Today is part one of two where we are talking to ML Burns about her novels. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about starting with text based role playing and moving into novels, overcoming writing challenges and imposter syndrome, listening to what your readers want, within reason, getting your book ready for release, working with author friends to cross-promote books, writing non-standard POVs, and the best advice she’s received that you cannot edit a blank page.

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I’m a new author of adult dark fantasy and am excited about joining the world of writing with all the amazing artists out there! Not super sure what i put here but, i love: video games, writing and reading fantasy, GoT, ACOTAR. I live in Spain with my daughter ( 3 y/o) and husband of 18 years 🤗

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Welcome to Freya's fairy tales.

We believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.

Each week we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.

At the end of each episode, we will finish off with a fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author's version as possible.

I am your host, Freya Victoria.

I'm an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales novels and bringing stories to life through narration.

I am also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.

We have included all of the links for today's author and our show in the show notes.

Be sure to check out our website.

And sign up for our newsletter for the latest on the podcast.

Today is part one of two where we are talking to ML Burns about her novels.

Over the next two weeks, you'll hear about starting with text based role playing and moving into novels, overcoming writing challenges and imposter syndrome, listening to what your readers want within reason, getting your book ready for release, working with author friends to cross promote books, writing nonstandard POVs, and the best advice she's received?

That you cannot edit a blank page.

The Hourglass Keeper Time has never been on Azahara's side.

Exhausted from her relentless pursuit to break from the clutches of an obsessive God's curse, she has all but given up hope of freedom.

Until Cade, a half blood elf, saves her from certain death, they find themselves bound together by a force they could never have anticipated.

As their journey unfolds, the upcoming conflict will test this newfound connection to prove it to be her salvation or her downfall.

Amidst their growing bond, the realm teeters on the edge of destruction due to the volatile shift of magic, while Cade is bound by duty to the King and his kingdom.

As Ahara struggles to maintain a delicate balance with the sands of Time, can she safeguard the lives she holds dear?

Or will the relentless tilting of the hourglass force her back to the beginning, resetting the cycle she has endured for the past five centuries?

The podcast is Freya's fairy tales, and that is fairy tales in two ways.

Fairy tales are something that we either watched or we read, or we had read to us when we were kids.

Also, the journey for you to spend weeks, months, or years working on your novel, to hold that in your hands, is a fairy tale for you.

It feels like a fairy tale to you.

So I like to start off with what was your favorite fairy tale when you were a kid and did that favorite change as you got older?

Oh, gosh.

I think my favorite fairy tale, it's a Disney movie.

It would be Mulan, but before it's, it was Princess Mononoke.

And I don't know if you or a lot of people will know what that is.

Do you know what Princess Mononoke is?

I've heard it.

I don't think I've done the story on here.

Okay.

I don't know that I know a lot about it.

I think I've just heard the name.

Okay.

So I bring up Mulan, too, because I feel like it's the same concept as, like, a very strong, independent female main character.

But there's some romance in there, and that's okay, because I feel like nowadays people are so against, like, oh, well, now she wants a like.

That doesn't make her independent.

And I really enjoyed kind of growing up with no, we can have strong, independent women and still have them love and be their story.

So I would say my favorite fairy tale is definitely Mulan or Princess Mononoke, for those that know who that is, what that is.

All right.

Is it still the same?

Yeah, I would say so, yeah.

I have a three year old, and her favorite is Goldilocks right now.

So I don't know if that will change at this point.

I read it every night.

My daughter's gone through, like, a wide range.

For six weeks.

It's this one, and then it changes for the next six weeks.

I needed to change.

You're just like, can I please stop reading this story?

I'm.

At that point, I'm like, please, Can I get something else?

And now she's like, watching a nightfare before Christmas, which I love that movie, don't get me wrong, but it's every day.

Every day, twice a day.

I think the best investment we ever made was a Kindle fire tablet with headphones.

And it's the kid version, so it's, like, all locked down where she can't do, and she gets so mad that she can't do anything extra.

My daughter's nine, so she's like, I want to find a Dragon game, and there's no good Dragon game.

So occasionally I'll search through on the adult side of it and add some kid Dragon games over there.

If anyone, if you need something, entertain your kid.

Our philosophy has always been, as long as you're getting your chores done and your school done, we don't limit screen time at all.

I mean, she has limits to what she's allowed to do.

There's certain games she can't play and certain movies.

She's restricted to the kids side of Netflix and the kids side of YouTube and stuff like that.

Absolutely.

She's smart enough.

She knows how to get to the other side, but she does listen.

That was my three year old, I swear.

She does have a tablet.

We have the same philosophy.

We don't really do screen time.

She is so smart and that we were so fearful of her having too much screen time and that would affect her growth, but it never did and hasn't so far.

But she has her own iPad.

Thanks.

Because she took it from my iPad, became her iPad, and I was like, okay, well, I didn't need that.

