Week Notes: Vol. 2 – № 12

The hero, the witch, and the zucchini

Preface: This year, my oldest would always ask for a story before bed. The problem was, he wouldn’t settle for one of the classic, run-of-the-mill fairytales. He demanded we make up a new story. Every. Single. Night.

This is one of my better stories. It's a children's story about kindness, humility, and the importance of eating your vegetables.

Once upon a time there was a mighty hero who protected his village.

Every day, the villagers would come to the hero and ask him for help. Sometimes they needed him to slay a monster. Sometimes they needed him to bring back food.

Occasionally, they needed him to rescue a kitten stuck in one of the tall, gangly trees near the forbidden forest.

But no matter what they needed, the hero would help, proudly showing everyone how strong and brave he was.

One day, while the hero relaxed in the town tavern after a long adventure, an old lady came in to ask a favor.

“Will you please come by my cottage tomorrow and help me with my garden? It’s planting season, and I have many vegetables to grow,” the old lady said.

“Ha!” the hero said. “I do not garden. I slay monsters. I bring back treasure. I move boulders and run through fire and cross oceans. Gardening is not the work of a hero.”

“Please? I am much weaker now. You are stronger. You’ll be able to plant much faster than I can,” the old lady said.

“Go away,” the hero said, waving her away.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed. The old lady began to change. Everyone in the tavern shrieked as the little old lady turned into a powerful witch.

The witch cackled. As she turned and walked out the door, she said “You should have helped me, hero. Now you’ve been cursed!”

The next morning, the hero woke and saw he was no longer big and strong. The witch’s curse had shrunk his muscles and turned him into a small, skinny boy.

He jumped out of bed in a panic and ran outside. Nobody recognized him.

In order to lift the curse, he needed to find the witch.

He quickly found her in the forbidden forest, singing a song and working peacefully in her garden.

“Change me back!” the hero demanded. The witch chuckled.

“You must help me with my garden,” the witch said. “Plow my fields. Plant my seeds. Care for my vegetables.”

“When the first zucchini is ripe and ready, eat it, and you will be strong again.”

“Vegetables!? Yuck!” the hero said.

“Suit yourself,” the witch said. The hero thought hard.

“OK. I’ll help you," the hero said. "What do I do first?”

“Take this shovel, dig up all the dirt, and make it fluffy for the seeds,” the witch said. So the hero prepared the soil and planted the seeds for the witch. He planted carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and of course, zucchini.

Day after day, week after week, he returned to the cottage in the forbidden forest and watered each plant in the garden until little green sprouts poked out of the ground. “They’re growing!” the hero said, excited to see the fruits of his labor.

“Yes, but it will be many weeks until anything is ready to eat,” the witch said. “Your job isn’t done.”

So day after day, week after week, the hero came back. He weeded the garden and made sure each plant had plenty of water and sunshine.

Then one day, he went to the witch’s cottage very early and saw a big zucchini nestled under one of the plants.

The hero ran to the witch’s door and told her to come out to look. “That’s a very big zucchini,” the witch said. “And it looks ready to eat.”

The hero could hardly believe it. He gently picked the vegetable off the plant and took a big bite. It was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

When the hero finished eating the zucchini, he began to glow. He got taller, and his muscles grew. The hero was back to normal.

“Thank you,” the hero said to the witch.

“I didn’t do anything,” the witch said. “You did all the hard work to grow that zucchini. But I still need help taking care of the rest of the vegetables.”

So even though he was once again big and strong, the hero came back to the witch’s cottage every day to help her with her garden before going off to help the other villagers.

And at every meal, the hero always ate his vegetables first.

The end.