The Black Forest - Peter Cheater Pumpkin Keeper

TXC; The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkin Head

Loki and Heimdall walked the path that led back to the black forest and the hare cocked his head as the fox stopped and stuck his nose in the air. He started grinning as Loki closed his eyes and sniffed, his nose pointing them to the east. "Something has caught your attention Brother?"

The fox licked around his muzzle and smacked his mouth a few times. "Something smells very…"

Heimdall chuckled as Loki closed his eyes again. "Appealing apparently? I can only imagine it is something good if your nose wishes to follow it."

Loki looked at him and blinked a few times as Heimdall threw an arm the direction his nose kept tilting. "You wish to look into mortal foods? You did not even touch the pie little Jack gave you."

Heimdall sighed. "You were enjoying their company. I did not wish to be rude. I have eaten a few things here and was genuinely surprised at how enjoyable it is."

Loki chuckled and Heimdall rolled his eyes. "And what was it that you found enjoyable about the mortal foods you have refused to attempt the many times I have offered?"

The hare sighed as Loki kept grinning at him. "Something called a pot pie and a stew made of many vegetables grown by the rabbits here. Carrots were the thing I enjoyed the most, but I was told they were not good to eat constantly. They make the rabbits ill if they are over consumed."

Loki chuckled again. "It is unlikely they will make you ill brother. Let us find this scent that keeps pulling at my nose." The hare tipped his head as Loki led the way. They wound up at the outskirts of the black forest where Loki lifted a brow at all the children running around. Him and Heimdall glanced at each other as a vixen waved away a tod who was sneaking out the back of the cottage, telling him to hurry away after she handed him a pie, letting dozens of kits run amuck.

There were pies resting in the windows cooling and Heimdall moved to approach, halting as Loki held up a finger and shook his head. The fox and hare stayed at bay as another tod approached with a horse. The kits running around rushed to him as he laughed and bent to a knee. The tod handed out something to all the kits and Loki narrowed his eyes as the vixen greeted him at the door. Heimdall shook his head. "What is he giving them? Is he the father of all these…"

"No. They are seeds of some kind. Dried in the sun." Loki growled as he looked around, perking his ears as he watched the same fox who'd snuck away peeking around a tree before he slid back into the forest. He curled his lips into a frown as the horse caught sight of the tod and sighed as made his way to the stables. "He raises the children of an unfaithful mate. Many from others he does not know of, but the horse does and says nothing."

Heimdall cringed as Loki growled. "Loki, do not let your temper pass judgement when there is much at stake for the young here."

The fox looked back at his brother turning his lip up. "I would not judge them for their mother's wrong, Heimdall, but a lesson should be learned. No fox shall be unfaithful."

"What is it you plan to do? It is not as if any action you could take would not alter the lives here."

"Alter is exactly what needs to be done, Brother." The hare sighed as Loki stepped into the open space and followed him as the kits stopped, watching them approach the door to the cottage. He knocked, smiling as a tod opened the door. "Sir, we have followed our noses to this place. Would it be possible to purchase the pies that rest in your windows?"

"Katrina?" The tod looked back into the cottage and smirked as his mate came to the door. "They wish to purchase the pies you make."

The vixen looked at both of them as the kits outside gathered around watching. "Come in, I will let you sample them and you may barter with my husband as to their price. Most are made of pumpkin as that is what my mate grows."

Loki tightened his lips and Heimdall kept a flat face as the tod chuckled. "Please, enter. Many come to find what she bakes, but we have never had any ask to purchase them." The fox and hare came in and were led to a table she was placing pies on after pulling them from the windowsill. Loki closed his eyes and inhaled the scent as she sliced one of them and handed each a small plate. The tod watching smiled wider as they both hummed at the taste.

"We have traveled far." Loki sighed as he looked at the pies. "Is there a way we can barter for these pies, trade work to purchase them?"

Heimdall lifted a brow as the tod looked off in thought and looked back at his brother curiously. Loki shook his head as the hare opened his mouth. He snapped his jaw shut as the other fox rubbed his chin.

"I do need some who could help harvest the pumpkins and scare off the crows in the next week. The pumpkins are large, it takes one strong of body and stomach to move them. Is this something you would be capable of doing?"

"Strong of stomach?" Loki asked as he watched the tod grimace.

"Yes. Not many can manage the work. Even the stallion I have hired has a difficult time with the job. If the pumpkins have sat in the fields too long or have spoiled they must still be removed. Many are large enough that not even craning the body will allow a full view, and if one cannot see their condition and they have spoiled they are….icky?"

