You're Tiny

Once upon a never there lived a woman called “You’re Tiny”. She wasn’t born with that name. She was born full of dreams. “You’re tiny” is was what her mother would say to her when she was young. By the time she grew into a woman, she was only four feet tall. She moved away from her mother to live in the city, but still a voice inside her would whisper “you’re tiny”. Every time it spoke, she grew a little smaller.

Each time she thought about sharing her dreams, the voice spoke. “You’re tiny”, it said. Soon she was only three feet tall. She had to wear children’s clothes because hers didn’t fit any more. People in the city stopped to look as she walked past. “You’re tiny” they said. Each time they said it, the voice inside her agreed and she grew a little smaller.

When she was only two feet tall, she left the city and moved into a cave in the mountains. Nobody can see me here, she thought. Nobody can tell me I’m tiny. Nobody can mock my dreams. Each time she thought this, the voice inside her said “you’re tiny” and she shrank a little. Soon she was only one foot tall. I really am tiny, she thought.

The cave was dark and cold, but she didn’t dare go outside. What if someone saw her, told her she was tiny? What if they laughed at her? That would be awful.

So she made a home in the cave. She ate the mushrooms that grew there and drank the water that trickled down the wall. It wasn’t much of a life, truth be told. When she slept, her dreams fluttered through her mind, bright and beautiful. When she woke, the voice told her “you’re tiny” and she shrank.

She continued to shrink until she was only three inches tall. If this continued, soon enough she wouldn’t exist at all. She could no longer reach the water so she built a ladder out of small sticks. She climbed onto a mushroom and pulled the ladder up, then used it to climb up to the next one. In this way she reached the tallest mushroom. On the top, she sat and rested.

She heard a faint, faint noise beside her. Looking down, she scrunched up her eyes to see a small monster. It was no more than a centimetre tall. “You’re tiny“, she said and the monster shrank. She could no longer hear its voice, it had shrunk so small.

“Where did you go, little monster?” she asked, but there was no reply. She had shrunk the monster with her words! So small it had disappeared. She, she had shrunk it. She had killed it!

Head in her hands, she wept. Tears fell like rain, puddling around her, flooding where the monster had been. So many tears! She was sorry she had shrunk the monster. “I’m sorry, monster! Please grow again!” she said.

She heard a popping sound and saw a ripple on the pool of tears. Small bubbles floated into the air. Was there something in the water? “Please grow again! You’re really quite big!” she said. Another pop, more bubbles floated up. Yes, she saw the monster there, swimming to stay afloat. “You’re huge!” she cried. “You’re mighty!”

With each word, the monster grew larger and so did she. Soon they both were a foot tall, then two, and then they were both five feet tall. Taller than she had ever been! The monster was a beautiful small tree, covered in ivy of all different shades of green. It thanked her with a happy dance and she danced too! She felt her heart begin to open and glow.

As her heart glowed, her dreams began to drift out of her head, floating around her like brightly coloured butterflies. She laughed happily. Inside her, a voice said ... nothing. The voice was quiet, sulking. She had found her true name, which was Rainbow. She left the cave together with her friend, whose name was Ivy. But that’s a story for another day.