The Magic Broom: A Story and craft for Halloween.
Once upon a time there was a good woman who lived by herself in a little cottage by the edge of a woods. She worked hard in her house and in her garden. She kept her house cosy and clean and, in her garden, she grew all manner of herbs and vegetables. And, because the woman worked so hard, her garden grew well for her giving her all that she needed. Any food that was left over she would give away to anyone who was poor and hungry and she used her herbs and her learning to help people who were sick. Because of this, all the people of the town loved her and called her a dear.
The only problem that the good woman had was that, try as she might, she could not keep the Autumn leaves from falling all over her vegetable patch. She was worried that if she could not keep the patch clear, then her vegetables would not get the sunlight they needed. So the woman took the finest of her ripe vegetables and, with these and some herbs, she made a delicious stew then she put the stew in a pot and went off to see the little people of the woods.
Now, as you may know, the little people of the woods will not appear for just anybody. They have very high standards and will only entertain the purest and most kind hearted of people but they knew of the good woman and of all that she did for the people of the town so, when she set down her pot and called to them, the oldest of the little wood people came out to greet her. The good woman told the little old wood man all about her problems with the leaves on her vegetable patch and he gladly decided to help her.
“Now my dear,” he said, and, as he spoke, he demonstrated his words, “you must take a good stout pole – one of a good size for you, as this is a good size for me. Next you must gather a bundle of twigs and surround the pole with them. Tie them as tightly as you can so that they will work as hard for you as you do for them” The little old wood man held up the besom broom that he had made and the good woman knew what she must do. She left the stew for the little people of the woods and then she gathered all that she needed to make her broom. Before the sun went down that evening, the woman had in her hand the finest besom broom that you ever did see.
The next morning she took it out and found, to her delight, that it caught up all the leaves so that she could move them off her vegetable patch and set them aside for turning into compost. Each morning she did the same, working hard for her crops and treating her broom well so that her broom came to love her as much as she loved it. So much so that, when one day the good woman caught the flu and could not work, the besom broom took it upon itself to do her sweeping for her.
Now, just down the road from the good woman, there was a wicked woman who was so full of meanness that everyone would run away from her and call her a witch. She was jealous of the good woman and said that it was the good woman herself who must be a witch to have her garden grown so well for her. Not only that she said that the good woman must have enchanted all the people of the town to make them love her so. Well, it just so happened that this wicked mean woman was walking past the good woman's house just as the broom was doing the sweeping.
“I knew it!” exclaimed the wicked woman, “that horrible neighbour of mine gets all the good stuff using magic. Well, I'll show her! This evening I shall go round for a cup of tea and I shall steal that magic broom away from her.”
So, that very evening, the wicked woman called on the good woman and the good woman, although still quite ill, invited her in for a cup of tea. The besom broom stood in the corner and watched the mean old woman suspiciously. He soon worked out that she was up to no good and that she planned to steal something from the good woman (although he couldn't work out what she planned to steal). “I'll not have this!” thought the besom broom to itself, “That mean old woman will not steal from my mistress! I will take her away as far as I can!” And, with that, the besom broom leapt up, caught the old woman between the legs and flew her out of the door, up into the sky and across the town.
So it was that those townsfolk who were looking up that evening saw the mean old woman flying on a broomstick across the sky and called out to each other “Come, look at this – the wicked old witch is flying on a broomstick!”
