What many called danger, often sickness, was her resistance. What she resisted was death, and so became known for the trouble she made.
Torrents of unnamed elements suffused her. They referred to these––when they spoke of her at all––as her darkness.
Warn the children. Don’t enter the forest. The little boys especially, at risk of being cooked in her hearth. These are early lessons. They are called stories and not executions. The most effective captors work invisibly.
This is fantastic, Stacey. It fits my current mood, almost exactly. 🙂
Michael, thank you for this. You give me such a smile on this (difficult) Monday morning. : )
Sorry to hear your day is difficult, but glad I could elicit a smile. Please take care and keep writing.
Thank you, Michael. Somehow, Mondays are almost always so (the transition between worlds, I think) : ) Wishing you an excellent day. Peace and light to you.
Strong from start to finish. I especially love the last line, powerful gut punch of true realization
Thank you so much, Alex.
You’re welcome
Reading, reading, reading… “little boys at risk of being cooked in her hearth. ” WHAT?!!
Sometime last year, I became aware how fundamentally messed up that Hansel and Gretel story was. I mean, in terms of the woman/ witch connection. So that came up when I was thinking this morning, about how unknowns sometimes lead to easy and quick vilification.