"The Grump
Wizard"
by E.E. Rawls
The old wizard stared down at the village tucked in the
valley. For years he’d been helping the villagers—increasing their crops,
curing illness, bringing sunny skies, and much more. But what thanks had he
gotten for it? Gossip—rumors that his beard was really a horse’s tail, that his
ugly hat had fallen under a curse—and unease from the villagers who avoided him
like the mosquito plague.
“I’ll show
this ungrateful lot,” he growled on his doorstep overlooking the valley. Palms
raised to the sky, the blue above turned gray as clouds rolled in. Darker and
darker it became, with the boom of thunder and the patter of rain. The wizard
chuckled evilly to himself, and shuffled back inside his lopsided abode.
It rained
and it rained. Every day in the valley village was rain, from then on. Outdoors
fun was drenched to a stop, gossipers couldn’t hang out and gossip, people grew
gloomy and bitter. The sunshine had gone, and with it happiness, for months and
months. The wizard grinned down from his abode, relishing the villagers’
miserable state. But little did he know that there was one boy who was
unaffected by the curse of rain…
Mal stared
out the window of the kitchen, watching the rain with a smile on his face. When
he saw one of his friends appear with an umbrella, he bolted up. “I’m going out
for a bit, Ma. Be right back!”
Mal dashed
outdoors with his hood up, eager to play. “Is everybody at the pagoda?”
His friend
Benny shook his head. “Most aren’t coming. I told you no one wants to play in
soggy rain, anymore. We’re tired of it, man. Half of us caught colds last
time!”
“Oh stop
being so negative, Benny. Let’s have some fun!” Mal ran ahead, splashing
through puddles. But only two others friends were under the pagoda when he
reached it, and they didn’t look happy to be there. “What’s up guys? Up for a
game of football tag?”
One glared,
“Last time Josh twisted his ankle, and I fell and fractured my arm.”
The second
said, “I brought a cool, new board game. Let’s just play that, instead.”
Mal threw
up his hands. “Seriously? You guys are that scared of the rain, now?” Benny
finally caught up, and shook out his umbrella beneath the overhang while Mal
ranted. “We can’t let some weather rule our lives! Tom, you love football tag
more than board games. This isn’t like you!”
Tom cut his
gaze down at the floor. “The rain is cursed—everybody’s saying it. We outta be
staying indoors where it’s safe…”
“Cursed?
Rain is rain,” Mal argued.
Benny shook
his head. “He’s right, Mal. I’ve heard the rumor about an old wizard on top the
hill. He’s got strange powers. They’re saying all this is his doing.”
Mal stood
akimbo. “Hm, why don’t we go ask him to put an end to it, then?”
Benny, Tom
and Jen all stared at him, the pattering rain the only sound.
“Are you
outta your head?” Benny blared. “T-talk to a wizard with evil powers? Who does
that!”
Mal crossed
his arms. “I’ll do it.”
Another
moment of silence. “You’re crazy, man,” muttered Tom. “Just come back to my
house and we’ll have plenty fun playing board games, where it’s safe.”
“Not fun
enough for me. If my friends, and the whole village, are afraid to have real
fun and live anymore, then I’m gonna set things right. Somebody has to do it.”
Mal turned to face the rain, and took in a breath.
“Wow,
you’re brave, Mal. Brave and stupid.”
Mal heard
Benny’s voice, and waved back a hand as he bravely stepped out into the
downpour. He could feel his friends watching from the pagoda as he trekked up
the street that led out of the village, then turned onto the side path that
weaved up the hills, where the wizard was rumored to live.
The village
was a small toy the farther Mal climbed, shoes sloshing and sticking in the
dirt of the path as it angled up and up and up. He shivered in his jacket,
blinking away raindrops. A lopsided tower came slowly into view, reaching
higher and wider the closer he got, until he stepped under an awning that
depicted an angry fish and he pressed his finger to the doorbell button within
a stone dragon’s open mouth.
The bell
whistled, and Mal stepped back as a commotion of falling pans and then stomping
feet approached the door. The purple-painted door screeched open. “What in
tarnation? Did that darn mouse go chewing on the bell again? I ought to turn it
into a frog—” The old man stopped speaking when his bearded head peered out the
door to see Mal and not a mouse. He stared hard and his mouth bobbed like a
fish, as if seeing a human had shocked him speechless.
“Excuse me,
sir, but are you the old wizard said to live up in these hills?” asked Mal.
“Yes,” the
wizard said after a while, “What’s it to you?”
“I came
here to ask if you could put a stop to this rain. I’m sure you can do it!
Please, it’d mean the world to me and my friends. We can’t play outside like we
used to, and everybody’s miserable.”
“Ha! Do
what?” The wizard laughed. “Why would I go and undo a curse that I went and
made myself? You villagers deserve it! All those years I spent serving you, and
all you did was make jokes about me and pay me scrap feed!”
