Princess and Witch
Sitting by the window of her stone tower, the Witch Queen looked down. The man sneaking through her garden did not even look up to the tower to see if he was being observed. He was fearful… for after all, who would not fear to be walking through the garden of a wicked witch. Yet a need stronger than fear was propelling him forward. The Witch Queen wondered at that. She did not try to stop him for she was curious that he should defy the stories she had woven around her for protection; she who knew the true strength of story. The man reached the rapunzel[1] and plucked some hastily. The Witch Queen was mildly interested at his behaviour and wondered that he should go to so much trouble for a vegetable. The Witch Queen looked into the darkness of her tower and frowned, wondering.
She watched the man slip into her garden. She had been waiting for him this time. She did not reveal her presence but once again allowing him to steal her rapunzel, she followed him as he left. As they entered the forest surrounding her home, the witch lost sight of the man as he merged with the darkness and shadows. Just before he disappeared into the darkness she noticed that a faint golden glimmer of story surrounded the man. So, she had not escaped it after all. Even here, at the edge of the world, its evil presence twisted and corrupted the lives of the people. Even here, where there were no princes or castles or beauty. What are you up to she wondered.
An old lady hobbled through the village, her black cloaked figure moving from house to house. The basket of apples that she was selling looked delicious although strangely, few people had actually bought any. Mayhap the old lady resembled a witch and so young ladies knowing all about witches selling apples stayed away. Though in truth, they should not have worried, for none of them could ever have challenged anyone in a beauty contest. Nobody would ever be jealous of their beauty. The Witch Queen wore a mocking twist of lips underneath her black cloak. Her apples were, of course, quite ordinary. Although not the most practical disguise, the thought of using Story against itself had been a hard one to resist. So she remained as the apple seller and continued her search.
The woman devoured the salad. She desired more. She would force her husband to get her some more tonight. Oh, but she could not wait so long, she needed some more now! A knocking at the door interrupted her ravenous desires. The old woman selling apples was irritably told that her apples were not desired by the woman of the house and hurried away. The witch looked at the closed door, remembering it carefully. The smell of rapunzel had been on the pregnant woman's breath and faint golden tendrils of Story had wrapped her bulging belly.
That night she hid in the shadows of her garden once more to await the coming of the thief. He came and as before went straight to the rapunzel, shining silver in the moonlight. As he bent down to pick some, a shadow fell across him and the startled man turned around in fear. The Witch Queen stood there, a shadow against the moon.
"Thrice have you come to steal from me, thief," she said softly, yet there was power in her voice.
The man cowered with terror, for he had been found out by the Witch Queen. He imagined the horrid tortures that he would be punished with for though she had said nothing of punishment, he knew for certain that she would delight in it. For was she not the Queen of Witches.
"Please Lady, let mercy overrule justice. I came to do this out of necessity. My wife is with child and had such a longing for rapunzel that she would die if she did not get some to eat," he begged.
"Though I may be a witch, I cannot deny Justice. Your punishment shall be a choice. You can either choose never to touch rapunzel again and so let your wife die of longing. Or you can choose to have all the rapunzel you want from my very own garden and promise that you will give to me something of your own belonging when I ask for it."
"I have nothing that I can give you, but I will give you whatever you desire when you name it," chose the man and the Witch Queen allowed him to take as much rapunzel as he wanted. The man went away thinking that she was not as wicked as stories would have him believe for surely nothing she could ask from him was worth the well-being of his wife. But he was but a mere pawn of a pauper in the movement of story so he did not have the knowledge to understand that the witch's demands were quite wicked indeed.
The Witch Queen knew that she had involved herself in the story. The question was how involved she had made herself. She considered its main character to be the child the woman bore within her. Considering the situation, she decided that she had only been a minor player in this story because though Story has many powers, it cannot prevent the ordinary cravings of a pregnant woman. And the gardens in this village were not as diverse as hers, so it would be quite ordinary that if a person had cravings for a particular plant, they would be drawn to her garden. She did not consider it an aspect of the story. She hoped it was not, for now she had made an agreement with the man that could catapult her straight into a new story if she were not careful. She wondered again why she had made such an agreement with the man, for it was just the sort of thing you would expect in a fairytale. She had bound herself to a Story and wondering about this the Witch Queen waited and watched.
A raven haired baby was born to the rapunzel-eating woman and the thief-man three months later. A few minutes after the baby was born, three old ladies knocked on the door. They were wise women come to give the baby their blessing.
"Please enter my humble home and please make yourselves as comfortable as possible," said the man, "I would not ask you to wait long but my wife and child are still tired from their ordeal."
"We understand, good man, and we ourselves have travelled far to bless this child so we will not mind a rest before we do so," they answered with a kind smile on their faces.
They pondered what they would bless the baby with as they rested and were soon presented to the mother and her child.
The first wise-woman was planning to bless the child with beauty but when she looked at the sleeping babe she saw a clear full-mooned night, the velvety darkness of the heavens and the gentle glow of the moon and stars. She changed her mind about her blessing, for the child would grow to be beautiful without her help. Instead she decided to bless the child with grace.
"I do bless thee childe with…" she began before she was interrupted by a loud and insistent knocking at the door.
The man opened the door to try and get rid of the interruption quickly but halted with an indrawn breath at the sight of the Witch Queen standing at the door. He had forgotten her. As he let her in, fear had so frozen his mind that it had not yet occurred to him why she should appear at this moment to claim her promise.
"We have a bargain to fulfil, thief," the Witch Queen said softly.
"I have nothing to offer you," he answered her.
"Do you suppose, thief, that you should be the one to tell me whether or not you have something I want."
"Excuse me madam," interrupted the first wise-woman in an irritated voice, "but you have interrupted a very important ceremony. We would be glad if your speech with the man of this house might wait until we are finished."
"There will be no blessing of this child, "she answered and turning to address the man she said, "Your child is now mine. The child is the belonging I will have of you."
The man begged her to re-consider.
"Please do not take the child from us. Is there anyway that we can get her back?"
"There is nothing you can do. You must keep your bargain. You are saddened because you do not yet understand what life will bring her. You fear to give her to a witch for you fear what will become of her but you will let her turn into a witch if you keep her," answered the Witch Queen, walking out of the door with the child in her arms.
They went far away from the village and deeper and closer to The End of the World than many mortals had gone before. There they found a tower and away from the presence of Man it became their home. There they became Mother and Daughter. Witch and Princess.
[1] Sometimes referred to as 'rampion' this is a vegetable similar to lettuce