Elsie Meets a Witch

In a country that could have been yours, in a little town similar to many little towns, there was a little house. This little house was probably a lot like yours. It had a table for the family to eat their dinner and tell each other about their day. It had a bathroom, where daring undersea adventures took place. It had one or two comfy laps, which the children would sit in every night to listen to a story, just like you are doing right now.

There were many wonderful stories told in the little house. Stories of adventure, and mystery. Stories of true love, and family. Stories where the children of that house learned valuable lessons about standing up for themselves and others, about believing in themselves and, of course, to always be kind to people. But, the most wonderful and unbelievable story of all was not, in fact, a story. It was something that actually happened, in the old woods behind the little house.

The two children who lived in the little house were named Elsie and Arthur. Elsie was six and was practically a grown up. Arthur was only three, and he followed Elsie everywhere. She didn't mind though, he was very cute and she enjoyed teaching him things.
"Now Arthur," she would say in her most grown-up voice, "You must never pick the green berries. They will make you quite ill, and once picked they can never grow to be the proper colour and sweetness". Or sometimes,
"Now Arthur, do keep your finger out of your nose. It is bad manners and one day it may get stuck". Elsie knew that good manners were very important.

In the old wood behind the little house, Elsie and Arthur liked to play and, obviously, go berry picking. There was nothing they loved more than running down the crooked path that led from the little house into the old woods and finding the berry bushes with the most amount of berries on them. Elsie was always sure to put more berries in her basket than what she ate. Arthur, however, was lucky to come home with any berries at all, he ate so many of them. The children's mama would make wonderful treats out of the berries. They would get jam, cakes, ice creams, so many delicious treats.

One day while they were berry picking, Elsie noticed that Arthur had barely any berries in his basket at all.
"Now Arthur," she began, "you must not eat all of the berries. Mama will have nothing left to make treats." Arthur didn't listen, however, and just kept grabbing the berries in his plump little hand and shoving them into his mouth. Elsie sighed. Maybe if she moved to the other side of the bush he wouldn't be able to eat all of the berries. Telling Arthur she would be on the other side of the bush, Elsie moved around, picking berries as she went. She could still hear Arthur merrily munching on the berries. She found quite a few on the other side of the bush, and then on the bush next to it. Elsie noticed a bush full of berries a little further into the wood. She continued on, thinking of how pleased her mother would be when she returned home with a basket full of berries.

"I'll definitely have more than Arthur at any rate," she thought. And then she stood up straight with a start. Arthur! She had left him back on the other side of that bush! Elsie quickly made her way back past the bushes, wondering why she had walked so far from her brother. She came back to the bush, walked around it....and saw nothing. Arthur wasn't there. Perhaps she had the wrong bush. Elsie walked around the next bush, and the next one, and the next. But there was no sign that a chubby little three year old covered in berry juice had ever been there.

Elsie wanted to cry. Her brother was lost. She couldn't return to the house without him. He must be so scared, all alone in the woods. Elsie sat down on a stump and put her head in her hands.
"Where are you, Arthur?" She sniffed quietly. Suddenly she heard a tiny voice squeak out,
"Do you mean that little pink sticky boy who was just here?" Elsie sat up and looked around. There was nobody there.
"H...hello?" She stammered. Just when she was beginning to think she had imagined it, she heard the voice again.
"That boy, he was just here picking berries. Is that who you're looking for?" Elsie looked up in the direction the voice was coming from and saw a beautiful blue bird sitting in a tree above her.
"Yes, he is my brother. Do you know where he is?" Elsie asked desperately.
"Oh yes," replied the bird. "The witch has him"
"Witch!" Elsie exclaimed.
"Yes, the witch. She is an evil woman who lives deep in the woods. You will never get him back from the evil witch" said the bird.
"How do I get there?" Elsie asked quickly, standing up and placing her basket on the stump. The bird made a laughing sound in its throat.
“Go straight down this path, and at each fork in the road, you must take the right-hand fork. You will eventually find the witch’s house. But I tell you, you will never get him back. She is much too evil an old woman to return something she has stolen”, and with a loud CAW, the bird flew off.

“An evil witch?” thought Elsie, “What am I to do?” She remembered overhearing her papa once saying something about evil things...what was it he said?
“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” she said quietly. That was what her papa had said. She wasn’t sure how that applied to this situation but she had to go and try to get her brother back from the evil witch.

