Mother Thorn

by Clayton Overstreet

An old fairy tale with a new twist where the girl gets the girl.

This Story is based on several old fairy tales which you may be familiar with, but was rewritten for the book "Lesbian Fairy Tales: Wicked Women of Myth and Legend" which is now available on Amazon and it's affiliates. Mother Thorn has a back-story available in the book. So feel free to buy a copy.

Mother Thorn

By, Clayton Overstreet

There once was a widow woman who had two girls. The first was her own child who was lazy and not at all pretty. The other was her late second husband's daughter who was both pretty and a very hard worker. Yet because the first girl was her own child she cared much more for her and resented having to take care of the other one even after her husband was no more. Every time the pretty girl did a chore right or even smiled, looking even more beautiful than her daughter than before, she took it as a personal insult. So she and her daughter took advantage of the girl, making her do all of the chores and finding fault in everything she did. They did their absolute best to make her life miserable and piled on the work whenever they could.

One day while the pretty daughter was spinning thread the mother told her, "You're making too much noise. Carry your spinning wheel out to the well and work there."

The wheel was heavy, but the girl had learned a long time before that there was no point in arguing with her stepmother. So she heaved and carried the thing up out the door, up the hill, and to the old well where they got their water. Well, where she got the water. She set the wheel down next to it and got back to work, despite the hot summer sun beating down on her. At one point she set her spindle, loaded with thread on the edge of the well and to her horror dropped it. She hurried home and told her stepmother that she had lost it, knowing that she was going to be in trouble.

"You horrible child," the stepmother sneered. "Do you think spindles are cheap? You dropped it down the well, so you will go get it."

"But I cannot swim very well and by now it will have sunk all the way to the bottom," the girl pleaded.

Her stepmother smiled nastily. "I know." Then she added, "Go now or I'll throw you down the well myself!"

Resigned to her fate the girl walked up to the hill again and stared down into the dark cold water. She had suspected that her stepmother would like to see her dead. Now she knew for sure. "Maybe I can get the spindle and come back." But come back to what? A live as the drudge of two stone hearted women who did their best to make her miserable, that was what.

Realizing she had nothing to live for the girl hefted herself over the edge of the well. After a moment to take a deep breath she pushed off and felt herself fall until she hit the cool water down below. When she did she was swept aside by the current of an underground river and disappeared into the dark, never expecting to take another breath of air again.

To her surprise after only a few moments and just as she felt she was going to burst from holding her breath, she bobbed to the surface and found herself floating in a large river. Struggling in her soaked dress she made her way to the bank and fell down, gasping for air. Up above the sky was dark, with sparkling stars. "But it was day only a moment ago."

When she had her breath back the girl sat up and gasped. She was in a forest of trees made of gold and silver. She hurried over, running her hand over the bark, which somehow felt like tree bark and metal at the same time. "Am I dead? Is this heaven?"

As time passed and she began to feel the damp of her dress and the grumbling of her belly the girl soon realized that she was not dead. At least she hoped not. If the dead got this hungry then she clearly was not in any kind of Heaven. Her stepmother and sister might have only fed her on their scraps, but at least the did feed her. After all, she thought bitterly, even they could not expect her to do all their work for them if she was faint from hunger.

Wandering through the trees she was just beginning to despair ever finding any food when she suddenly caught a whiff of baking bread. Smiling she hurried on to follow the smell until, to her surprise, she found an oven among the trees. Inside she saw bread that was just beginning to burn and she used the hem of her dress to take it out of the oven and set it on top. Her hands were sore from the heat and her stomach grumbled, but she did not take a bite. It was not hers and until she found the owner she would feel bad eating food that was not hers.

From the oven she noticed a path among the trees and followed it. On the way she found a large golden apple tree, the branches bending under the weight of huge silver apples until it looked like they would break. She could not stand to see such a beautiful tree damaged and quickly went to the trunk, shaking the tree until the apples fell and the branches snapped back to normal. They too smelled wonderful and she was tempted to eat them, but instead she merely piled them neatly below the tree and continued following the path.

