Today’s prompt from the Ultimate Blogging Challenge is to talk about my favorite number and why that number is my favorite.
My favorite number is nine. It’s a magical number. If you multiply anything by nine (except for zero, which eats all numbers), with the result always being zero), the answer will either add up to nine or to a multiple of nine. For exampe:
9 X 9= 81
9 X 99 = 891
9 X 5 = 45
9 X 455 = 4,095
9 X 4,558 = 41,022
Wow. How cool is that? You could spend all day playing with your calculator and you’ll still get the same result. This activity is good for wintertime, when it’s hard to get out of the house. You don’t have to be bored when you can have calculator fun!
The number nine is also magical in fairy tales. Today, I am going to continue the saga of the steam punk bear, and the number nine is going to figure in this tale.
If you haven’t seen the first part of the story, which I posted yesterday evening, here is a link to that part of the story: https://sunmoonstarshine.com/bears-bears-bears/
And now, for part two:
The mangled bear carried his severed arm as he walked with his new friend, the mouse. They were getting close to the house on chicken legs, but they had yet to see Baba Yaga. Suddenly, they heard a loud and bone chilling cackle. The bear gasped in terror.
“Don’t be afraid,” said the mouse.
“Why not?” asked the steam punk bear. “I’ve already lost one arm, and I have springs popping out of me.”
“Just a feeling,” the mouse said. “Oh, look at the sky!”
The steam punk stared at the sky and he saw seven ravens flying in their direction. He screamed in terror.
“Oh no! Are those birds going to dive bomb me? I am terrified.”
Just then, the birds gently landed.
“Hello,” said a raven. “We are seven brothers. We used to be humans, but we were cursed by our father. He wanted a daughter more than anything. Nine years ago, the most beautiful little girl was born. Our sweet little sister. We love her dearly, but, alas, when she was born, she was very sickly. Still, she had seven brothers who loved her more than life itself. Our father commanded us to get water from the well for our dear sister. We went with our jug to the well, but, when we tried to fill it with water, the jug fell into the well and vanished. We didn’t know what to do so we stood by the well and stared at the deep water. Maybe we thought that the jug would float to the surface, but that didn’t happen. When our father saw us standing and staring into the well, he became angry, and he cast a spell, and all seven of us became ravens. Our mother wept but we flew away. We heard that, if we ever found two more companions, we would be saved and would become humans again. We have to be in a group of nine for that to happen.”
“I remember,” said the mouse. “I have known you for many years. I watched you grow up, although you didn’t see me.”
“We didn’t see anyone but our brothers,” said another raven. “We were our whole world. We are sorry that we didn’t see you.”
“And now,” said the mouse. “We are in danger. For, as soon as Baba Yaga shows up, she will snatch us and pull us into her house. We don’t know what happens in that house. I looked far and wide for Vasselisa because she was the only person ever to escape from that house and run free, but we couldn’t find her. Her friends told me that she had embarked on a very long adventure and that they hadn’t heard from her.”
“Well, then. We must leave at once,” said the bear.
“We shall fly,” second the second raven.
The steam punk bear thought that the ravens would leave without him and the mouse because they could not fly. He wondered what would happen when he met the fearsome Baba Yaga.
The sound of the cackling felt even closer than ever.
“Quck, climb on my back,” said one raven to the steam punk bear. He shook with fear, but he climbed on the raven’s back, as did the mouse. Before long, the ravens, the bear, and the mouse landed at the foot of a very high mountain, close to the shores of a large sea.
“We shall eat and drink and sleep here,” said a raven. “Tomorrow, we shall fly. We must cross nine mountains, and we must dance nine dances. We don’t know what, but that is what we must do.”
“I am still afraid,” said the steam punk bear. “What happens if we are unable to cross all of those mountains and dance all of those dances?”
“There is another witch here who is more fearsome than Baba Yaga. We do not know her name, but we know of her deeds. For now, you do not need to know.”
“Oh,” said the bear.
The ravens caught fish from the sea and all ate and drank and slept.
The next morning, the bear had an ominous feeling. Suddenly, he heard cackling, louder than ever…
(to be continued)
