The Old Woman in the Wood

On the table there was an enormous quantity of (if: (history:)'s last is "House")[[rings]<rtag|[, which glistened and glittered before her eyes. ]<r|](else:)[rings - (display: "Print Rings") ]She stirred through them looking for the simple one, but she could not find it. (if: $rings's length > $next)[She refused to let herself be distracted by the other rings' stories.] (if: $rings's length > $next * 2)[Her heart was pounding in her ears. She heard the witch moving behind her but didn't want to look away from the glittering pile of rings.] (if: $rings's length is $allRings's length)[[Suddenly she heard a [cry]<cry| from behind her.]<end|] (click: ?rtag)[(replace: ?r)[ - (display: "Print Rings") ](replace: ?ringsOpen)[]] (click: ?cry)[(append: ?end)[ Not a human cry, but the urgent call of a bird. Turning, her pulse racing, she saw the witch making for the door, carrying a cage. In the cage was a bird with [[a ring in its beak->End]].](replace: ?birdCry)[]]|birdCry>[(if: $rings's length is $allRings's length)[ ]]|ringsOpen>[(if: (history:)'s last is "House")[ ]]

Once upon a time, your fiance sent you to a house of cannibals. It seemed like a nightmare: the wretched house deep in the woods, the old woman bent over the boiling pot, and the robbers coming home dragging a young girl by the hair. You hid there as they cooked and ate her. Keep quiet as a mouse, the old woman told you, and you did, even when they tore off her clothes. Keep still as a stone, and you did, even when they laid her on a table and cut her to pieces. Keep hope in your heart, and you did, even when the robbers talked and laughed around the slow roil of the pot. Finally, they slept, sated, and you escaped, though it felt like a dream where you can't seem to run: your pulse was slow and dreadful as you stepped over the robbers and picked your way back through the dark forest. You told the story the next day, and your bridegroom shook his head. 'My darling, it was but a nightmare,' he said, as if he knew nothing of the very house he sent you to, as if you couldn't feel his eyes on you, cruel and hungry. But you had your proof, clenched tight in your fist: the finger of the girl, discarded by the robbers because of the golden [[ring->Rings]] that still encircled it, cold and hard as the truth.

{ (set: $allRings to (shuffled: " $bridegroom[a ring that proves a murder](else:)[[[a ring that proves a murder->The Robber Bridegroom]]]", " $rumpel[a ring that pays for a small miracle](else:)[[[a ring that pays for a small miracle->Rumpelstiltskin]]]", " $huntsmen[a ring that turns a huntsman into a princess](else:)[[[a ring that turns a huntsman into a princess->The Twelve Huntsmen]]]", " $catskin[a ring from the bottom of a soupbowl](else:)[[[a ring from the bottom of a soupbowl->Cat-Skin]]]", " $raven[a ring earned by a hero's failure](else:)[[[a ring earned by a hero's failure->The Raven]]]", " $ravens[a ring that reunites eight siblings](else:)[[[a ring that reunites eight siblings->The Seven Ravens]]]", ))  (set: $endpoint to 3) (set: $rings to $allRings's (range: 1, 2)) (set: $next to 2) (set: $gold to false) (set: $silver to false) (set: $brass to false) }

{ (set: $bridegroom to (history:) contains "The Robber Bridegroom") (set: $rumpel to (history:) contains "Rumpelstiltskin") (set: $raven to (history:) contains "The Raven") (set: $huntsmen to (history:) contains "The Twelve Huntsmen") (set: $snake to (history:) contains "The White Snake") (set: $catskin to (history:) contains "Cat-Skin") (set: $ravens to (history:) contains "The Seven Ravens") (set: $golden to (history:) contains "The King of the Golden Mountain") (if: $endpoint <= $allRings's length)[ (set: $rings to it + (a: $allRings's $endpoint))  (set: $endpoint to it + 1) ] (print: $rings) - }

