Story Revision: A Shuffle in the Night

In the distance, he hears laughter. He ponders, who would be laughing out here? The sun is setting on the path, an unofficial path made from many trips to the same destination. The laughter is closer now, and he looks up, oh - it's just a crow. There are not normally crows on this path.

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It is a two day trip, and it's getting too dark to see anymore. The forest is less comforting tonight, he feels that he is being watched and builds a fire a little dimmer than usual in the small cove of the forest, just mere feet from the path.

***

Not much time had passed when he awoke to hear the shuffling of feet. Who even knows this path is here? Through his blanket and past the snuffed fire, he sees, thinking, an old woman?, dragging a large bag. He could lay still, hide beneath his covers - but she would see him in passing. Rather than wait to be found he decides to approach her - but not without finding out as much as he can beforehand.

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She is in rags, a mix of hides and fur, and upon further observation, carrying a knife still wet with blood. 

This discovery sends the hair on his neck straight up. But what else can he do? Beyond the path, the forest is too dense to travel through... and besides, she is getting closer.

Any attempt now to leave would be clearly heard by her. Thinking fast, he jumps on to the path to create an illusion of control. What are you doing here?After several moments, his question is responded to - but the woman still does not show her face. My child is in this bag, he has succumbed. 

He is stricken, frozen, unable to respond. Is she telling the truth? Does he even want to know? Eyes never leaving the knife, he says I... am sorry... Can I help you? More silence passes in a time that feel like an eternity. He realizes that since he stepped on the path that his adrenaline hasn't allowed him to notice the foul smell present, the bag? he wonders - but suddenly she attacks him.

She lunges with the knife and as he falls the hood comes off, this is no woman but the shredded remains of what once was. She has only one eye, the other an exposed socket and no nose, her lips are gone and only show bloodied teeth. Shreds of the skin left flail during the assault, he takes her arm holding the knife right as it is about to be plunged into his chest but her arm comes off. He wrenches the knife from her somehow still grasping hand and cuts off her head, or what was left of it.

The air is still. The only noise is his heavy breathing. He stares at the few stars he can see past the trees. After several moments, he stands. Legs wavering, he manages to walk to the bag and cut it open - finding something that makes bile rise in his throat. A child, a boy, but with flesh ripped from his body. Bites taken out of his limbs. He is not the one who was rotting, he was not the source of the smell. He has been too recently killed.

*** 

He ran the rest of the trip home without stopping. He couldn't rest, it didn't feel safe. Home, home was safe - so he ran.

He sees the the familiar opening to his village, they will know what to do he thinks. In the distance, he sees the backs of his mother and brother. Relief floods him as he finds comfort in their presence, until the wind brings a smell to his nose that runs his blood cold. Before they turn, he already knows what awaits him. His hands clench the knife.

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No! His mother turns, but only half of her face returns with her as the other half is exposed bone. He did not notice before, but his brother is missing an arm. Yet, the lack of a limb does not slow him down as he runs. Running toward me. They're going to kill me!

He turns to run from his family, only to come face to face with the boy from the bag; very undead, and very much blocking the only easy means of escape.

Reading Notes: Robin Hood's Death, Part B.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898).

Little John was sitting at a tree with Robin Hood, when Robin said he wanted to shoot an arrow across the pond, but that his arrow was broken. Yet, he had cousins living down there, and.... "she bleed me"?

Robin ran, and before he got to where he was going, he became very sick. When he got to Kirkly hall, he rang the doorbell and no cousin answered. Robin let himself in, and found his cousin. She asked him if he wanted beer, and he said he would not eat or drink till he was "blooded by thee". 

She told Robin that she has a room he can never see, but if he walks into it she will blooded him. She lead him to the private room where she blooded Robin, and locked him in the room. He bleed all day, until the next day at noon. His horn, hanging to his knee, took and blew three weak blasts from it. Little John heard this and knew he was near death. 

Robin broke down the locks of the room, and fell to his knees. John cried. Robin swore he never hurt a woman or man in in woman's company in all his life.  He asked John for his bent bow, and set it loose to land wherever his grave would be. He asked for green sod under his head and feet, and is bent bow at his side. He asked for his grave stone etching, and then died. 

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Afterthoughts - 

I'm pretty confused by every bit of this, but that's probably because I read the last story. 

Reading Notes: The Horned Woman, Part A.

Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

A rich lady was up late when a knock at the door demanded to be let in. The lady asked who it was, and the reply was that it was the witch of one horn. The lady assumed someone in the neighborhood was needing help, and opened the door to a woman with a horn on her forehead. The woman sat down and asked where the other women were. A second knock came and demanded to be let in. The lady once again opened the door, and this time a witch with two horns entered. This repeated until there were twelve women each with one horn more than the last. They wove wool and sank songs but would not speak to the lady of the house. She was worried, and felt afraid. She suddenly fell ill, and realized a spell had been cast upon her. She was now under the witches control, and the lady was forced to make a cake - but could not find a vessel to make the cake in. The witches told her to use a sieve, and so she did. The water poured and she cried. A voice suddenly spoke, saying to take yellow clay and moss and bind them to the sieve, because before this the sieve was leaking. She did as told and the sieve held water, she returned as commanded by this new voice - but was told when she returned to the north angle of the house to cry loudly three times a chant. 

She did as told by this new commander, and the witches flew away. The spirit that helped the lady protected her home with magic so the witches could not harm her again. To break the spell the witches put on the lady, she sprinkled water on her feet, and outside the door. She took the cake and made a meal mixed with blood from her sleeping family. She placed a portion in each of their mouths and they were restored. The cloth woven by the women was used by the lady to create a padlock, and she secuded the door shut so they could not enter. She now waited. 

Not long after, the witches were back. They cried against the water that blocked the lady's path, and the jam also kept her from opening the door. The cake was unable to be used by the witches too as it was eaten by her family. Defeated, the witches left. 

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Reading Notes: The Witch Girl. Part B.

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A Cossack asked for help and to spend the night at a house, the homeowner said to enter if he wasn't afraid to die. The Cossack thought why he would say such a thing, and went to feed his horse. In the stable, he saw men and women and children praying for help. The Cossack asked why they were all upset, and the homeowner said that in their village Death comes at night and whichever cottage she looks into, those people must be buried alive. Tonight is the night this house gets buried. The Cossack says he wont allow that to happen, and keeps an eye out.

At Midnight, the window opens to a white witch. She tried to enter the house and Cossack cut off her arm. He picked up her arm and hid it under his cloak, finally going to sleep. The next morning saw that everyone was alive and were happy. The Cossack said he would show them death and that they should all gather tonight so they can find her. The family went to gather the town, but everyone was gone. They reached the last house where they found a man who said his daughter was ill. Inside, they found a girl with a missing arm. Cossack was rewarded and the witch was drowned.

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After thoughts -

so it wasn't death but a witch who was killing town after town, possessing or posing as a normal person. This time, she got to all the families but one, and when her arm was taken off she could not take them. She returned home, and was found by the people as not the girl they thought they knew but a witch/demon.