ask, I just might spare you.”
I don’t think she believed me. Her screams only intensified. They disturbed me only slightly. This was a shock, after all. But the choice was clear to me. She would accept my conditions. It was the only way she would live. And what child did not want to live?
As her sobs grew, she did something I didn’t expect. She kicked me and screamed, “Let us go, you ugly old witch!”
Ugly? Old? Witch? Any visions of keeping the girl dissolved instantly. She was hateful. Cruel. She deserved to die. Just like those other children I had known so long ago.
I pulled her close so I could see her face more clearly. “You will serve me and when your brother is cooked and eaten all up, you will share his fate. No one will stand in my way of getting what I deserve.”
Grethel’s cries echoed within the walls, but soon I banished her outside with an enchantment to keep her close by. With that done, I began my plan. First, I had to fatten up the painfully thin Hansel. The poor lad hadn’t seen a decent day’s meal in a long time. Chicken and beef and thick stews and porridge. I fed him and fed him. And day after day, as I worked Grethel ever thinner, his plate came out clean. “Such a healthy eater,” I praised.
After four weeks I thought he would surely be as fat as a little porker. Alas, when I told him to stick out a finger, I felt more bone than flesh.
Was he an anomaly such as me when I was a child? Poor Evie had fretted terribly over my leanness.
Evie had fretted over my leanness? Oh! Evie had been fattening me up. Then I remembered the conversation I had heard between her and Korb.
“A deal’s a deal,” Korb said. “She be mine.”
“Look for yourself,” Evie had said. “I feed her day and night and she’s as thin as a new-grown twig. She will not do.”
He had left in a snit and that was the last time I saw him.
“Evie.” Had my whole life been a mistake? Evie had tried to use the spell, but failed, and in the end had enslaved me.
“I won’t make the same mistake. I get what I want, and be damned the cost.” I turned to Grethel and said in a high fit, “Fetch me water to boil, for whether your brother is fat or lean, today I will kill and cook him.”
The time had come to get my youth and beauty back.
Grethel stood and sobbed. I had to force her along before she’d do as I said. As she drew the water, she prayed, “Oh good God, help us now!”
I laughed. “Off with that noise, now. Prayers are useless.”
Instead of growing quiet, she assailed my ears from the well to the kitchen with her sobs. I became so angry that I decided to eat her as well. No use keeping her if she would only cause me to lose my hearing. If I couldn’t have one plump child, surely two skinny ones would do the trick. I stoked the oven till it burned bright.
“Hear, now, Grethel. Bake the bread,” I demanded, intending to shove her in the fire as soon as she came close enough to the oven door.
She came close enough for me to see her big brown eyes staring up at me. I hesitated. This is where Evie had failed. She took pity on the innocent. I would not.
I was gaining something very dear. Eternal youth. Never to grow old again.
I hardened my heart and gritted my teeth. Her eyes grew bigger as I reached for her arm. The little minx had grown strong with her labors and bold with fright. She grabbed my arm and pushed me instead. I tumbled into the oven and she bolted the door.
As the fire licked at my flesh, Korb suddenly appeared within the flames.
“You have taken an innocent life,” he accused.
“Nay,” I cried and pointed to the children running from my house hand in hand. “They are alive. See?”
“What of Evie?”
The flames licked faster, hotter. My skin melted from my bones. As Korb pulled my soul into hell, I saw Evie, her bright and good spirit, guiding the children back toward the village and their home.
Giant’s Way
A Tale of Foolhardiness
Giant; that’s me name.
I don’t think she believed me. Her screams only intensified. They disturbed me only slightly. This was a shock, after all. But the choice was clear to me. She would accept my conditions. It was the only way she would live. And what child did not want to live?
As her sobs grew, she did something I didn’t expect. She kicked me and screamed, “Let us go, you ugly old witch!”
Ugly? Old? Witch? Any visions of keeping the girl dissolved instantly. She was hateful. Cruel. She deserved to die. Just like those other children I had known so long ago.
I pulled her close so I could see her face more clearly. “You will serve me and when your brother is cooked and eaten all up, you will share his fate. No one will stand in my way of getting what I deserve.”
Grethel’s cries echoed within the walls, but soon I banished her outside with an enchantment to keep her close by. With that done, I began my plan. First, I had to fatten up the painfully thin Hansel. The poor lad hadn’t seen a decent day’s meal in a long time. Chicken and beef and thick stews and porridge. I fed him and fed him. And day after day, as I worked Grethel ever thinner, his plate came out clean. “Such a healthy eater,” I praised.
After four weeks I thought he would surely be as fat as a little porker. Alas, when I told him to stick out a finger, I felt more bone than flesh.
Was he an anomaly such as me when I was a child? Poor Evie had fretted terribly over my leanness.
Evie had fretted over my leanness? Oh! Evie had been fattening me up. Then I remembered the conversation I had heard between her and Korb.
“A deal’s a deal,” Korb said. “She be mine.”
“Look for yourself,” Evie had said. “I feed her day and night and she’s as thin as a new-grown twig. She will not do.”
He had left in a snit and that was the last time I saw him.
“Evie.” Had my whole life been a mistake? Evie had tried to use the spell, but failed, and in the end had enslaved me.
“I won’t make the same mistake. I get what I want, and be damned the cost.” I turned to Grethel and said in a high fit, “Fetch me water to boil, for whether your brother is fat or lean, today I will kill and cook him.”
The time had come to get my youth and beauty back.
Grethel stood and sobbed. I had to force her along before she’d do as I said. As she drew the water, she prayed, “Oh good God, help us now!”
I laughed. “Off with that noise, now. Prayers are useless.”
Instead of growing quiet, she assailed my ears from the well to the kitchen with her sobs. I became so angry that I decided to eat her as well. No use keeping her if she would only cause me to lose my hearing. If I couldn’t have one plump child, surely two skinny ones would do the trick. I stoked the oven till it burned bright.
“Hear, now, Grethel. Bake the bread,” I demanded, intending to shove her in the fire as soon as she came close enough to the oven door.
She came close enough for me to see her big brown eyes staring up at me. I hesitated. This is where Evie had failed. She took pity on the innocent. I would not.
I was gaining something very dear. Eternal youth. Never to grow old again.
I hardened my heart and gritted my teeth. Her eyes grew bigger as I reached for her arm. The little minx had grown strong with her labors and bold with fright. She grabbed my arm and pushed me instead. I tumbled into the oven and she bolted the door.
As the fire licked at my flesh, Korb suddenly appeared within the flames.
“You have taken an innocent life,” he accused.
“Nay,” I cried and pointed to the children running from my house hand in hand. “They are alive. See?”
“What of Evie?”
The flames licked faster, hotter. My skin melted from my bones. As Korb pulled my soul into hell, I saw Evie, her bright and good spirit, guiding the children back toward the village and their home.
Giant’s Way
A Tale of Foolhardiness
Giant; that’s me name.
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