Finally she came to a little cottage by a meadow of flowers and sweet smelling grass. A beautiful pool of clear water sparkled in the light of the stars and strange moons that now were rising in the sky. From the chimney came a little trickle of smoke and she could see lights on inside.

Hurrying forward she knocked on the door and waited, hearing someone move inside. When the door opened her breath stopped and she felt like she was drowning again. The woman, with her long red hair was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. She knew that she was pretty, but in comparison to the creature before her she felt like a worm. Even had the woman not had a pair of fragile looking red wings fluttering on her back she would have known her for some kind of fairy or goddess. No human could be so very beautiful. Just the sight of her made the girl ache with the desire to just stare at her, to hold that face in her vision until she wasted away to nothing.

"How strange," the red fairy said, her voice making the girl's heart flutter like a trapped bird. "I was not expecting visitors. I am Mother Thorn. What is your name?"

"I… my name? It's… it's…"

The fairy smiled playfully. "Don't you know?"

"Yes it's… my name is Greta." She looked down, flushed with embarrassment.

"And what brings you to my home Greta?"

She looked up, desperate to explain. "I fell into a well…" She told Thorn everything She did not want to complain, but the fairy's face was so kind and welcoming she soon found she could not stop herself from telling her how her life had been since her father's death. By the end she was crying. "I try so hard, but it's never good enough."

Mother Thorn reached out and took her in her arms, holding her head to her bosom. "You poor dear."

Greta's stomach rumbled. "I… if you don't mind I would happily help you in exchange for some food and a place to stay." She told her how she had found the bread and the apple tree.

"Oh dear, I'd forgotten about my bread," the fairy said, taking a step back. "I try to cook sometimes instead of just conjuring up food, but I often get bored and loose track of it." She smiled. "Why don't we go and see if it is any good?"

Grateful the girl followed the fairy back. They stopped by the pile of apples and Thorn took two, one for herself and one for Greta. "The dwarves are amazing. They my be silver, but they are still edible and very nourishing."

A little afraid Greta took a bit and found that the fruit was the best she had ever eaten and said so. Somehow it was ripe and juicy, even though it was still as shiny as a mirror. Thorn's only response was a smirk and then to take a bite from her own apple as they walked. When they reached the bread she passed Greta a loaf and took one of her own. Greta nervously took a bite and smiled as she felt the still warm inside against her tongue.

"This is wonderful."

Swallowing her own Thorn said, "Thank you. I've been working on it for a few hundred years. I have the recipe down, but I just do not have the patience to watch the oven the right way. I usually find a book to read and lose track until I come back and find that the fire went out and I'm left with half cooked dough or it did not and I have an oven full black charcoal."

Greta, relaxing as her belly was filled, nodded her agreement. "I know what you mean. I often have to watch the oven at home since I do the cooking and it is very little fun. I have to do it anyway because my stepmother and sister make me do all of the cooking and if I make a mistake they make me pay for it."

"That seems unfair."

"It is." She looked nervously at Thorn. "I don't suppose you could use a servant to help you?"

Thorn smiled and tilted her head in thought, eyeing the pretty young girl. "I might. Are you sure you would not rather go home?"

Greta shuddered. "Not in the least."

"Are you certain? You do not have to stay with your stepmother. You're a pretty young woman. You could find a husband or work for someone else."

Greta shook her head. "I've never been very interested in that sort of thing. Seems to me I'd just be trading the family I have for one that could be just the same or worse."

Thorn shrugged. "Very well, if you wish to work for me I'm sure we can come up with something. I've often missed the servants I had when I was living in my father's castle."

Greta's eyes widened. "You're a princess?"

"I left my father's kingdom and I have a few places I've claimed as my own over the centuries. I am a queen." Greta started to bow. "Oh don't do that. Trust me, if I need you to abase yourself before me you will know it." The girl now looked a little afraid. Thorn put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Come, let's see what we have for you to do."