“But I’ve
never made jokes about you. I didn’t even know you existed for real before
today,” Mal protested.
The
wizard’s eyes narrowed. “You may not, but your parents certainly do.”
“Why should
I suffer for what they’ve done? C’mon, wizard sir, bring back the blue sky.”
“No! They
deserve it!”
“Even
parents don’t punish a naughty child forever. You’ve gotta bring back the sky!”
“No is no
is no!” The wizard perched his fists on his hips. “Now scram, before I decide
to turn you into a toad instead of that mouse.”
Mal folded
his arms. “It must be lonely living way high up here.”
The
wizard’s angry forehead rose a fraction. “W-what are you trying to say?”
“Well, it’s
no wonder villagers didn’t befriend you. How could they, when you live so far
away? Did you even hang out with people while you were in the village working?
You can’t make friends if you don’t spend time with anybody.”
The
wizard’s jaw and beard wobbled up and down. “Well I…sort of…now and then I’d…”
He gripped the doorknob. “Shut it, kid, and stop dirtying my doorstep with your
shoes!”
Mal caught
the door before it could slam shut. “I’ll be your friend. We can start now!
What card games do you like?”
Later that
day, Mal returned with a deck of cards and freshly baked calzones from his
home, and didn’t wait but yanked open the purple door. The wizard was about to
growl when he showed him the food, and the aroma must have appealed to the old
man’s stomach.
That
evening they ate and played cards, and the man, though grumpy, wasn’t as bad as
the rumors had said. If anything, he just seemed socially flawed and a misfit.
Mal decided not to press the rain issue yet, but to wait.
Mal came
back with dinner the next day, and then the day after that, until the old
wizard had given up on trying to frighten him off and accepted that the annoying
boy was there to stay. And it was then that Mal dared to bring up the rain,
once more. “Could you bring out some sky tomorrow? Doesn’t have to be much. My
friend’s having a birthday, and it’d be great to spend it outdoors.”
The wizard
combed his hand down his beard. “Some sky?”
“Just a
tiny bit.”
“Well…I
suppose a tiny bit wouldn’t hurt anything, for a brief while. It’d still be
cloudy and gloomy for the most part.”
Mal beamed
a smile.
“Very well.
Just a bit.”
~~~
The next day came, and the wizard spread his hands to the
grim clouds. Wind picked up and battered the clouds until a patch of sky broke
through. Ah, the sky. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed seeing it,
himself. The curse had affected him along with the village.
The clouds
swirled around the blue gap, before spiraling back into place and darkening the
landscape. “What?” The wizard thrust his palms again, but the clouds only
darkened and the wind picked up with the rain. “It’s not listening to me? How
can it not listen!” But no matter what he tried, the storm grew worse, and he
fled indoors.
An hour
passed and a loud knock at the door made him rise. The boy Mal dashed inside,
soaking wet. “You’ve got to stop the weather!” he shouted.
“Now, see
here you rascal—” the wizard began.
“It’s
flooding! The village will be swept away!” The wizard stilled as Mal looked
near to tears and desperate. “Please, you’ve gotta save everybody.”
He was
about to admit that he couldn’t, and just leave it at that, but the village
meant the world to Mal, it was his home. He should at least try something
before giving up.
“Alright,
alright! I’ll see what I can do.” Mal dashed back out into the rain, and the
wizard followed, donning his wide hat. The scene of the village below showed
water rising, the river swelling as villagers crowded onto their rooftops. What
could he do when the clouds refused to listen to him?
A wall of
water broke from the river and rushed toward the homes. “You have to save
them!” cried Mal.
The old
wizard sucked in a full breath of air, and shot out his hands, lifting palms
upward, fingers curled. He lifted and lifted, until Mal yelped in surprise as
the village houses began to move and lift up as a giant raft expanded
underneath them. Water drained from the raft and the houses were lifted clear,
bobbing together like rafters on a massive float. The villagers screamed at
first, then realized they’d been saved from the river flooding the entire area
around them.
The wizard
concentrated on maintaining the spell, until the rain slowed to a stop, and
finally bits of sky peeked out. The water receded, and he withdrew the
raft—plopping the houses back on dry ground. He sat down, exhausted, and Mal
cheered and gave him an unexpected hug. “You did it! And look, the sky is
back!” Mal grabbed his hand and began pulling him along with him to the
village.
The wizard
was hesitant to show his face to the villagers again, but couldn’t tell Mal no.
When they reached the houses, he braced himself for a tongue lashing, but
instead Mal’s friends cheered and gathered round him. Other villagers then,
too, thanked him for saving them, and even offered hot supper.
“Finally
getting appreciated,” he mumbled, and grinned.
“He’s a
good wizard, see? Don’t believe every bad rumor you hear,” Mal told his
friends. “Come on, have supper at my house, sir wizard!” He took his hand.
“It’s time you started making friends and stopped being cooped up in that house
high on the hill.”
Copyright 2017 by E.E. Rawls