Loki choked on his own chuckle as Heimdall raised a brow. "Icky? This is the word you use to describe what a body must crane to see? Ichabodcraning is how you define harvesting pumpkins? Why is it…Icky?"

The other tod chuckled. "My crops are grown in a large hollow. The gas emitted from the rotting pumpkins can be dangerous if one is not careful. The odor is strong, but it also causes headaches, one may become disoriented, grow impatient and sour. If one becomes tired they must leave before the gas puts them to sleep or they may never wake."

Loki looked off in thought. "It is dangerous farming pumpkins in this…Sleepy Hollow?" He looked back at Heimdall and the buck gave him a shrug. "We are both of strong body and stomach."

"Good!" the tod laughed as he motioned to the table. "I am Hans. Stay and have dinner this night. You may sleep in the stables until the morn and I shall be grateful for the help with this harvest!"

Loki and Heimdall ate dinner and the hare watched his brother carefully as Loki kept an eye on the vixen. The fox was trying not to growl watching her pull away from her mate and shun his attention.

After the meal the tod led them to the stable where Heimdall scowled at his brother. "What is it you plan on doing here?"

"I plan on waiting. If I am wrong, nothing will come of this. If I am right, I will use only what I have learned to teach a lesson." The fox looked back at his brother when Heimdall sighed. "You said they were my children, what did you expect?"

Heimdall took a seat, watching out the doors as Loki kept an eye on the cottage. It was the horse who caught his attention. A black stallion who's fur gleamed under the light of the moon. The hare narrowed his eyes as the horse lifted his head from where he was grazing and turned rolling his eyes. Loki leaned closer after Heimdall tapped his shoulder and looked out the doors. The fox frowned as the horse glared at the tod who'd come from the woods, and walked away shaking his head.

Loki's face fell as the vixen slipped out the back door and rushed into the woods with her lover when he caught her mate watching from the cottage and dip his ears back as his eyes fell. Heimdall jumped as Loki stood up and sent a wave of heat billowing everywhere. "Brother, you will burn this place to the ground if you do not control your temper!"

Loki sucked in a breath and puffed his cheeks as he pulled everything back. He threw the doors open and walked to the cottage, standing in front of the tod who'd taken a seat on the porch and had his head hanging as it rested in his paws. "Hans, you allow your mate to….?"

The fox jumped and looked up at Loki with tears in his eyes. "I love her. It is only one transgression. She has a wandering eye that only finds comfort in his arms."

"She shuns your affection and seeks- you allow this and say nothing? It is not one transgression and he is not the only arms she places herself in." Loki flipped his ears back as the horse approached. "Ask him."

"There are others?" Hans looked at the horse and the stallion cringed as he turned his head. When the vixen rushed back from the woods giggling with her lover in paw, they froze as Loki's teeth split. Heimdall cringed as he burst into flames and stepped away when his brother growled.

"TREACHERY!" Loki growled as the vixen and tod with her backed away. Hans sat frozen as the stallion tried to move. One wave of Loki's paw sent the two foxes to their knees as the stallion reared on its hind feet and stopped as if it were suspended. The foxes watching him couldn't move as Heimdall approached and shook his head.

"Loki?" Heimdall asked as the fox paced back and forth between the mammals who could only move their eyes as they watched.

Loki looked back at the tod snarling as he balled his fists and shook his head. "YOU!" He pointed at Hans and the fox sucked in a breath as his limbs unlocked and cast his eyes away from his mate and the tod still clutching her paw. "You reap what you sow! None should be so gracious as to give away what is most valuable to them! You say nothing and work to feed your family, knowing it could cause your death, yet allow her to-" He turned to the horse and growled again. "And you- you have known of all of them! Yet you keep the knowledge from the one who provides you with the work that feeds you and a place to sleep!"

Heimdall curled his shoulders as Loki turned to the vixen and the tod, jarring a finger at them as his lips curled over his teeth. "Katrina- your name shall mean pure, for from this day on you shall be! You will never lie with one other than your mate!"

Heimdall stepped back with his eyes growing as Loki threw a blast of heat at the cottage and gaped as it turned to a large pumpkin he tossed the vixen into. "You will never leave this dwelling. You will watch your children and none but your mate may enter. If you allow another into your chamber, the home will rot around you and suffocate you with your own lies! You will never give away your pie or let others sample it again. You will make and sell only to help your mate raise the children he has taken as his own! You forsake all he has given and forgiven you. You will be well kept from this day or nothing will remain of you but your bones!"