Thorn arranged for Greta to dust, sweep, make the beds, some weaving, and do a little cooking. She was surprised at how eagerly the girl started in on her duties, but then she remembered what she had been told about her home life. Compared to the chores she had been doing this was almost nothing and Thorn was not constantly haranguing her. In return Thorn promised her a fair wage after a time and even magically snapped her fingers and to Greta's shock the girl found that she had her own room with an amazing bed studded with gems. There was a wardrobe full of dresses fit for a princess and much more.

"This is all too grand for me," she said.

Thorn waved her off. "It's nothing to me."

'Then… you don't really need me, do you?" Greta asked. "You could do everything this easily."

The fairy nodded. "I could. Do you not want the job?"

"No!" Greta babbled, "I mean, yes, I want to work for you."

"Then don't ask so many questions," she said, patting the girl on the head. Then she turned and closed the door, leaving Greta alone in her new room.

Looking around Greta felt like when her father was alive and would bring her presents. Something she had not had in years. If she ever did find something she liked she would just bet her family would just take it away from her. Well they could not take this from her, could they? Laughing she rushed forward and threw herself on the bed, feeling herself sink into the most comfortable mattress she had ever felt. Life was good.

One morning Thorn awoke to find her new servant already at work. She had found the larder where the food Thorn made appear was stored and had cooked a grand breakfast. From the look of things she had already cleaned and polished everything else, probably not getting much sleep. Outside the dim undersized sun that shone on the dwarves' kingdom while they slept as stone shown down and she could see the shine on the place almost as good as magic could accomplish. Greta still wore the tattered dress she had arrived in, but Thorn did not say anything as they shared breakfast. The dress would wear out eventually.. probably very soon by the look of things… and either she would be forced to wear the grand clothing Thorn had provided or walk around naked.

So, the fairy thought to herself, there is no actual downside.

When they finished eating Thorn stood and said, "I am going out to the spring to bathe." Then she turned and walked out the front door.

Greta knew she should not peek, but after a while she could not help taking a look and looked out the window. Thorn was in the clear pool she had noticed the night before. Her red dress was nowhere to be seen, but that was not much of a surprise. It had probably dissolved like mist and would reappear the same way if she wanted.

Watching Thorn scoop up the water and pour it over herself , rubbing her red-tinged pale skin down with her hands and swimming through the clear water, Greta had no idea how much time passed before Thorn turned and her eyes locked on Greta's. "Come down here and help me bathe."

"What?" Greta asked, her voice rising in panic.

"You're my servant. Come down here and help me clean my back."

"Um… okay," Greta said uncertainly.

She had never helped anyone else take a bath before, but she had heard that such things were common in castles. Her stepsister and stepmother had despised her and rarely if ever wanted to see her face unless she was doing chores for them. They certainly had never wanted to have her touch them. Not that she wanted to. She was polite, but she had quickly grown to despise her stepmother after her father's death and her stepsister was the same. Plus she was ugly at the best of times. Compared to Thorn Greta herself felt like a dog. Her stepsister was less than a leech in comparison.

As she approached the pool and stared at the nude fairy, she wondered how this would even be possible. Would she really be touching that body that looked like it had been carved by an artist? Those thin jewel-like wings. What if her hand slipped and she touched… no! That sort of thinking was wicked. Her real mother had told her so when she was a little girl.

Thorn waved her over and held out a red bit of cloth. "Just use this. It'll magically clean whatever it touches." Taking it Greta barely felt the cloth in her hand. It was like holding a spider's web, only not as sticky. Thorn turned away and said, "Start on my hair and work your way down my back."

"What about… your wings? If I touch them will they be okay?" The looked like butterfly wings and she remembered the time she had caught a butterfly. The wings had disintegrated in her fingers like powder and the poor thing had died. She had cried for hours.

'They'll be fine," Thorn assured her. "Just be gentle with them, they're very sensitive. Go on, touch one and see."