Once upon a time, you had a father prone to fantasy, but you grew up shrewd in spite of him. Your father was full of wild dreams for the future, but you didn't cling to hope: you were a miller's daughter, and your future was plain as stone, and knowing that truth was better than any false hope. So, even when you found yourself imprisoned and set an impossible task, you still didn't believe the little hunchback man who claimed he could spin straw into gold. You wished you could: without the gold, you were fated for death, and the thought terrified you more than you could have expected. The strange little man danced closer. "Don't weep!" he told you, in a voice like the creak of an old hinge. "Your friend is here to help you with this task. And then you will be queen, and never need touch straw again." That was the flip side of this impossible situation: the promise of marriage that would elevate you beyond even your father's dreams. The two of you could live in comfort and joy until the end of your days, if only it were possible to spin straw into gold. "Only give me some token in exchange for my work," said the little man, "and then you'll see all your problems disappear." Reason told you not to indulge this strange man with his short legs and crooked fingers, but you found it hard to listen to reason. Your cool solid heart was being worn down entirely by dark fear on one side and bright, impossible dreams on the other. For the first time in your life you decided to trust to hope. As you slipped your mother's [[ring->Rings]] from your finger and offered it to him, you could only pray you made the right choice.

Once upon a time, you were in love with a prince who became engaged to a foreign princess. When you heard that, darkness bloomed in your heart and you suddenly couldn't stand to be yourself anymore. You wished you could slip this self like a clever fox from a trap - be anything but this young maiden, foolish in love, no thoughts beyond her paramour, tragic as a poet's tale. So you did. To lose your identity, you gathered eleven young women who look like you to your side. To hide your identity, you dressed as men, all of a feather in identical huntsman's clothes. The only thing that still set you apart from the other huntsmen was the prince's ring, the token of another life. You wanted to lose yourself in this gambit, but somehow it didn't turn out that way. You and your huntsmen all looked alike, but you easily found each other's differences - quirks and preferences, strengths and weaknesses, enough that the twelve of you never ran out of things to talk about. And so you found yourself, in the course of being with your huntsmen, the way a rock is polished by knocking against a multitude of others. The prince had a lion, a proud and suspicious beast, who doubted you were truly huntsmen. He set you a test of your masculinity. But it was easy, when there were twelve of you, to cover all facets. When you were charged to walk with a masculine stride, you all copied Cordelia's purposeful steps. When you were charged to choose manly pursuits over spinning, you imagined you were Aurelia, who hated such things. When the prince finally recognized you, it was by the old [[ring->Rings]] on your finger. But you weren't that girl anymore. Nor were you a simple huntsman - you were something between the two, now, or maybe something different entirely.

You don't understand people. Firstly, you don't understand their speech. It reaches you underwater as a stream of babble, syllables running on, tone rising and falling. The speech of fishes is much more straightforward. Of course, you understand the young man, as such is the magic of the white snake. You understand him when he speaks to the ocean of his sorrows: the king's daughter he wishes to marry and the impossible tasks set before him as an impediment. And that's what you don't understand. You chose your husband because of his shining scales and his long, strong tail. He's a worthy husband but if he ever left you, or mistreated you, you would find another. Certainly you wouldn't put yourself in danger for him. But people - people have this thing called love, and it makes them act mad. They give each other tests instead of making each other happy. In the grip of love they risk their own lives, and what does that gain anyone? It makes no sense. Still, the young man saved your life, so you owe him - that kind of contract holds across life's entire kingdom. So you help him with his impossible task, diving to the ocean floor and bringing him back the princess's [[ring->Rings]], and you hope that, in his strange human way, he finds happiness in love.