Anyways, thanks.

So I'm right there with you.

She's smart.

So at what age did you start writing anything?

Short stories, whatever.

I started writing, I think, at about twelve.

And for context, I'm 33, so I started writing at twelve doing text based role playing.

And I don't know if you are familiar with what that is.

No, I'm going to take.

Yeah, no, I guess if you think.

About what, it's exactly what it sounds like.

So it could be anywhere between two to.

I mean, I've been in forums where there have been ten people, but basically you build a story around your charaCter, but writing a book with somebody else, and it was always like, in forms, or, like, forms was the main place I would do it.

And then when I turned 15, I was like, I'm going to write a book.

I'm going to do it.

And 18 years later, oh, it took a long time.

You did eventually get there?

I did eventually.

I got to the point.

But no, I bet I've been writing kind of on and off between that then and now.

So did you work on the same.

Book for 18 years or did you start many books over 18 years?

No, I wouldn't admit that, but no, I didn't.

It was not the same book.

I would have just passed that question on to the next.

No, I'm just kidding.

But I had so many ideas and I would write them down or I would tell my husband or I'd just be ready to go and do it and I'd start like one page and I'm like, you know what?

I think I'm going to go play video games or I'm going to go have a drink, or I'm going to.

Go out with my friends.

But no, so not the same story.

This one I started, actually.

I don't know if that's going to be another question, so maybe I should stop there.

You can just keep going.

Okay.

I don't want to take the question.

Away from later, but I generally start with, I like to let it kind of flow more naturally if it needs to.

So I start with fairy tales go into when you started writing, and then wherever it goes from there, wherever that's where it goes.

Perfect.

I talk way too much about this book.

My husband will tell you he's tired of it.

He's like, you're going to talk to somebody else about it.

Perfect.

Have fun.

Go right ahead.

Go right ahead.

So I moved to Spain from the US in January, and I don't know what it was about being here.

It just gave me that kind of like, that confidence to just go ahead and write it.

And I had people that were like, just put it on paper.

Just put it on paper.

It sounds like a great idea.

And so I started writing the book in March of this year, and I finished the first draft in July.

And since then I've been editing it because I have terrible imposter syndrome.

And I'm so anxious and I'm like, something's wrong.

I know there's something wrong.

That comma, God.

Oh, my God.

All my author friends, I know they're going to say, yes, it's that d*** comma.

I took more of the approach of, I'm going to get it.

I don't know.

It's not imposter syndrome.

It's kind of like the opposite where it's like, well, it was good the first time, but I need that.

It's not.

I mean, I know that I need to go back and revise it, but then there's only so many times I can look at it before I'm like, I can't tell what's wrong anymore.

I know there's things wrong, but I need someone to tell me what's wrong now.

I'm at that point.

I was at that point, I'm like, I've read this book like 50 times.

I'm like, ask me what chapter.

Just ask me a random chapter.

I can read you the whole thing in my head.

I could tell you the whole d*** thing in my head.

Well, then I spent so long on book one and getting, like, I focused on book one until book one was done and edited and out with arc readers.

And then I'm like, now it's time for book 1.5 because it's a novella.

And I'm like, I can't even remember what I wrote the day before.

I'm like, did I already write that into the.

Already write that into it.

Let's go back.

The two chapters I've already written.

I got to go back.

Oh my God.

That terrified me.

That did.

I was really afraid once I finished book one that I wouldn't be able to get back into book two or go to book two to three.

So I actually ended up just immediately going and writing book two as my Alpha readers read book one and they're like, okay, now I need book two.

And I'm like, okay, well, here you go.

And then I just moved into book three.

So I have books one, two, and three, and now I'm working on 3.5 because I ended up adding a novella as well, which I don't know why I did that to myself, but here we are.

But then I moved back to editing book one because obviously I was getting my Alpha readers and my beta readers were like, yeah, this is good.

You just come on, edit it and get it out there.

Right?

That's where we'Re at.

So it went to Alpha readers.

It went to beta readers.

I imagine there was editing in between there of their feedback.

And then did you send it to an editor before it went out anywhere else?

Or what did you do after beta reader edits?

Yeah, so I did a lot of research on doing self edits.

So, like grammarly.

And I did a lot of reading out loud to my husband and I'm like, okay, well, that doesn't make any sense.

I need to fix that, right?

Or like word has a read out loud option which has been, if nobody knows about that is fantastic.

So after I felt pretty confident that I had caught the majority of things, I did end up sending it to an editor for line edits, I think is what it was.

Lessons learned that you get what you pay for.

And when it came back, I found things and I'm like, wait, if I can see this, then.

So I ended up redoing some edits myself.

And since then, I have not sent it to another editor.

So I will have a proofread before it officially launches.

But other than that, I'm doing this self publishing.

So every dollar comes out of you.

My very empty wallet already, right?

Yeah, me.

