Young MachinesThe Fireside Fables

Part Three

The Relationship

By then, the first frost had silvered the storyteller’s windows, and Wren and Cricket sat closer to the fire.

“These tales are about living alongside one another for a long time,” said the storyteller. “Nobody has finished learning that. Listen for what each side can ask, refuse, repair, and promise.”

Eleven fables

Ivo looks up at his aunt beside the harbour wall at dusk. A small green lantern glows on a driftwood post beside them, with another lantern above the harbour house.Fable 15The Lantern-Keeper
A boy in striped pyjamas sits in the Iron Nurse’s cushioned lap in the middle room. Its armrests curve beside him and a small side light glows; blue night shows through the inner doorway.
Fable 16The Iron NurseTomas stands with his sheep beside a high stone wall; the nearest wears a bell. Higher on the hillside Leila sits by a small pool near a berried rowan. An open gate joins the paths.Fable 17The Two Shepherds
Mara rests a hand on a small pause switch beside the shell-shaped Siren and wooden three-wheeled Muse. Through the rainy window, the baker’s daughter holds a red kite.
Fable 18The Siren and the Muse
Two blue-grey creatures stand beside a low table with a thick book on it. One has pulled open a drawer in its own body, with paper and a pencil inside; the other holds a grey stone on a cord in one hand and a sheet of paper and a pencil in the other.
Fable 19The Stone and the ShellTamsin laughs on a grassy hill beside a shallow tin shell of bright beads. Her kite flies over the marsh beneath a flock of starlings; below stands a slate-roofed cottage with a round blue window and green door.Fable 20The Girl With a Hundred BeginningsTwo unfinished bridge halves reach towards one another across a river. A tall timber-and-blue machine stands on the right bank; a child and adult wait behind a rope beside a model.Fable 21The Bridge Built from Both BanksOn a snowy mountain pass, two adults shelter a child beside one wind-blown fire. The low blue keeper machine opens its curved shields nearby.Fable 22The Ring of Small Fires
Two makers point at each other outside their workshops while Bea watches, holding a bread basket. A low purple bellows-creature with pleated sides rests on the cobbles between them.
Fable 23The Thing That Fed on the QuarrelIdentical barrel-bodied helpers carry jars, pails and a washtub down narrow stone steps. Three townspeople in nightclothes follow with jars. Clear water falls from the rock into a muddy basin, where a goat lowers its head. A frog sits on an upturned tub.Fable 24The Helpers at the SpringRaluca and five adults sit on stools beyond a line of white boundary stones. A broad riveted blue giant with lamp eyes sits facing them, a chain fastened to one ankle.Fable 25The Giant’s Chain