Griselda’s Walks

The old wood witch starts walking every dawn to see if the forest folk require assistance. By midday, she has made the circuit and relaxes in her birch bark hammock, sipping a fabulous herbal potion she swears gives her long life.

Some days, the mountain guardian Muzhichek visits to swap gossip and reminisce about younger days. “Well, my pretty little blossom, how is your forest this day?” Muzhichek always says when greeting Griselda.

“Moving slow, but you would know a thing about that, you old rock,” is her standard reply. The two watchers have spent years protecting the fauna and flora against those who would strip the land for its value in gold.

“One day, pet, both of us will be gone, and as the earth mother has not seen fit to send us a helper, this woods and your mountain will fall prey to the greed of humans,” said the Griselda.

“Does look that way. At least we can do our best until a leg falls off you or I plummet down the mountainside,” remarked the golem.

Winter was coming, and the wood witch needed to prepare the young saplings so the deer would not strip their bark and kill them. “Well, old friend, you beware up on the mountain. The ice storms have been getting rougher every year now,” said Griselda as she walked off into the woods, leaving her friend to finish his tea.

“I wish you the best my blossom. Humans are getting bolder, and I fear they will get us both long before we’re ready to go,” whispered Muzhichek, who stood and headed back to his mountain.

The elves talk about the guardians, though none have ever seen them. An old stag tells a tale of when he was young, the witch scolded him for eating the bark of a sapling.

Muzhichek and Griselda have taken on a life of their own in the stories told on cold winter nights or steamy summer evenings, but we know they did exist and loved and cared for their homes until their very end.