The Witch in the Woods

Not so long ago, in a village not too far away, lived a lady called Anna.

Anna was in her 30's, and had moved to the village only a few years ago, but was already very popular, and fitted in well. She'd moved there from London, where she'd lived a fast-paced, high-stress lifestyle. She'd enjoyed it for a while, but then her late 20's hit and she thought 'bugger this for a laugh, I want some peace and quiet, and a cat'.

So, Anna quit her job, bought a lovely cottage in the middle of a village, and got herself a black and white kitten called Edgar. He was only referred to as Edgar in polite company. All other occasions, he was Bumhole. Anna had already saved up some money, and had begun to set up her own business by the time she moved. She made lovely soaps, candles, waxed food wraps, perfumes and myriad other lovely things, all quaintly wrapped and packaged to appeal to the Posh Sods in the Big Cities who would buy them at a high price for their 'cute country charm'. She was doing rather well for herself.

The village where Anna lived was pretty small, even by village standards. It had two too many houses to be classed as a Hamlet, which gives you an idea just how small it was. It had a lovely little pub with a thatched roof, and a village store which also doubled as a post office. That was about it. Everyone said hello to everyone else, and it was all perfectly pleasant.

When news of the impending Plague arrived, Anna made sure was well prepared. She had a veg patch, and grew fresh herbs in her window planters. She had a couple of chickens, too, so made sure she'd stocked up on things for them, although they mostly ate the leaves on her rhubarb plant, and foraged for... whatever they could find. She stocked up on the essentials, and looked forward to keeping herself busy with her work. Someone in the village had set up a Community group on Facebook, so they could all keep in touch, and help each other out, if needed. Everyone stood on their doorsteps, or in the gardens on Thursday's at 8pm, and joined in the clapping and cheering for the NHS.

One day, Anna read a post on the community page about the old lady who lived in the woods, which bordered the village to the South and East. This was the first Anna had ever heard about a lady who lived alone in the woods. She asked who the lady was, and was told ‘a witch’. Not the green skinned, child eating, cackling type of witch (OK, maybe a tiny bit of cackling), more just an old lady who lives on her own, grows a load of herbs and talks to herself. Oh, and worships the Pagan gods, but she's no bother and keeps to herself, so that's all OK. No one had seen or heard from her, and someone had said they hoped she was OK. Oh, but she did have a wolf, so everyone was very wary about going there.

Anna volunteered to go and check on her. She was sure that the wolf-thing was just a story that local kids had made up, and didn’t worry about it. She decided to put together a small care package to take with her. She'd made several wicker baskets in the last few weeks, which she was very proud of, so she grabbed one of those to fill. She'd just baked a fresh loaf of bread, so she carefully wrapped it, and placed it in one of the baskets. She added some fresh eggs, a small pack of dried pasta, some carrots, potatoes and a cauliflower. She thought for a moment, then added a pack of butter and a jar of pasta sauce, too. A quick rummage in her 'booze cupboard' turned up a small bottle of sherry, which had come as part of a gift set, and was something she would never, ever be desperate enough to drink. She added that, along with a bar of home-made soap. Satisfied, she laced up her black Doc Martens, chucked on her red hoody, and headed out of the door.

At this point, Anna hadn't gone further than her garden for at least 3 weeks, and so she felt slightly odd to step beyond her gate and out into the street. Looking around, she saw the odd dog walker, and waved from a distance. It was all eerily quiet, even for a village as small as hers. She set off towards the woods. She wasn't 100% sure where the old lady’s house was, but she'd seen it on Satellite images, and had her maps ready on her phone, in case she got really lost. The sun was shining, but there was a slight chill in the air, so she was glad to be wearing her lovely red hoody, especially in the shade of the trees. The birds were singing loudly, and somewhere, a wood pecker was trying it’s best to give her a headache.

About 20 minutes into her journey, Anna realised that the wicker basket, whilst good for around the home, was a bloody nightmare for lugging heavy items through the woods. A backpack would have been a much better idea.

She stopped for a quick rest, and to allow the blood to return to her hands. She sat on a convenient tree stump, and enjoyed being in the middle of the woods. She heard a snuffling sound, the crackling of leaves and twigs under foot, and turned to see where it was coming from. Something very large, with grey, shaggy fur was in the bushes. She couldn't see it fully, but it looked to be part of the canine family. It was a short distance away, and hadn't yet spotted her.

She looked around, assuming that someone had let their dog off the lead, but she couldn't see anyone else, nor could she hear any worried calling of names, offers of treats or threats of baths. This is interesting, thought Anna. She was a practical soul, not one to lose her head when on her own, in the woods, with what looked very much like a wolf just a short leaping distance away. She sat quietly and wondered what to do. Hopefully, it would snuffle its way off and not notice her. Otherwise, she was fairly sure that Plan A: distracting it with a large cauliflower, would not, in fact, be all that successful. Bugger, she thought. Should have brought some sausages. Rookie mistake.

She decided to sit very still, stay quiet, and wait and see what happened. She didn't really have much choice in the matter, but she suspected that blundering about and startling a bloody great big furry thing with, she assumed, large teeth, was not the best idea.

