Crow girl
Gnarled feet gripped the rough swaying branch. Eyes of the crow witch directed at the girl. Tilt of her crow head.
On an otherwise normal day, the girl skipped with the joyous abandon of an 8 year old. Why not... it's fun
The cherry blossom trees wiggled to the girls skipping beat. Gentle petals filled the air. "it's blossom snowing", smiled the young girl.
Fun was what the old crow witch had not had for a long long time. In fact for some incarnations now.
The old witch Crow watched and believed she wanted a friend.
Crow witch believed she wanted a friend that skipped, she wanted a friend that looked so free and joyous.
Really Crow witch wanted to be young again but that wish was hidden to her, only felt and poorly understood, underneath the desire to be friends with a young skipping girl.
And because she misunderstood herself, she misunderstood what the girl would want.
Crow witch said the words, drew the runes And spun the air like silk. The magic closed the gap, quickened the space and she breathed the girl a new shape.
And the girl became a crow.
Confused at first she looked left and right, then fell over.
The old Crow witch said you’ve become a crow.
The young girl, who was now a young Crow looked sad.
The old witch said why are you sad? The young Crow said "I can’t skip". The old crow witch said "the way you used to flick your wrist, try flicking them the same way now". The Young crow did that and she flew to the sky. Like a wish that only those tied to the earth can truly yearn for, she was free and flying.
The old crow witch whispered instructions that seemed to pour into the young girl's ear, despite being some distance away. "Hold your hands still" and the young crow glided through the clouds and sunshine and mist and white and blinding and the old crow witch whispered “curve your wings and Look at the ground” and the young Crow shot towards the ground skimming like a J up into the air again, as the trees bent and the wind whistled.
After a time the young crow said, "I want to go home".
The old witch crow said I could only turn you into a crow. I can’t turn you back.
The young Crow said "you lie".
The old crow witch said "I don’t lie, my desire doesn’t lie".
The young girl crow said "what did you want"?
The old crow witch said I wanted a friend.
The young Crow looked at her wings and claws, “does this make me your friend”?
A silence weighed in on the space.
The old crow began to speak but noticed the girl crow was gone….
The old crow looked out from the branch she was sat on, her posture shrunk, ever so slightly.
That toxic combo of fury and fear, swelled within the girl crow.
Wings and wind and sky and the noise of speed all merged as she pushed herself faster and faster towards the horizon. Surely this was a dream, that could be broken. But the earth kept rolling up from the horizon casting more and more land in front of her.
Tired, exhausted she dropped to the ground, panting in the shade of fir trees. Crow girl had little knowledge of the ancient magic of the Celtic druids who saw the fir trees as medicinal and symbols of hope that the sun would return from the depths of winter.
The needles and pine cones covered and smothered the floor, so little else grew. She looked at her feet, now claws. A tear dropped from her beak.
“why so sad”
The young crow jumped, “who’s there”? looking into the woods around her, but could not see anyone, just fir trees, thick and dark.
“Who is over there? I don’t know who’s over there, I can’t see over there can I”.
“what”?
“First 'who', now 'what' but what what are you whatting about”?
The girl crow finally noticed the voice was coming, not from the woods but from her feet, a small caterpillar peering out from underneath a pine cone was looking up at her.
“You can talk” said the girl crow?
“yes", said the caterpillar slowly with a definite look of puzzlement. "I can talk but I am wondering how useful that is when I am talking to you”.
“what”?
“you do a lot of that whatting”?
“I don’t understand”
“that’s two of us”.
"Let’s start again said the caterpillar, I’m Unaro, pleased to meet you, as long as you don’t intend to eat me”?
“what” said the girl crow”
"more whatting" sighed Unaro. “your a crow, I'm a caterpillar, crow’s eat caterpillars, I am asking you to not eat me”.
Girl crow fell into tears again.
The caterpillar looked on in silence for a while then said “it’s hard for me to sympathise with a beast that is crying because I asked the beast to not eat me”.
“I’m crying because I’m not a crow”
Unaro quietly scratched its head with one of its many arms or legs or however you want to describe them.
“Feathers, beak, wings, two claws, the colour black, with a lot of who whoing and what whatting….um you seem very confused and very crowish".
The night drew dark around them. The girl noticed the sound of water. Walking a small distance, she came to a clearing. The trees could be seen bathing their feet in black water that stretched out to a black sky. Quietly the clouds parted and a silver moon breathed light onto the water.
Unaro, who had climbed onto the shoulder of the girl crow said, "You should sleep".
How can I?
"The trick is not holding onto what should be but opening up to what is". With that Unaro's tail started to shine hypnotically. The warmth and movement of the light led crow girl to the land of dreams.