The unsuspecting witch

Chapter 1 and 2

Chapter 1

It was a morning like any other.

The first rays of sunlight were already making their way across the land and the cool night air brought everyone awake. A new morning dawned, a morning that would bring meaning to the people in this story.

You must know that at that time, people were very different from us.

It was normal for them to go to the fields early in the morning, work hard there, and then light their way home late in the evening with flickering candlelight. Back then, life was very tough. Most people were poor and one time, when a rainy season destroyed the crop, many had to go to bed with growling stomachs. However, to counteract a real famine, the small village of Gelderland, where our story begins, had something special in mind. There was a sort of storage where all the farmers brought in one-sixth of their harvest. Should a famine come again, the grains would be fairly divided among the villagers.

Gelderland was a prosperous village compared to others and its people were fine. Most of the

houses were built of solid bricks and thatched roofs that were renewed every two years to make sure they were holding the rain out.

Gelderland was a very small, manageable village and apart from the blacksmith, the baker, and the priest, almost every family had their own farm, most of them owning cows, pigs, sheep, and

chickens. Most of the people in the village were farmers who were generally good at feeding and caring for themselves. The few items that they could not produce or grow themselves, they acquired by trade and exchange. For example, knives, swords, kettles, or spoons could be exchanged by the blacksmith for grains and eggs. More fancy things such as fabrics or candles could be purchased from the travelling dealers, who pulled their horse-drawn carriages through Gelderland every few months at irregular intervals and offered their goods.

At most, there were only a few dealers and they seldom came to the town because Gelderland was in the midst of a huge deciduous forest.

The narrow, stony, and winding roads could only be travelled under great hardships. At that time, there were no paved roads as we know them. For longer trips, people used horse-drawn carriages, but even these moved very slowly.

The people of the time called this majestic and far-reaching mixed forest Lutizienwald. Many years ago, the young noble Lutizie is said to have gotten lost in the forest while mushrooming and wandered around for days without any sense of direction, until she was finally rescued by a brave nobleman who she then married. At their wedding, the nobleman gave the forest to his bride as a gift and named it after her. As time passed, this story had been told so many times that everyone in the village believed it.

I already mentioned that there was also a priest in Gelderland. But he was not just another man of the clergy. Pastor Jophius Drahbegg was someone very special and if there was someone who knew everything about everyone in Gelderland, it was him.

Older, but a very good-natured, wisdom-grey haired man with watchful, brown eyes, he was always surrounded by a powerful aura that silenced even the most rebellious crowd. This gift was invaluable in his profession, for when he preached in the church, no one dared to whisper or be inattentive.

Drahbegg was able to captivate audiences of all ages during his sermons.

Every Sunday, he stood in front of the congregation, telling stories and Bible parables. He always used a simple, clear language, because he wanted everyone to understand the Bible.

He spoke of god, the angels, and the devil as lovingly and figuratively as possible. People liked listening to him, so it was not surprising that every mass was usually filled to the last seat. Drahbegg was very respected in Gelderland and was often invited to dinner by various families – which he always accepted gladly.