February 22, 1892
Dear Alena,
You will never guess what just happened to me earlier tonight. This lady just knocked on my door and when I opened it, she just let herself in. She introduced herself as "the witch with one horn" and she actually did have only one horn! I was mesmerized by her forehead and couldn't look away! It was all I could do to step aside as she burst forth through the door.
She then sat down and started talking about other women and, lo and behold, there was another knock on the door. Then, the weirdest thing happened. It was like I was in a trance and, before I could even think about it, I had stood up and walked to the door to let yet another woman came into my house! This time, she introduced herself as "the Witch of two horns" and, as you would guess, she actually did have two horns.
This continued for the longest time. Each time there was a knock, I immediately stood up and would open the door. It's like I couldn't control my own body...
This madness finally stopped when there were twelve women in my house! Each had one horn than the one before. So, the last woman had twelve horns. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced.
I finally decided to go to bed because they were so busy carding wool. I ended up having to just leave them in my living room since they were making no motions to leave! Hopefully they will be gone in the morning.
Thoughtfully yours,
Keelin
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| The Horned Women Illustration by: John D. Batten (1892) |
February 24, 1892
Dear Alena,
The women are still here! I thought they would be leaving but they won't! Last night, I really thought I was going to die. They are so menacing with their many horns. But, besides all of that, last night got even weirder. I really cannot explain what has been happening, but I will do my best. You probably will not believe me, but I promise I am telling the truth.
So, the witches decided last night that they wanted cake. So, I had to go to the well to fetch water to make it. When I got to the well, I realized the sieve had a hole in it, so I couldn't bring back any water. Of course, I was completely freaking out because if I didn't bring back the water for the cake, the witches were going to be extremely angry. Then, all of a sudden I heard this mysterious voice from behind me, telling me what to do to fix the sieve. Then, they went into great detail as to how to rid my house of the witches. It knew exactly what to do and all of a sudden I felt very strong and compelling. Like I had been possessed by this other being.
When I returned home, I followed the exact steps that the voice told me. When the witches returned to the house, they could not get in and they were forced to flee! I am so relieved! I have been terrified for so many days!
I cannot wait to visit soon to go into more details about these strange events! Please come visit soon.
Best,
Keelin
Author's Note: I wrote my story based of off The Horned Women from the Celtic Fairy Tales unit. My story follows pretty closely until the end. The original story goes into many more details about the spirit of the well and how the witches were denied entrance from the house. I also made the story more personal by using the first person. In the original story, the narrator understands what is happening. For example, when the spirit of the well possesses the woman, they know what is going on. However, in my version, the protagonist is unclear as to what is happening to themselves. Since the story was so bizarre to me, I thought I would express that through my storytelling.
Bibliography: The Horned Women from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892).