Heimdall tipped a brow as Loki grabbed the tod she'd snuck off with from the ground. "What are you called?"

"B-Brom." He stuttered as Loki growled again.

"Brom, a friend you shall be to this farmer and his crops. You will guard his livelihood and protect what you have stolen. The one who failed to speak of this will be the one you are bound to." He tossed the fox onto the horses back and Hans threw his paws up as the fox and stallion burst into flames. Heimdall curled his lip uncomfortably as Brom grabbed his head, frantically trying to find where his face had once been. Only a pumpkin sat on his shoulders. Loki held a skull in his paw and tossed it to Hans who nearly dropped it as he gasped. He leaned away as Loki dipped towards him growling. "You allowed this by not speaking and accepted this burden. You will carry it with you until the day all these children are near nigh from this farm." He turned back to the horse as it clawed at the ground and the fox with no head screamed after Loki waved his paw.

Heimdall's jaw dropped as a face appeared, cut from the pumpkin that rested on the fox's shoulders. Loki snarled, "You have lost your head, believing you could take something from another tod that cannot be replaced or repaid, allowing him to raise the many children you have had with his mate. You will remain headless until you have repaid a debt that is countless." The horse chewed at the bit in his mouth as Loki growled again. "You would not speak of the wrongs you knew of, your tongue will be held in place until the day the headless fox has no more to guard. Until then, you will both protect and help harvest his crops and see to it no others approach his mate, lest they also lose their heads! She is his tassel and will only be tied to him. This will be the only way any can approach this Sleepy Hollow if they are bold enough to approach this small… farm of tassels. You will both stay under the bridge and listen for any who try to come here. If they do not intend on buying things from the farmer or his wife, they are not allowed to pass." Loki threw his paws to the west and a bridge appeared before the horse reared again and took off, galloping into the long wooden bridge. They disappeared and he curled his lip as he looked back at the pumpkin. Watching all the little foxes looking out stunned as their mother buried her face in her apron.

Hans stood up shaking as Heimdall approached Loki, chewing his lip as his brother stood there still fuming. "Loki, you mean to have them live in a place that will smell like foot coverings?"

Loki sighed as he looked at his brother and waved a paw at the pumpkin cottage. The hare curled one side of his lip as three fairies appeared and shook his head. "You cannot leave them here! You know they steal children and …." The hare raised a brow and blinked as the fairies sat on a window ledge scowling. "Where are their wings?"

"Father pulled them off because they stole mothers looking glass. Vain little creatures."

Heimdall frowned as he watched Loki step to the window talking to them. The little monstrosities made the hare shiver as Loki stepped away chuckling. "You cannot make a deal with them about anything. They are tied to the Fates…You know the Fates are gone!" Heimdall curled his lip as Loki smirked. "What did you tell them I could give them?!"

"Their wings back, if they agreed to stay and keep the pumpkin fresh. They can keep it in a state where it will not smell unless the vixen breaks the law I have set."

Heimdall narrowed his eyes. "I have no magic like you and mother! All I have is the ability to cool things, see and hear in the realms – Fairies have no names! I cannot see a path if I cannot identify who I search for! ….You lied?"

"I did not." Loki sniffed as he looked away and folded his arms over his chest. "I simply told them you could tell them when they would get their wings back if they agreed to care for the pumpkin."

"I cannot see any fairy path when they are not identifiable! You know that is part of the…. Even if I could, I cannot tell them the path of a decision they will make!" Heimdall narrowed his eyes as Loki smirked. "They already agreed, and you gave them names so I could see their path, didn't you?"

Loki chuckled as Hans watched with his lip twitching. "Heimdall, this is Flora, she will keep the pumpkin in its current state so it does not deteriorate. This is Fauna, she will keep the pumpkin sweet and blooming so it smells nice inside. This is Merryweather, she will make sure the pumpkin is well watered and can move it if it has been in one place too long. She can make the vines grow around it and roll it to another place on this land."

"Hmm." Heimdall almost scoffed as he looked them over. "And what about the kits? They are notorious for stealing them."

"They will not." Loki smirked as the fairies glared at him. "They will be tending to the mess the kits make and keeping them company as well. If they break this agreement or cause any harm, they will never get their wings back. They will be the sweetest things in existence while they are here. What mortals see as a lifetime is but a blink of an eye for them."

Heimdall stepped closer letting each of them grab his finger and looked into the vision before he tipped his head. "You will regain your wings in less than a thousand years' time." The little fairies hopped around excitedly as they chirred, until the hare bit his lip. Fairies didn't speak, but he could see them all curling their lips at him. "Loki?" Heimdall whispered. The fox leaned lower and the fairies narrowed their eyes as the hare spoke in a quiet tone.

