Jorinde and Joringel
Based on the fairy tale of the same name and Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm.
Events occur after Rapunzel
What became of the Witch no one ever knew. After the loss of her beloved daughter Rapunzel, she sat in the center of her forest tower, still as the cold stones she rested upon. Most say this is when she completely fell into madness, before that she had only been eccentric and a little paranoid. The blood from her eyes dried on her face, leaving it a gory mask. Every once in a while she thought with glee of the blind man she had sent to die in the wood, and her mouth would twitch once. That was the only movement she made as she sat on the beautiful stone floor. The birds from the forest soon grew tame to her, and would hop about her feet, trying to cheer the poor still woman with their simple song.
Three weeks after her wretched daughter had abandoned her, the witch stirred. The birds hardly noticed, it was only her little finger tapping. Suddenly, her stomach growled. In a breath she was suddenly a large cat, and she gobbled every bird in sight, moving swiftly. As a cat she was no longer blind from her fall into the thorns, and the birds were tastier as a cat.
The witch quickly changed into an owl and flew silently out into the sky, towards the small town. This was their fault, and she had finally planned her revenge. If not for the villagers and their hate for anyone who knew even a small bit of magic, she never would have had to lock her daughter up to protect her from their blood lust.
Her keen night eyes quickly spotted the lovers. They were walking hand in hand, the man pulling the girl gently deeper into the forest as he fed her lies about his love for her. The owl shrieked in rage, and the lovers looked up in fear, but the man quickly calmed his young love, and they kissed deeply in the moonlight. The witch could only see the innocence of the girl, like her Rapunzel, and how the man schemed to take it away from her. Perhaps he to would make her with child, like that prince with the witch's daughter. Twins, the witch knew. A month earlier, she would have gone mad with worry of the birthing. But the Witch had cast her from her heart. She no longer cared for her daughter, but only for the pain she had caused her. The twins were the spawn of that lustful prince, and not worth her even to consider their existence.
The couple sat under a giant oak, whispering empty words and kissing. The owl swiveled her head towards her tower, she was to far away yet. Looking down on the couple, she shrieked, startling them and turning the poor girls face white as a sheet. They quickly stood, and seeing the owl, moved away to a different spot, closer and closer to the tower. Inwardly, the Witch smiled. They were close enough now, and she changed form as they froze in place. The man's eyes darted in fear, but not a muscle moved besides that. The maiden probably would have fainted dead away if she had the power, but the witch held them in her magic. She walked up to them, seeing them with her magic if not with her eyes. She walked around the maiden three times, transforming her into a little meadowlark. The bird chirped in confusion and tried to fly away, but the witch snatched it up with inhuman quickness. She quickly conjured a basket and placed the bird in it, then turned to the man. Silently, she tried to think of a punishment for him. Seeing his fear stricken face in the moonlight, she decided he would be better let free. He would spread the news of his misfortune, and perhaps living without his love would be the most painful punishment of all.
The witch flew away as an owl with the basket in her talons to her tower. She placed the twitching, chirping basket on the table and went about making the spell permanent. Many dark spells she cast, when at one time in her life she never would have touched the dark magic. At the end of two nights spent in conjuring, she produced a single rose dripping in blood, with a pearl in the middle of the petals. She placed it above the mantle and then produced a guilded gold cage. She opened the basket and placed the meadowlark inside, shutting the door. As she did so, a sudden memory came to her.
"Aha," she cried mockingly to the prince, "you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest. The cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well."
Well, she thought, the birds will never leave the nest again. This girl and any others that roam onto her land will never again have to be manipulated by men again. The witch smiled. And those idiots in the village would suffer the loss of their dearest children, just like she did.