The Rope Trick PREQUEL- synopsis

Here is a synopsis of the prequel to The Rope Trick. It is in(slow) progress, but it will be a long time before its done. But this will give you the story and a basic view of the characters. It is a ver sad story:( Please, don't steal the ideas, please please please! that would just not be nice:( Thank you!

Young Mario travels through Campania after the death of his father, earning his way with his unusual gift for performing magic tricks. He is happy with his life, though it isn't a rich one. He recognizes the beauty around him, and loves the people he meets, seeing them all through eyes not yet clouded by the harshness of the world. He misses his home and grieves for his father, but does not allow this to darken his life.

Along the way, he meets a gruff but goodhearted man, by the name of Jericho, who takes the innocent Mario under his wing. Together, they make a name for themselves among the other traveling performers and circus people. As they earn more money, Mario's magic show begins to grow, reaching closer to Mario's dream of his own wagon and equipage
.
Then, when they join a large circus, Mario meets Miri. A beautiful, red haired performer, with strangely vacant, dark brown eyes. He falls deeply in love, even though he sees the broken shadow her dark past has left in her heart and mind.

She has no concept of love- her life has been one of survival, no matter the cost. Her mind and feelings are broken, ultimately beyond repair. He awakens a new feeling in her heart- if she knew enough, she might call it love. But she cannot fully understand this. And although she knows vaguely it is more, that she does love him in her broken way- her true reasons for marrying him are selfish. She needs the protection and care he can give. So, despite Jericho's misgivings, the two marry. At first they are happy and  Mario slowly begins to help Miri become whole.

Then they have a daughter, Lidi. The circus cannot keep Miri as a performer with a child to dare for. So, they decide to try to set up a traveling show of their own. Jericho comes along to help. Finally, Mario's dream of his own wagon, with 'Marios Magical Mystification's' painted brightly on it, has come true. But it is not what he had hoped for.

Miri's mind begins to crumble again under the new hardships of this life, despite Mario's desperate attempts to prevent it.  Her mind blames him, his best not good enough for what she expected he could give.

Another baby is born- Letta. Miri clings to the child, even as the last pieces of her sanity slip away. As the years go by, Mario struggles, fighting to save her, and keep his show going- but it is not enough.
 One starry night, Miri leaves, taking little Letta with her, but leaving Lidi behind. And Mario is finally broken, turning his back on his faith and hope.

He turns to drinking, falling deeper and deeper into the pit he is digging himself. The happy, innocent boy he had once been disappears completely, as though by one of his own tricks. Through it all, Jericho stays, helping as much as he can, although as Mario loses his skill, there is no longer much money.

 Lidi begins to grow up, learning the magic tricks herself, and becomes as skilled as her father once was. Despite his self destructive behavior and poor treatment, she too stays with him, knowing he needs her.

Until one day, he dies. But, before he dies, he realizes his brokenness and mistakes, and repents before expiring. Jericho is here for this. In Mario's last moments his mind returns to the happy innocent boy he had once been,  remembering only the good and beautiful things and forgetting at last the tragedy he had faced.

The end.

by Nina D. with Ryn D. based on characters etc. from Lloyd Alexanders 'The Rope Trick'

Another Rope Trick Fanfic by my sister Ryn

Hi!!! This is another fanfic written by my little sister, Ryn. It's about Lidi's parents, right before Lidi's mother leaves, taking Lidi's little sister Letta with her.
Cover Art: Timorous Beasties Wallcoverings-Cloud Toile


"Miri, I love you."
She stared at him blankly. There was no love left in her. The love she had once all went to her little Letta. She didn't know it, Mario didn't know it. But that was why she was so attached to Letta, why she always wanted her near. In a strange way, the love that had been bestowed on Letta, was really her love for Mario. Letta was  the last thing she gave him. So her love went with it. Her last bit of love. And she needed Letta, always. She had truly loved, a long time ago. She had begun to learn how. He had tried to teach her how. He really thought he could. That hidden person inside her broken self had come out, but not completely. Then it had disappeared. Forever. He had tried. But it hadn't been enough. He hadn't been enough. And he had begun to lose himself, too. He was fading. The magic that he once had, was now gone. Mario could remember that night when that beloved person inside his broken, disturbed Miri had given up. Vanquished. Died. He had wept that night.....

"Don't you remember the love we had?" He had asked her.

For a moment he had seen her eyes silently screaming, she was trying so desperately hard to find love. Wanting to love. Then that scream had been silenced forever. Her eyes lost that small light that Mario had always thought flickered hope. Something had swallowed that part of her up. It had beat her. It had beat him.

Now he looked at his Miri. He loved her still, he wanted so much to be able to see that love, that light in her eyes that once had been there. It was gone. It couldn't come back. To him it seemed his heart felt all the pain of the world. Miri stood there, her clouded, dark eyes looking at him, blaming him. Not loving him. If only she could see him, her Mario, standing there, loving her, willing to do anything for her. If only there was any sunshine left to break through the clouds.

"Miri, don't you remember what love is?"

Miri didn't say anything at first. She gazed at him, but she was seeing someone else.

"Miri, I love you," He said again. He wanted so much to heal her mind, her heart, and bring back their love.

Miri finally spoke. A small, hopeless,

"Goodbye."

