Story Time with Larry Wilson

“The Witch and the Alchemist” is a fairy tale, told in three parts, about a little girl who ages into a witch. Her self-imposed curse is ultimately broken by an alchemist’s gift; a gift that he has kept for her since their childhood.

PART ONE

Edna could not claim mystical royal lineage. She was not an enchanted princess that had been cursed by an evil sorcerer’s spell. She was not destined to live a life of squalor until saved by love’s first kiss from a nomadic Prince Charming.

She wasn’t a motherless child, tormented by a wicked stepmother and equally malevolent stepsisters. She wasn’t patiently awaiting the night when her fairy godmother whispers an incantation that turns a sack of rutabagas into a sleek golden carriage that will somehow whisk her away to the king’s royal ball where the crown prince and all five of his royal siblings immediately fall madly in love with her and vow to win her hand in a jousting match.

She is just Edna.

Be that as it may, Edna believed that providence had her penciled-in for an eventual happily-ever-after. She was sure that she had started life as a beautiful baby princess; somehow cursed to a life outside the prestige of the palace, imprisoned by time until a handsome stranger falls in love with her and shatters the evil hex.

Edna’s illusions were limited. She knew she was plain and homely, but that was how a cursed princess should look. Everyone knew that. Folklore and stories passed down from generation to generation were full of such tales. Seeking solace, she spent hours at her mother’s bedside table, staring into the mirror, trying to find the deeply hidden images of a beautiful, but cursed, maiden. She knew it was only a matter of time until fate brought whatever magic it would take to free the beautiful princess within.

She was plain, at best. Yet, not thoroughly unappealing at worst. She knew this, in spite of her mother and father’s endless efforts to gin up her self-esteem. “Oh Edna, you have such a pleasant personality,” they would offer as she sat gazing into the mirror. Edna was told throughout her younger years that personality was a much more powerful trait than beauty. But she also knew that Helen of Troy didn’t have the personality that launched a thousand ships and Cleopatra didn’t seduce Julius Caesar with her ability to tell jokes.

Regardless of her rationalizations, Edna was not a princess and was not about to become one. Her father was a cobbler and her mother was a scrubwoman. She had no Fairy Godmother. She was just a very plain looking little girl. It was sad, but it was true.

Day after day, month after month, and eventually year after year, Edna sat at her window and waited for the one magical moment that would change her life, forever.

It never came.

Larry Wilson is a mostly lifelong resident of Niles. His optimistic “glass full to overflowing” view of life shapes his writing. His essays stem from experiences, compilations and recollections from friends and family. Wilson touts himself as “a dubiously licensed teller of tall tales, sworn to uphold the precept of ‘It’s my story; that’s the way I’m telling it.’” He can be reached at wflw@hotmail.com.