There lived a lord who was so worried by his wife’s failure to produce an heir that he sought out a witch and tried to secure her aid.
The witch said, “The price of my help is that, while any son shall be yours, any daughter shall be mine.”
The Lord agreed, and soon he was the father of twins. The lord looked on in pride as his children were delivered. The boy was the image of the Lord, with black hair, a stern face, and a tendency to turn to tears and tantrums.
The daughter looked exactly like her mother. Skin as dark as night, hair as red as blood, a smile as joyous and free as a bird, and a nature as fierce as any wolf.
The lord soon returned to his duties, and left the child’s care to his wife, for he was a busy man, and had no time for the trifles of domesticity. And while the Lord’s paling wife found love in her heart for them both, she could not find in herself any forgiveness for her husband.
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Notes:
1. Written on July 1st, 2019
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