"Oh, well, so much has happened to me," Jessica said, "I may be the stress of change or something. I was
working in the garden, and I heard a buzzing. I thought at first it was a dragonfly, but it wasn't. It was
bigger than a dragonfly, and it hovered there just at the end of the row of wolf's bane. But it couldn't have
been - could it? I swear I saw a fairy? Is that even possible?"
Mother Goode stood up straight and stiff. Her eyes got a faraway look in them, and she said in a hushed tone,
"Oh, there be fairies alright. Evil, soulless creatures that live to torture us mortals. They live outside of
time, and you may see one before it was even born, and after it was destroyed. You cannot kill such monsters
as fairies, you can only destroy them with iron. You were using the small steel spade, I gave you?"
"Why yes, I was!" Jessica said.
"It may have saved you. Only thing that can harm a fairy is iron. That's why people hang iron horseshoes for
good luck. It's not the shape or the fact that it belongs on a horse, it's because the iron is a ward against
the fairies. You are fortunate it didn't speak to you or worse yet touch you," Gretel Goode said with a
shiver, "It was undoubtedly attracted by my transformation spell and your latent magic. Fairies are notorious
for abducting children. Their magic glamors are very powerful. Did you ever see a Midsummer Night's Dream?
They made a man appear to have the head of an ass, and made mortals fall in love with the wrong people for
sport. They make themselves appear harmless and beguilingly beautiful, but they aren't. They are the Old
Ones, the fallen gods, the fates - the name Fairies or Fair Folk are a euphemism to conceal their evil more
sinister nature. Cthulu is one of the Old Ones, one of the fairies. His true horrible nature was revealed by
Lovecraft. All nasty tentacles and things, but when I saw him he looked like the sweetest little creature,"
she spoke getting wistful in her memories, "He called himself Gold Tear. That's what the human soul looks
like when he extracts it - it's a golden tear. He tried to get me to leave my brother Hansel and run off with
him, but fortunately I stayed. If I hadn't that evil witch you used to live here would have eaten him."
"Mother, you're Gretel from the story Hansel and Gretel? But you can't be! That was so long ago, you can't
be that old!"
"Ah, child, it's true, I am Gretel. In the months that the witch Griselda kept Hansel locked up in the cage
in the pantry - I've since gotten rid of that nasty thing," she interjected, and then continued, "I learned to
be quite a good apprentice witch. I discovered that she and her familiar Gold Tear were up to purely by
chance. All the gingerbread men surrounding the garden back that had been people that she had snared. She
used her witchcraft with Cthulu's dark fairy magic to extract gold tears from her victims and turned their
soulless bodies into gingerbread," Gretel said with a shudder and closed her eyes.
Jessica stared with a bite of sandwich in her mouth. She didn't know what to believe or what to say. She was
glad that she had food in her mouth, so she had an excuse not to speak.
"Chew your food, dearie, and I'll tell you more. See over in this corner, you can see an indentation in the
floor. That's where the evil sacrificial altar was set with a brick oven built on top of it. She had me
stoke the coals into the stone opening underneath Cthulu's altar. When the fire was hot enough, she would put
her dough into the oven to cook. One day, I was tending the ginger plants that grew outside that window,"
Gretel said pointing, and that foul fairy Gold Tear flew in through the other window. It was angry, and I had
never heard it speak so before. Like you, I had thought it was a beautiful gentle creature, but my eyes
widened as I heard its own words reveal its evil nature."
She sighed and shuddered. "I really wish we could have pushed that fairy into the oven along with the old
witch, but it would have just consumed her gold tear and been none the worse for the baking. Fairies can
withstand tremendous heat and cold. It's said that's why fairy swords and armor are best. They cannot be
forged by man or dwarf for the heat's of hell's fire is too intense, and fairy metalwork is all forged in
hell, or at least hellfire."
"Sorry I digress, Gold Tear was angry with the witch for not offering up Hansel and me on his altar yet. He
wanted to consume our souls. I learned that the gold tear was forced out of the witch's victims while they
baked. She would give it to Gold Tear Cthulu, and then devour the gingerbread man or at least its heart which
she would replace treacle and frosting. Hansel and I had eaten her gingerbread before we knew that it was
really transformed humans. I suspect that's why I have lived so long and only aged a fraction of what I
should, but eventually I too will die, and that's why I need you to be my apprentice, my daughter to continue
the battle for good against the forces of evil like Cthulu Gold Tear," now the witch spoke fervently.
