The Winter Palace has many beautiful rooms, music rooms and a ball room, a library filled with books and big leather seats in the windows, which are the perfect place to spend an afternoon with a good book. Princess Alicia’s favourite room in the whole Palace was the Orangery.
Winter Tale - Part 2
The gardeners used the Orangery to cultivated summer fruits in winter. Low walled flower beds and huge high glass walls and ceilings surrounded an oasis of plants, warmed by great pipes carrying steam from a boiler at one end of the space. Flitting in the branches of the tall trees, colourful birds enjoyed the warm air, while on the tiled floor, Peacocks strutted gracefully between the plant pots. Alicia loved nothing more than to help, picking the ripe fruit for the kitchens, scooping the rich potting compost into trays and planing seeds. The gardeners were secretly pleased she loved the plants, because they did too. Most of all she loved the warm rich scent of earth and greenery.
Keeping the Kingdom safe and successful, meant that her father the King didn’t have much time between meetings and paperwork, but sometimes he would hide away in the Orangery, and enjoy the peace and quiet. Watching Alicia feed the birds and talk to the Peacocks gave him an idea. He called to his steward and whispered his request, and the steward rushed into the town to visit the Jewellery makers. Imagine, and another story unfolds. Raw gems, hammered from the earth and rock, cut and polished and shaped.
Transported across the seas in creaking ships; kept safe in locked strong boxes. At the customs houses, the gems would be shared out into smaller leather pouches to travel on, until they arrive at the jewellers bench. Gold and bronze, heated and hammered and shaped to fit the sparkling stones, in such a way to reveal their inner fire. Finished jewels nestled in velvet lined boxes, brought into the light for special occasions. The Steward and the Jeweller conversed for a long while, heads bent together over the trays of gleaming jewels. Finally an array of stones and pearls in the colours of Peacock feathers was agreed upon, and the jeweller set to work.
Alicia’s treasure, her Winter gift from her Father is a beautifully ornate pendant, simply hung on a pretty velvet ribbon. It is the perfect colour to sparkle and gleam against her silk dress. The kitchens are busy, all the guests have arrived and the first of the feasts, to celebrate Winter and the turning of the year, is being prepared. Upstairs, guests are resting after long journeys through the forest or discovering the fabulous garments in their wardrobes.
Alicia, though, is on a quest, remember the pendant with the key? She has tried it in all the doors she could find in the many roomed Winter palace. She’s found doors on cabinets, drawers, cupboards and wine coolers. SHe’s discovered any number of trunks, chests and trinket boxes. But the key is just too small for any of them.
On and on and up and up she wandered until she found herself in front of a door leading to the attic. Once inside the attic Alicia finds herself surrounded by all sorts of things, just like any attic in a big old house, trunks of clothes, boxes of books and toys. Shelves filled with old lamps and forgotten china, piles of tables and chairs. She wanders through the cobwebs, and is about to decide that her Grandmother must be playing a joke on her. As she turns to leave, she notices a little writing desk, tucked against the wall beneath a window.
And so another story begins. The writing desk, was beautifully carved in a richly coloured wood, taken from a tall tree in the forest many years ago, the trunk trimmed and set aside, to slowly dry. Until the day the woodman declared it ready and cut it with huge saws into fine planks. The carpenter arrived to choose wood for his workshop, taking parts of the grand old tree to fashion into a desk. He planed and polished, carved and decorated, waxing the drawers so they
would slide smoothly. When he was satisfied that the desk was the best it could be, he added the finishing touches of beautiful metal filigree, dainty locks with pretty metal plates to guard against scratches. Alicia’s Grandmother used the desk for all the many years that she was Queen, and had it taken to the attic when Alicia was born. There it sat until Alicia was grown up enough to find it.
Of course, the key was too small for the locks on the desk, and each one had its key in place. So Alicia opened each drawer, and in the very last one she found a small wooden box. And here is the last story and secret from the Winter Palace.
Imagine, centuries ago in a land far away, where Parrots flew from Palm to Palm tree. At the edge of the land, a turquoise blue sea lapped sparkling white sand. And this is where the box wooden box began. The box maker spent his mornings walking along the sand, picking up shells, not just any shell, but the beautiful Nautilus shells.
When the fierce heat of the mid day sun beat on the sand, he would go back to his workshop under the shade of the palms. There he would cut the shells into a thousand tiny pieces, then use the pieces to set intricate patterns onto wooden boxes. Each box would be finished and polished until ever piece of shell gleamed. Twice a year a great trading ship would weigh anchor in the bay and send a boat in to buy all the boxes. Then the box maker would watch the great ship sail over the horizon, and wonder for a while, where in the world his boxes would find home.
Alicia picked up the box and tried the key… and it fit! Inside the box was a little silk bag, and a letter from her Grandmother…
“Alicia, this gift is for you, remember when you wear it.”
Alicia put the letter down and emptied the silk bag. Out fell the prettiest bracelet she had ever seen, little metal links and precious stones, worked into a chain.
She looked back at the letter:
“Remember when you wear it, that every person is special. We are all part of one chain, and
without even the smallest link, we are not the same. In all things, the answer is always to be kind”.
What a wonderful story!! I can totally see why this was so perfect to create an Academy Box from – it fits the Beadingschool philosophy so well. Thank you Heather, Erika, Beadingschool and Designers for bringing this story to life through all the jewels you designed, and to all the Club members for your beady, sparkly creations. 🥰
Thank you for being part of this, too, Faye 🙂
This is a great story! It is fun to follow it till the end!
I really enjoyed watching this story unfold! This has been an amazing couple of months!
I’m very happy you enjoyed the story and the theme, Kara!
Yes I agree with what Ariane said! Thank you! What a privilege to be a small part of a wonderful community!
What a wonderful story!
Ohhhhh, that is soooo sweet! And so very well fitting to the Beadingschool community: we are all special links! I really like that every handmade piece has its very own unique story. We beaders may have an idea of it, when we got inspired, start dreaming, collect our materials, play around and all the thoughts that went into the endresult. And I really like that every design of yours is a part of the story and the names make sense now! I will love my Every Precious Link bracelet even more now. Thank you for this wonderful story, box and design, Heather and Happy Holidays! 🙂
Thank you for your kind words, Ariane! I had the same thoughts when I finished reading the story for the first time. 🙂 Thank you for being one of our precious links!