allegedly fiction

The procession of the Firefly King would probably not have happened had it not been for three unlikely friends of His Royal Court.

Do you remember the ugly duckling? Well, we know his story ended well. He became beautiful. Actually, he was beautiful all along; he was just in the wrong place before he learned the truth.

This story is about another young duck, who came to be an important part of the Firefly King’s Royal Court. Thaddeus wasn’t ugly, but he was teased endlessly because he was afraid of water. We never really knew why he was afraid of water, because he was just like every other duck, mind you, with flat webbed feet made for furiously paddling under the cool, deep, dark waters. Ducks were not only made for navigating on water, but they were able to swim in water so icy and cold that even Mrs. Cornwell, the wisest catfish matriarch in Lake Lovely, would bury herself deep in the bottom mud to stay warm and cozy.

Anyway, Thaddeus wasn’t respected among his feathered fraternity. He was different. Often, he would pretend he dropped something so instead of heading to the big lake, he could sneak off to the edge of the enchanted Fallsburg Forest to eat spring shoots from the low-hanging fronds of the weeping willow tree near where the deer drank.

Thaddeus was careful not to get his feet wet. He didn’t like the way the water felt. And quite frankly, he was afraid of drowning. It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of the catfish matriarch; she seemed nice enough when she came up to the surface to snack on bugs.

By the time Thaddeus’s flock were fully aware that they’d never seen him in the water, it was time to fly south for the winter. But not for Thaddeus. No, the mischievous ducks who teased him also wanted to be sure he would miss the call to hit the pale blue skies of late autumn by sending him on a quest of three tasks: first, to find their lost home stone; second, to brave the dark woods; and third, to return before winter. They sent him north of the big lake, expecting him to fail.

Well, it took Thaddeus all of that day plus two when he waddled upon the very regal but sad and heartbroken Firefly Prince sitting outside an ivy-laden cottage, enchanted by day, cursed by night. He could see that the poor Prince didn’t look very well, and in his good mannerly way asked the Prince why he was in such a state.

The heartbroken Firefly Prince looked up from the mossy log into the kind eyes of Thaddeus and with a deep sigh lamented that his father, the good King of the Firefly kingdom had passed away, and because he was so loved, the whole of the kingdom had gone dark. 

And since they could not light up, they could not properly take the Good King on his final procession to the sacred grove where the Kings and Queens were laid to rest.

Every day that passed with no light meant they all might die out because they needed the Light to help them find their food, the sweetly scented nectar that was released only by the Light of the Firefly Knights, who were now too weak to feed let alone find a sacred Light.

“Dear Prince, I am Thaddeus. I am on a mission to find my flock’s home stone so we’ll know where to return when we come back from our winter flight. I will help you by looking for your sacred Light too that your kingdom may take the King to His final resting place and that your kingdom lives on. We need your Light in this oft-dark world!”

With those words, the Firefly Prince bowed so deeply his crown nearly fell off his head. “Thaddeus of Lovely Lake, so superior, I ask only that you make haste for we are in need. Thank you. Take this magic lantern crafted of moonlight’s silver dew and golden strands of the Solstice Sun. It needs no candle, only the spark of pure friendship to shine. I do not know yet how you will be rewarded, for I am too broken at this time, but I promise you your world will never be dark as long as we live.”

Thaddeus found his heart ached for the Prince and his Kingdom, and he hastened along the rocky path until he came to the wide river at the bottom of a great and roaring waterfall. Maybe it was the rainbow or the glittering drops of splashing water that kept Thaddeus’s attention there, but he stepped back from the fast moving waters to be safe.

While he sat and rested, contemplating the potential fate of The Fireflies, Thaddeus was nearly asleep when he noticed a very rotund but content looking Mole lying back on a mossy stone, gazing up at the evening sky. It was nearly dark and the stars were beginning to emerge from their daylight skies. It looked as if the Mole were bedded down and this confused Thaddeus because Moles lived deep underground and were rarely seen above ground.

“Say there, Mr. Mole. May I sit with you while I rest? I am on a mission but just need a quick nap before I continue. I’m very tired but I am afraid I’ll roll into the river. Would you be so kind as to wake me should I start to fall that way?”

“Hello fellow traveler, I’m Silas. It’s nice to meet you. Of course I will watch you but you’re much bigger than I, so I won’t be able to save you if you fall in the river … but you can surely swim back to shore if you do fall in?”

Thaddeus furrowed his eyebrows and he decided to tell it like it is. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t like the water so I don’t know if I can swim!”

