The Magic Belt and Other Fantastical Things

By Loretto Gubernatis

There is a magic belt all around our imaginations.
It is the place where fantasies are born and bred. It is the dark recesses of our souls, the golden secrets of our dreams, it is cloaked in mystery, magic and millenniums. It can be stretched like a rubber band and is a Never Ending Story. It is how Alice fell down the rabbit hole, it is how Dorothy visited Oz. Writers have been taking us on these Journeys to
the interior of our minds or the extremities of the Universe since Homer. Jules Vern wrote From the Earth To the Moon long before space travel was actualized and Edgar Allen Poe put us up in a Balloon in the early 1840s We never seem to get enough. Theres no limit to the journey and breadth of our imagination. So hop on board and lets take a trip.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453596333

Book preview

Copyright © 2010 by Loretto Gubernatis.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4535-9632-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4535-9633-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

Our Brother’s Keeper

Introduction

Chapter One

TALES OF THE MAGIC BELT

Chapter Two

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

Chapter Three

PLANET ROCK THE APOCALYPSE

Chapter Four

HIERARCHIES OF

ANGELS, FAIRIES AND ET’S

Chapter Five

FLY ME TO THE MOON

Chapter Six

TALES OF THE GOOD LORD

Chapter Seven

OTHER PLANETARY

AND CELESTIAL ANGELS

Chapter Eight

ABDUCTION THEORIES

Chapter Nine

CARLITA CARYLE AND THE CROW

Chapter Ten

PANDORA’S BOX

Chapter Eleven

THE UTOPIA TALES

Chapter Twelve

SERVIUM NON SERVIUM

Chapter Thirteen

THE FAY FOLK OF ALVANIA

Chapter Fourteen

THE MAGIC LAND OF GARTH HOGAN

Our Brother’s Keeper

The pain rises as the tide on the vast sea of my life. A contradiction on all logic. Deplorable situations pair off over nothingness meadows. Where is reality and where is the obscure. Only the pain rings a clarion call to the real thing. The feeling is intense. In intense moods and movements flowing and ebbing ideas float and call themselves rafts of truth. But what is true. True means facts and the fact is my brother is definitely dead.

My senses weep for you my brother. I see tears of blood roll down the sides of your bruised and swollen cheeks. The vultures hover hungry for the organs. Outside men walk deadly near the edges of the scaffolding as they build another wing on the hospital. You walked too deadly near steel and chrome, her car and she was Irish and drinking. I smell the horror of your flesh tearing apart. I taste the thick saliva the lump in my throat I must swallow with the pain. And chance to hear that sad refrain from an old Neilson song on the hospital radio, Can’t live if living is without you. Can’t give, can’t give anymore. I touch your hand and hold it dead the long lonely hours while we wait, you and I, alone together as it used to be for so many years, till it is time. They come to collect the organs. Hurry up it’s time. Will there be time. There will be time for us to remember when you were little how I carried you on my back with two lunch boxes and two school bags,(yes I was always strong) and how I made you laugh by telling you the tootsie-roll joke or sang your favorite song to you beautiful lady dressed in blue teach me how to pray God was once your little boy show to me the way Oh God show him the way to his beautiful lady. Our lady.

And yes we are the keepers of our brother

and he was mine,

I raised him since he was nine

when we both lost our mother

Introduction

There is a magic belt all around our imaginations. It is the place where fantasies are born and bred. It is the dark recesses of our soul and the golden secrets of our dreams. It is cloaked in mystery, magic and millenniums. It can be stretched like a rubber band and is a Never Ending Story.

It is how Alice fell down the rabbit hole, it is how Dorothy visited Oz, it is somewhere over the Rainbow and it is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It is the Journey to the Center of the Earth. It is Camelot and Fantasia and Utopia.

It is some place in the galaxy a long, long time ago and it is the Lost Continent of Atlantis. And all along the Magic Belt are all those wonderful phantasmagoric characters and people that brighten our world.

I hope you enjoy the simplicity of The Horse Head Nebula, Marvel, Jasper and Jade and all those living along the Magic Belt Stories. Take a bigger trip out into the galaxy and check out the Zodiac and your own horoscope. Jump up and down hip hopping and singing to Planet Rock a sort of The Day the Earth Stood Still meets American Idol Take a trip to the moon, visit the planets and then investigate abduction theories with the Kidnapper. Go back to the beginning with the Keeper of the Box and see Zeus and Prometheus vie for mankind with Pandora’s box. And then visit the Choir of Zombies in Servium non Servium.