Sorry.

My editor does everything but developmental editing.

She's like, if there's some big thing, and there was a couple of things, she was like, for a typical fantasy story, you have too much family together, time with her and her family, as opposed to just her with the romantic interest.

And I'm like, yeah, but my beta readers asked me to add more scenes in, so I did.

So I'm not going to take them back out.

She was like, hey, if the readers want it, leave it.

Yes, I found that so crazy that people, and I say people, I should say like publishing agencies and the recommendation of your first book being 130,000 words, I think was or like 130,000 for your very first book.

But my first draft ended up being like 192,000.

I brought it down to 150.

I think at this final stage it's about 153.

And when my Alpha readers and beta readers finished it, they were like, you should add this and this.

I'm like, is there any piece that you think I should take out?

Don't make me add.

No, I think you should add here.

I'm like, son of a.

Okay, yeah, sure.

So I find that.

So it's encouraging because I do feel like readers want more, obviously not fluff, right?

We don't want to boring and draws out, but it needs to be within this amount of words.

It strikes a weird chord for me.

I Googled.

So mine's fantasy romance.

It's not an epic, it's just a normal fantasy romance.

So I googled, I Googled.

What are the standards?

Only so that I could set my goal in Scrivener so it could tell me what my per day word counts needed to be.

And I actually ended up setting it on the higher end because when I had googled, it was like, oh, it needs to be between 80 and 120,000, I want to say.

So I set it on the higher end thinking, oh, well, if it comes in under that, that's okay.

And if it comes in over that, that's okay too.

But it was just a good place to set the goalpost.

I need to put something here.

So now I'm working on the first novella and I'm like, okay, so Novellas are supposed to be between ten and 40,000.

So I'm like, we're going to set it at 40,000.

And if it ends up at.

If it ends up a novel size, that's fine too.

Your novella is not a novella.

Not going to be enough.

I'm at chapter three and it's already at like 15,000 words.

Oh, no, what have I done?

But there's like a weird gap.

So it was like when I was like, what are standard?

And this is all based off trad pub, obviously.

So when I was Googling what are standard, it was like, oh, Novella is like ten to 40,000 and then a novel would start at like 50,000.

So there's like a gap of like 10,000 words.

But I'm kind of like, I'm going to write the story I want to.

So my novellas are like in the novel, in the first book, there's like a war happening.

And so the novella is from the other side of the war.

The other people they're battling's perspective.

Why were they doing this?

Why did they do that?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I'm like, it should be shorter.

And I'm three chapters in and I'm only like 2500 words in.

So I'm like, this is moving at a much faster pace because you already know half the stuff that happened.

Because it already happened.

Okay.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

Mine is like a fluffy, obviously, it's like 3.5.

It's Book 3.5.

So I won't spoil anything, but it takes perspective outside of the main character, Azahara.

Okay.

And it happens between book three and four.

It's like a fluffy story, but it gives much more background on the characters around her.

So, yeah, I won't say more because obviously that's in the way future.

I don't think the novella will come out until like 2025.

As far as I know about editors, everything from the many authors I've talked to in the last year and a half, I've been doing this podcast.

The general consensus seems to be like, get recommendations from other authors as opposed to Googling or Fiver or whatever.

I didn't take that advice.

I also narrate audiobooks, and so one of the authors that I narrate for, who had a very clean manuscript, which she did not edit herself, but she also edits books on the side.

And so I had her do a sample edit.

She did a really good job with the sample edit.

And then I found out that she actually is an editor for like a ghost writing house, too.

So I'm like, okay, I accidentally stumbled into someone who actually knows what they're doing.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

And the bonus, I was messaging her because I came across a video of some lady claiming, I mean, reality is editors are freelance, so they can charge whatever they want to charge.

But there was a lady like, oh, I'm getting started.

I'm only going to charge $300, but standard rates are $0.03.

So when you're looking at, I don't remember what the manuscript size was, but it was like $2,700 and she's only charging 300.

And I'm like, my book was, like, 92,000 words, and I only spent, like, $400.

So I don't know where these three cent people are, but I messaged my editor and was like, are you severely undercharging?

I mean, for all I know, I got a good relationship discount or sOmething.

No, that's really good, because the standard is, I think, $0.03 or, like, two cent.

My book being as big as it was originally, I think my first edited down was about $170,000.

And I was like, okay, I got to find a way to bring this down.

But it was going to cost me, like, $4,000 just to get the first edit.

And I'm like, I can't afford that.

I can let you know because of that video.

I went to a couple of people that I know were very well known editors on TikTok, and it is a gigantic range of what they charge.

The more well known ones.

There was one that was up in the three cent range, but then there was.

I don't know if you've seen the lady that has the split die, and she does the hilarious romance editing things where she'll pretend like she's, oh, my God, I can't remember what her name is.

It's like the spicy editor or something like that.

