In the countryside of England resided a
small village founded on a river. Most of the village folk were simple farmers;
peasants whose families never had much to their name. The mayor of the village
was a former soldier before he settled down to a quiet life of farming. He was
a man well respected by the folk he presided over. However, he was a headstrong
man, and when he made up his mind few things could change it.
In the village also resided an old man.
He was wise beyond his years. The village folk revered him, coming to him
whenever they needed advice. Even the Mayor would come to him on occasion
seeking advice.
Witchcraft was a long-seeded fear in this
part of the country, and when rumors of supposed witches behind found spread, a
wave of paranoia spread with it. And even though no witch siting had been made
near the village, the folk were still on edge.
One day two of the villagers went the
lake at the end of the river to fish. When they got there, they noticed a woman
collecting flowers near the bank. The villagers didn’t recognize her as anyone
from their village, and they became suspicious. They began to follow her,
watching while trying to remain hidden. As they got closer they noticed the
woman was singing quietly and talking to a rabbit that was nearby her.
Reasoning that only a witch could talk
to animals, they ran back to their village in a panic. When they got back to the
village they immediately sought out the Mayor and told him of what they saw.
Fearful of witches himself, he ordered the townsfolk to gather whatever weapons
they could and to go and subdue and retrieve her. Some time later the village
folk returned to the town square with the witch.
When they arrived the mayor motioned
them aside and pulled out his sword.
“Wait!” said one of the villagers. “You
can stab her with her sword, everyone knows witches can’t be killed by swords!”
“Yeah!” echoed the crowd that had now
gathered.
“How then should we kill her?”
questioned the Mayor.
“Burn her! Burn the Witch!” cried one
villager.
“Bury her alive!” cried another.
As the crowd kept shouting out
suggestions, the Oldman began to devise a plan to free the woman, because he knew
that all this fear of witchcraft was nonsense, but he also knew that the Mayor
would not listen to his calls to let her go.
Once he felt he had a reasonably plan,
he cleared his throat. As he did so, the crowd fell silent and turned towards
him. He walked towards the front of the crowd and spoke, “We should throw her in
the river! Everyone knows that witches melt in water!” knowing full well that
the women would simply float down the river until she was out of sight of the
village so that she could get out and escape.
When the women heard this, she caught onto
his plan and begged the Mayor not to have her thrown into the river, saying
that it would be an unimaginable pain.
The Mayor, seeing her pleading, elected
to throw her into the river.
The crowd of villagers then threw her
into the river and she pretended to be in agony until she was out of site of
the village. Then she got out of the river and fled.
Trial of a Witch
From Wikimedia
*Authors Note: After reading the story I
immediately thought of the Salem Witch Trials. While the accused witches were
not able to get out of their execution, I still felt like this was an appropriate
theme for the story.
Also, I didn’t want the story to be
strictly about outwitting your would-be executioners. I chose instead to have a
wise Old man give the accused an out. I felt like this shows some of the
goodness of humanity, but also how not heeding superstition without thought can
stop some unfavorable outcomes.
References
Hey Chris, cool twist on the turtle story! I really liked that it wasn't just about the "witch" outsmarting the crowd, but that someone else took compassion to extend a helping hand and that the woman was able to cooperate with her to flee the mob. I wish this would've really happened in the Salem Witch Trials rather than so many women being unnecessarily killed because people gave into fear.
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome twist on The Turtle and the King. Despite the fact that there were no similar details, the moral behind the story is still very similar. This is very impressive. I also liked the old man in the story. He gave depth to the short story, and made the story more than just about the townspeople and the witch.
ReplyDeleteWow Chris, this was an amazing story. The best part was the ambiguity as to which story you based this off of. You changed the story entirely all while keeping the moral and main components within your new version. I did not initially think of the salem witch trials while reading this story, but you are so right. After reading your story I can definitely see the similarities between the two.
ReplyDeleteI really thought the fact that you took a story, stripped it down to its message, and then built it up from scratch was really impressive. While reading it, the "out" the witch used reminded me of Brer Rabbit, and his famous "Brer Fox, don't throw me into the Briar Patch" from the Uncle Remus folk stories. I thought the reference to the Salem Witch trials was also a nice touch. One thing is there is a group of "witches" in Indian Mythology, the Dayaan, and it is something that if you wanted your story to come full circle back to Indian Mythology you could have included. Not something that is necessary, but in my opinion would have been a nice additional touch. It would have brought the story full circle from Jakata short story to new tale with the same message to new Indian mythology tale maintaining the message with a completely different setting.
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