There's a W.B. Yeats poem called "The Stolen Child," and it was from that poem that I took the inspiration for this drabble. Written for the "fairy tales" challenge on wk_100, and betaed by Eliza.

When Mamoru was small, his mother read to him from a book of Western fairy tales. He liked the stories of princesses and talking animals, but he liked best the stories about three brothers, because the youngest was always the cleverest.

His brothers were very clever, so Mamoru knew he'd have to work hard. When he was kidnapped, he reminded himself the youngest was often kidnapped, and returned in disguise to surprise his family. So Mamoru made Omi, and Omi was a very good disguise indeed.

Perhaps if he'd been more clever still, he would not have fooled himself.

~END~