Once I went to a rural German village to see an old medicine woman that was rumored to have never failed to heal any single one of her patients. I waited outside her door at the crick of dawn clutching my grandmother’s prayer beads and hoping she would do the same for me. The other villagers had warned me that she hadn’t helped anyone in years but I was desperate and willing to beg. The sun was now directly overhead and still I stood waiting for her to open her door and notice me standing in front of her doorstep. The villagers came by around evening bringing offerings of food and pleading with me to leave the forest before nightfall. I ignored them and sat down deciding I could be just as stubborn if not more than an old woman.

The waxing crescent moon was shining brightly when a mangy, red fox padded up into the the clearing and plopped down beside me.

“Little lady, you must have some secret weapon if you’re confident enough to spend a night in this forest”, the fox tittered.

“Nope, I just really need to see the medicine woman”, I replied. The fox grabbed his stomach and fell to his side guffawing with raucous laughter.

“Is that soo? Well then let me save you the trouble and just eat you”, the fox smirked and braced his legs while I stood up and lifted up my cloak. The fox shrieked and ran into the forest and I sat back down just as the sun called in another day. Again the old woman refused to show herself and the villagers appeared asking me to turn back until nightfall. Once again another animal appeared out of the woods, this time a silver furred wolf appeared and he didn’t even bother hiding the saliva running down the sides of his lips. He walked right up to me and sat himself down.

“Little lady, you must have some really great weapon if you managed to drive the fox away”, the wolf complimented.

“Not really”, I replied, keeping my eyes glued to the little wooden house. The wolf pretended to look offended and stood up and started pacing around me.

“Come now, you can trust me. I’ve already had my dinner. You must have used something against that dumb fox”, the wolf crooned.

“You’ll regret it once you see”, I warned. The wolf laughed at this and boasted that he wasn’t dumb enough to fall for anything that scared the fox. I sighed and lifted my cloak and the wolf’s sneer automatically dropped as he turned tail and bolted away. I turned back toward the little wooden house and kept waiting for another day. After the wolf, no one showed up for a few more days and I grew worn and haggard from the lack of sleep and food. I pinched myself awake and when that no longer worked I kicked myself.

Finally, I decided to kick down her door and force her to listen to me and I stomped right up to her door. I was just lifting my foot when she swung it open and stood before me. An old woman that barely came up to my waist and was squinting at me through watery green eyes.