So, after taking a big, deep breath, Elsie started walking down the path. Sure enough, she came to a fork in the path and chose the right-hand fork. She kept going, repeating to herself over and over, “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. Each time she came to a fork in the road she took the right fork. Eventually, as the sun began to slide below the tops of the trees, making their shadows grow longer and longer, Elsie came to a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a dirty little hut. It had moss growing on the roof and some herbs and flowers hung drying from the gutter.

Elsie slowly approached the hut. She peeked into one dirty window, and there, sitting at a table, was Arthur. Elsie looked around the little hut, but she couldn’t see anyone else there except her brother. She knocked quietly on the window, and Arthur looked up. He waved to her and smiled, he was eating a big bowl of berries. Just as Elsie was trying to decide whether to go in or to try and get Arthur to come out, the front door of the dirty little hut flew open. Elsie jumped back from the window and turned as a dirty old woman came to stand in the doorway. She had wild, grey and black hair that looked like it was full of leaves, twigs, spider webs, and other bits and pieces. Her clothes were dirty and ragged. Her eyes were as pale as ice, and she was frowning a very threatening frown.

“Who are you?” the witch cried in a loud, angry sounding voice.
“My name is Elsie”, said Elsie. “I have come to get my brother and take him home.” The witch laughed.
“You cannot take him home. He belongs to me now. Haven’t you heard what the animals of the wood say about me? Look at me! Don’t I look like a terrifying, evil witch?” Elsie kept thinking of her pappa’s words, “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. She looked at the witch.
“See no evil”, she said quietly to herself. Elsie looked at the witch, standing defiantly in her doorway. “Yes mam, I have heard what the animals say about you. A bird told me that you are an evil witch, but I don’t believe that. I think you are just a lady who has lived in the woods for so long that she hasn’t had a chance to do her hair or wash her clothes. If you let my brother go, I would be happy to wash and repair your clothes for you, and I will wash and brush out your hair. My mama knows how to do beautiful braids, I am sure she would be happy to do one in your hair”.

The witch looked confused. She had obviously not expected Elsie to say this.
“The animals of the wood say that I am an evil witch. I don’t really want your brother. Do you know what I will do? I am going to feed your brother berries until he is fat, and then I will cook him and eat him for my supper. And if you don’t leave right now, I will do the same thing to you!”, the witch cackled.
“Hear no evil”, Elsie said quietly. She looked at the witch and thought about the things she had just said. “I don’t think you will mam. I think that you are saying these horrible things because you are lonely. I don’t think you would really cook and eat my brother and I. I think that you just want him for yourself so that you have someone to talk to and play with. If you let my brother go, we will take you home with us and you can meet our Mama and Papa. You can come to our house for dinner and read stories and play games”.

The witch looked even more confused. Her shoulders slumped slightly, and she took her hands off her hips. She didn’t look quite so scary now.
“But haven’t you heard what the animals of the wood say about me? I am an evil old witch. That is what they say”, she said quietly. Elsie smiled and thought “speak no evil”.
“Now madam, I don’t care what other people are saying about you. If you will let my brother go, I will tell them that you are a kind old lady who lives in the wood, who would like to be friends with them”. A small tear began to trace a path down the dirt on the old woman’s cheek.
“I’m sorry”, she said, “You’re right. The animals have been calling me an evil witch for so long I started to believe it myself. I am not evil, and I am not a witch. I used to live here with my family but a long time ago my husband died and my children grew up and moved away. When I saw your brother picking berries in the wood I thought that maybe he could come and live here with me, to keep me company. But I can’t take a little boy away from his family”. She stepped to the side of the doorway and motioned for Arthur to come outside. Arthur rushed out into Elsie’s arms and gave her a huge hug. Elsie took him by the hand.

“Now Arthur, madam, come along with me and we shall go home to Mama and Papa. They will be wondering where we have got to”, she said, looking at the old woman. The old woman smiled shyly at Elsie and reaching out, took Arthur’s other hand. The three of them started back along the path, walking quickly together out of the old woods and up the crooked path to the little house. Mama and Papa were surprised to see Elsie and Arthur with the old woman, but Elsie explained to them that although there had been some confusion and things had gotten a little bit nasty, that now the old woman was sorry and wanted to be their friend.

Mama helped Elsie to wash the old woman’s hair and put it back in a beautiful braid. They washed and repaired her clothing, and Mama even gave her some of her old clothes. Papa cooked up a delicious dinner and they all sat around the table eating and talking happily. As dessert was served, Elsie sat back smiling to herself. She knew that from now on, there was no evil witch living in the woods. Only an old lady, who was her friend.