The Village Witch

" Honey, I know you are busy but can you please come and help put heley to sleep ? " said my husband Edward who looks like he would break down any moment if I don't say yes. I closed my laptop and told him " Why of course dear, you take a little break and let me handle the situation. " I told him and went near my daughter's room. 

My daughter Heley is sitting in her bed with her Elsa nightgown on, having two buns tied with a butterfly clip on her head making her look cuter but with a grumpy look on her face. She is staring at one of her storybook that I brought for her last month. 

" Hey! What's the matter, sweetie? Why you look so sad? " I asked her and she looked at me with pitiful eyes and told " I have read every story in this book now they just bore me, I want to hear a new story. " I sat beside her and took the book from her hand and told " Mummy will bring a library card for you and then every week you can bring new books from the library and study them. And as for today let mummy tell a story to you. " 

" Mummies stories yes I love them, oh please do tell me your story," she said with excitement. " Alright, Alright but first you have to promise that after the story ends you will go straight to sleep and not demand another. " I told as I know if I continue then she can hear stories for all night long. " I promise," she told in a sincere voice. " okay now which story you want to hear dear ? " I asked her. 

" A witch ......I want to hear a story about a witch. " A peculiar demand but not that uncommon I say. Her demand made me remember a story from my childhood, something which I can never forget in my whole life. I dimmed the lights of the room and made her lie down covered in her Olaf blanket. 

" This is the story of the time when I was a little girl of ten myself. It has been so many years now but I will never forget it cause that's not any ordinary story, it's my reality ...can say my little adventure. Let me tell you about my own story. " I told and she looked at me with her round eyes and told " with a witch in it? " I nodded my head. 

 " In our village used to live an old lady, her house was near the woods down the little hill and everyone in the village use to know her as ' the witch '. That time I with my mother, my little brother.... your uncle sam wells and grandma stay at our village house called ' Roseland ' as our village is most popular for the roses it grew there. Your grandpa was in town working hard to get money for us. 

It's not a very hilly area, very beautiful land with green grass, daises, and ponds where lived lots of fishes of a different color, birds which use to sing nice songs early in the morning ....." I told them and she asked me immediately " Mummy why your village is not present on the map? , I never saw any village named like that. " well, today's kids are very smart. I told her " very few people stay here and that's the reason why it is not present in any maps, we have our own ways to go there. " I told and she became silent again. 

" We all knew each other very well. There was a boy who was known as ' the runner ', you give him ten rupees and he will run any errand for you. He was a thin boy with a dull blue shirt and green pants on like a uniform, he would spend his time playing or running errands for people. He would finish his work and say ' Here done and finish you must know, it will be ten rupees, not even one rupee low. ' " as I told she threw another question at me " He never went to school ? " like this rate I will never finish the story on time but I don't want to kill her curious mind I want to help her expand her thinking skills. 

" His family was too poor and that's why he use to run errands for people but used to attended evening school with me. " I ensured her and she left a sigh of relief as studying and going to school is a compulsory thing for her. She is quite a studios kid I can ensure that. 

" our milkman ( whose name I still don't know) I just know he was short and fat and a funny-looking man who use say ' Mooo- hooo I brought milk for you, from old ones bones and younger ones memory this milk can recover anything don't worry. ' " I told and my daughter rolled with laughter as she heard the part of the milkman. 

" His wife use to keep hens and sheep and with her herb she every day use to walk towards the hills as it used to be full of green grasses and  from her only I came to know about the ' witch ' she used to visit our house to deliver eggs and say ' one, two and three, the hens gave perfect eggs for you and me but this is not for free. ' every day while she used to wait by the door for money I use to ask her about the witch and she used to tell me all about it. 

She told me how the witch lived in a wooden house whose roof is made with leaves and straws, she would tell me how cross  was the witch with other people, she told me that the witch was having a cat black as night with her " to add spice and her favorite element I added " she told that the big bad wolf from the story ' the three pigs when it came near her house and told ' Then I will huff and I will puff and let your roof in ' that old witch got so angry that she shouted ' I will sprinkle my powder and bit of spray and you will be my black cat from today. ' she said and as soon as she said that the wolf turned into a cat. " heley almost sat on the bed with excitement. 

 " she used to tell me how powerful and how lonely she was by the end of the jungle, everyday I use to wait for the lady to come up with eggs So that I could hear stories about the witch. But my granny never believed them and use to tell ' what a nonsense story made up to scare little ones I say. ' but the story spread like wildfire. " I took a little break then I began my story again. 

" People were scared of going near the woods and would always say strange things about the lady. They would say to their crying babies ' If you don't stop being naughty then I will send you to the witch to lunch upon. ' . one day I and your uncle went for playing near the woods and suddenly it started raining, to save ourselves we ran inside a hut and soon found out we were standing in the witch's hut. " I paused letting her digest the piece of information. 

" Witches hut ?? .....you must be a very scared mummy. " she asked with both hands in her face looking very dramatic. " yes I was and your uncle cried as he was very little that time , we were about to get out  when I saw the runner boy sitting in a corner doing some work. As he saw us he asked us what brought you two here ? ', before answering I asked him ' what are you doing here? , Aren't you afraid of the witch ? ' he looked confused asked ' witch ....afraid what do you mean? ' I told him the situation and all about the witch thing. And he laughed so loud that I thought it will break my eardrums. " I paused to make my voice bit boyish and continued. 

" He said ' There is no witch here, I live with my grandma here, my grandma makes candies and jams from the fruits from the jungle and sales them in the market and that's how we live here, my parents went town to look for jobs but they didn't found any and couldn't send money home that's why we do this. ' and his speech made us very ashamed of ourselves as we believed in false rumors, one must never believe something that they have not seen with their own eyes. We sat there and eat candies with the boy and the witch ( which by that time became our candygram ) , from that time we became good friends , candygram use to give us lots of candies and tell us stories even your uncle was not afraid of her anymore and the runner boy became my best friend and here ends the story. " I told tucking her in. 

" What was the name of the boy ? " she asked. " well, that's for another day I told her and came out of the room, Edward standing near the door with candy in hand told " That was a good story. " I took a bite from the candy bar and told " Just the way candygram use to make ", he smiled and told " Here done and finish you must know, it will be ten rupees not even one rupee low. " he used with the boyish grin that he used to use when he was young boy ......runner of my village. I smiled and told " Well, boy nice to see you back today. " and together we laughed heartily at our old memories.