Once upon a time, a woman lived on the outskirts of the village. She was a proud woman, with flowing red hair, beautiful face and attractive body. She was also well-known throughout the area for her culinary skills.
One day, a visitor came to her door. By local custom, she was obligated to invite this person in and offer him some food. But this was not the kind of visitor she wanted in her home. He was rank from being unwashed, his hair and beard were disheveled, plus his patched and worn clothing clearly indicated he did not the means to help better her own life.
She roughly escorted him through the front parlor, down the hall and seated him on a crude stool beside the back door in the kitchen. Then she ransacked her kitchen pantry for the humblest morsel she could feed him.
She spied some old bread and quickly popped the small, dry piece into her warming oven to heat it up. When she took it out a few minutes later, fresh steam rose from a whole loaf providing a mouth-watering aroma of freshly-baked bread. This was too good for her visitor, so she set it aside for her own supper and continued to search.
She spied a pair of rotting apples at the bottom of a bin and smiled. She quickly assembled a small apple tart and placed that in the oven to bake. The scent of cinnamon, baking apples, buttery crust and more filled her kitchen. When she pulled it out of the oven, the flaky crust was a beautiful golden brown. This was also too good for her visitor, so she set it aside for her dessert.
Her quest continued out the back door, and she came upon the manure pile. With a wicked smirk, she shoveled some into a tin and took it back to the kitchen. She added sugar and a few other ingredients hoping to disguise the foul stench of the original produce. The more she added the less foul it seemed. This, too, she popped into the oven, wondering what the result would be. In under an hour, she was staring aghast at the best chocolate mouse ever to grace her kitchen.
That did it! Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed a large wooden spoon and chased the stranger from her kitchen. Just beyond the doorway, the stranger stopped and turned around. His stature grew as his appearance changed. With a sinking feeling the woman quickly realized who she had as her visitor...
"You witnessed a piece of stale bread become a whole fresh loaf, yet you failed to share it with me. You saw rotten apples become a beautiful tart, yet you failed to share it with me. And you beheld the most foul creation your mind could produce become one of your finest dishes, yet STILL you failed to share even THAT with me.
"For this, you and all your children shall spend the rest of your days feasting on insects and you will work hard for every morsel you consume."
As he was spoke, the woman began to shrink - smaller and smaller she became. Her fingers became feathers of wings, as her body sprouted feathers everywhere. The nose on her beautiful face became long and hard and her long beautiful hair was gone - leaving only a patch of red on her head as a bitter reminder.
Perhaps you have seen her or her children in this world. She can often be spied on the sides of trees as she hammers out her living, eating only insects for her meals.
- ESA
One day, a visitor came to her door. By local custom, she was obligated to invite this person in and offer him some food. But this was not the kind of visitor she wanted in her home. He was rank from being unwashed, his hair and beard were disheveled, plus his patched and worn clothing clearly indicated he did not the means to help better her own life.
She roughly escorted him through the front parlor, down the hall and seated him on a crude stool beside the back door in the kitchen. Then she ransacked her kitchen pantry for the humblest morsel she could feed him.
She spied some old bread and quickly popped the small, dry piece into her warming oven to heat it up. When she took it out a few minutes later, fresh steam rose from a whole loaf providing a mouth-watering aroma of freshly-baked bread. This was too good for her visitor, so she set it aside for her own supper and continued to search.
She spied a pair of rotting apples at the bottom of a bin and smiled. She quickly assembled a small apple tart and placed that in the oven to bake. The scent of cinnamon, baking apples, buttery crust and more filled her kitchen. When she pulled it out of the oven, the flaky crust was a beautiful golden brown. This was also too good for her visitor, so she set it aside for her dessert.
Her quest continued out the back door, and she came upon the manure pile. With a wicked smirk, she shoveled some into a tin and took it back to the kitchen. She added sugar and a few other ingredients hoping to disguise the foul stench of the original produce. The more she added the less foul it seemed. This, too, she popped into the oven, wondering what the result would be. In under an hour, she was staring aghast at the best chocolate mouse ever to grace her kitchen.
That did it! Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed a large wooden spoon and chased the stranger from her kitchen. Just beyond the doorway, the stranger stopped and turned around. His stature grew as his appearance changed. With a sinking feeling the woman quickly realized who she had as her visitor...
"You witnessed a piece of stale bread become a whole fresh loaf, yet you failed to share it with me. You saw rotten apples become a beautiful tart, yet you failed to share it with me. And you beheld the most foul creation your mind could produce become one of your finest dishes, yet STILL you failed to share even THAT with me.
"For this, you and all your children shall spend the rest of your days feasting on insects and you will work hard for every morsel you consume."
As he was spoke, the woman began to shrink - smaller and smaller she became. Her fingers became feathers of wings, as her body sprouted feathers everywhere. The nose on her beautiful face became long and hard and her long beautiful hair was gone - leaving only a patch of red on her head as a bitter reminder.
Perhaps you have seen her or her children in this world. She can often be spied on the sides of trees as she hammers out her living, eating only insects for her meals.
- ESA
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I really like this. Do you have more stories on how things came to be? I'd like to see more.
ReplyDeletembleck247@gmail.com