A Year of Stories (Collection Three)

It Starts With, "Once Upon A Time"

It's always starts with Once Upon a Time.

That's how you know there's trouble.

That's how you know things are about to get bad.

You wake up one morning, swaddled in a quilt, rub the sleep from your eyes, kiss your sweet Sarai and her brother Jacob, walk to well to draw water, and discover that the quiet, old woman – the one who made Peach Pies in Winter, and never met a soul she didn't love – has become a Witch.

A real Witch, all cauldrons and crooked teeth.

Instead of smiling her warm smile, sitting on her stoop, in her chair; instead of turning pine nuts and fresh Apples into sweeties and tarts for the children – she is now a monster.

She eats children, eats them baked with pine nuts and fresh Apples, and you know, you know that if someone does not stop her – sweet Sarai and bother Jacob will be next.

What you don't know is why it happened, how it happened, how the quiet, old woman became a wicked Witch.

If you're lucky, very lucky, the Prince will arrive soon. After Once Upon a Time, it's only a matter of time before he arrives.

He will bring sword and shield and magic.

He will be on a quest.

You've seen it all before.

His love, a ravishing woman, pale white and ruby red, will have been stolen – taken from within the castle walls, or perhaps taken from her home in some nameless village named only by the Prince, and by Once Upon a Time.

The King's son will know, somehow know, that his Princess of white and red is here, here in the clutches of the Witch. He will promise the village, he will promise you, that this wicked woman – who until yesterday, until Once Upon a Time, made sweeties and tarts for the children – he will promise that she will fall to his sword, his shield and his magic.

The village will cheer, they will give him bread and meat, and send him on his way.

You've seen it all before.

There will be a great battle at the edge of town.

All the village will come out to see it, to watch their brave, strong Prince face down the evil Witch.

But you, you will remember, that before Once Upon a Time, before this all began, that the King's son – this Prince – this man, was not brave, not valiant, no, he was fat and ugly and mean. This golden haired god, with sword and shield and magic, was the laughing stock of the kingdom.

Now, with Once Upon a Time, he stands in glory.

There will be a trick and a trap and a rescue.

There will be moment when the Prince's life, when all of your lives, hang in the balance.

But you will not fear this moment, because you have seen it all before. Instead, you will wait in your home, wrapped in your quilt, with sweet Serai and brother Jacob.

You will keep them safe, because you know that in time, the Prince will return – hand in hand – with his Princess of white and red, that the Witch, that kind old woman, that monster, will have been slain somewhere past the village line.

You will know this, but you will not be there to see it.

Instead, you will kiss your children and tell them a tale, the one you know so well – like your parents and their parents before. You will teach them how quiet women can become wicked Witches, and how cowardly King's sons, can become valiant Princes.

You will teach them not to be afraid of battles at the edge of the village, because they always end the same way.

You will teach them that there is only one thing to fear.

You will teach them to fear, Once Upon a Time.