Willow
By
Sharon Holzscherer
Once upon a time
there lived a woodcutter who had five sons. They worked hard with
their father and he was pleased with them. Then a beautiful daughter
was born. Her mother named her Willow for the large tree outside the
window. Soon after the mother took ill and died. The woodcutter did
not know what to do with the little girl. He only knew how to teach
his sons to help him.
"Everybody in
this house needs to earn their keep," he would say each evening
when he returned from working in the woods.
And so Willow soon
joined her big brothers in the woods, helping their father to gather
the sticks and logs. She never seemed to have gathered much by the
time dusk was falling and they headed home. Her brothers would
proudly show the large piles of wood they had collected for their
father. He would smile warmly at them and give them a nice hunk of
bread. Then he would look at the small, untidy pile of little Willow
and frown in disapproval. All she ever got was a dried crust.
"Little Will!
Little Will!" her brothers would taunt. "Can't even find
the trees."
"She's always
feeding the squirrels," one would yell.
"She's always
talking with the birds," another would sing.
"Little Will
is useless," they all cried. "She is nothing but a
burden."
"What am I to
do?" sighed the father.
And so the next day
Willow would vow to herself that she would gather more wood than her
brothers and she would set to work willingly. But soon the squirrels
would be calling her to help them gather acorns and she would drop
her sticks and chase them scampering through the woods. The swallows
would proudly show her their new babies. The squirrels would have
her check out their hiding places full of nuts and acorns. The
gophers would dig tunnels and pop up just where she sat down. All
day long she would talk with the animals and learn their secrets, but
them dusk would come and she would trail sadly home, knowing that her
pile was no bigger than the previous day.
Soon the five
brothers grew bigger and stronger and their father did not have to
work as hard. They would say, "Father, stay home a while and
rest your weary limbs. We will gather all the wood for you."
And the father
would smile with pride and perhaps stay home for a while. Then he
would see Willow running like a deer through the woods, having
already become separated from her brothers, and he would sigh, "That
girl is nothing but a burden."
One evening when
Willow was almost a woman he called her to him. "Little Will,"
he said. "Your brothers work hard every day while you play your
foolish games. You are a burden to them and to me. It is time that
you left. Yesterday I met a man in the forest. He is looking for a
wife. He is an older man with six children. He will be coming by
tomorrow to take you. Perhaps you will not be a burden to him."
That night Willow
waited until her father and brothers had settled quietly in ther
beds. She listened to their even snoring and then crept quietly to
the door and sneaked out. She was dressed in the ragged pants and
shirt that her brothers had thrown out. She pushed her long hair up
under her cap and took the thin blanket from her bed to wrap around
her shoulders to protect her from the winter's chill. She walked
quickly out into the night forest. Even being eaten by wolves was
preferable to the fate her father had chosen for her.
For the whole night
and the next day she walked. The birds sang to her and the other
animals kept her company. It was a relief not to have to think about
her father's anger and disappointment. The next evening as dusk was
falling she spied a castle. The day was turning cold and snow was
gently falling. She hoped to find a warm place to spend the night.
The gates were tightly sealed and no one answered when she pounded on
the door. Perhaps the castle was deserted. Just as she was about to
leave, a small door opened in the side of the gate. An old woman
came out with a basket for gathering twigs.
"Excuse me,
old mother," Willow said politely. "Is there some place
that I might sleep tonight?"
The old woman
looked at her in horror. "Young man, you do not want to sleep
here tonight. Go away! Go far away!"
"Why?"
asked Willow. She thought it might be better not to let the old lady
know that she was a girl. "I just want a corner in the barn or
some place like that."
"There is an
evil sorceress who comes each night and steals the young men from our
town. There are so few left now. The king has barricaded the palace
so that his son, the prince, might be safe. But it is no good. The
king will see. She can get through the strongest gate."
"Old mother,"
Willow replied. "Take me to your king. I will help him."
Fearfully the old
woman led Willow inside the gate and up to the king's chamber.
Willow knelt before
the haggard, old king. "Sire, I will sleep at the door of your
son's chamber tonight. He
will be safe."
The old
king shook his head. " You do not know what you are saying,
young man. The sorceress will
take you, and you will be lost."
"I
would like to do this, sire. I am one of six brave brothers and we
have been rulers in the forest
for many years." Willow did not think this exaggeration would
hurt.
The sorceress could
not torment her more than her brothers and perhaps this way she could
be useful. "Show me his chamber and he will sleep well tonight,
my lord."
Reluctantly the king had his servants show Willow to the prince's
chambers.
When the prince saw
her he asked, "Who is this little fellow?"