Nervously Greta reached out and placed her hand gently on one of the wings. It looked like it was made of crystal, but when she touched it, it felt like skin. She could feel a heartbeat in it and ran her hand over it. "So soft…"

"Mmm, that feels so good," Thorn purred. "It's been so long since someone washed me like this."

Reluctantly moving her hand away she took the fairy's long red hair and gently ran the cloth over it. There was not much dust or dirt to begin with since she washed daily, but it really seemed to shine in the wake of the cloth and Greta soon felt like she had a new toy. She also noticed her own hands were cleaner than they had been in… ever.

"So why do you live down here alone if you enjoy this so much?" Greta asked. "You seem like you could have anything you want, but you live in a little house in the woods?" Thorn seemed to stiffen up and Greta realized she had said something wrong. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to pry."

"No, you could not have known. You see it has to do with women," Thorn said. "Women I've been in love with."

Greta gasped and almost dropped her cloth. Swallowing she said, "You cared for them?"

"Cared for them. Loved them. Made love with them as a man and woman might." She looked over her shoulder and grinned at the girl. "Unfortunately I've been badly hurt by them too. Please keep washing." Blushing furiously and feeling her heart race Greta looked down and began doing just that while Thorn talked.

The fairy told her about her life in the palace. About her friends and then about the maids and even Mary. Then about the other women, the hardships she had endured trying to find love. Her failure with Rapunzel. "I've met other women since then, but I have never found one who would really love me for me. Some want me for my body or my power. In the end I find it hard to find a girl who wants my heart and will give me theirs. They're always afraid of what will happen or what others might think. Some of them are just experimenting while more were afraid to tell me no when I approached them."

"Then why do you keep doing it?" Greta asked. She felt Thorn shudder as she slid the cleaning cloth down her back and between her wings. She felt tightly packed muscles there and was reminded of a cat she had once had. How it would arch its back when she touched near where its tail attached to the rest of it. She tried not to think about that and gently cleaned around the base of her wings before working on them. They seemed to sparkle where she cleaned. "It seems to me it would be easier to give up."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to go out into the world without your family?"

"Maybe…" Greta admitted. She finished the back, unsure what to do next.

Thorn smiled and said, "Take off your clothes and get in. I'll do your back while we talk." Swallowing Greta was not sure what to do. The pool did look inviting and Thorn was another girl… but she also liked other girls. Was that not wicked? "Hurry up."

She gritted her teeth and stripped off her old dress. Quickly she ducked into the water and then squealed. "Cold!"

"I can fix that," Thorn said and snapped her fingers. The pool suddenly felt warm and inviting. Greta sagged from the shock of it and before she knew it she was sitting in Thorn's lap, the fairy's pale thighs on either side of her. "I like your tan lines."

Greta felt her heart racing. Her arms, face, and shins were tanned brown while the other parts of her that her dress covered were almost as white as Thorn's. She could feel her breasts at her back and they felt so soft and inviting. She realized that her nervousness was because she was uncomfortable with how comfortable it was. How strange. "My stepmother does not like me spending too much time in the house."

"Don't apologize," Thorn said and Greta flinched as she felt the cloth touch her. "You have a wonderful body."

"Uh… thank you," Greta said, unsure what else to say. "You're beautiful."

"I know, but it is nice to hear it," Thorn said calmly. "That's kind of the point. There's only so long a person can be alone. Even if the company you keep is not exactly what you want or need, it is better than to have nobody." Her voice sounded so sad Greta felt her heart go out to her.

"The girl… Rapunzel. She broke your heart."

"I should have known better," Thorn said. Her hands played through Greta's hair. "You can't force someone to be something they aren't. Rapunzel loved me in her way and enjoyed being with me, but I was not what she needed. Not at the time anyway. I kept my eye on her and later she gave up on men, but by then… well I could not bring myself to even try with her again."

"Neither could I," Greta said. "I remember how loving my stepmother seemed when she married my father. If she started treating me right to make an impression on a new man… I think I'd be physically sick. Nobody should say they love you just because it's convenient or what they want at the time."

