A Dancing Nymph by Anastasiia Demianchenko

The deserted streets of Saint – Luvier 
(a long-forgotten town that was situated on the northern outskirts of Paris in XVI century) were dim and dark from poor lighting of single moon. Raphael was still wandering around old buildings that looked like sullen giants in the awesome mist. Being immersed in the inner contradiction of thoughts he lost his way. As fate would have it, he noticed an excited crowd on the square and came closer to clarify the reason of mass intoxicating admiration.
Raphael saw a dancing lady at the age of 23 which hooked simultaneously the attention of gentlemen. From that moment he couldn’t look away from this marvellous creature. Lady pranced around a flabbergasted crowd like a butterfly in the spring garden. This creature had oval non-wrinkled swarthy face that could be a brilliant treasure for a hopeless artist who was not able to find a moose. An abundant long brown and a little bit curly hair downed on her frail shoulders. Her opened wide-set hazel eyes was full of all moonlight that outlined this night. Raphael was amazed by her flexible corpse and softly slow movements of her smooth hands. Silky red well-suited dress enveloped slight and virgos figure. Overall, a dancing lady was similar to ancient Rome nympth of love.
Raphael was absolutely under this woman’s charms more than 15 minutes. He stood motionless in a silent paradise. But rapidly Raphael’s ear сaught the sound of a falling coin beneath her feet. A young lady finished her performance and a nasty wrinkle was visible on her forehead. Trying to hide a greedy smile she softened a bit and said: «Who will give more?». Her words sounded like out of the blue in Raphael’s poetical soul. Not uncomfortable, just silence, and it was almost like a sinister silence. At that moment our hero wanted to run away with a beautiful stranger to the ends of the earth, but he couldn’t because indecision and confusion paralysed his legs, arms and even the tongue. Finally, a pin drop was destroyed by the words of a decrepit old man in a dark coat with oaken reed: «Finish a thrilling sight! I pay for a night». He dropped a pouch of golden coins to lady, she easy caught it and got away with man. Raphael was deliciously shaken. He was hoping, right up until the last minute, that she could somehow convince herself to stop and come back, but he failed in his dreams.
 In the near future almost all people around left the Saint – Luvier’s square but Raphael was not one of them. He wasn't just stumbling around in the dark, he tried to figure out why a blameless lady converted herself into the «phalaenopsis of the night». What reasons caused the death of dancing nymph? Poet was lost until he took a pain of this lady that he noticed in unlimited hazel eyes. Replaying the events of this day in a head he seemed to recall a silky well-tailored dress with gems and poor worn – out shoes that spoiled the elegant look of lady. He thought that she might have come from impoverished patrimonial family, and she was definitely from unfamiliar land, far away. Raphael at last asked himself: «Whether the desire to come back a lost welfare and glory motivated her to act so heinously and recklessly?.... Sadly, he'll just never know it… ».