I am putting the final touches on my fantasy novel, “The White Snake: The Raven and The Servant,” which retells an old Brothers Grimm fairytale with a lot of shamanic twists and turns, as well as some old fashioned literary fun, such as this old horse’s account of how General Relativity theory helps explain a raven’s supernatural abilities!
Arriving at the swinging double doors, Caedmon laid his hand upon the latch and then paused. Once again, a low mumbling emerged from within. The horses were in conference. Placing his ear to the crack, Caedmon listened.
“Nooooo,” that familiar low, rich voice intoned, “it wasn’t his father nor grandfather that served the previous kings. It was that white tufted rascal himself.”
“Honestly, I had no idea ravens were so long lived,” said the same younger voice, clearly dubious.
“They aren’t,” the rich voice responded. “They have normal lifespans just like the rest of us. No extraordinary longevity – if you clip their wings, that is. Or if they are the stay-at-home type.”
“So how do you explain this paradox. How can a raven of a normal life span serve three kings?”
“Well, it has to do with their unusual gift, of course. You are not aware of it?”
“All horses know they can fly between worlds, even into the land of the dead. So what?”
“It has to do with how they live in time, or perhaps I should say spacetime. A raven’s perspective of our world is like a stone’s perspective of the surface of the pond it is sent skipping over. It is true, they have not yet learned how to travel into the past, seek that wormhole as they may, but…” Continue reading “The Horse Explains A Raven’s Unusual Longevity”