Marietta was typically a good girl. Sometimes she fought with her sister or her cousins, but not normally. Only when they were being crabby. Marietta listened to mama and papa. She usually played quietly by herself, or when she was allowed she’d go playing with Eli or Sofia or sometimes even Adre! She didn’t like being bad because then she would get in trouble. Then mama’s eyebrows would squeeze together and Marietta would hang her head because she made mama mad. So she tried to be good. She really, really tried to be good.



There was something that made the child so curious though. Mama would sometimes play her harp and it sounded so pretty. Marietta often could hear the notes as they floated throughout the home, carrying themselves out from mama’s room like petals in the wind. It was always so soothing to hear. Sometimes when Marietta was feeling really sad or really scared and she heard mama playing she’d suddenly feel like everything would be okay. She would even be happy.



Marietta wanted to be able to do that. She wanted to be able to play and make people feel happy. It was almost like a superpower being able to make people smile without even saying a word. Could people feel other things? Could someone feel sad from hearing the harp? Or angry? Or excited? Marietta was just so curious that she had to try it. Even if… it meant being bad.



No one was around when Marietta tiptoed into the room. There wasn’t even a servant. There was just the harp and Marietta. She stared at it for a little bit. It was really big and golden, with intricate designs all around it. The harp itself was a masterpiece and something that was cared for with extreme love and attention. The harp was older than Marietta herself! It might even be older than mama! And yet it still shined and glimmered like it was brand new.



Marietta climbed onto the chair in front of the harp. Her little feet swung back and forth, not being quite tall enough to reach the floor. She didn’t reach forward and pluck it quite yet. She had fun just sitting there staring at it. But after a bit, her eyes slid to the door. No one was there. It couldn’t hurt just… trying it a bit, right?



Marietta’s hands hovered near the strings. She felt so cool sitting in front of the harp. Her tiny fingers were just centimeters from it, as she ran them back and forth through the air pretending she was playing some beautiful masterpiece. She tried to move her body like mama did, gently swaying with the music as her fingers would glide along the strings. But the reality probably looked less graceful and more like jerking, as the child fantasized about her work of art.



But pretend was only so much fun when the real thing was right in front of her. Once more she looked at the door, and when she saw no one was coming her finger finally touched one of the strings. She pulled back before releasing it to surprisingly strong vibration.



TWAAAAANG.



Marietta winced, not expecting it to be so loud. It didn’t sound awful, the single note. But when she tried again, gliding her fingers to other parts of the string, an awful sound met her ears.



Twang twang twang twang twaaaang!



How did mama do it? Marietta frowned. She heard footsteps heading towards the room. She expected to see a servant, but instead who she saw was her mother. Marietta hopped off the chair and ran quickly to her, hugging her little arms around her mama’s waist. “I wanna make people happy like you do mama! Don’t be mad. I wanna play!”