Week 11 Story: The Witch Who Saved Herself

 

Image of Babbity Rabbity

     Once upon a time, there was a witch named Babbity Rabbity who lived in a charming house. She loved practicing her magic. She had to do it in secret, however. For these were the days of the Witch Trials, and any person accused of practicing witchcraft was usually killed.

     One day she was practicing her magic as usual, and she thought she was doing it secretly enough, but a sliver of her curtain was open. A young man, who had been passing close by her house as he did everyday, glanced into her window and witnessed her reciting incantations. Face paling with horror, he ran to the town leader to tell him what he had observed. The leader, angry and frightened, rounded up the townsfolk and went to her house.

     The witch, surprisingly, didn't deny the accusations. She was a witch and she was proud of it. She was a kind witch, who had never hurt anyone with her magic. They gathered around her, offering suggestions for what to do with her. "Hang her!" one townsperson said. "Drown her!" Said another. Finally, one person said "Burn her at the stake!" Now the witch happened to know of a spell that could render the flames harmless. In fact, the spell left her with a tickling sensation. So when someone mentioned flames, she cried out. "No! Have mercy on me, good people. Do not burn me at the stake. That is the utmost torture for a witch." The townspeople, seeing her fear at this suggestion, all agreed to burn her at the stake.

    Babbity Rabbity was then tied to the stake built on a large pyre. The leader of the town held a torch in hand. As the man approached her, she quickly muttered an incantation that would render the flames harmless to her. The man lit the pyre and the flames leaped up towards her. As the flames touched her, it only tickled, a sure sign that the spell had worked. Babbity Rabbity was ticklish, so she shrieked as the flames licked at her, but not from pain. The townsfolk, thinking that she screaming because she was burning alive, left the pyre, satisfied.

    When the last of the townsfolk had gone and she deemed it safe, she transfigured herself to disguise her features and leaped down from the pyre. She walked through the town back to her house. She was even able to pass by a couple of townsfolk that were still walking about without arousing the slightest suspicion. She reached her house and quietly entered. With a sweep of her wand she packed all her belongings into a small suitcase. With a smile, she turned about and exited her house just as quietly as she had come. She would move to another town, and no one would ever know she was still alive. "Fools," she muttered with a grin. "They had no idea that the flames couldn't harm a real witch."

Authors Note: I based this story loosely on the story How the Turtle Saved His Own Life. As I was reading this story I remembered something from Harry Potter. During the Witch Trials people were often burned at the stake. But in the Harry Potter Universe, flames often didn't affect real witches because they knew a flame-freezing spell which rendered the flames harmless to them. In fact, it often tickled, so the witches would scream because they were being tickled rather than being in pain. There was one witch, who enjoyed the tickling sensation so much that she would let herself get caught many times, all under different disguises. And Babbity Rabbity was a name of a witch that I remembered from Harry Potter, so I used that name. I hope you enjoyed this story!

Bibliography. "How the Turtle Saved His Own Life" by Ellen C. Babbit. Web Source.