Willow
looked at his fair face haloed by his hair and was speechless. He
was as tall as her brothers, but they were like rough rocks compared
to the shining gold of the prince.
"Well, speak
up, my young man," the prince asked kindly. "What do they
call you? How can I help you?"
Willow found her
voice. "It is I who will help you, sir. They call me Will and
I will sleep at the door of your chamber tonight."
He looked at her
curiously. "Do you know what that means?" he asked. "You
will be taken by the sorceress. Are you very foolish or very brave?"
"I am your
servant," she muttered. Quickly she pulled the door closed and
sat herself on the floor outside. She pulled her blanket around
herself and fell asleep.
She awoke as a cold
wind pulled at her blanket. Opening her eyes she saw a tall, white
woman standing before her. She found herself standing and following
the sorceress with no will of her own. The guards were standing at
their posts in a trance as they walked out the gates and into the
forest. Soon they came to a beautiful clearing surrounded by tall
bending willow trees. The sorceress turned to Willow and said,
"There are three tasks that you must do for me or you will be
turned into a willow tree like these others - to spend your life
bowing to me in the wind."
Willow looked the sorceress in the eye. "Tell me the three
tasks and I shall do them."
The witch laughed. "You are a cocky one. Very well. The first
task is to make me a necklace of jewels from the ground. I will
return in one hour." With that the sorceress went into her
bower in the midst of the willow grove.
Willow went into the forest and softly called to the squirrels.
"Come, my little friends. I need your help."
Soon they were scampering through the trees to gather around her.
She explained what she needed. "I would like to have your
biggest and shiniest acorns for a necklace for the witch or I will be
turned into a tree." The squirrels quickly raced to their
winter caches and brought back the nicest acorns that they had.
Carefully Willow strung them together with a strong vine until she
had a beautiful necklace. When the sorceress returned she handed her
the necklace.
"What is this?" the witch cried. "These are not
jewels!"
"They are jewels of the ground," Willow replied. "I
have completed my task as asked. What is the second task?"
The sorceress grumbled, but it did not matter. This youth would
never complete the other two tasks. "The second task is to
bring me the gray fur of the summer fox for my stole." She
looked at the forest ground covered with snow and smiled evilly.
"You have one hour."
When she had again returned to her bower, Willow called to the
swallows. "Please bring me your prettiest down from your nests
or I will be turned into a tree." Quickly the birds flew to
their nests and returned with the down that had come off their
nestlings. It was soft and gray and quickly Willow wove it together
into a beautiful soft gray stole.
The witch was outraged when she saw the lovely stole. "You are
a crafty one, young man," she said. "But you will not be
able to do the last task. You are too small and frail. In the
clearing there is a large rock. It stands taller than I do. I would
like you to take it away. I wish to have a smooth clearing there.
You have one hour."
This time Willow summoned the gophers. "Please, dear friends,
dig as strong as you can beneath this rock or I will be turned into a
tree."
Many gophers started digging strongly. Soon the earth beneath the
rock was cleared and the rock sank into the large hole. Willow
smoothed the ground over the rock until there was a smooth clearing.
The witch returned and looked at the clear ground in horror. "You
are a sorcerer!" she screamed. "The curse said I would be
destroyed by one of my own kind!"
Willow straightened up and loosed her hair from her cap. "I am
not a sorcerer. I am a woman."
The sorceress screamed as her legs grew into the ground and turned
into a twisted trunk. Her arms became branches and her hair turned
into leaves. At last only a crooked hawthorn tree stood in the
middle of the clearing. Then the willows started to tremble and
gradually turned back into the young men of the kingdom. They looked
at Willow in awe.
"You have saved us," they cried. "You are indeed a
worthy lady."
Willow let the men escort her back to the castle. The old woman met
them at the gate with tears of joy on her cheeks. When the young men
told her of their rescue she took Willow up to a chamber and dressed
her in precious clothes of silk. She brushed her long hair and then
took her to be presented to the king.
The old king and his son were joyously greeting their returned
subjects when Willow entered. The prince looked at her in surprise.
Everyone fell quiet to behold the beautiful girl in their midst. The
prince walked up to her. "What do they call you? How may I
help you?"
She smiled at him. "They used to call me Will, sir. But my
mother called me Willow."
He recognized with surprise the gentle youth who had guarded his door
and saved his kingdom. "Welcome to my home, Princess Willow,"
he said. Then he turned to present her to the king.
The king asked her what she wanted in exchange for saving the
kingdom. "Anything you want shall be yours."
Willow thought but she had no wishes. Her father and brothers were
well enough left in the forest. She had become a woman and proved
her worth. "I am looking for a warm place to spend the night,
sire." She smiled serenely.
THE END
1996 by Sharon
Holzscherer
