Once upon a time in a village named Ealdor, there lived a man, Balinor, and his wife. His wife, Hunith, was with child, but in time she developed an unusual appetite. Next to them lived a witch, who was known in the village as Nimueh and had a beautiful garden. Hunith admired the garden every moment she could. One day she went up to her husband and told him that what she wanted more then everything was Rampion, like the ones that grew in the witches garden. That night, Balinor climbed over the wall into the garden and pulled out some of the rampion. His wife ate all of them, but still wanted more, so he went back at night. So it went on for a few days, and every time Balinor brought back more rampion. Until one night, the witch had noticed that her rampion plantation getting smaller, and was watching her garden. She saw Balinor climbing over the wall, again, and appeared in front of him, be it with a lot of drama.
"So you're the one who has been stealing my rampion. Fair is fair. You can have all the rampion you want, but in exchange I will have the child your wife will bear."
Balinor knew that no one who ever denied the witch and survived so he agreed. Months passed and Hunith gave birth to a boy. The witch appeared in their house not long after the boy had started crying.
"Fair is fair. My child?"
"Please don't take him, please!" Hunith tried to change Nimueh's mind but it was not possible.
"Give me the child. Never mind, I'll take him myself. Such a handsome boy. I'll call you… Merlin."
She took Merlin from his crib and ignored his parents' cries when she left with him. She took him to a land named Camelot and raised him in woods close to the capital. First it was in a small house, but when Merlin became 5 and started making friends with some of the children of the village, she took him further into the dark woods and brought him to a high tower which had a small door at the back. The tower had a big window on the front and a small window in the roof to let the light in. Merlin lived there mostly alone, Nimueh bringing him food every two days while she lived in the house a few miles away from the tower. He did the chores and played alone until he met a phoenix who had fallen in after hitting the top of the tower and breaking his wing. Merlin, caring as always, had helped the poor thing. The phoenix got better but never left. Time passed and Merlin, who NEVER had his hair cut, had long hair that he always kept in a ponytail. Mainly because Nimueh made him, so she could climb up to the window. She had made the door disappear and Merlin had forgotten about it. At least he could always talk to Fume.