water, to her surprise. From the ground she looked at the Raven whose determination showed no intention of giving up on her.

“Raven, you don’t need to try to be kind to me. I’m telling you this so you don’t waste your time. You’re not someone who is a love expert. To me, you’re of no use. I don’t need water. All I need is to turn red! Go now before I hate you even more than I already do!”

The Raven was shocked.

He was petrified on his spot.

The Raven couldn’t speak.

He left the White Rose unwillingly…

The Raven didn’t go back to his nest; he flew off instead without no sense of direction. He kept flying until he’s grown tired of it, and rested on a twig in the middle of a lush, tall tree. The moonlight shine through the leaves and enlightened his spot. The Raven kept thinking about the White Rose. He wanted to save her. He wanted to see her happy again. That’s all the Raven wanted. Throughout the night, the Raven stayed alarmed and thought and thought until… He figured out what to do.

Came the next morning.

The Raven didn’t sleep. He immediately went back to his love’s spot, but he couldn’t fly that day. He brought something for the White Rose which he held in his mouth. He trudged slowly towards the White Rose’s place, hoping that things could go back to the way it was, even if he spent the rest of his days giving the White Rose water and accompanied her without expecting anything in return but the sole happiness of the person he loved the most. But he knew it was all too late for that.

The Raven finally arrived at the spot. He approached the White Rose from her back.

“I can turn you into red, I know how much you wanted it despite thinking it’s impossible. But promise me, that you’ll come to love yourself back, a sincere love just like the way I put my feelings for you.”

The White Rse didn’t say a word.

“Now please close your eyes.”

The White Rose was on the brink of giving up, she desperately wanted to turn red and she thought, closing her eyes wouldn’t hurt. The Raven prepared himself, quietly, as he worked his magic onto the White Rose.

“Open your eyes, Red Rose.”

The White Rose was shocked. She really did turn red.

Still in disbelief, she cried tears of happiness and mentioned a million thank you to the Raven. She turned back to see her savior, but all she saw was a bird toppled down on the ground with his wings shredded from his body, a sharpened twig in his beak. A red colored substance was dripping from his body and onto the ground.

The Raven who gave the white rose water every day, now sacrificed his own blood for her. He, of all people, succeeded in turning the White Rose red. He was breathing heavily, but he smiled to the Red Rose who was staring at him in shock.

“You look beautiful in red. I still love you until this moment…”

The Red Rose turned to the Raven, and tried to wake him up in every way possible. She pleaded for him to come back. The Raven just smiled, and closed his eyes and let a sigh for the last time.

The Raven was buried besides the red rose’s spot with fallen leaves as the Autumn season went by and Winter came. The Red rose lived through her days without someone taking care for her, and when it rained, all it could remind her of was the Raven. But days without rain… She lived in suffering.

Until one day…

What’s left was fallen leaves and the remains of a flower that had been dried up on the ground.

 

this story was adapted from '140 karakter' by Fira Basuki, and i make it again with little bit twist, because i love the message of the story, it reminds me about my father.