And she does these hilarious skits, but her rates are, like, 0.7 cents a word.

And she's, like, booked out several months, fully booked out, pretty decently well known on TikTok for editing.

And I'm like, well, if she's charging that, yeah, that means that must be somewhere in the right range of what people should be charging.

But again, it's freelance, and if you can get $0.03 for it, and people will pay you for it, go for it.

Apparently, they do pay for it.

No.

And I told my editor, I was like, I'm sorry, and you charge what you think you're worth, but if it was ever going to cost me $2,700, I would just edit it myself, because I can't at this stage, I could not.

Yeah, exactly.

I do hope that my book will provide some funding to fund the second book.

That's all my.

At this point, that's what I want.

I just want to be able to get my book cover, get it edited, and I don't want to do it by myself anymore.

That's too much.

See, I made my own book covers.

The only thing that I have hired out for.

I hired someone to help me build an Arc team and to do some promotion stuff around launch.

And then I hired my editor.

Everything else I've done myself, I bought vellum to do the formatting.

I had Canva Pro already for podcast related know, use what you already got, no need to pay for it again.

Exactly.

I made all my covers in canva.

It worked just fine.

They are beautiful.

I've seen some that are not, though.

I spent a really long time looking at fantasy series in particular, but looking at fantasy series, looking at trying to figure out what the commonalities were that made them look like a cohesive series.

And specifically in Trad Pub, because I feel like they would have done a better.

Not that indies and self pub are.

Bad at it, but I knew that Trad pub books that are in series, they have a certain quality that you're like, oh, those all are from the same series because the font's the same, or the color scheme is the same, or the symbol on the front is somewhat the same, or whatever it is.

So I did that, and then I tried to kind of model mine after that, where it's like the fonts are all the same.

I just change out the word for the next book and then there's some really pretty picture in the background.

Hey, absolutely.

I tried to make mine in Canva and I use Photoshop too, but I gave the idea to somebody and then they put my cover together, which I think is much better because I am a perfectionist and I would have never been done with the d*** cover.

I wouldn't even have written the next book.

I'd still be putting the COVID together right now.

I am a little bit of a perfectionist, but I'm also like, I don't have time to do this.

So it's like, it looks good.

Order a proof.

See how it looks?

That looks really weird.

Why are all the words in the middle of the screen?

Oh, my God.

Yes.

So I'm like, all right, make them bigger and easier to read because I was scared.

With the templates that you use for KDP, the template that you download, it tells you, like, we're going to cut this part off.

But I was scared, like, what if they cut off a little bit extra?

So I made the words smaller so that they wouldn't get cut off.

And then it was like, okay, blow them up as big as you can now.

YeaH, I have three proofs and all of them, girl.

Oh, my God.

I was like, can we just not.

And then they all came from three different distribution sites.

And I'm like, can I just specifically have one site do it?

Because they did it great.

But no, of course not.

So the struggle is very real with those.

So I feel that on a lot.

Of levels now, my husband, who's also writing his cover that he has in mind, is way more complex than Canva will be able to handle.

So he will have to pay for his cover, which I told him, I'm like, you're looking at, you're probably going to have to have a more expensive person.

So he has a second job to help save up for his covers.

So we split the cost of, like, vellum and pro writing aid.

We split the cost between us because we're both using it.

But I can narrate my own audiobook because I'm a narrator.

He has a bunch of accents in his book that I don't know how to do, and he wants the accents.

So I'm like, yeah, you're going to have to pay for that.

Yeah.

And they're expensive.

They are audio, especially when you get into.

I narrate a lot of royalty share for authors, but with how many accents he has, I'm like, you will have a hard time finding a royalty share narrator willing to take a chance on someone who's brand new with all those accents included.

And it needs to be a duet or dual narration.

So I'm like, that's a unicorn.

To find a royalty shared couple that can do all the accents, I'm like, no, you're going to have to pay.

It's going to cost you about this much.

Yeah, no, I can't.

Oh, God, my poor wallet.

The flies are coming out of it.

Don't try.

So you got your book ready?

You sent it to the editor.

You reedited the editor's work.

Now, you said that they were telling you to get your book out there.

Has your book actually been published now?

No.

So it's currently in Ark's hands right now.

I have a tentative date for it, which I can share because it's not like a secret.

Because technically, for me to put my book on Goodreads, I had to have it somewhere.

Right?

I don't have a website Yet.

Yeah, I found that out the hard way.

Yeah.

So it's currently a November 30 release.

As long as I can get my final proof done and it looks good, then it'll be November 30.

As long as my anxiety doesn't make me take it off KDP for some stupid reason.

One day, yeah, as far as Goodreads, I sent my book to Arcs, and then the next morning one was like, hey, your book's not on Goodreads.

And I was like, what do you mean?

It's only been 24 hours?

Why do you need the link?

I'm like, I was going to do preorders next weekend.