Writer’s have been taking us on these Journey’s to the interior of our minds or the extremities of the Universe since Homer. Jules Vern wrote From the Earth To the Moon long before space travel was actualized and Edgar Allan Poe put us up in a Balloon in the early 1840’s and inspired Verne’s story. Plato talked about Atlantis with its technology 2000 years ago. We never seem to get enough. There’s no limit to the journey and breadth of our imagination. So hop on board and let’s take a trip way way out in space, a long long time ago in another galaxy . . . .

Chapter One

TALES OF THE MAGIC BELT

Introduction

Okay the Magic Belt is a bit tricky its creation is basically depicted in this book in a Stitch in Time Saves Nine. According to that story the Magic Belt developed while the good lord searched for a needle to sew the planets in place. While he searched the outer planets drifted even further out and a cluster of stars formed which I call the Magic Belt. In the Magic Belt are hidden away all those wonderful magic places like Utopia, Eldorado and of course Camelot. This Magic Belt is placed on the Planet Mercury which the good lord could have done later. You can choose which one you like best.

We start out on our Celestial escapade with our friend Jewel the little Allacorn who is exploring the Magic Belt, his sister Jade, their mother and father, Jasmine and Jaspar and all the friends along the Fabled Forrest. The stories are laced with much Catholic iconography which you can find in an old ancient prayer titled of all things The Litany of Loretto. It is a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Lady. And I mean no disrespect when I suggest that the following is my own litany. We all have one you know. Do you know yours?

The Horse Head Nebula

One day Jewel, the little winged Allacorn was flying happily along the bank of the Source of the Nile River. Just as he reached the Fabled Forest, he noticed something very strange. It was the most unusual thing he had ever seen before along the whole Magic Belt.

There, right in the middle of the Crystal Blue Sky was an ugly black hole. It was just large enough to pop his head through. He couldn’t believe what he saw. The truth was he couldn’t see anything; nothing at all but blackness and blackness and more blackness. It was indeed a strange feeling to have your head one minute in the light of the Crystal Blue Sky and the next in this big holy blackness. A cold feeling ran up and down his smooth white mane. At that very moment he heard his father Jasper calling him.

Jewel, get down from there this minute! Now Jewel would have only been only too glad to get down. He had had just about enough of this silly black hole. The truth was though that his head was stuck tight. His wings beat hopelessly against the Crystal Blue Sky. Suddenly he heard his dad behind him. Hold on son, I’ll help you. Here we go! And with one good tug his dad managed to pull him free. They landed gently in a bed of Lady Slippers just as they heard the Herald Horn sounding.

The Herald Horn always announced the arrival of the Crystal Barge which only sailed the Source of the Nile River for very special occasions. It carried the Queen of all the Magic Belt, Jasmine who also happened to be Jewel’s mother. It was for only very special reasons that she ever left the House of Ivory Tower of Gold Palace.

The Harold Horn sounded again as the processional barge came around the bend. It was shaped like two giant swans, one on each side. In the middle was a crystal arch and beneath this in the center was the Seat of Wisdom. It was made of soft green velvet, like a patch of soft grass. Whenever Jasmine sat upon it, she knew exactly what to do.

All along the sides of the barge were rows of shell like flower pots. They were filled with pink and ivory roses. These were the Mystical Roses, for they never die. They were Jasmine’s favorite. On the right side of the Seat of Wisdom was the Mirror of Justice. It was said that no one who looked into this glass could tell a lie. Jasmine ruled the Magic Belt with three wonderful gifts of the good lord; the Seat of Wisdom, which helped Jasmine to make the right decision; the Mirror of Justice, which kept everyone honest; and her Golden Horn which helped all things become new again.

She sat sweetly on the green velvet cushions, her royal blue robe draped gracefully over her delicate white shoulders. Jewel could not help thinking she was one of the most beautiful of all the good lord’s creatures. As she stood up, the Herald Horn sounded again and Jewel stood proud and tall also, as his mother descended the platform and entered the Fabled Forest.

What could it possibly be? Jewel wondered to himself. Surely his Mom had not come all this way just to scold him for sticking his head in that hole. He was probably in real trouble this time, he thought to himself.

Jasper bent down and as Jasmine climbed on his back she gave him an affectionate hug. Then they flew up to the gaping hole. Jasmine touched her Golden Horn to the edge of the hole and immediately the hole closed back up and there was nothing left of that ugly black hole but the Crystal Blue Sky again. Jewel’s eyes were as big as flying saucers. His dad laughed as he landed Jasmine down and she gave Jewel a reassuring hug.

Honestly Mom, said Jewel in a rush. I didn’t make that hole. I only peeked out a little to see what it was all about. I’m really sorry. Honestly I am. I know you didn’t dear, said Jasmine gently. There’s nothing out there for a little Allacorn to worry about.

Boy you can say that again! said Jewel, nothing but blackness. How is it I have never seen such blackness before?"

