The Gypsy Woman and the Devil
This is an old Roma folk story. I am merely re-telling it from my own imagination.
In a time long ago when only the Roma people shed tears, there was a poor Gypsy woman with her 13 children. They were so poor that the children slept from morning till night so that they would not be pained by hunger.
One day the woman looked at her hungry children and decided enough was enough. She put on her finest garments of which she only had one! A fine handkerchief and beautiful dress. She kissed the picture of her departed love and jumped over his green hat 3 times for good luck. Then after kissing each child on the forehead she left their tiny hovel to knock on the doors of the fine palaces and parlours in the surrounding towns to beg for bread.
Walking along the dark path of the forest she was spied on by the Devil himself. He watched from the shadows and fell deeply in love with the woman. Not the kind caring love that we cherish and value but the dark tormented love that wants to posses and control. The devil jumped out on the woman and declared his love and demanded she heed to his wishes. He promised her a black horse and the finest of jewels if she would be his wife.
Upon seeing the devil the beautiful Roma woman was frightened and stunned, she let out a scream and fled in terror. The devil gave chase and quickly caught her up. She tried to spin around 3 times to ward of the evil but the devil just laughed at her. She continued running...
The trickster himself decided he would transform himself into a prince and using his magic built a giant palace of great splendour.
She ran right up to the palace gates and banged on the huge brass handles. "Quickly" she exclaimed. "Please offer me security a little while I have just been confronted by the Devil in the forest." The smiling prince obliged and led the woman into his palace offering her condolences and reassurance. You will be safe here he said. He made good on his promise and looked after the Gypsy woman, tending to her and listening to her tales of sorrow. He told her if she agrees to marry him then her children will be taken care of and she will not have to worry any longer.
That night the gypsy woman married the prince and gave her body to him. He took what he wanted and the next night and every night after that continued to do the same. Whenever the woman asked about her children the prince would hush her up with some other news of his business. After a short while he grew tired of her requests and had a huge wall built around the castle so that she may not leave.
One night the prince was sleeping heavily and the woman could take it no longer. She quietly left his embrace and headed for the kitchen, she loaded her basket full with bread and ran outside the palace. She found the wall and decided that no wall could stop her from getting to her children. She clawed her way out and ran.
The devil sensing that the woman had gone awoke to find her missing. Searching every room in the palace he could not find her. He came outside and saw the hole she had clawed in the wall, the devil took chase and caught up to the woman on the path. He transformed himself into a black raven and flew into her hair pecking and clawing uttering a curse on her. "You shall become a cherry tree and your children will devour all the fruit from your branches until you wither away"
She rooted to the spot just outside her hovel and there she transformed into a cherry tree.
As the sun rose each of her children came outside to see with wonder and amazement the large cherry tree outside the door. One of them spied the black raven and fired a slingshot at it and in one shot stunned it from the tree, cooked it and ate it for breakfast. Then they began harvesting all the cherry's and building strength from the fruit. After they had been nourished they wanted to know what had became of their mother.
They set off wandering from land to land asking if anyone knew of their mother. One day they wandered past a tent where an old man with a long grey beard was telling the story of the Woman and the Devil. They listened but never knew he was telling the story of their mother.
The End