Ebony the Thief Silencer

Once upon a time, there was a a very short woman called Ebony. Ebony was deaf, so she lived in a world of silence, but through her eyes the world was a beautiful magical place. Ebony had a special gift, she could feel the connections between people and their possessions through the air, as though ribbons where holding them together. The more the thing meant to the person, the thicker the ribbon. This made her very happy, as she could see how much every object of the world was loved and how people having a shared love for something made it even more special. To make people happy, Ebony would look for lost things by following the thickest ribbons, and bringing it back to the owner. But one day, a sharp sound broke into her world of silence. It was a snip, the sound of scissors slicing through ribbon. The sound echoed around her head and she saw the loose end of a very thick ribbon trailing on the floor. She ran to it and saw that it had indead been cut, and by following the other end she found a necklace, deep in a pocket of a black bag being carried by a angry looking man. She took the necklace out and the man turned around he slapped her across the face, snatched the necklace and ran. On touching the necklace, and the ribbon, Ebony realised the necklace was the last gift of a mother to her daughter before the mother died. A fierce rage grew inside Ebony and as she thought of it the most horrible thing came out of the silence - a quiet, growing, chorus of snips. The sound echoed around her head growing louder and louder until finally all her kindness and mercy boiled off and she was left only with the stinging desire to stop the sound. She ran to the village and crept to the room of the necklace thief. She climbed in through the window and took the thief far away to a cave in the deepest valley of the earth so he could never steal again, and returned the necklace to the lady which it belonged to so the throbbing snipping blaring in her ears finally stopped. Ever since, whenever a sudden snip pierces her silent world, Ebony would wait till that night, and if the echoing snip of the ribbon of possession being cut still hadn't been silenced, she would silence it the same way she did the first time, by following the ribbon to the thief. So if you ever steal something if you haven't returned it by that night, be weary going to sleep that night because Ebony is coming for you!

Spread

A common tale in most Autumn cities.

Variations & Mutation

in some variations, Ebony drown herself because of the noise and then her ghost returns to seek out the thief. in others rather then taking the thief to the farthest reaches of the earth, they strangle the thief with the ribbon (or rope) of the stolen item.

Cultural Reception

In some cultures, there is a strong idea of metaphorical ribbon connecting people to the ones they love. The ribbon idea in this story is adapted to the lesson of not stealing.