In sparing the fey creature, he was granted one wish. ‘A palace,’ he said, ‘of immeasurable beauty.’ And so it was the crystal house was made upon the dewy grasses. But as soon as the man entered, he came back out, clutching at his neck. ‘I can’t breathe in there,’ he said.
‘That’s because there is no air,’ the fey creature smiled. ‘You asked for immeasurable beauty, and what is more beautiful than the untouchable?’
And so it resides there today, glittering, alien, and useless.
Paddy Dobson
31st March 2021