{"id":541,"date":"2010-11-01T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T19:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=541"},"modified":"2010-11-04T11:00:30","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T15:00:30","slug":"twins-of-the-dead-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/birthmarked\/twins-of-the-dead-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins of the Dead Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s one of the fairy tales from Wharfton and the Enclave.<\/em><\/p>\n

Once upon a time, at the edge of the dead forest, a pig farmer gave birth to twin girls.\u00a0 Her husband was ecstatic, and sent word around to all their friends and relatives that soon they\u2019d have a christening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can only be a simple celebration,\u201d the farmer said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re very poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d her husband said, but while his wife nursed the babies, he decided to slaughter one of the pigs for a roast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig mistake,\u201d the farmer said.\u00a0 \u201cNow everyone will expect an elaborate party.\u00a0 We can\u2019t feed everyone we know, not unless we slaughter half our drift of pigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll keep the guest list small,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt will all be fine.\u00a0 Quit worrying so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the day of the christening, a dozen select friends and relatives crowded into the little home and toasted the two daughters, Salma and Artemis.\u00a0 They enjoyed a festive time, with much singing and cider. \u00a0Later that night, after the guests had gone and the husband was cleaning up, the tired farmer lay in bed nursing her daughters and heard a scratching at the window.<\/p>\n

\"\"

"And a small old woman crawled in."<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSomeone\u2019s there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve all gone home,\u201d her husband said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 Outside the window.\u201d<\/p>\n

She crept out of bed and stepped over to pull the window open, and a small old woman climbed in.\u00a0 The farmer had never seen her twisted, malevolent face before, and she shrank back in fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cUngrateful girl,\u201d the old woman said.\u00a0 \u201cInviting only a dozen.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you know it will take everyone hereabout to raise your children?\u00a0 Do you think only your favorites will touch their lives?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re poor!\u201d the farmer protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter to serve cups of water and good will to all than to poison those you excluded, as you have done,\u201d the old woman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some leftovers,\u201d the husband said, coming in.\u00a0 \u201cWe can still feed you.\u00a0 Want a sandwich?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFools!\u201d the old woman crowed.\u00a0 And with a flash of blue, she revealed herself to be the witch of the dead forest.<\/p>\n

The farmer screamed and jumped up on her bed, scooping her daughters in her arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might as well destroy your whole family now and save you years of grief,\u201d the witch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d the farmer said.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, don\u2019t harm us!\u00a0 We\u2019ll do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take one of your daughters,\u201d the witch said.\u00a0 \u201cYou can pick which one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d the farmer said.<\/p>\n

The witch raised her hand in an ominous gesture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait!\u201d the husband said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just one daughter,\u201d he said to his wife.\u00a0 \u201cWe can keep one.\u00a0 That\u2019s better than all of us being destroyed.\u00a0 Let her take one.\u00a0 The littler one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you crazy?\u201d the farmer said to her husband.<\/p>\n

The witch gave an evil laugh.\u00a0 \u201cDone,\u201d she said, and with a flash, both she and Salma, the littlest twin, vanished.<\/p>\n

(To be continued<\/a><\/em>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s one of the fairy tales from Wharfton and the Enclave. Once upon a time, at the edge of the dead forest, a pig farmer gave birth to twin girls.\u00a0 Her husband was ecstatic, and sent word around to all their friends and relatives that soon they\u2019d have a christening. \u201cIt can only be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthmarked","tag-tie-in-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":566,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}