And so, she sat on her tree stump, which was becoming less comfy by the moment, and watched. The big grey furred beastie continued to snuffle through the bushes, getting closer to Anna. It really was enormous. It emerged from the undergrowth, looked straight at Anna with large brown eyes, head cocked to one side, pink tongue lolling out from a big mouth full of large, white teeth.

'Why Grandma, what big, beautiful eyes you have' said Anna, softly, focusing on the positives.

The wolfhound, for of course it wasn’t a wolf in the Ridings of Yorkshire, wagged its' tail and trotted over. It was lean, but not skinny, and seemed to be in good health. It did not have a collar, but its fur wasn't matted, and it was clearly used to people, as it sat down in front of Anna and, she thought, tried very hard not be intimidating. Anna held out a hand, which was rewarded with a sniff of approval, a lick and finally a nudge for an ear scritch. Anna obliged.

The wolfhound noticed the basket, and gave it a cursory sniff, but did not rummage around. No sausages, thought Anna. It really was a very well behaved wolf, sorry, dog. She stretched, and the dog, who she mentally named 'Wolfy', stood up, wagging its tail. She surreptitiously checked for gender, and discovered that Wolfy was a she. 'Good girl' she said, and patted Wolfy on the head.

'I have to go and visit someone, you can come with me if you like, and then we can try and find where you live.' Wolfy wagged her tail. Anna bent to pick up the dreaded picnic basket and when she stood, Wolfy had already trotted a little way down the path, and was waiting for Anna to follow. At least Wolfy was headed in the right direction. Anna set off after her, with Wolfy walking ahead, then waiting, then setting off again. A short time later, Anna came to a large hedgerow, with a beautifully carved wooden gate, which she assumed meant she’d reached her destination. She couldn't see anything on the other side, the hedgerow was so high. Wolfy trotted forward and nudged the gate open with her nose, and Anna followed her into the garden beyond.

And what a garden! Filled with flowers and bees, herbs and hedgerows, fruit trees and veg patches. It was what Anna's garden aspired to be when it grew up. She could hear a low droning sound, and thought there must be bee hives somewhere. Further back, she saw a low stone house with an old thatched roof, peeking from behind blossoming fruit trees.

The house itself looked ancient. The roof was pointed and crooked, and the door was made of old oak with iron rivets, which looked like as if it had turned as hard as stone. It really did look like every witch’s house you'd ever heard stories of. It was incredible.

As she stood, admiring her surroundings, she got the feeling she was being watched. Not by the dog, who was trotting up the path, but by someone else. She looked more closely, and saw the top half of a woman, partly obscured by huge rosemary bushes.

Anna waved and said hello, and the woman stood up and smiled. She was, Anna guessed, in her late 70’s, and quite petite. She wore her grey hair in a long plait down her back, and her clothes, a plain shirt and cotton trouers, were good quality, but well worn. The wolfhound stopped next to her, standing as tall as the woman’s shoulders.

Anna introduced herself, and explained why she’d come. ‘How very kind of you. I’m Agnes, and this is Ylva. It means she-wolf. She’s likes to go off exploring, tries to make friends with the squirrels, but I don’t think she quite understands why they hide from her.’

Anna placed the basket on the ground, so she maintained her social distance of at least 2 metres, and to her surprise, Ylva walked forward, picked it up by the handle, and took it into the house through the open door. Agnes laughed at her expression. The two women chatted for a while, and Anna learned that Agnes had lived here since her husband died almost twelve years ago. She liked the peace and quiet, and used to get lonely, until Ylva came along. She still did, sometimes. She knew that an old lady, living in the middle of the woods with a wolf(hound) was odd, and people viewed her as a witch, but she was mostly quite happy. She loved her gardening and found it peaceful living there. She didn’t have any other family, never had children, and as she and her husband had moved around a lot, she didn’t have any local friends. She got the occasional letter in the mail from distant friends in fair-off places, but that was about it. Agnes had heard about the lockdown from listening to the radio, and so hadn’t wanted to venture out anywhere. She had no one to call, and didn’t have TV or internet. Anna promised to visit her at least once a week, and offered to bring her anything that she may need. Agnes was very touched, and said that would be lovely.

Before she left, Agnes went inside and brought out a couple of jars of honey for Anna to take home, which she said came from the hives around the back of her house. She had so many jars of it, she didn’t know what to do with it all. This gave Anna an idea.

When Anna got home, she posted on the Community group about Agnes and Ylva. She told everyone about the lovely local honey which Agnes had, and offered to bring some back, if anyone would like any? She also said that she would be visiting once a week, and so if anyone would like her to take anything up for Agnes, she would leave a box outside her house.

By the time Anna’s next visit was due, the box was full! People had written cards, added books, knitted blankets, donated dog toys and treats, and some had even snuck in some home-brewed beer. When Anna visited and gave all the lovely things to her, Agnes cried tears of joy. Even though she was so far away from everyone, she suddenly felt part of the community. She gave Anna enough honey for everyone in the village, and said she STILL had so much left.

Over the coming weeks and months, the villagers and Agnes were sending each other lots of different things, from eggs, to veg, gin to honey, all through Anna. And they wrote letters and stories and poems to each other. On the day lockdown was lifted, Agnes came out into her garden to find it full of her new friends from the village, who’d all come to say hello and meet her in person. Agnes had lots of visitors from then on, and Ylva often hid in the woods, for fear of being taken out on yet another long walk in the country, by the local kids.