Here you are finishing in 24 hours, which, as an author, that is amazing because that means they could not put it down and they got it done.

And they devoured it.

Quite a few that have done the same thing.

I mean, it's been like this past Monday is when it went out and there's already like several have already reviewed it on social media and on Goodreads.

And I'm just like, wow, so good.

It feels so good.

Yes.

It's like, you see the authors that are like, oh, just as long as one person likes it, I'll feel like justified, I guess, and spending all the time and I'm like, I'm sorry, I do a lot of other things.

I'm going to need more than one person to like this book for me to keep writing.

No, I'm one of those ones.

I convinced myself as long as one person liked it, it was worth all the time.

I convinced myself that I did.

Do I want more people to like it?

Absolutely.

And they do.

Thank God.

Because if only one person liked it, I don't know what I would have done.

Yeah, well, I don't know what I would have done so far.

I had an alpha reader who was my best friend.

So I'm like, she's not going to.

She helped me, like, oh, these two characters need more scenes in there.

But I'm like, I knew she wasn't going to be like, this is an awful harsh critic.

A harsh critic.

Yeah.

So then I almost didn't send it to beta readers because I was scared.

Then it took me about two weeks to convince myself to do it.

And then I had quite a few sign on and they were like, oh, my God, we're so excited for this book.

And all the feedback was really good.

They helped me make it so much better.

So I'm glad that it did go to Betas because they helped make it so much better before it went to the editor who would have just edited what was already there.

She wouldn't have given feedback.

Developmental.

Yeah.

So we were talking about your people telling you to add in extra scenes and stuff.

One of my beta readers was like, hey, you leave a couple of gaps in the information.

It's not that it's not there, but it's like the person reacting to it is way too calm about it.

And so she had an idea to add in these little text message conversations throughout the book where it's like you're getting these little drops of information.

Now, mine is a fantasy book, but part of it does take place in our world.

And so it's text messages.

Now for the novella that is all in the fantasy world, which is like primitive 17 hundreds.

So definitely no texting.

No texting.

No texting.

We had to go with, like, letters.

Just like messengers.

Get it in the raven's hands.

Something.

I'm like, so this is interesting.

Why do I do this to myself?

Well, I was the same way because I've always written in a fantasy world when all of my writing and the things you don't think about when you are actually writing a full blown book, like traveling.

So obviously my book is based in a fantasy world.

There's no technology, but it's kind of left open to the interpretation of like, okay, well, we're in the year 60, 64, but they don't have cars, they don't have anything.

They're riding on horses.

There's no electricity, there's magic.

What's going on?

It's left open to that interpretation.

And it does have, at the end of the series, it kind of answers that question.

Anyways, how long does it take to ride a horse from point A to point B?

But it's different if it's snowing, if it's raining.

And I'm like, wait, okay, how far.

Can a horse travel in a day?

How long do they sleep?

No, how long do they sleep?

Literally, I was like, how long does a horse sleep?

Because, right, mine don't get to sleep.

Didn't even think about that.

In one of the scenes in book one is that they're running away from something and they go to sleep.

And it's kind of like seeing how she saw the horse awake when she went to sleep and then the horse was asleep when she woke up.

So putting a timeline like, okay, well, horses only sleep for four or 5 hours normally.

And so, okay, well, it's only been a couple of hours.

It's the things like that you don't think about until you're writing a book.

And you're just like, somebody, some m*********** is going to be like, that's not accurate.

Horses don't sleep for 8 hours.

So my book, and this was a beta reader thing.

So my book has war kind of battle.

We're going to call it a battle because there's going to be a bigger war later on.

So there's this little battle, skirmish, whatever you want to call it.

People die.

Okay, whatever.

I would turn to my husband and be like, could you shoot a bow and arrow if you'd been suspended by your wrists?

Imagine them using their chin.

And he'd be like, it'd be incredibly painful, but it could be done.

Sure.

And then I got lucky that some of my beta readers have certain experience in certain categories and helped make it more realistic.

Yeah, I love that.

Now I'll text her and be like, hey, would this be possible?

And she'd be like, well, you'd have to write it like this.

I'm like, okay.

I have to plug this in because I was just talking about this in the comments section on a TikTok is that I'm six foot, my husband's six two, and my main female character is five five, where the main male is six, whatever, six and a half feet.

And I'm like, when it got to the spicy scenes, I'm like, will this work?

Because my husband and I are so close the same height?

I'm like, well, it works for me.

Does he have to pick her up to make this work or what happened?

I sit here.

I think that's why my spicy things take so long to write.

Is this plausible for her height to his height?

And that's why I didn't make them like in the standard Faye books where they're like 7ft.

There are some very tall people, but not in the love interest area.

I was like, I'm not making them above six and a half feet because I don't know nobody that's 7ft tall and how that will work.

So we're not going to tread down that lane.

So I feel that, yeah, mine.