Loki leaned up looking at the fairies and laughed as Heimdall pulled away glaring at him. "He says you may change sooner if you stay here."

"LOKI! I CANNOT TELL OF A POSSIBLE PATH A CHOICE THAT COULD BE MADE WILL LEAD TO!" Heimdall screamed as the fox snickered and held his paws up.

"You cannot tell them, but no one said I could not!" The hare let his jaw fall as Loki shot him a cocky tick of his head. "Heimdall says if you stay here and truly learn to care for these children, you may get your wings back long before they leave home. If you stay until they are grown, your wings will be larger and more beautiful than all the other fairies. It would be less than a thousand suns that rise here."

"LOKI!" Heimdall gaped and cupped his paws over his mouth as the fox laughed, watching the fairies raise their brows.

"What? You did not tell them of the future, I did. So, you broke no rules!" Heimdall turned running his paws over face as Loki kept laughing. The fairies jumped up and down silently as the fox winked at them.

Heimdall sighed as he looked back at the other fox and Hans blinked a few times as he called him closer. Loki frowned as Hans dipped his ears back, still holding the skull of the fox he'd made headless. "Alas poor Yorick, you will know him well at your times end." Loki took the skull and placed it in a bag, hiding it from the kits who were trying to look out the windows of the pumpkin and motioned to his brother to hold it. Heimdall shook the bag as Loki waved a paw at it and removed it again, handing it back to Hans.

The farmer took it from the hare, curling his brow at the change in weight and the way it looked. Loki sighed as he struggled with its weight, and took it, placing it next to the door. "It is a head stone. When the last of your children have left home, you may lift it and return it to the headless fox and release him from service. Once he has his head, the horse may leave as well." Hans bowed his head slightly as Loki smirked and looked back at the fairies. "You three, shall be the kits Fairy God Mothers. If you truly learn to love them and keep them safe as their parents work, the wings you gain will be more magnificent than any creature alive. Every color of the rainbow will fly with you."

"Fairy God Mothers?" Hans asked as Loki watched Heimdall still shaking his head and rubbing his face.

"What else would you call them? They are not gods, and do not hold such power, but if there is a chance they may learn something, I will give them something from a God that will help." They hopped around excitedly as Loki snapped the claws off his paw, watching wide eyed as he grabbed them by the end and stretched them into long wands. Heimdall sighed as he peeked through his fingers, chuckling as they each started shooting each other with different colors. They scurried into the pumpkin house and Hans dropped to a knee in front of them.

Loki narrowed his eyes and tilted his head as the fox bowed his head. "What can I offer to Gods? I am but a simple farmer."

Loki and Heimdall lifted their eyes as one of the younger kits came out, whining as he held a paw to his father. "PAPA! ITHS GONE! HOW DO I PUT IT BACK?"

Hans chuckled as the little tod laid a tooth in his paw. "A new one will grow. You have seen this many times with your brothers and sisters. It will stay a sweet little tooth as another grows in its place."

Loki smirked and Heimdall laughed as he shook his head. "You laugh? You already know what I am going to do because you saw the fairies path?"

Heimdall turned trying to keep his laughing from the small kit and his father as Hans looked up at them and raised a brow. Loki sighed as he extended his paw, asking for the tooth. Hans laid it in his paw as the kit cringed. "This shall be what your payment to the gods is. Leave the tooth each child loses at the bed each night and the fairies will pick them up. They will leave something sweet for a sweet little tooth and burn them with their wands. Each tooth that is burnt will let me know a child has grown. It will be a way to ask for my protection as all foxes are my children."

Loki looked at Heimdall and the hare cupped a paw over his muzzle as he tried to keep from jostling any further. He narrowed his eyes as the vixen pulled the door open, dipping her ears back as Hans stood and told the child to go back inside. Hans ears flipped back as Heimdall turned and grasped Loki's wrist, waiting for the child to slip inside before he let go and watched his brother fighting not to growl. The vixen bowed her head and turned her eyes as she clutched her apron. "Will you curse me again if step out and go to my mate?"

Loki curled his lip and shook his head. "I do not curse. I teach. You may leave the pumpkin to help your mate and children, but must return to it twice each day before the highest sun and the mid of night. If you cannot appreciate all you have and what you have been given, you will have nothing. The pumpkin will find you if you. If you step out and wander from either your mate or children or do not return at these times, all I have said shall come to pass. You may go to him, if he will still have you, or you will stay here and raise the children alone." Loki scowled as Hans looked at her with his ears twitching.