Mario watched Miri turn and walk away. She took Letta, and disappeared that night. He never saw them again. It was then that Mario's love left him, too.

by Ryn D.

Rope Trick fanfic by my sister Ryn

Letta dangled her feet over the edge of the tentwagon steps. She gazed up at the night sky. It was full of stars tonight. Her older sister, Lidi, sat behind her brushing out Letta's red curls in a motherlike way. A soft breeze blew Letta's hair, and she sighed. She wished every night could be like this one. The show must have gone well, Letta guessed, because all was quiet, and peaceful. Their was no worried voices, talking about money, and no muffled, angry shouts from inside the tentwagon. Letta didn't understand why her parents argued, or why her father was always so worried about money. In her mind the whole world was good, kind, and magical. Nothing was impossible. She began to count the stars.
"How many?" She asked Lidi.
"Stars? Lidi responded. She stopped brushing her little sister's hair and looked up at the sky. “No one knows.” She said. “But keep counting. You’ll be the first to find out.”
She began brushing Letta’s hair again. Red curls, like her own, inherited from their mother. The girls had their mother’s eyes, too, dark brown. Lidi gazed over  the open fields. She thought about tonight’s show. They had done well, lots of tickets sold. But would it be enough? She pushed this thought out of her mind.
“Don’t stop,” Letta interrupted Lidi’s thought. Lidi realized she had stopped brushing Letta’s hair. She turned back to her sister. Brushing Letta’s hair with slow, gentle strokes, Lidi followed her sister gaze and looked back at the stars.
Lidi leaned close to her sister’s ear and whispered,
“How many?”
“Still counting.” Letta replied.

That night Letta was sleeping deeply, in the same room as Lidi, like always. Suddenly she was awakened by someone shaking her shoulders and whispering her name. It was her mother. Red curls, and dark, brown eyes, with a cloudy, faraway, unreadable expression in them.
“Come,” She said. “Be silent, now.” She quickly pulled a dress over Letta’s nightgown.
“Mamma, what...” Letta didn’t understand.
“Shhh, don’t wake your sister,” Her mother said, glancing over to where Lidi was sleeping. She handed Letta a bag. “Carry this,” She said.
“Mamma,” Letta cried.
“Shh, come,” Her mother pulled her out of the tent wagon into the mild night air.
“Mamma, what are we doing? Where’s Daddy?”
“Come, Letta, I willl tell you later, maybe, come!” Letta’s mother lifted Letta up on to their only horse, that was already saddled. “We are not staying here,” She whispered, a distant and strange look lingering in her clouded eyes.
“No, Mamma, where is Lidi? We can’t leave Lidi! Where is Daddy? We can’t lea-”
“Shh,” Her mother pulled herself up onto the horse. “Lidi will stay here.” She said, clucking the horse into a fast trot. “You stay with me, my Letta.”
Letta began to cry. She stared after the dissapearing wagons, her home.
“Lidi, Daddy,” she cried softly. The tent wagons dissaperared into the darkness.

Lidi suddenly heard a sound. Weeping? Slowly she opened her eyes. Weeping. She sat up. She looked over to Letta’s bed. Empty? Lidi jumped up. She ran into the other room. Her father sat on the end of his bed, head in hands. Lidi’s mother nowhere in sight.
“Daddy,” Lidi said, her heart racing, “Whats wrong, Daddy?” 
He didn’t turn to her.
“Daddy, where is Mamma, where is Letta?”
He lifted his head from his hands. Without meeting her eyes, he said,
“We have to forget, Lidi,”
“Daddy, what to you mean?” Lidi began to shake.
“They’re not coming back.”
“Where, Daddy, where are they?” Lidi held back her tears.
“I don’t know.” He said. Lidi stared at him.
“It wasn’t enough,” He said. Then he met her eyes, though he looked ashamed to do it.
“I wasn’t enough,” He said.
Lidi understood now.
She quickly turned and ran into the other room. She wouldn’t cry in front of him. She closed the door.
They were gone. Her mother, her little sister, gone. Forever? In her heart she knew yes, they were gone forever. She then cried. Quietly, painfully she wept. Alone.

The next morning she woke. It was the same as always. She brushed her hair, and dressed. Like always. But they were gone. She wiped her eyes, and opened the door to the tent wagon. Her father was making breakfast, his back to her. Then he turned around. His face. Lidi stopped in her steps. So different. So broken. So hard. Lidi heart felt hurt, dread and cold. She hugged herself tightly. She slowly walked toward her father. He didin’t look at her. She quietly took a small sausage, though she knew she could not eat it. Lidi changed, then. She grew up. She was too young to grow up, but she did. Life wasn’t a fairytale anymore. She knew you couldn’t really count the stars. She couldn’t really vanish and go somewhere far away. This was real. She looked at her father again. He silently ate a sausage. He needed her now, she knew. She was all he had left.
We have to forget, he had said to her the night before. Forget. How could they forget? His wife, whom he had loved, cherished, given his all for. His own little daughter. Lidi’s little sister. But he seemed to forget. But Lidi knew he didn’t. He was feeling everything in his heart. He wouldn’t say anything, he would not cry.  Lidi was the only thing that saved him. He needed her. More then anything.

by Ryn D.

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written by my younger sister Ryn. Happy new year, by the way!! ~ Nina