"As I was outside the window, I heard the dialog between the Griselda and Gold Tear. That's when I learned
that Gold Tear was Cthulu. You'll learn about that evil creature in my grimoires. Mind you, I had no idea
that Gold Tear was Cthulu until Griselda called him that. She thought I was at the market. I had gone there
early that morning to sell herbs and remedies, and usually I would spend the day, but there was so much work
to do in the garden, I had hurried back early. I was going to surprise her, but weeding the entire garden. I
thought if she was pleased enough, she'd let Hansel out of his cage. She had said it was for Hansel's own good
that she kept him in the cage, and I learned that part was true. Let's see I think I can remember what was
said word for word. Gold Tear spoke first," she said.
"He said, "Mother of Grendel, be quick about it. The young huntsman I bewitched should be here forthwith, and
you must bake his soul out of him, and be quick about it. I am starving!"
"She replied, "Oh, Great and Powerful Cthulu, calm yourself, all is prepared. You and I shall both dine on
huntsmen ere the day is out."
"He answered, "Bah, I'll settle for huntsman, but I wouldst rather dine on the child's soul. Why do you keep
him in that iron cage instead of baking him? I guided the two children here, and sent my crows to eat their
breadcrumb trail so that you could cook them. Instead you have adopted them. Do you do this merely to taunt
and torture me? Such succulent young souls," he sounded sickening glutenous," Gretel added with another
visible shudder. It seemed hard for her to tell this story, but she seemed compelled to tell it too.
Jessica listened intently not even tasting the venison sausage or bread which she was eating.
"Then there was the sound of someone munching gingerbread by the door, and Mother Griselda went to the door,
and flung it open. She said, "Nibble, nibble, mousekin, who is nibbling at my housekin?" The young man bent
over chewing at the pastry shingle looked up. He was not just your average hunter. He was a nobleman,
perhaps even a prince. He was clad in yellow hose and green doublet. Now mind you, even in my day, such garb
was archaic. That's how I learned that fairies wander back and forth through time the way you and I walk to
and fro. The old evil witch interrogated the young man at length to determine who he was and from which time.
She was greatly concerned that Cthulu hadn't altered certain aspects of the timeline by fetching the young man
too her. He was a handsome man. If only I could have done something to save him, but I was just a girl, and
I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. I peered at him through over the window ledge. I
had never seen a codpiece before, I must confess I was slightly in awe of his manhood," Mother Goode confided.
"Before I knew it he was naked and lying on the kitchen table covered with flour, and then she produced a
rolling pin. I'm not sure if I even was aware of the spell that transformed him into dough. I had been so
disappointed to see that codpiece made his manhood look far larger than it was - oh, I shouldn't talk of such
things to a ten year old girl. I was thirteen at the time, and I had started thinking about men.
"Anyway, the hunter whose named was Edward was really only 13 too. His boots had lifts in them, and besides
padding his codpiece, his tailor had given him puffy shoulders on his sleeves to make him look broader in the
chest and shoulders than his 13 years belied. Griselda laughed as he lay their mesmerized by her or Gold
Tear's magic. She said, "Now I know what happened to one of the lost princes. Ah, but in your case your
highness, I should say king. I've never baked a king cookie before, this is quite an honor. Was your brother
Richard with you when the fairy pooka'd you?"
"He moaned as if trying to form the words in head full of dough, and that's precisely what he was by that
point. He was living, breathing, immobile dough. I honestly don't recall his answer. I had sat down and
pressed by back against the wall of the cottage, and pulled my knees up to my chest. That fluttering glittery
monster Cthulu had started to turn to look toward me. I'm sure it sensed me, but maybe not clearly, as I was
holding a iron trowel. The magnetism of iron clouds the fairy's powers. He may have thought I was miles away
coming back from the village, and not just outside the window...
It was all so confusing. The witch was Gretel Goode. But was she the good Gretel from the story, or was she
the monster Gold Tear described. Gold Tear was a fairy, but could she be the good beautiful creature she
appeared or was she the evil Cthulu in disguise. The wrong choice could lead to Jessica's downfall. She
needed to make the right decision, but how. Perhaps she could ask a question? Rick's memory drifted back to
logic class, and the story of the missionary at the two tribesmen. One always told the truth, one always
lied. He needed to know which one was the truth sayer, but could only ask one question. Except that didn't
apply here, both the witch and the fairy could tell truths and lies. Obviously, one or both of them were, but
how was Jessica to decide.
If she was wrong, she would end up either with her body stolen or as a gold tear in Cthulu's belly. Neither
prospect was too inviting. She stared soberly at her sandwich. She forced herself to take another bite. She
would need to keep her strength up.