"Exactly," Thorn said. "And in my case it is not for the few paltry years you humans live. For a fairy twenty or thirty years is a fling." She smiled and ran the cloth over Greta's shoulders, making her shiver even in the warm water. "We fairies have a reputation for being flighty and taking lovers, but that's because after a century or two no matter how much you love someone you need something different in bed. But the point of getting married for us to find someone who will still be there and love you after something like that. Unconditional and true love."

"I think I understand," Greta said. "I've never been with a man but sometimes I get these feelings…"

"Perfectly natural," Thorn said.

"But why don't you go with men if you are so lonely? Surely it can't be that bad. You said that Rapunzel was not… like you… but she seemed to enjoy it at the time."

Thorn stopped washing and said, "I've considered it. Who would not? I just… have you ever heard the story of the spider and the swan?"

"No."

"Well," Thorn said, her hands moving gently over Greta's ribs. In the warm water Greta was becoming relaxed and felt herself lean back into Thorn's soft curves, the hands on her body comforting in a way she had never known. "There was once a great river and a black widow spider came to it and stared out across the water. She wanted to cross but could not swim, so was trapped on the other side. She sat there, staring longingly at the far shore.

"A short time later a beautiful swan swam by, gliding gracefully over the water and the spider cried out, 'Please help me get to the other side of the river.' The Swan turned and looked and said, 'But you are a spider. Won't you bite me?' The spider went to the water's edge and called out, 'If I am riding on your back then you'll be safe.'"

Greta gasped as she felt Thorn's hands move up and forward, lightly cupping the sides of her breasts. Swallowing she asked, "Did the swan help her?"

"The swan saw the wisdom if the spider's words and agreed to help. So she swam over and let the spider crawl onto her back and bury herself in the swan's feathers so she would not get wet." Thorn bent forward and placed a light kiss on Greta's hair. "Safe and snug she rode there and the swan paddled across the river.

"Then when they were about halfway across, the swan felt a sharp pain in her feathers where the spider was hiding. Because the black widow had bitten her, right on her lovely neck." Greta felt Thorn bite her neck, teeth pinching and pulling at her skin. She whimpered, but almost instantly she realized the fairies pointy little teeth had not broken her skin and she felt her body arch under the touch, almost begging for her to bite just that last little bit. When she let go to continue talking Greta felt like she had lost something precious and knew she wished the fairy would bite her again. Harder. Longer. But hearing Thorn's beautiful voice was almost as good so she relaxed again as Thorn began wrapping her long limbs tightly around Greta's body. "The swan felt her world swim and she started to feel the poison course through her body. Her wings flopped uselessly and she began to sink beneath the rushing water of the river.

"The spider crawled out of her feathers, heading up to the swan's bill to avoid the water as long as possible. Even as her vision started to go black the swan asked, 'Why would you bite me? Now we will both die.' The spider looked into her eyes and said, 'I tried to keep my word, but I am a spider. It is my nature.' And they both finally sank below the water." She slid her hands down and Greta felt the fairy's fingers on her stomach, felt them tremble against her skin as they stopped just a few teasing inches above her crotch. "That my dear is why I still hope and search for a woman I can love. It's part of who I am. I can no more give up that hope and need than a spider can stop itself from biting something even if it means that it will be crushed or drowned. I can tell myself again and again that this time I won't, that I should not. That I'll be hurt, that they'll be hurt, and that it will never work out. Yet deep inside I know I'll try again and again because…"

"Because it's your nature," Greta breathed, eyes closed. She could still hear her mother telling her that two girls together was bad and a wicked thing. Why had they even been talking about it? She could not remember.

In the fairy's arms she could not deny how she was feeling. Wicked. Sinful. Wrong. Wanton with unnatural desires. These words rushed through her mind. But was a spider wrong for trapping a butterfly in its web to feed itself? A dog for chasing a squirrel? A stallion for mounting his mares? Thorn had told her that she had been with women. Greta was not sure how that was done, but it was apparently possible. And lying in her arms the girl could not deny that inside she wanted… she needed to find out. If she felt this way, whatever anyone said, did that not mean that it was her nature too?