I don't mention specific heights in my book, but when she first meets the male main character, she has to look up at him, which indicates, hi, my editor was like, just take out the other two ups.

And I'm like, no, it indicates he's freaking tall.

I have to know that.

My head hurt, my neck hurt.

I don't want to say, oh, he's six foot eight.

No, I had to look up and.

I can't put five P's in there.

Okay, so it has to be up.

Yes.

My neck hurts.

I did try to use the triple word thing sparingly, but one of the situations, I did remove it because I was like, okay, it doesn't need to be that way.

But it is what it is.

I wanted it up.

And there was another one that she also said to remove that I did not.

It's my book.

I'm going to do what I want.

Technically called up.

ML liked Princess Mononoke growing up.

Today we'll be reading the story of Princess Hayes, a Japanese fairy tale.

Don't forget we're reading Le Mort de Arthur, the story of King Arthur and of its noble knights.

Of the roundtable on our Patreon.

You can find the link in the show notes the story of Princess Hayes, a story of old Japan.

Many, many years ago, there lived in Nara, the ancient capital of Japan.

A wise State minister by name, Prince Toyanari Fujiwara.

His wife was a noble, good and beautiful woman called Princess Miyasaki Violet.

They had been married by their respective families, according to Japanese custom, when very young, and had lived together happily ever since.

They had, however, one cause for great sorrow.

For as the years went by, no child was born to them.

This made them very unhappy, for they both longed to see a child of their own who would grow up to gladden their old age, carry on the family name, and keep up the ancestral rights.

When they were dead, the prince and his lovely wife, after long consultation and much thought, determined to make a pilgrimage to the temple of Hasei no Kwanan, goddess of mercy, at Hays.

For they believed, according to the beautiful tradition of their religion, that the mother of Mercy, Kwanin, comes to answer the prayers of mortals in the form that they need the most.

Surely, after all these years of prayer, she would come to them in the form of a beloved child and answer to their special pilgrimage.

For that was the greatest need of their two lives.

Everything else they had, that's life, could give them.

But it was all as nothing, because the quiet of their hearts was unsatisfied.

So the Prince Toyanari and his wife went to the Temple of Cannon at Hafes and stayed there for a long time, both daily offering incense and prayer to cannon, the Heavenly Mother, to grant them the desire of their whole lives.

And their prayer was answered.

A daughter was born at last to the Princess Mirasaki, and great was the joy of her heart.

On presenting the child to her husband, they both decided to call her Hays Heim, or the Princess of Hays, because she was the gift of the cannon.

At that place, they both reared her with great care and tenderness, and the child grew in strength and beauty.

When the little girl was five years old, her mother fell dangerously ill, and all the doctors and their medicines could not save her.

A little before she breathed her last, she called her daughter to her and gently stroking her head, said, hey, Sim, do you know that your mother cannot live any longer?

Though I die.

You must grow up a good girl.

Do your best not to give trouble to your nurse or any other of your family.

Perhaps your father will marry again and someone will fill my place as your mother.

If so, do not grieve for me.

But look upon your father's second wife as your true mother and be obedient and filial to both her and your father.

Remember, when you are grown up to be submissive to those who are your superiors and to be kind to all those who are under you.

Don't forget this.

I die with the hope that she will grow up a model woman.

His heim listened in an attitude of respect while her mother spoke and promised to do all that she was told.

There was a proverb which says, as the soul is at three, so it is at 100.

So Hesheim grew up as her mother had wished.

A good and obedient little princess though she was now too young to understand how great was the loss of her mother.

Not long after the death of his first wife Prince Toyanari married again a lady of noble birth named Princess Chirut.

Very different in character, alas, to the good and wise Princess Mirasaki.

This woman had a cruel, bad heart.

She did not love her stepdaughter at all and was often very unkind to the little motherless girl saying to herself, this is not my child.

This is not my child.

But Hasteim bore every unkindness with patience and even waited upon her stepmother kindly and obeyed her in every way and never gave any trouble.

Just as she had been trained by her own good mother so that the lady Tarut had no cause for complaint against her.

The little princess was very diligent and her favorite studies were music and poetry.

She would spend several hours practicing every day and her father had the most proficient of masters he could find to teach her the Koto, Japanese harp the art of writing letters and verse.

When she was twelve years of age, she could play so beautifully that she and her stepmother were summoned to the palace to perform before the Emperor.

It was the festival of the cherry flowers and there were great festivities at the court.

The Emperor threw himself into the enjoyment of the season and commanded that Princess Haste should perform before him on the Coteau and that her mother, Princess Tarut, should accompany her on the flute.

The Emperor sat on era's deus before which was hung a curtain of finely sliced bamboo in purple tassels so that His Majesty might see all and not be seen.

For no ordinary subject was allowed to look upon his sacred face.

Haste, Heim was a skilled musician, though so young, and often astonished her masters by her wonderful memory and talent.