Once upon a time, you were a dirty kitchen girl who couldn't stop thinking about your old life. You were a princess once, waited upon, dressed in fine clothes, and it was hard miss the envy in your servant's eyes. But for all your royal trappings, you were still powerless, just another helpless subject of your father. When you finally ran, you took only a few trinkets and covered yourself in a many-furred cloak. Now you worked hard every day, raking ashes and fetching water. Your lot was miserable but at least it gave you something to do. They called you Cat-skin for your fur cloak, black with ashes now, but you'd rather be called Cat-skin than any of your father's pet names. When your new lord held a feast, you disguised yourself as a princess again and danced with him. It was glorious for a moment - the ballroom swirling around you like a dream of your old life, when your back didn't ache all the time and people watched you with admiration in their eyes. But it was wearisome in its own way, smiling and batting your lashes at the king as you chatted, being introduced to people under a made-up name. At the end of the night, you were relieved to run back to Cat-skin's little cabin. You felt poised on a knife's-edge between two lives. Did you want to reveal yourself to the king? The only other king you'd known was your father, but this one seemed different. Or did you want to stay Cat-skin, who was at least her own animal? For long nights you tried to make a plan, toying with the possible futures in your head like a street magician with a coin. Unable to choose, you took a sideways tack: you slipped your golden [[ring->Rings]] into the king's soup and waited for him to find it, unsure whether he would recognize it as a sign of royalty or dismiss it as a servant's clumsiness - and unsure which outcome you'd prefer.

Spotting the plain ring in the bird's beak, the servant girl seized the birdcage, but the old woman refused to let go. "Leave it be, vicious child!" cried the old woman. "This one is mine." "You have all those others," argued the girl, pulling at the raven's cage. "This one is dearly needed by a friend of mine." "It is dearly needed by me, foolish girl! With this ring I will be young again, and magic and adventure will befall me, stories enough to fill the pages of a storybook. Why not take one of the used-up rings over there? They're ever so much prettier." But the dove, who had been so good to the servant girl, had asked for the plain ring; so with a pull she wrested the cage from the witch's crooked fingers and took the [[ring->Happy Ending]].

Once upon a time, a poor servant girl was traveling through a great forest with her master and mistress when robbers came out of the thicket and attacked the carriage. The girl fled into the forest. Soon she found herself entirely lost. Not finding a pathway out of the woods, she sat down beneath a tree and despaired, knowing she might starve to death. After she had sat there a while, a little white dove flew up to her carrying in its beak [a ring of little [keys]<keytag|.]<keys|(click: ?keytag)[(replace: ?keys)[a ring of little keys: [a little golden key]<gold|, [a little silver key]<silver|, and [a little brass key]<brass|.]]{(click: ?gold)[(set: $gold to true)(replace: ?need)[(display: "Keys")]] (click: ?silver)[(set: $silver to true)(replace: ?need)[(display: "Keys")]] (click: ?brass)[(set: $brass to true)(replace: ?need)[(display: "Keys")]]} The servant girl discovered that each key opened a secret door in a tree, and within was[ everything she might need]<need|. So with the dove's help, she was able to live a simple life in the woods. Then one day the little dove came and said, "Will you do me a favor?" "Gladly, with all my heart," said the girl. The dove told her, "I will lead you to a little house. Go inside, where an old woman will be sitting by the fireplace. Pass her by and open the door on the right-hand side. You will enter into a room where there are all kinds of rings lying on a table. Some of these are some splendid ones with glistening stones. Leave them where they are and seek out [[a simple ring->House]] which must be among them, then bring it here to me as quickly as you can." [ ]<space|

(if: $gold)[ bread and milk for her dinner(if: $silver and $brass)[,](elseif: $silver or $brass)[ and]](if: $silver)[ a small white bed to sleep in(if: $gold and $brass)[, and](elseif: $brass)[ and]](if: $brass)[ fine clothes to wear]

So the girl went to the little house in the woods, and entered in at the door. An old woman was sitting there. "Good day, my child," said the old woman. "What are you doing in my home?" As the dove had told her to go straight to the door, the girl said only, "Excuse me," and passed the old woman by. "Don't try to steal from me, girlie," cried the old woman. "I've lived a hundred lifetimes more than you!" But the girl did not reply and went directly into the room with the [[rings->Rings]].