Slowly she turned in the water, her body sliding against Thorn who was still holding her tight, until they were face to face. She felt the touch of her skin as it was dragged over the fairy's. Her body's response as she let it do what it wanted, parts of her opening, others turning hard, and all of her aching with some nameless desire she knew that this inhuman woman could fulfill. In her mind she kept hearing the spider's words over and over again. It is my nature.

There were no words as they kissed. Greta and Thorn explored each other slowly and nervously, but soon that faded and soon the water of the spring was no longer clear and unbroken. Waves rose and fell. Their bodies rose above the surface and splashed down again. They disappeared under the surface until they had to rise desperately gasping for air and then came together again. There was some pain, some screaming, but more than enough pleasure to make up for it and soon the bad was forgotten as delight replaced it all.

Later as they lay in the sun to rest and dry off, Thorn held a beautiful red flower in her hand and gently traced it over Greta's body. They were drained and Greta knew she could do no more, but when it touched her or she felt the brush of Thorn's skin she still got enjoyment. Her whole being hummed with it. "I hope you don't feel I tricked you."

"It never crossed my mind," the girl said. "I just…"

"You don't know if it's right," Thorn said. "You feel like you've done something wicked and wrong."

"You've heard that before?"

"More times than you can imagine."

Greta felt a brief wave of jealousy, but she quickly dismissed it. It was silly to be envious of women who had probably been dead before her great-great-grandparents had been born. "I don't feel like that. Not exactly."

Thorn looked into her eyes. "Then what is it?"

"I feel like I should feel those things," Greta said. "And that I'm bad because I do not. I enjoyed what… what we just did. But I hear my mother, the town minister, my stepmother, my stepsister, my father… everyone I know screaming in my head that I've done something wrong and that I'm bad for not agreeing with them."

Thorn smiled and leaned in, her red lips pursing and kissed Greta softly on the lips. Greta responded and scooted over the golden grass until they held each other. It was not sexual, she just needed the contact. When the kiss broke the fairy asked, "Do you hear them now?"

Greta realized she did not and smiled. "They'll be back later."

"Then I'll just have to chase them away then too."

Three years later and Greta felt like she had indeed come to Heaven. She was even growing a pair of wings. Hers were like a bird's with beautiful gray feathers that stretched behind her. Thorn called Greta her angel when they grew in. Her ears were pointed and her gray eyes were now an unnatural shade of silver that almost glowed in the dark. Thorn had told her long before it happened that while it was possible for a fairy to turn a human into a fairy, a human who lived in fairy land and ate their food would eventually become one anyway. The rules of this were complicated, but Greta had not cared to hear them. She had no desire to leave Thorn. There had been good times in the human world, but not enough to make up for a single day she had spent with the fairy.

Yet one day she said, "I would like to visit my family."

"You wish to leave?" Thorn asked, sad, but resigned.

Greta quickly took her hands. "Never! If you wish I will stay here by your side. I just… I have wondered if maybe without me my mother and sister have learned to care for themselves. If maybe they regret how they treated me. I feel I could forgive them if they merely asked."

"And what if they are the same as you remember."

Greta smiled and took Thorn in her arms in a tight hug. "Then I will tell them of my life here with you and rub it in their faces. That I live in a wonderful house with magic. How the two of us take care of each other and love one another. That despite everything I am as happy and free of cares as I was miserable when I lived with them." She looked into Thorn's eyes. "I know that things work differently in this world than home. It has been so long… if I do not go now I may not have the chance later." She could see Thorn's reluctance to let her go and played her trump card. "You can't keep me locked up forever. If you love me you should let me go and if you believe that I love you, then you must also believe that I will return."

