Week 6 Story: A Witch's Revenge

Witch from Pixabay

There once was a powerful witch who lived in a cottage on the top of the tallest hill in her village. Not only was she the most powerful witch in the region, the common people all respected her for it. They knew she was of great power and knew not to mess with her. 

Once, her lover tried to manipulate her into granting him all of his desires, but she quickly caught on. She made an example of him, forever searing the vastness of her power into the villagers' minds. She killed him, as well as a number of animals, and displayed his body down in the village square. So while the villagers thought she was magnificent, they also knew she could be terrifying.

The witch did her best to move on from her heartbreak and met a villager who made her swoon. He was chivalrous and valiant. They were to be married and his sister was to help plan the entire engagement. There was another villager, a woman, who was head over heels in love with the man and was very unhappy to hear that this horrible witch was going to steal him from her. 

She devised a devious plan to stop this wedding once and for all. If the witch believed that the man was cheating on her, she would be so upset that she would call off the wedding. This was a simple villager, however, and she failed to see what would happen when she went through with this plan. The witch wouldn't just leave the man, she would destroy him.

When the witch heard the rumors, she was furious. How could she be fooled twice? She knew that this time, she needed to be very clear where she stood and make him a public spectacle. She stormed down to the town square to announce her intentions. What she was not prepared for, though, was that the man's sister would offer to take his place. Confused by this development, the witch saw that she could use this moment to coyly make an example of two people. 

She agreed, and the sister was swiftly locked away in the witches cottage, where she was being prepped for torture. This sister was quite smart and took this opportunity to sweet talk the witch. If she could make the witch fall in love with her, perhaps neither she nor her brother would have to be killed. Each night, she was able to extend her night through clever flirtatious jokes and heartfelt conversations. Over time, the witch realized she could not kill someone she felt so connected to. The sister and the brother lived to tell the story, and the witch had her happy ever after with the girl.

Author's Note: 

So, this is loosely based on Arabian Nights. I used the whole concept of being distracting to get out of death after the person in power feels wronged. I can't really explain why I took this route... the story sort of wrote itself. I'm sorry this author's note is so sad. In the original, the woman tells the Sultan a story every night in order to delay being killed by him.

Bibliography

Arabian Nights translated by Andrew Lang