On this momentous occasion, she played well.

But Princess Tarut, her stepmother, who was a lazy woman and never took the trouble to practice daily, broke down in her accompaniment and had to request one of the court ladies to take her place.

This was a great disgrace, and she was furiously jealous to think that she had failed where her stepdaughter succeeded.

And to make matters worse, the Emperor sent many beautiful gifts to the little princess to reward her for playing so well at the palace.

There was also now another reason why Princess Troot hated her stepdaughter, for she had had the good fortune to have a son born to her.

And in her inmost heart she kept saying, if only haste Heim were not here, my son would have all the love of his father.

And never having learned to control herself, she allowed this wicked thought to grow into the awful desire of taking her stepdaughter's life.

So one day, she secretly ordered some poison and poisoned some sweet wine.

This poisoned wine she put into a bottle.

Into another similar bottle, she poured some good wine.

It was the occasion of the boys festival on the 5 May, and Haste Heim was playing with her little brother.

All his toys of warriors and heroes were spread out, and she was telling him wonderful stories about each of them.

They were both enjoying themselves and laughing merrily with their attendants when his mother entered with two bottles of wine and some delicious cakes.

You are both so good and happy, said the wicked Princess Tarut with a smile, that I've brought you some sweet wine as a reward.

And here are some nice cakes for my good children.

And she filled two cups from the different bottles.

Haste Heim, never dreaming of the dreadful part her stepmother was acting, took one of the cups of wine and gave to her little stepbrother the other that had been poured out for him.

The wicked woman had carefully marked the poisoned bottle, but on coming into the room, she had grown nervous.

Pouring out the wine hurriedly had unconsciously given the poisoned cup to her own child.

All this time, she was anxiously watching the little princess, but to her amazement, no change whatever took place in the young girl's face.

Suddenly, the little boy screamed and threw himself on the floor.

Doubled up with pain.

His mother flew to him, taking the precaution to upset the two tiny jars of wine which she had brought into the room, and lifted him up.

The attendants rushed for the doctor, but nothing could save the child.

He died within the hour in his mother's arms.

Doctors did not know much in those ancient times.

And it was thought that the wine had disagreed with the boy, causing convulsions, of which he died.

Thus was the wicked woman punished in losing her own child.

When she had tried to do away with her stepdaughter.

But instead of blaming herself, she began to hate haste heim more than ever in the bitterness and wretchedness of her own heart.

And she eagerly watched for an opportunity to do her harm.

Which was, however long and coming.

When Hasteheim was 13 years of age, she had already become mentioned as a poetess of some merit.

This was an accomplishment very much cultivated by the women of old Japan.

And one held in high esteem.

It was the rainy season at Nara, and floods were reported every day as doing damage in the neighborhood.

The river Tatsuda, which flowed through the imperial palace grounds, was swollen to the top of its banks.

And the roaring of the torrents of water rushing along a narrow bed.

So disturbed the emperor's rest day and night.

That a serious nervous disorder was the result.

An imperial edict was sent forth to all the Buddhist temples.

Commanding the priests to offer up continuous prayers to heaven to stop the noise of the flood.

But this was of no avail.

Then it was whispered in court circles.

That the princess Hays, the daughter of Prince Toyanari Fujiwara, second minister at court, was the most gifted poetess of the day, though still so young.

And her masters confirmed the report.

Long ago, a beautiful and gifted maiden poetess.

Had moved heaven by praying in verse.

Had brought down rain upon a land famished with drought.

So said the ancient biographers of the poetess Onunokomachi.

If the princess Haste were to write a poem and offer it in prayer, might it not stop the noise of the rushing river.

And remove the cause of the imperial illness?

What the court said at last reached the ears of the emperor himself.

And he sent an order to the minister, Prince Toyanari.

To this effect.

Great indeed was Hesheim's fear and astonishment.

When her father sent for her and told her what was required of her.

Heavy indeed was the duty that was laid on her young shoulders.

That of saving the emperor's life by the merit of her verse.

At last the day came and her poem was finished.

It was written on a leaflet of paper heavily flecked with gold dust.

With her father and attendants and some of the court officials, she proceeded to the bank of the roaring torrent.

And raising up her heart to heaven, she read the poem she had composed aloud, lifting it heavenwards in her two hands.

Strange indeed, it seemed to all those standing round the water ceased their roaring, and the river was quiet in direct answer to her prayer.

After this, the emperor soon recovered his health.

His Majesty was highly pleased and sent for her to the palace and rewarded her with the rank of Chinyo, that of Lieutenant General, to distinguish her.

From that time she was called Hyme, or the lieutenant General.

Princess, and respected and loved by all.

There was only one person who was not pleased at Heseim's success.

That one was her stepmother, forever brooding over the death of her own child, whom she had killed when trying to poison her stepdaughter.

