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Our warrior comes to learn rarely solitude lasts,
For the curious and carefree ignore all things past.
Scorned and feared, she was content disappeared;
Can she resist retaliation, or by darkness be steered?
‘Come, my friends!
Let’s go play pretend;
All fear we must swallow
To meet the Hag of Hope’s Hollow!
I’ve heard she’s a witch!
Into dolls she will stitch
Our souls and our lives –
Just a tale of old wives!’
‘Let us stalk through her woods;
So tempting, her food!
These forests grow all kinds –
What miraculous finds!
Take care what you pick,
It may well be a trick;
Tempting and tasty,
We should be much less hasty.’
Tales spread faster than the truth that they mask,
But rarely do legends take a moment to ask:
If the fable is fearsome – could the truth be worse still?
Our warrior will learn her story cannot be killed.
Look! My dear friend,
We have visitors to tend –
Send them home full;
We must not be cruel.
Mere children must be harmless,
Though I left their parents armless;
Disembodied or dead,
I’ll try diplomacy instead.
No! Do not flee!
Please do not run from me!
I wish only to salvage,
My reputation as a savage.
You must not walk there;
That tree hides a werebear!
Run! You must flee!
Leave your friend now, I plea!
Faced with such death, our hero must wonder:
Will she be to blame in the town for this murder?
The answer took not long; their suspicion was strong –
The Hag of Hope’s Hollow would always be wrong!
C H Mackie 