Rewriting Stereotypes

Magaly over at Pagan Culture is having an anniversary party for her blog, entitled "Sexy, Dark & Bloody Fiction."  Her goal?  To re-write witchy stereotypes in fiction in whatever way the contributors imagine. 

Here is my take on Hansel & Gretel:


Once upon a time, there was a great famine in the Village.  A poor woodcutter and his wife did not know how they were going to feed their children and so after much discussion, it was agreed that the children would go out into the forest to try to snare a bird or rabbit, while the woodcutter and his wife went to work cutting wood.

The children, wanting to be sure they knew the way home, left pebbles to mark their path, but dusk came quickly and they stumbled in the twilight and could not see the way home.  They made a bed of leaves and grasses and decided to stay the night in the forest, rather than become more lost and cold.

The next morning, the children awoke to find that they were outside the sprawling gardens of a most fascinating house.  Vines grew over the home and raspberry and blackberry canes stretched up the side of the building, full of fat, juicy fruit.  The children, being famished, began to eat the sweet berries off the side of the house.

Their mouths were full and stained purple and red, when a woman came around the corner and startled them.  She was wispy and tall, with long wild hair that was tied back from her face with a piece of twine.  She smiled when she saw the hungry children and offered them her harvest basket, but the children just looked at her with confusion.

Realizing that these must be townsfolk who weren't used to growing and foraging their own food, the wild woman set to teaching the children about growing plants for food and medicine.  She taught them the joy of harvesting in the forest as well as growing plants at home in any space that you had - even if you had to grow plants up the sides of your house!

She also taught the children about the joys of creating teas and using herbs for crafting cleaners...and even a little magic.

After spending a few days with the wise woman, the children made their way home with their new found knowledge and several baskets of herbs, roots, flowers and vegeteables.  They told their parents of their adventures and the wild woman who taught them about the magic of plants.  And although they never saw the woman again, they shared their knowledge with the people of the Village, and the townspeople never went hungry or without medicine (or magic) again!

The End



*Thanks and Happy Blog-iversary to Magaly!

**Photos in this post are linked to the websites where I found them.