Her heart aching Thorn considered her words. It could be a trick. She had been lied to and used by Mary. Rapunzel had kept secrets and left her for a man. Other women had fled because they had only stayed with her out of fear or obligation. A few because they had other women they truly loved and because of Thorn had found that what they wanted was not so far out of reach. Any of which could be true of Greta as well.

Still, if it was true, what would be the point of keeping her captive? If she was going to leave then now or later would make no difference. Thorn could enchant her and make her stay. She could get a sleeping thorn and leave her to gather dust in the bedroom, available for anything she wanted. But in the end it would never be Greta.

"I believe you love me," she said. "So go and I will wait here. Forever if need be, because if you do not return I will not have anything left of my broken heart."

Greta kissed her forehead. "I will return."

"Wait, before you go a warning. Tell your family nothing of our love. Even the best of people rarely understand such a thing." She waved her hand and a gold dress appeared around Greta. "This dress will also hide your fairy nature."

"But I love my wings," Greta said, staring over her back in shock as they vanished. To her relief she could still feel them. "Especially when we fly together."

"Me as well," Thorn said. "But you do not know magic and humans fear anything too different. I want you to return to me whole."

Greta nodded and said, "I trust you."

That very day she returned to her little house and walked to the front door. Out in the yard she saw her stepsister doing a poor job of making thread on her old spinning wheel. The ugly girl looked up in surprise, dazzled by the golden dress this beautiful young stranger was wearing. Her eyes finally widened in recognition as Greta reached the door and knocked.

"I'm coming," a voice said from inside and a moment later her stepmother opened the door.

Greta knew not how long she had been gone, but both her stepsister and their mother looked to have aged at least ten years or more. The stepsister had abandoned the wheel and run to join them as the stepmother realized who was standing in front of them. They stared for a moment before the woman said, "Well, come on in."

Greta did. "I am pleased to see you are well stepmother."

"And it looks like you've done well for yourself too," she said.

Greta reached into the folds of her dress and brought out a handful of gold coins, which she scattered on the kitchen table like grain for the chickens. She smiled as the other two women eyed it with undisguised greed. "I have done okay I suppose."

"How did you get all of this?" Her stepsister asked, looking at the coins and the dress. "Did you marry a prince?"

"No, I…" She remembered Thorn's warning. "I am the servant of a woman." She told them how she had fallen into the well and how she had met Thorn.

"How old is this woman?" Her stepmother asked.

Letting truth stand in the way of honesty she said, "Oh several hundred years. She's quite magical."

"And all you had to do was help her cook and clean?" The stepsister asked.

Greta shrugged. "And a few other things around the house like… tend her garden. Nothing I did not enjoy."

"She must be Baba Yaga or Mother Huldra…" The stepmother mumbled. She touched the gold, assuring herself that it was there. "So why did you come back here?"

"To visit you," she said. "I have a lot of work to do back home and was not sure I would get another chance. Besides, I do not need these wages and thought you might be able to use them."

"In that case," she turned to her daughter. "Make a spare bed."

"Me? But she's finally ba—!"

"Now," her mother snarled and the ugly stepsister raced to obey.

"You have not found a bridegroom for her?"

"Not a willing one. Even those who overlook her looks refuse to accept her laziness. The woman cannot do anything right and rarely tries."

Greta remembered her stepmother saying the same things about her, but let it pass. She did not want to start a fight, even though now that she found herself among her family again the wonderful mood she had been in for years seemed to be vanishing like the morning dew. So far they had been much nicer to her than she remembered and she was still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Pointing out that her stepmother could do the work herself also seemed like a poor idea.

The stepsister made an overcooked and unappetizing meal. Greta excused herself, claiming, "I have dwelled too long in the magical world. I could not have human food again." It was a blatant lie, but better than eating whatever it was and they accepted it.

That night while she slept the stepmother shook her daughter awake. "If that girl can get so much from the old woman in the well, maybe you can get more."

