I turned to Zach: "Come on you surely know a way to get back home". He looked at his feet and then turned in the exact opposite direction. "It would be this way" he said, "but let's go a bit further". "Are you nuts? We can't even hear the village I want to go back. I'm defenitely not going to be one of these kids getting lost in the woods like in the stories." I ran into the direction Zach pointed. "Come on!" he said and ran after me. "But we have to go again!" he screamed. "Think of the candy.
After a while I started to hear my mother calling me and I ran directely to the origin of her voice.
The moment I saw mother I wanted to hug her emidiately. I didn't tell Zach but I almost peed in my pants when I didn know where we were. But before I could hug her my father drew the attention on him by clapping his hands together. He looked at me and said: "I think we have to talk about something" That moment I knew this evening would become uncomfortable.
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After having to listen to my father for over 20 minutes I finally was allowed to go to bed. "Please don't do that ever again." I nodded. After a few minutes of silence I asked: "could you tell me a story?" She sighted and asked "which one?"
"The one about witches I said" "Was that the reason you went into the forest?" I nodded and hid under my blanket.
"Then I'll tell the story now.
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"A long time ago as this kingdom was only half the size it is now a new emperor was announced. It wasn't somebody of the royal family or someone of a noble household. He just appeared. So the people thaught that maby he would be a good leader bacause ther must have been a reason the former emperor choose him as the next emperor.
But soon rumors spread that the emperor made love to another woman every night, was obsessed with gambling and also an alcoloic.
The emperor didn't like what the people said or rather knew about him so a few weeks later he held a big event. A woman was acused of beeing a witch and because of that killed.
People got scared. They didn't trust their own families anymore and everyon thought everyon was a witch.
Two emperors later all that tension was realeased and ended in the big witch hunt. Thousands of people were killed and that is when the enperor did something.
He ordered the royal research institute to investigate and soon the truth was revealed
The emperor who was an unknown person before becoming emperor two generations ago did it... with the help of a witch.
But people noticed that he wasn't the right man for the throne and so he decidet to do something about that before the people did something agains him.
He killed the witch who helped him becoming the emperor. So witch, obly person who knew about his secrets died and the people where so afraid of wirches that the emperor could do anything without drawing attention because everyone was busy acusing others of being a witch.
and over 100 yeard later the big witch hunt took place. They killed all witches and also thousands of innocent people. The research institute said pf the 50.000 people that died 57 could have probably been a witch.
Why did the emperor order that investigation? Rumors sai that he was secretely in love with a woman who was then acused of being a witch and killed. So that was why he put an end to all of this. That enperors name was Masuyo. The father pf our current enperor and grandfather of the prince's and and the princess "
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"Are there still witches today?" I asked my mother. She thought about it for a few seconds before answering "according to the research institute no witch surwifed the big witchhunt"
"And how dif a witch look like?" I asked her. "Althought nobody who met a witch has ever lifed long enough to tell his story there are some people who have tried painting a witch with the descriptions of the people who went completely crazy after seeing one. They image they created wasn't really detailed but there seemed to be some features most of the witches had.
They used to have really long hair and scary eyes which could make you go crazy by just looking into them for too long. The were said ti be the most beautiful wimen you could imagine. Also they were much taller than average wimen. Some of them even were as tall as some of the smaller men.
Men are used to look down on wimen so can you imagine how it has to be for them if a woman is as tall as them or even a bit taller. For some men that's reason enough to go crazy."
"But why are witches so feared" I asked her hoping for another story and I hit the target
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There once was a boy who got lost in the forest. After two days wirhout food and water he found a house in the middle of the forest. He was so hungry and thirsty that he said to the owner of the house he would repay her with anything so she said for giving him foof he would have to give her the heart of his first born son.
The man was so desperate that he agreed on the condition that the witch wouldn't kill his son. To his surprise the witch agreed. Se have him food and on the next day he went home. He met a woman married her and soon she got pregnant. At that time she had already forgotten about the deal.
A few years later his son was already 12 years old. He was watching over his son while his wife was on the market. And then the witch appeared again. She went straight toward the child and ripped his heart right out of his chest and vanished into thin air.
The man was shocked but his son didn't die. He was just sitting there playing.
But in the following days his son changed. He became a heartless person. At first he didn't help people more. It got worse every hour. He even started to steal and hitting other kids.
The man couldn't watch his own son behaving this way so he went back to the house of the witch. He begged for her to give back his sons heart. She said she would need the heart of a loving father and the eyes of a child who saw his own parents being killed.
The man wanted his son back so much that he went to his neighbor's tied the child to a chair and carved his father's heart out in front of its eyes only to rip them out of the child head later. He brought the items to the witch and she said it would take two days for her to make the potion.
So the man went back to the village to tell his wife that their son would be back to normal soon but he was captured by the royal guards and only two days later executed for his deeds.
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"That's only one of many stories about witches and only one of the many reasons you shouldn't walk out into the forest at night. But now you have to sleep" my mother said. She kissed mz forehead and left the room.
I only wanted to hear an extra story but now I'm sure I won't be able to sleep without checking for a witch tying to rip out my heart thw whole night.