Story Time - The Curmudgeonly Wizard
While I was footling around with the Dover clipart book, I noticed two images - a wizard and witch who seemed to be facing off with one another and I felt 'there's a story there'. But what I decided to do was make a colouring page with them. I sort of didn't know to format the textboxes to eliminate lines - so I printed off a couple of rejects before I 'got it right'. Being the frugal flibbertigibbert that I am, I then decided to use one of the rejects to write a note - which left a LOT of blank space around the images. And the back of the page. So ... this is the result (mind you, the text wraps around the original something fierce).
There once was a wizard grown old in power. He had never REALLY been all that friendly a person and as he grew older, he became more and more resentful of the demands that others made on his time. "Bless my fields", "Cure my child", "Find my missing cow", "Give me good weather for my trip", "Give my mand a charm to keep him safe". All the petty little interruptions that kept him from his studies. So he moved away to a cave in the crags. People still came and bothered him, but now they had to work for it. Time passed and fewer and fewer people came to ask him for his help. At first, he was happy, but then he started to get lonely, to wonder where everyone was. One day, he decided to go down to the village and find out (he needed to go shopping anyway 'cause no one had brought him any supplies in a LONG time).
When he got down to the village he made a most unwelcome discovery. Someone new had moved into his house; a young and beautiful witch.
She had a flying lizard familiar and drw her power from the moon. The wizard, who pulled his magic from the earth and stored it in his staff, was VERY contemptuous of the witch. He'd never had any use for Familiars - nasty things, you have to feed them and clean-up after them and sometimes they bite. And the MOON! What good was the moon? Changeable thing. You couldn't count on it when you needed it. He'd never had much truck with the moon. Give him earth power every time. You knew where you were with the earth - always there, always constant.
Well, what it boiled down to, the old curmudgeon of a wizard was NOT HAPPY with the newcomer and he did NOT appreciate her living in HIS house. (I should mention, the house in question was given by the village to their mage, you know, sort of like the rectory where priests live. Because the village mage WAS the priest ... or priestess for the village.) Anyway, the wizard decided that he would show this ... this interloper, this tresspasser who was who and what was what. NO ONE but no one was going to move in on HIM!
To his surprise, however, the villagers didn't agree with him. They said that the witch was nice, they liked her, se did the work that the wizard wouldn't. Why would they want her to go away? SHE was right there, in the village, in reach if there was an emergency. They didn't have to hike far into the hills to find her. Yes, they said, maybe the wizard was more powerful (some of the time) and more learned (about certain things) but the witch had her own learning and what she lacked in raw power, she made up with prayer and care and commonsense.
The wizard was irate. How dare they prefer HER to him? How Dare they imply that he lacked ANYTHING in the way of the Arts? He stormed into HIS house to force the trespasser out. She wasn't there. Someone told him that she was at Goody Webster's hut, treating the old weaver for the arthritis in her hands that kept her from working. Waste of time, he thought huffing - HE'd never bothered. He found the goody at her loom, working happily. The witch wasn't there. She'd gone to Goodman Baker's home to see his wife, who was expecting again. Her third pregnancy - she'd just lose it again, the wizard thought - just like the others. But when he got to the bakery, he found Goody Baker lying in bed, as big as a house, and no witch. She'd gone on to the Smithy to see to the sick children there. All day long, the wizard chased the witch from place toplace, always missing her. He began to notice, however, that the villagers were different from when he lived there, they were .. happy. Well, happier. Healthier. More cheerful. And ... dare he think it? Were they better off than when he lived among them? He began to think that maybe he should just go back to the hills, to his lonely, quiet hermitage in the cave. Before he could leave the village, though, a woman came up to him, a stranger. The witch. She ... smiled at him. She had heard that he'd been looking for her. She said that she'd always wanted to meet him. She pointed out that it was getting late and invited him to spend thenight. He didn't know what to think.
{and then I ran out of room on the page}.
There once was a wizard grown old in power. He had never REALLY been all that friendly a person and as he grew older, he became more and more resentful of the demands that others made on his time. "Bless my fields", "Cure my child", "Find my missing cow", "Give me good weather for my trip", "Give my mand a charm to keep him safe". All the petty little interruptions that kept him from his studies. So he moved away to a cave in the crags. People still came and bothered him, but now they had to work for it. Time passed and fewer and fewer people came to ask him for his help. At first, he was happy, but then he started to get lonely, to wonder where everyone was. One day, he decided to go down to the village and find out (he needed to go shopping anyway 'cause no one had brought him any supplies in a LONG time).
When he got down to the village he made a most unwelcome discovery. Someone new had moved into his house; a young and beautiful witch.
She had a flying lizard familiar and drw her power from the moon. The wizard, who pulled his magic from the earth and stored it in his staff, was VERY contemptuous of the witch. He'd never had any use for Familiars - nasty things, you have to feed them and clean-up after them and sometimes they bite. And the MOON! What good was the moon? Changeable thing. You couldn't count on it when you needed it. He'd never had much truck with the moon. Give him earth power every time. You knew where you were with the earth - always there, always constant.
Well, what it boiled down to, the old curmudgeon of a wizard was NOT HAPPY with the newcomer and he did NOT appreciate her living in HIS house. (I should mention, the house in question was given by the village to their mage, you know, sort of like the rectory where priests live. Because the village mage WAS the priest ... or priestess for the village.) Anyway, the wizard decided that he would show this ... this interloper, this tresspasser who was who and what was what. NO ONE but no one was going to move in on HIM!
To his surprise, however, the villagers didn't agree with him. They said that the witch was nice, they liked her, se did the work that the wizard wouldn't. Why would they want her to go away? SHE was right there, in the village, in reach if there was an emergency. They didn't have to hike far into the hills to find her. Yes, they said, maybe the wizard was more powerful (some of the time) and more learned (about certain things) but the witch had her own learning and what she lacked in raw power, she made up with prayer and care and commonsense.
The wizard was irate. How dare they prefer HER to him? How Dare they imply that he lacked ANYTHING in the way of the Arts? He stormed into HIS house to force the trespasser out. She wasn't there. Someone told him that she was at Goody Webster's hut, treating the old weaver for the arthritis in her hands that kept her from working. Waste of time, he thought huffing - HE'd never bothered. He found the goody at her loom, working happily. The witch wasn't there. She'd gone to Goodman Baker's home to see his wife, who was expecting again. Her third pregnancy - she'd just lose it again, the wizard thought - just like the others. But when he got to the bakery, he found Goody Baker lying in bed, as big as a house, and no witch. She'd gone on to the Smithy to see to the sick children there. All day long, the wizard chased the witch from place toplace, always missing her. He began to notice, however, that the villagers were different from when he lived there, they were .. happy. Well, happier. Healthier. More cheerful. And ... dare he think it? Were they better off than when he lived among them? He began to think that maybe he should just go back to the hills, to his lonely, quiet hermitage in the cave. Before he could leave the village, though, a woman came up to him, a stranger. The witch. She ... smiled at him. She had heard that he'd been looking for her. She said that she'd always wanted to meet him. She pointed out that it was getting late and invited him to spend thenight. He didn't know what to think.
{and then I ran out of room on the page}.