A long time ago, there lived a very wicked and greedy woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. When she learned of the death of a very wealthy merchant’s wife, she decided she would marry the man and live a life of luxury. She immediately set her cap on him, and because she was blessed with abnormal beauty, it did not take her long to get her claws into the merchant’s heart, especially since he was so bereaved. People were a bit surprised when the merchant married the evil woman only a few months after his wife’s death, but he was so grateful for the false comfort she provided as a mother to his young son that he did not notice the disapproval of those around him.
Once they were married, the evil woman went straight to work
on getting as much wealth from the merchant as she could. She had all new clothes made for herself and
her own son, and every Saturday the two of them rode about town in a most
opulent carriage buying useless trinkets and eating at the finest
establishments in town. She threw
parties all the time, hiring the best caterers and the most expensive
musicians. She insisted monthly on a new
piece of jewelry from her husband to celebrate their “monthly” anniversary. To all of these things, and more, the
merchant never said a word.
Yet it was not enough for the greedy woman. She began to think of what she would do and
how much she would have if her wealthy husband accidentally died. After all, she reasoned, his first wife had
died and maybe he would as well. The
merchant assured her that she and her son were written into his Will and that
they would be handsomely gifted upon his death.
Still, this was not enough for the woman because she began to think that
the merchant’s own son might get too much money and she wanted to have all of
that for herself and her son.
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| Pines bowing with the weight of the snow. |
Her greed got the better of her as it always did, and she
came up with a plan to get rid of the boy.
One very cold day when the merchant was out of town, she led the boy far
out into the woods, telling him she required his help in finding some
wintergreen, his father’s favorite seasoning, which she intended to bake into a
cake for his birthday. She put him into
a very thin coat while she herself wore a very warm fur cape. They wandered for some time in the late afternoon
and the boy complained of the cold. The woman
told him to sit under a tree and she would look for the wintergreen and then
come back for him. He did as he was
told, feeling very cold and very tired.
She warned him not to leave the tree or she wouldn’t be able to find him
on the way back.
Then she left him and went some distance away where she
could still see him, although he did not know he was being watched. She saw him shivering violently with the cold and then
finally calm down and drift off to sleep.
Then she hurried back home in the waning light, confident in her
plan. When she got in, she ordered hot
soup from the cook, which she said she would be bringing straight to the young
boy’s room as he had caught a cold while out with her and she had sent him straight
to bed. No one suspected a thing,
thinking she was just doing her motherly duties. When she got to the boy’s room, she ate the
soup herself and then brought the bowl down to the kitchen. She told the staff not to disturb the poor
boy’s sleep.
During the night a terrible snowstorm came up and covered
the entire town as well as the woods in thick white snow. This made the woman secretly very happy
because she knew there was no way the boy could have survived the storm. In the morning when the merchant came back
from his trip, she greeted him warmly with smiles and false concern for his
welfare. Together they were enjoying a
wonderful breakfast when a maid ran into the dining room shouting that the merchant’s
son was missing. There was mass confusion
and everyone asked who had the seen the boy last. The woman volunteered that she had seen him
last when she brought him soup after he had caught a cold while he was out with
her collecting wintergreen in the woods.
The cook said she remembered the woman had brought soup to him.
After the house and barns were searched thoroughly, everyone
donned their warmest clothes and headed outside, yelling and shouting the boy’s
name. All along the woman kept wringing
her hands and saying that she hoped he had not left the house early that
morning to go pick more wintergreen. She
explained to all who would listen that both she and the boy wanted to surprise
the merchant with a wonderfully-flavored cake for his birthday, but she
certainly hoped he did not go out alone in the morning. The merchant patted her hand and thanked her
for her thoughtfulness.
Getting more and more worried as time wore on, the merchant
asked his wife to show them exactly where she and the boy had been the day
before, and she was only too happy to do so.
Now, of course, all of the winter woodland Good Folk had seen what
happened the day before, and they knew the evil in this woman’s heart. It was slow going for the search party because
the snow was at least a foot deep, and the fairies decided they would use this
to their advantage. They followed the
merchant around and every time he paused, they would shake a great pine laden
with snow, which would fall directly on him, covering him with cold snow.
On and on it went.
Every time they paused for a moment, the fairies would deliver a load of
snow from a heavily-laden pine tree. “I
can’t see anything with all this snow!” the merchant yelled, “How much
farther??” The woman explained that they
were almost there, that it was just over a nearby hill. They all grouped together and decided to take
the snowy hill hand in hand to help each other.
The fairies immediately stopped dropping all the snow. The people all trudged onward in an eerie
silence. The merchant remarked how
smooth and perfect and untouched the landscape was now that the trees were not
dropping snow on him.
When they reached the top of the hill, one of the servants
noticed a tiny snow-covered lump sitting under a tree. Everyone halted and looked at the merchant as
they could easily make out some of the color from the child’s coat. No one said a word. No one moved.
Everyone knew what it meant. The
merchant stood there staring at his child.
He stared at the snow-laden pines above the child that almost protected
him from the worst of the snow. He saw
all the snow-laden trees around the child.
Lastly he looked at the deep snow surrounding the whole area. Everything was pristine and white and perfect
and untouched.
And that was what bothered him, although he wasn’t sure why
at first. The servants went to go to the
tree but the merchant stopped them. He
turned to the woman and asked, “Is this where you two were yesterday?”
“Yes! This is the
very spot,” she said, “and he even sat there for a bit while I searched for
some wintergreen.” She cried as she said
this but the merchant was unmoved.
“And did you find any wintergreen?” he asked.
“None, but I told him we would come out again today. He must have decided to go on his own this
morning to surprise you.” She cried as
she said this, but again the merchant was unmoved.
“And then the two of you came home?” he asked.
“We did!” she cried, “and I brought the poor boy soup
because he had caught a chill. I put him
to bed myself!”
The merchant stared at his wife for a long time. The servants all just stared at one another,
wondering if their master had lost his mind.
Finally, the merchant spoke.
“But you will all see,” he said, “how pristine the landscape
is.” Everyone readily nodded. “How odd that the boy would choose his thin
spring coat,” he mused, “when we have had such bitterly cold weather and he has
a fine warm coat. And isn’t it stranger
still that we have seen not one footprint of that child in the woods? Indeed, look at him. He did not recently walk here. The snow is perfect all around him, and the
snow-covered trees have sheltered that area, and still there is not one
footprint in the snow. Not one tree has
released its snow to bury him. In fact,
it seems as though the trees were trying to protect him.”
Then everyone stared coldly at the woman. She backed up slowly, protesting her
innocence, calling upon the cook and anyone who would listen. But the evidence was as plain as day, and
soon she stopped saying anything but just continued to back away, staring
wildly at the crowd. No one said a word
as she backed further and further away into a stand of nearby pines. The merchant told her to stay there and
she had better not even dare to move a muscle.
She was so frightened that she did as she was told.
Then everyone turned from her and went to gather the child’s
body and bring him home. His father wept
bitterly as he held him, and everyone was struck with grief. As they made to leave, a great rumbling was
heard in the woods. They looked over to
where the sound had come from. It was
directly where the woman had been just a few minutes before, although she was
nowhere to be found. Instead, it seemed
as though a hill of snow had just fallen.
No one went to investigate. No
one said a word. They all slowly went
back to the merchant’s home.
High above in the trees, the Good Folk sat after shaking the
mighty pines. A large mound of very
heavy snow stood perfectly silent in the woods.
Springtime would bring an interesting sight and different emotions, but
for now the Lords of Winter ruled in an icy white world of evergreens.