She had the mortification of seeing her rise to power and honor, marked by imperial favor and the admiration of the whole court.

Her envy and jealousy burned in her heart like fire.

Many were the lies she carried to her husband about Hesheim, but all in no purpose.

He would listen to none of her tales, telling her sharply that she was quite mistaken.

At last, the stepmother, seizing the opportunity of her husband's absence, ordered one of her old servants to take the innocent girl to the Hibari Mountains, the wildest part of the country, and to kill her there.

She invented a dreadful story about the little princess, saying that this was the only way to prevent disgrace falling upon the family by killing her.

Katada, her vessel, was bound to obey his mistress anyhow.

He saw that it would be the wisest plan to pretend obedience in the absence of the girl's father.

So he placed haste Hymen in the palinquin and accompanied her to the most solitary place he could find in the wild district.

The poor child knew there was no good in protesting to her unkind stepmother at being sent away in this strange manner.

So she went as she was told.

But the old servant knew that the young princess was quite innocent of all the things her stepmother had invented to him as reasons for her outrageous orders, and he determined to save her life.

Unless he killed her.

However, he could not return to his cruel taskmistress, so he decided to stay out in the wilderness.

With the help of some peasants, he soon built a little cottage, and having sent secretly for his wife to come, these two good old people did all in their power to take care of the now unfortunate princess.

She all the time trusted in her father, knowing that as soon as he returned home and found her absent, he would search for her.

Prince Toyanari, after some weeks, came home and was told by his wife that his daughter Jaime had done something wrong and had run away for fear of being punished.

He was nearly ill with anxiety.

Everyone in the house told the same story, that Haysheim had suddenly disappeared.

None of them knew why, or wither for fear of scandal, he kept the matter quiet and searched everywhere he could think of, but all to no purpose.

One day, trying to forget his terrible worry, he called all his men together and told him to make ready for a several days hunt in the mountains.

They were soon ready and mounted, waiting at the gate for their lord.

He rode hard and fast to the district of the Habari Mountains, a great company following him.

He was soon far ahead of everyone, and at last found himself in a narrow, picturesque valley.

Looking round and admiring the scenery.

He noticed a tiny house on one of the hills, quite near.

And then he distinctly heard a beautiful, clear voice reading aloud.

Seized with curiosity as to who could be studying so diligently in such a lonely spot, he dismounted, and leaving his horse to his groom, he walked up the hillside and approached the cottage.

As he drew nearer, his surprise increased, for he could see that the reader was a beautiful girl.

The cottage was wide open, and she was sitting facing the view, listening attentively.

He heard her reading the Buddhist scriptures with great devotion.

More and more curious, he hurried on to the tiny gate and entered the little garden, and looking up, beheld his lost daughter, Heisheim.

She was so intent on what she was saying that she neither heard nor saw her father till he spoke.

Eise.

He cried, it is you, my haysheim.

Taken by surprise, she could hardly realize that it was her own dear father who was calling her, and for a moment she was utterly bereft of the power to speak or move.

My father.

My father.

It is indeed you.

Oh.

My father was all she could say.

And running to him, she caught hold of his thick sleeve, and, burying her face, burst into a passion of tears.

Her father stroked her dark hair, asking her gently to tell him all that had happened.

But she only wept on, and he wondered if he were not really dreaming.

Then the faithful old servant Katada came out, embowing himself to the ground before his master poured out the long tale of wrong, telling him all that had happened and how it was said he found his daughter in such a wild and desolate spot, with only two servants to take care of her.

The prince's astonishment and indignation knew no bounds.

He gave up the hunt at once and hurried home with his daughter.

One of the company galloped ahead to inform the household of the glad news, and the stepmother, hearing what had happened and fearful of meeting her husband now that her wickedness was discovered, fled from the house and returned in disgrace to her father's roof, and nothing more was heard of her.

The old servant Katada was rewarded with the highest promotion in his master's service and lived happily to the end of his days, devoted to the little princess, who never forgot that she owed her life to this faithful retainer.

She was no longer troubled by an unkind stepmother, and her days passed happily and quietly with her father.

As Prince Toyanari had no son, he adopted a younger son of one of the court nobles to be his heir and to marry his daughter Hesheim.

And in a few years, the marriage took place.

Hescheim lived to a good old age, and all said that she was the wisest, most devout, and most beautiful mistress that had ever reigned in Prince Toyonari's ancient house.

She had the joy of presenting her son, the future Lord of the family, to her father just before he retired from active life.

To this day, there is a preserved piece of needlework in one of the Buddhist temples of Kyoto.

It is a beautiful piece of tapestry with the figure of Buddha embroidered in the silky threads drawn from the stem of the Lotus.

This is said to have been the work of the hands of the good Princess Hayes.

Thank you for joining Freya's fairy tales.

Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of Emel's journey to holding her own fairy tale in her hands and to hear another of her favorite fairy tales.