Well you know son, said Jasper, the good lord made the Magic Belt in its own special way. Here the sun always shines and we have daylight all the time. But how did the hole get in the sky? inquired Jewel curiously. Jasper put a wing around Jewel’s shoulder and spoke in a fatherly tone. "Son, you know all the wonderful places that exist all along the Magic Belt; the Land of Eldorado, where Sir Walter Rhino lives; the Fountain of Youth, where Pounce the Lion rules and the City of Utopia, which is guarded by Sir Thomas, the Tiger of Truth and so many other wonderful places of the heart. They must be protected from those who would come here uninvited. That is why the good lord has put an invisible shield around the Magic Belt. Sometimes though, a very strong meteor will fall against it. That is what happened today.

Oh now I remember! said Jewel excitedly. We have visited some of those places. It was so much fun! Yes son, said Jasper, But those places are only truly exciting when you know how to appreciate them. Mankind does not. They are still a little bit too selfish, but the good lord is working on that. Someday when they have grown up a little more, he will put these treasures in nice little corners of the Earth for them to find as though they had been there all along. But for now we must keep them well protected here in the Magic Belt so they do not lose their charm.

Oh Mother! said Jewel excitedly. Could we go to Camelot right now? I haven’t seen King Arthur in such a long time. Could we please? Well! said Jasmine. I guess since the Crystal Barge is out anyway, we might as well make it a day. So they climbed back onto the processional barge and proceeded on to Camelot. But first they sounded the Herald Horn loud and clear. It was the only proper thing to do. Queen Guinevere would need time to put her house in order!

The Creatures of the Light and Dark

One day Jasmine was a little tired of being stuck indoors. She had roamed the House of Ivory, Tower of Gold Palace till she was blue in the face. She felt she needed a little change, so she asked Jasper to summon the children and ordered a picnic lunch to go. They all went down along the shores of the Sassafras Sea and laid lulling on the beach. After they had eaten their old fashioned family picnic, the twins pleaded for a story.

Oh please Mother! they begged, tell us how the good lord created the Magic Belt. Finally Jasmine relented as she did really love to tell the story. "A long, long time ago when the planet Mercury (which is of course where the Magic Belt exists) was a very young planet, it was inhabited by the creatures of the Light and Dark. The creatures of the Light were shadowy figures. They had to live by daylight and sleep at night.

The creatures of the Dark, on the other hand, were made of glowing gas and they had to sleep by day and live at night. Now back in the old days, days and nights were a very long time indeed. So the creatures of the Light and Dark had a very long time to sleep. And as usually happens in such cases when creatures are different from each other, they had a lot of disagreements.

It all started out of boredom. So it happened that one long day the creatures of the Dark pulled a prank on the creatures of the Light as they lay sleeping. They hid all their tools in the most unusual places. Of course when the creatures of the Light woke up, it took them half the day to find their tools. They were very angry with the creatures of the Dark, so they decided to hide all their food. And so it began.

Eventually the pranks became worse and worse. Then both sides began making weapons. The weapons became more and more dangerous. Finally they were bombing both sides of the Planet Mercury with terrible bombs that left huge holes on the surface.

Now! continued Jasmine, "the good lord knew that someday the creatures of the Light and Dark would learn to live together, but meanwhile, Mercury was such a small planet (only Pluto is smaller) that the good lord didn’t think it would survive. He was afraid that these silly warring creatures would blow the planet right into two halves. So the good lord thought to himself, ‘the very thing’ and he decided to divide the planet in half himself. So he built an invisible wall around the middle.

It was wide enough to keep the creatures of the Light and Dark separated till they grew up a little more. And into this Magic Belt of land the good lord placed some of the most magnificent wonders, the Source of the Nile River, which runs all the way around the Magic Belt and has no beginning, the Fabled Forest where many legends live, and the Crystal Blue Sky with its daylight all the time.

The Magic Belt is invisible from the outside and has a protective barrier, so no one can enter without the good lord’s permission. Only your father can come and go as he pleases and that is because he is the Chief Messenger of Mercury and his wings are super fast. And the good lord appointed Unicorns the Queens and Allacorns the Chief Messengers forever and ever. So my children, someday you will take our places and rule the Magic Belt also. Well! said Jasmine finishing her story, Now you know all about the Magic Belt and the Creatures of Light and Dark!"

She looked down only to see two sleeping little ones. Well, what do you think Father? she said to Jasper, I guess it was just a bit too much for them. Well, if you ask me said Jasper in his most wise Fatherly voice, it’s a bit too much for me too! And he stretched out for a nap himself.