She thought that the little white dove would come and get the ring, but it did not. Then she leaned against a tree, determined to wait for the dove. As she stood there, it seemed that the tree was becoming soft and flexible, and was letting its branches down. Suddenly the branches wrapped themselves around her, and had become two arms. Looking around, she saw that the tree had turned into a handsome man, who embraced her and kissed her tenderly. He said, "You have delivered me from the power of the old woman, who is a wicked witch. She had turned me into a tree, and for a few hours every day I was a white dove. "Now that ring has taken up the curse. It will hold our story for eternity, and I am free." Then his servants and his horses, who had likewise been changed into trees, were freed from the magic spell as well, and were standing there beside him. And they all traveled to his kingdom, for he was a prince, and he and the servant girl married, and lived happily ever after. **The End**

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Once upon a time, you were the Raven, and you had been as long as you could remember. All you knew was your bright golden castle on its glass mountain, your beady-eyed servants all in black, your carriage and your many fine horses. Despite the magnificence, you found yourself looking down from your glass mountain more and more, thinking what it would be to be human, in a simple hut, working for each meal. To be free. So you decided to find a hero to save you. No one too cunning, of course, no one too brave, but someone who would marry you although you're strange and willful, someone who would live a simple everyday life with you although you were a queen who was born a king's daughter. You decided to give him a test. You sent him off to the old witch in the woods, telling him not to accept any of her food or drink, which would put him to sleep. Instead he was to stand behind the house and wait for you, for three successive days. On the first day, you drove four white horses to the witch's house, and you found the hero fast asleep. Not suspicious enough, then, to reject an old woman's gift based on a raven's warning. On the second day, you drove four chestnut horses to the witch's house, and you found the hero fast asleep. Not clever enough, then, to learn from his previous mistake. On the third day, you drove four black horses to the witch's house, and you found the hero fast asleep. Not strong-willed enough, then, to resist temptation after days of deprivation. You found the hero's performance on the test predictable - he never succeeded at it, nor did he abandon it. It seemed a pleasant way to live, mediocre, unbound by extremes. You were so pleased with your everyday hero that you left him a gold [[ring->Rings]] to mark him as yours, and as you drove back to the golden castle, you were already imagining leaving it forever.

Once upon a time, you went out to find brothers you never knew you had. As a child, you had many toys and nobody to play with. You used to build cities of blocks and then knock them down with your little ball. You love the rules of it: cause and effect, impact and reaction. It was much later that you finally put the whispers together: Your brothers were gone because of you. When you were a baby, they had gone to fetch water to christen you, and in the course of that trip they were cursed into ravens. It was the will of heaven, your parents told you - but your birth was the cause of it. The more you thought of your brothers' fate, the more your idea of cause and effect grew twisted and layered in your mind. Were you really the reason your brothers were cursed? You didn't know what power could have transformed them, but surely that power would be the cause, rather than you? If it was the will of heaven, then why was it so? You clung to the hope that there was an answer, somewhere, that would lay out the entire explanation in a neat row. You decided to set out to find your raven brothers and hear their story. It was harder than anything you'd ever done. You burnt yourself on the sun and narrowly evaded the teeth of the moon. And finally you found the ravens' castle locked, with a keyhole for a little wooden block like the ones you used to stack as a child. You had no block, but you refused to give up, so you cut off your own finger for a key. As you entered the castle you clutched in a bloody fist your mother's [[ring->Rings]], simple proof of who you are and what your mission is, and hoped that would be enough to help your brothers.

Once upon a time, you were saved from a curse by a young man. It's all because of that wishing [[ring->Rings]]. - Heinel had a good fairy who was very fond of him and helped him knowing good luck was in store for him - trusts to fate/luck - found a white snake in this empty castle = princess "Twelve long years have I waited here for the fairy to bring you hither as she promised, for you alone can save me." and he has to get attacked by a bunch of knights, and then eventually the princess is free and gives him Water of Life -> king of the golden mountain -7 year old son -wants to see father, but wife is against it (because he's a bad dude!) and gives him the wishing ring if he promises not to take her to his father's house. she says it's bad luck, but is that just to convince him? -they didn't believe he was king and had a son, so he wished them there -she lied that it was okay, then snuck off and went home with the ring -so he comes back with an invisibility cloak and steals her stuff - 'Alas!' said she to herself, 'was I not once set free? Why then does this enchantment still seem to bind me?' then he killed everyone who stood against him and became king again

#[[The Old Woman in the Wood->Start]] ###//and other tales//