The vixen turned her eyes and hiccupped several times, looking back at Hans. "Would you, still have me?"

Hans opened his arms as his eyes swelled over. Heimdall and Loki stepped away as she rushed to him. The hare sighed as they curled around each other and Loki lifted his head. "This. Is. Your. Alter. All you have to give each other is of yourself. If you break the heart that loves you, you will have no heart to hold. Do not allow any others to taint what you worship. Be. Faithful." Loki turned and walked away, with Heimdall keeping pace as he looked back watching the vixen and tod still clinging to each other. "You cannot tell of the future another may seek or choose. Can you speak of it to someone else if they are not part of it?"

Heimdall raised a brow as he looked at Loki and scowled. "So you can tell them of it instead?"

"No. I do not wish to tell of it. Just to know what I have done will make a difference to one who could do such a…" he sighed as Heimdall grabbed his shoulder.

The hare smiled as the fox looked at him and raised a brow. "She will be faithful. Not because of what you have done, but because he knew and would still have her." Loki looked back smiling as Heimdall chuckled and tapped his shoulder. "Let us come away and find some merriment that leaves this behind. You have grown as sour as the pumpkins he spoke of rotting."

Heimdall scratched his nose as Loki frowned. "You believe I smell?"

The hare cocked his head and nodded. "You are in need of a bath and something to scrub this from your mind could not hurt either."

"Hmm. That I may agree with."

Heimdall threw his head back laughing as they started walking again….

Notes; The legend of sleepy hollow and the names;

Katrina Van Tassel- Katrina; Pure. Van; Of. Tassel; A tuft of loose threads that has been knotted for decoration. Something very pretty and shown off. (It wasn't intentional but I did grab the 'loose' tassel thing and run with it)

Ichabod Crane- Think I explained the way that came about clear enough.

Brom Van Brunt; Brom; A friend. Van; Of. Brunt; Burnt. Loki set him on fire and turned him into the headless Horseman.

Hans Van Ripper; Hans; Gracious. Van; Of. Ripper; Reap. Basket/Weaver. (Reap what you sow).

This ties in with Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. It may sound cute, but it's actually about a husband who couldn't keep his wife because she cheated on him. He killed her and put her bones in a pumpkin where he kept her very well. Another version is about a rebellious wife who was bricked behind a wall to starve to death- very morbid.

Giving away the pie and using it to lure someone in- duh. Not the pumpkin pie she was giving away and letting others sample, but the smell of them often brought people to the door.

Loki says; "This will be the only way any can approach this Sleepy Hollow if they are bold enough to approach this small… farm of tassels." Baltus Van Tassel; Baltus; the name meaning is bold which also means small farm. Loki creates a bridge that's the only way to get back and forth to the farm. Baltus Van tassel is the name of the headless Horseman's bridge that goes to and from the Sleepy Hollow and Katrina. In the original story it's her father's name.

This also has hints about the little old lady who lived in a shoe, and trolls living under bridges who demand payment to cross.

"Alas poor Yorick," (This isn't an exact quote, but commonly repeated); From Hamlet - Shakespeare. The name Yorick means farmer. They will now each other well because of the situation and because all mortals die- headstones- Hehehe.

The name peter means stone. The song was only chosen for its lyrics. Ties in with the scrolls of Odin. Tooth fairy was obvious. Magical pumpkins that someone has to return to at noon and midnight. Three Fairy God mothers who don't hold a lot of power without their wands and have no wings while they care for mortal children. Gosh I wonder what stories all that ties into- pfft. ( Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella) Oh and him guarding the crops is also a nod to scare crows.

Rotting pumpkins- imagine being in a small valley (Hollow) of them where there wasn't a great deal of wind to remove the stench. Pumpkins and many other rotting foods emit methane gas. It would cause someone to become irritable, confused, and dizzy if they were exposed too long. If the exposure wasn't kept at a minimum it would cause someone to become sleepy (Sleepy Hollow) or faint and could lead to respiratory distress/death. (Not likely something that could be caused in an open area, but it fit the story)

There isn't much I could find about Loki actually being worshipped, he was revered and feared, but I read of a tradition on the Faroe islands where baby teeth were thrown into a fire to ask him to protect their children. Hence; Loki having the fairies burn the teeth and creating tooth fairies. Loki was granted all the things people left behind. Hair, fingernails, teeth, among other- things…Eww.