“Oh that’s ok, friend. We all have our quirks. I’m a mole but you won’t catch me in a deep dank dark cave, no sir! Give me the starry skies at night and the flashing lights of the glow worms and fireflies to guide my night travels, and the songs of birds at dawn filling my soul with sunshine.”

“Silas, did you say fireflies and glow worms guide your night travels? I must speak with them at once!” And so Thaddeus told Silas about the poor fireflies Kingdom and possible demise when Silas put up his little paw.

“Behind the waterfall is a cave. Each and every night I try to get close because the fireflies and glow worms go there every night! And if I listen carefully, I can hear them telling stories and hear them giggling all through the night, or at least until Oswald starts with his soft snoring. He’s a bit like us Thaddeus. A kind soul that our very own kin just won’t accept because we’re a little bit different. Oswald is afraid of heights so he refuses to fly AND he’s afraid of the dark. Imagine that.”

“Sadly, the Fireflies haven’t been here in a week. I guess it must be because of their King. Come with me! Let’s go to the cave and talk to Oswald and whoever is keeping him company tonight. Come!”

The secret entrance behind the crashing, falling waters gave Thaddeus a chill, but he thought himself brave and slipped behind the watery curtain and once inside, he could hear the sloshing of his webbed feet slapping along the stone ground, echoing back to him.

“Hey! Who is that? Don’t come in here! There’s no one home but the dark and deep, monsters probably, and me! What do you want??”

Thaddeus stopped long enough to hear the quiet of his breath, and even some tiny giggling that came from deeper in the cave. And it wasn’t that dark once his eyes adjusted. In fact, the longer he looked, he could see a faint light glowing softly towards the back of the cave. There were indeed more tiny gold and amber lights scattered all along the cave walls. And sitting there in the middle of a glowing circle of ambers and gold, was the bat Oswald.

“Um, are you the deep dark monster or the ‘me’?” he asked, straining his short neck so far he almost lost his balance. “And was that you laughing at me or was it the deep dark monsters?”

Oswald smiled a toothy smile revealing little fangs, but in the best, most friendly way.

“I’m Oswald! And no, the giggling you heard are my friends from the Glow Worm Kingdom; they’re not monsters. They visit often because, well … the truth is I am afraid of the dark, and they light up the cave just long enough for me to fall asleep. When it’s dark and scary out there, they come here to keep me company and tell me stories. Why, even the Fireflies come but I haven’t seen them in a fortnight.”

After introductions all around, and the Truth and severities facing the Firefly Kingdom were told, the three misfits sat and talked with the King and Queen of the Glow Worm kingdom, because they happened to be out and about visiting their subjects in all their habitats, making sure they were lighting the pathways for the fae and other creatures of the night.

By design, fate, or circumstance, the King and Queen of the Glow Worm Kingdom were in the exact right place at the exact right time. It was decided by the Royal Couple that they would be Honored indeed to pay their respects and step into the magic lantern to offer their sacred Light to light the way for the Procession of the King’s last journey.

However, and there is always a however, the glow worms were small and had no way to cross the wide river. And it was then that Thaddeus knew in his heart of hearts, that he must help by bringing the small caravan to the Prince and the Firefly Kingdom. He didn’t know ducks float and all they have to do is flap their little webbed feet and off they go.

Oswald would carry the King and Queen in the magic lantern while settled on Thaddeus’s back, holding on tight with his other wing, and Silas being a surface dweller and adventurer knew the woods and kingdoms very well, since he was after all, Silas of the Woods.

As they reached the icy, rushing river’s edge, it was old Mrs. Cornwell who peeked out of the river and told Thaddeus he was the magic bird of these waters because he would float effortlessly, as if by magic, and he just needed to use his feet to paddle to the other side. And the King and Queen were so busy calming Oswald down because he was not on the ground but up on the back of Thaddeus, which was a bit higher than he would have liked!

And so it was that night that they faced their fears, and with the guidance of Silas’s navigation skills and the starry night, they arrived at the Firefly Kingdom just in time. The light from the Glow Worm King and Queen inside the magic lantern sparked the fireflies’ tails back to life, and the kingdom paraded their beloved King to his final resting place in the sacred grove.

To this day, in honor of the Glow Worms, all firefly funeral processions take place along the ground so that those without wings may walk alongside those who fly. And Thaddeus, Oswald, and Silas, the three unlikely heroes were honored and remembered, proving that what makes you different is often the very thing that makes you extraordinary.

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Written for EN112 Intro to Mythology (Northern Michigan University), Summer 2026 Semester (ungraded)