The Eyesmith and Other Tales

By Mag Tan

Who is the Eyesmith? Why does Amos wait by the pond? How do you find the Assassin? And, this is quite important, how do you escape the spiders' wrath? Like a box of chocolates, this small collection of tiny tales is meant to be savoured, one at a time. If you can.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mag Tan
• Release date: May 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301599325

Mag Tan

Mag Tan lives in a fine city where she writes, reads and makes magpoi badges when she has time. A few of her short stories have appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Imponderabilia: the international student anthropology journal, the Fox Chase Review, Concrete: UEA's official student newspaper and Silverfish New Writing 5 anthology. If you want to say hello, find her on twitter @magpoitweets.

Book preview

THE EYESMITH AND OTHER TALES

Mag Tan

Copyright © Mag Tan 2013

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved

This book is dedicated with so much love to my family.

I give many thanks to the Mustard Maids for proofreading and laughter.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. No part of this book can be reproduced or transferred by any means without the express written permission of the author. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The moral right of this author has been asserted.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

Table of Contents

The Eyesmith

The Coal Elf

The Ice Sprite

The Reed Piper

The Housekeeper

Amos

The Hermit

The Dancer and the Cripple

The Windchime Maker's Son

The Fisherman

The Swordsman

The Gardener

The Musician and the Muse

Fishy Thoughts

The Writer

The Horseman

The Lampblacker

The Lamplighter

The Assassin

The Spider Mother

About The Author

The Eyesmith

By the cliff this bonnie lass lives, in a cottage by herself with a big black cat; the Eyesmith they call her. She does naught but sit in her rocking chair, so they say, and talk to her black cat, Iris be his name. Young she is and cold as the sea winds, her eyes so pale and her hair such sinful scarlet tresses as would rob many a villager of his eyesight for a few forlorn days. Blinded by the Eyesmith? None such thing, we whisper hastily, no, not at all. The young missus is very good to us, very polite and always quiet, not like some of the wayward daughters we've suffered, oh no, the young missus always treats us well, she does.

Sometimes she pulls her rocking-chair out and sits right at the top of the cliff, so perilously close to the edge, her tiny feet too tiny, so dainty she seems, what if the winds blow her off? Nevertheless, she rocks slowly and gazes into the distance, as if she sees past the horizon, nay, there is no horizon for her, only more and more to see. The Eyesmith wanders the beach sometimes at night, who knows what she sees in the dark? Or who or how or why? In sweeping plaid red-and-white skirt and heavy white blouse, she travels up and down the beach wrapped only by her violet shawl all night long. Not a breeze stirs the air when she decides to have her midnight stroll and when the sun rises, she is back under thatched roof again.

Never does she come down to buy fish for her cat, or ask the help of a seamstress, or merely to sip a cup of tea in someone's house. Only to deliver omens or tell us of our sons at sea, how well our brave seafarers are. And in return, we perform these menial tasks for her, no payment of course.