The Heart of a Healer

Chapter 5

Yew

Possible cancer treatment. leaves create an insecticidal smoke that repels gnats and mosquitoes. A cooled leaf can be applied to soothe twitching in animals. 

...

Katherina

After the boring and uncomfortable night yesterday, I yearned to get out of the house. I wanted to see Ester and tell her about the boy I healed. Maybe she would have a stronger medicinal herb for him to relive his pain. I secretively also wanted to see him again.

I ran out of my room almost knocking Freya off her feet. I pushed past the hallway and into the kitchens to see Mariana. I kissed her on the cheek, grab an apple for my breakfast, and sprinted out of the house.

I ran past the long grass that was swaying with the wind. I spread my arms out to feel the tips of it tickle my arms as I ran past it, feeling the freedom as I ran. I slowed my pace as I reached the perimeter of the woods and looked back at my home. In the distance, I saw chickens fighting over scraps of food, ducks running after a man who crossed over their territory, and slaves working on various tasks.

I looked over to the fields of working slaves. instantly spotting Mika using the whip viciously. And then I spotted him. Vitaly, the boy I helped yesterday. He looked exhausted and drenched in sweat. I had to hold myself back from running to him. Frowning to myself, I turned around and walked into the woods on my way to Esters's cottage.

As I opened the door, I saw Ester working at her table. The small windows at the side of the room illuminated her work station where she had a mortar in front of her and a pestle in hand. She was grinding up something into a green mash. I walked over to her and she smiled at me. "Good morning Katya," she said. Too curious about what she was working on I quickly greeted her and then asked "Ester if you don't mind me asking what are you working on today?".

Without looking at me, Ester picked up a branch and asked me, "Do you know what this is?". I looked at the branch she was holding in her hands. The berries on it looked familiar, and the leaves that poked off its stem sparked a memory "Yew tree" I replied. Ester took my hands and guided me towards the mortar and instructed me to continue to mash the Yew leaves into a paste.

Ester then took a thin cloth and put my paste into it wrapping the ends of the cloth together to make a poultice. She then lead me to the goat that I did not realize was on the other side of the room. She placed the poultice containing the yew paste and tied it to the goats back leg. "Remember when we worked with the chicken and you asked me what the white strings were?" Ester asked.

"Yes" I replied, "you told me that they were called nerves and they help you sense your surroundings giving you awareness"

Pleased with my answer Ester continued "this goat has been having muscle twitches in her leg, I made a Yew leaf poultice for her to ease her nerves to reduce the twitching"

I smiled at Ester and we both went back to her table where she continued shuffling the various concoctions she had.

"Is there something you wish to ask me, Katya?" Ester asked.

Nervously I told her about the slave boy I ran into and how I tried to heal his injuries. I told her about the whip marks on his back and the cuts and bruises all over his arms. I explained to her how I gave him willow bark to ease the pain and asked her if she had anything that could help his injuries heal faster.

Her eyes began to scan the various herbs she had hanging around the room. She picked out a few and began to take various pieces of roots, flower petals, leaves, and berries. She placed them on her cutting board and began to cut them very fine. She pulled out a small vile and pored a viscous syrupy solution into it, and then placed a little box in front of her cutting board to scoop the herbal mixture she made in.

With concern in her eyes, she gave me a basket in which she placed the vials of medicine in and then went to one of her many bookshelves to retrieve an old book. She placed it in the basket and covered it with an old cloth.

"Katya, I can see the worry in your eyes. Go heal the boy and come back tomorrow. I put one of my medicinal books in the basket to keep your mind busy". She then instructed me on how to use the poppy oil and the herbal mixture to help heal the boy's injuries.

I grabbed the basket and thanked Ester. She has truly been a mother to me and has helped me and every way a true mother should. I started my walk back home with the book in my hand. I was reading the pages eagerly learning about various herbs.

The drawings depicted in the book helped with the identification. But the different uses of each medicinal herb was mindblowing. 

The book was very organized. The hand-drawn pictures and the organized writing, I instantly knew that this was one of Ester's books. All the medicinal herbs that she found in the woods. As I walked along the trail home I was able to identify a few of the herbs depicted in the book and learned about their uses.

As I approached the fields where the slaves were still hard at work my heart sank as Mika was whipping someone ruthlessly. I dropped the book and the basket and began to run. Not knowing what I would do but I kept pushing my legs to keep going. Each bark of the whip brought fear and anger into me, and as I reached Mika I saw who he was whipping.