A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a lovely maiden named Delilah. She had many admirers and proposals of marriage, but she soon became tired of the whole business.
So, one day she set off up the mountainside to see the old wise man who lived there. The hike took a whole tiring day, and as she reached the very peak she finally caught sight of his home. It was a meager, pleasant hut. Outside it basking in the sun was the wise man.
Delilah walked forward, introduced herself, and explained her predicament. The wise man listened patiently and when she had finished he cleared his throat. "I'll give you advice... for a price." "Oh! Of course!" said Delilah. She yanked a gold tooth from her mouth. "Here." The wise man gingerly took the tooth from her outstretched hand. Then he whispered her the advice (though there was no around for miles to hear him). She thanked him and set off back down the mountainside.

The trip down proved to be more difficult then coming up, and Delilah was often in danger of losing her balance it was so steep. Suddenly Delilah did lose her balance and tumbled down for quite a bit till she managed to grasp a bush and stop herself. She had few injuries despite her fall, all but a few ugly bruises.

At home Delilah went directly to her bedroom and began putting into work the wise man's plan. She found her most colorful scarves and draped them about herself haphazardly. Then she ruffled her hair into a mess, and set off towards the village munching on an apple.

Where the village began there was a large oak tree. She climbed this and hid among the branches. Soon enough, a respectable young man passed by. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head and squinting at the tree. Another acorn hit his hand. "Delilah!? Ouch! What are you doing?" She chuckled and climbed higher into the tree. The young man shook his head and headed into town. Soon enough the rumor had spread "Delilah"s gone mad!" "Henry said she's acting like a squirrel!" The villagers gathered under her tree gawked, and occasionally got hit in the head with an acorn.
Delilah carried this on for several days until the rumor had been throughly spread of her gone crazy.
So she sighed contentedly, went home and lived in peace no longer plagued by suitors. Occasionally she got back the reputation of being "normal," but she always quickly fixed that with a stunt of some kind.

She lived happily to the end of her days surrounded by her beloved cats and bunnies.

The End