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

One day Gabriel blew his stack. He could take it no more. It was Marvel again. Marvel the mess, is more what I would call him! shouted Gabriel loud and clear at the good lord. He gave Gabriel a disapproving glance. Sometimes it seemed to him that Gabriel flew off the handle just a bit too quick. Of course, Gabriel seemed to fly everywhere just a bit too quick and to toot his horn too loud too! Stop shouting! said the good lord. I’m not hard of hearing yet!

Well you have no idea, Gabriel said, wringing his hands. I’ve got to put up with it class after class. If I give the class homework; somehow his is always smeared with angel butter or heavenly jam. If I ask for papers to be handed in on a certain day; he hands his in two days late. And at lunch time, if I turn my back even for a minute; He gulps down the sun punch while he lets his moon milk get sour!

Now this made the good lord really raise an eyebrow. For moon milk was hard to come by indeed. It could only be had when the Milky Way cow decided to jump over the moon. And that was not very often!

And his desk! continued Gabriel, rolling his eyes around in his head like orbiting twin planets, just look at it. It looks like a tornado hit it!

The good lord poked his nose in to see. He pulled out the tornado and threw it back among the clouds. Well that’s fine for now, said Gabriel, but tomorrow he will have it back the same as usual. I’m sorry, he said almost on the verge of angel tears. I really don’t mean to be so impatient. I guess I just don’t know how to handle Marvel the mess!

Now, now, now, said the good lord, putting his arm around Gabriel’s shoulder. He knew how very hard Gabriel worked teaching all the angel babies and how much he really loved them. Why he had found many a little angel lost in paradise. What you need is a little rest. He said lovingly. Why don’t you take a trip to Jericho and I’ll take over for you here for a while! Oh good lord you are so kind said Gabriel. I do believe my nerves could stand a little rest. So he packed up his horn and off he went to Jericho.

The next morning when all the little angel babies showed up for class, they were delighted and surprised to see the good lord. They knew that whenever he came by they always would get a story. Oh please tell us a star story or about the Magic Belt, oh please, they pleaded in sweet angel voices. Marvel was especially excited for he admired the good lord very much. He snuggled up close to his knee.

Well, said the good lord, scratching his chin. I think I will tell you about the stitch that saved nine. It’s a very old story about when I first made planetary things. You see, a long, long time ago, when I was much younger of course. I seemed to be much disorganized. I had heavenly bodies lying all over my workshop. The floor was strewn with angel hair. My bench was piled high with broken stars. Solar dust was everywhere. Now this was before I thought of using black holes for my waste cans!

Well anyway, I was quite excited about my newest project. I had just created my solar system of nine planets all along the Milky Way. They were ready to be sewn into their various orbits. Suddenly my thread broke. My needle fell down, down into a black hole! The angel babies all gasped together. Yes, said the good lord shaking his head, it was a mess! And, as you know very well, whatever falls into those black holes very seldom comes out again in the same place. I needed only one more stitch. I dashed like a bat out of heaven back to my workshop. I had only minutes to get that stitch in place or all nine planets would drift apart all over the Milky Way forever!

I searched desperately around my workshop. I was tripping over heavenly bodies, slipping on angel hair, and kicking stardust up everywhere. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. At last I found one. I pulled it out of that haystack as fast as I could and dashed back with no time to waste. I got that last stitch in just before the whole solar system ripped apart!

Of course by that time, Jupiter had slipped farther and farther away from Mars. It didn’t matter too much though! In fact it left a nice space for the Magic Belt of asteroids and planetoids I sewed in later. I made up my mind right then and there that this would never happen again. And from that day to this my whole workshop has always been as neat as a pin. I threw out all those old haystacks and now I know where every needle is!

All the angel babies clapped and cheered as the good lord came to the end of his story. None clapped nor cheered more loudly than Marvel. He had been listening more intently than all the rest.

Now when Gabriel came back from Jericho he was much surprised. Marvel’s homework didn’t have even the least smear of angel butter on it; and more amazing it was even turned in on time. And while Marvel did still from time to time snitch a little sun punch, he never again let his moon milk get sour. But the best thing of all was that, from that day to this his desk has always been as clean as a whistle and that really makes Gabriel blow his horn!

Marvel the Mischievous

And then another day, the good lord went strolling along the Galaxy. He was busy dusting off the earth’s constellations. This kept them clearly visible. Suddenly he heard a loud twittering and skittering going on behind him. Turning around he saw a bevy of angel babies frolicking along at his heels. I am sorry, said the good lord, but you will have to go home today and take a nap. I have business to attend to. The journey is too long for such little ones as you!

So the happy little group turned their disappointed faces homeward. All that is, except Marvel the mischievous. He stealthily crept along, hiding behind asteroids and planetoids and encouraging two of his