Book of Myths and Legends

Book One - The Boy Who Lives In The Forest

The morning was cold, chilling to the bone with frost in the heart of winter, but even in winter there was a boy, a boy who lived in a forest of northern Germany, he was about 16 years of age and living alone, completely alone, no parent to protect him, nor feed him. The young boy's name is Wolfgang, He awoke this cold morning with his breath almost freezing once it left is mouth, his toes so cold it felt as if it was touched by the dead of winter itself, he could hardly feel his toes when attempting so stand up. He put his moccasins on and proceeded to his daily duties.

Wolfgang always preforms his day on exactly the same routine: wake up, eat, clean, and get prepared to head out for the day. This day was particularly difficult because Wolfgang had little food to eat and needed to go hunting. So he grabbed his bow and quiver along with the rest of his gear and ate the rest of the food he had left and proceeded to get up and leave, Wolfgang walked out his hut and started heading towards his normal hunting post, but just after walking a few feet remembered that he had lost a few arrows from the previous hunting trip, so he took the quiver off his back to check how many arrows he had. As he counted he realized he was short seven arrows, he preferred to carry at least twenty, he remembered that a previous hunting trip was cut short by a lack of arrows.

Wolfgang decided it would be best to get some flint from a river nearby that has a wealth of flint for arrows, but he was hesitant to go there because it was one of the coldest places to go in the winter and the last time he went there got frostbite on his ears, which lead him to almost losing one of his ears, but after a minute of standing in the cold decided it was best for his trip, "I would need to get them later anyway" he thought to himself and started going downhill towards the river.

On the way to the river he heard a sound coming from the river, not a sound of running water but laughter, he didn't know what he was hearing, he guessed it was either a deer or just his imagination, for no one comes around this part of Germany, its thought to be inhospitable with danger.

Once Wolfgang got to the river he looked for flint to start collecting, he started further down stream and headed up collecting flint one by one, before he knew it he had ten, then twenty, then thirty, he was surprised at his luck, since usually winter is harder to get some flint, mainly because most of the flint was in the river bed, but this time there where tons on the bank of the river.

Once Wolfgang collected enough, he decided to start heading back to his hut, but he heard the sound again, the sound of wicked laughter, coming from right behind him towards the river, he turned around and it suddenly stopped. He was confused, "maybe it was a mating call of some sort from a deer, or just the wind in the tree's" he thought. Once deciding that it was nothing of peculiar interest he turned back around, but jumped back on the ground in fear, for there was this wicked, ghoulish pale lady standing right in front of him.

"You shouldn't be out here at this time, you know what's out here don't you?" the wicked lady said in a high pitched clawed voice. "N-no" he said in response with a terrified voice, "Who are you?" he asked trembling with fear, the lady just starred at him with a mask of eeriness on her face, "W-what the hell do you want?" he proceeded to ask while attempting to stand up from the icy snow, the only response he got was cynical laughter, the same laughter he heard from behind him, at this point he was completely upright unsure of the woman's intent. She continued laughing as he started to back away, at this point going towards the river. "What do you want!" he screamed while stumbling towards the river. The lady did nothing but just slowly start following after him, he started to run towards down stream but she blocking him even running that way, he then tried running up but she still stood there, he was surrounded by this lady on all sides, "W-what do you want with me?" he asked trembling in fear.

"What do I want? What do I want?!" The wicked lady said yelling. "I want you're soul!" she screamed, she then proceeded to move her hand lightly in a dancing motion, "What are you doing?!" he asked. She had no response just continued to dance her hands around when suddenly roots sprang out of the ground, "What the hell?" he exclaims. The roots proceed to grab him pulling him down to the cold, icy banks of the river. The lady then advances to Wolfgang, then with her bony pale hand, punched through his sternum. She then started to say something in a language he didn't understand, "Hominis animam meam ad vitam, et in tenebris, et non in perpetuum", Then she pulled out a glowing orb, "W-w-what is tha-tha-that?" Wolfgang said as if he was broken, "You're soul" the wicked lady said crushing the orb until it burst.

Wolfgang's eyes at that moment and no later went still from once was once shaking in fear, for he had no more fears, his struggling stopped, he just went blank, he didn't even go to cover his hole in his chest, for he has lost the luxury of death. He was just still, no movement, nor emotion, The wicked lady proceeded to use the roots and throw him in the river, he didn't fight, he just went along with the roots and went into the river where he flowed down stream.

People to this day say they see the wicked lady, "The Witch Of The Forest" they call her. And there have even been reports of Wolfgang's body haunting the river, forever to remain alive floating down the frozen stream with no soul.