The woman was unsure, but remembering the dress and the gold and the happy expression on her stepsister's face she considered her mother's words. After all, if someone as worthless as her stepsister could do so well, surely she could do better. So she bundled up some clothes and walked up the hill to the well and after only a moment threw herself in.

When she found herself on the riverbank she rejoiced. She did not even take time to dry off before hurrying out to find the path. The oven was not burning, but still smelled of bread so while it took some time she did find it. Then she followed the path down to the apple tree and finally to the cottage.

"Mother Thorn?" She cried out.

The door opened and the fairy ran out quickly, stopping short as she and the ugly woman in front of her stared at one another. Thorn had been expecting Greta. The stepsister had been expecting an bent old woman. "You are not Greta."

"That worthless strumpet?" The stepsister sneered. "She's lazing around my mother's house, just like she used to. I'm sure you know how she barely lifts a finger if she can avoid it. I came to see if you needed someone else to do her chores. I assure you I can do them much better than my witless stepsister."

Thorn could barely believe the audacity of this woman. She felt her anger flow, but she kept it under control. The woman was obviously not worth getting too upset over it and Greta had clearly not told her who she would be dealing with. Besides she owed it to Greta to give her a small chance. One job should be easy enough. Then she could give her a handful of gold or something and send her away. She pasted on a wide smile that to the stepsister almost made her teeth fill the whole world. "Of course! How about you clean out my oven?"

"That seems easy enough."

They walked back along the path until they reached the oven and Thorn handed her one of her magical rags. The woman took it and told her that when she came back it would be shining. Thorn had no doubt and left her to it. "You can have an apple from the tree if you get hungry."

To her surprise when she came back almost three hours later she could that the stepsister had eaten five apples and that the stove was not even half clean. The woman was snoring away by a nearby tree, her pockets stuffed with gold and silver leaves. Thorn prodded her with a foot and she woke up, glaring up as if she had been insulted. "Why aren't you working?"

"I'll get to it," she muttered. "I got started and needed a break."

Thorn knew that the job should have taken at most a half hour if the girl had taken the time to get all the corners and the chimney. From the look of things she had barely wiped the cloth over the very front before giving up. Maybe because it was so easy she wanted to make it look like it would take time.

"Well are you ready to finish?"

"I suppose." She got up and picked up the rag. "God I hate getting ashes on my hands."

"Your sister never minded."

"My stepsister is a useless waste of flesh."

Thorn reached the end of her rope. "Did she tell you about the secret of my oven? If you stick your head inside and look up the smoke stack, a wish will be granted."

"Really?" She immediately stuck her head in the over. "How does it work?"

"Like this." Thorn stood on her toes and blew into the oven's chimney. Greta's stepsister was hit full in the face with soot and fell backwards, choking and trying to blink it away. Thorn snapped her fingers and the woman vanished, reappearing back at her house.

As her daughter came hacking around the side of the house the stepmother came out and stared in shock. "What happened?"

The woman told her, naturally explaining how she had worked hard for the wicked old woman but had been the victim of a cruel prank. When she saw Greta coming to see if she was alright, she said, "This is all your fault."

"What have you done to my daughter you evil thing?"

Greta stared at them both hurt and amused. She knew the smell of Thorn's bread and it hung around her stepsister like perfume. The two women hurried over to the water trough for the animals and began trying to scrub the stepsister clean. Soon it became obvious that no matter what they did the soot would not wash off. They two turned to once again blame Greta and demand she fix it, but all they saw was a hole in the ground close up, leaving no sign of the girl in the gold dress.

The stepmother and stepsister never did find a man for either of them. Rumors that they were cursed kept them away even though they were now rich and no man would dare approach for long. The way they treated the servants they hired drove them away too and after less than a year even with the money Greta had given them they were back to doing their own chores again.

Meanwhile Greta returned to Thorn who told her the full story. The two of them laughed and went back to their little cottage. Thorn's heart singing all the way as her trust in Greta was rewarded by her return. Greta, having seen her family and now knowing they would never change, was only too happy to return to her life with Thorn. And the two of them lived happily ever after.