The Tangled Forest

by Marion Grace Woolley

  “Leave him,” I said. “He deserves to live in the swamp.”

  “Rose, how can you be so heartless?”

  “Because he is the most heartless of us all. If only you knew what he’d done.”

  “What has he done?” she asked, turning in time to catch the look I shared with Bern. “What are you both keeping from me?”

  “That scallywag comes from the castle,” Bern said, with a sigh. “One day, he came into the woods to hunt, only he became separated from his friends.”

  “He found Bern’s cave, filled with treasure.”

  “Treasure?” Snow asked, frowning.

  “I have amassed a certain amount of wealth,” the bear said.

  “He found it and he tried to steal it from him, only he couldn’t take it whilst Bern was protecting it, so he decided to kill him.”

  “Kill him!”

  “It’s true,” the bush said. It rustled for a moment before Franz’s head appeared, leaves caught in his beard. “I did the most appalling thing. I saw a rainbow in the sky. I thought Fortune was guiding my way home, so I followed it. Only, at the rainbow’s end I found a huge pile of gold. I couldn’t believe my luck. Yet, when I crept up to take a better look, I saw a giant bear sleeping on top of the pile. I stayed in a tree for two days. When the bear woke to find food, I would fill my pockets and bury what I could carry beneath that tree, only the bear would soon return and my pockets were not very deep. So, I made a plan. I had passed an old hunting lodge in the woods, long abandoned, or so I thought. Inside, there were traps of all sizes, small cages for birds, woven baskets for eels, and a giant metal jaw slung from the ceiling. I cut it down with my knife and dragged it into the woods. I set it not far from the cave, on the path the bear took to the river.” Franz stepped out of the bush, eyes fixed to his boots. “I knew my plan had worked. All the birds fled the trees when the beast howled.”

  “Don’t you see?” I asked my sister. “Bern was that bear.”

  “What? That’s ridiculous.”

  “Remember when we used to sit by the fire at your home?” Bern said. “Remember when you took off my boot and I showed you my scar?”

  “You’re a man, not a bear,” my sister laughed.

  “I’m both,” Bern replied. “Your father found me there, caught in that trap. I was bleeding to death. The pain had driven me within sight of my grave.”

  “How— how did you escape?” Franz asked. “You look so different.”

  Bern glared at Franz as though he wanted to eat him.

  “Your father was on his way back from the far side of the Western Woods,” the bear began. “He had been to visit the Woman in the Woods, an old witch with hair the colour of gingerbread. He wanted to return to his family – to you, Rose Red and Snow White. Only, the creatures had grown wise to his ways and kept clear of his traps. He wasn’t having much luck at his trade, and he couldn’t return home without something to sell. He had bought a spell from the Woman in the Woods that would allow him to shift shape. To become the very animals he was hunting, so that he could creep up close to them before turning back into a man to catch them. He had paid the last of his money for that spell. The Woman in the Woods does not come cheap. At first, he tried to prize open the trap with a stick, but the hinges were rusted and hadn’t been oiled before the trap was set. When he saw how hopeless it was, he used his spell on me. He turned me human. My foot shrunk to half its size and slipped free of the trap. Your father took me to his cabin and bandaged my wounds. I almost lost the foot, but he stitched me up and bathed the gash with herbs. He cared for me for many months. When I was better, he went to find the Lady of the Forest, to warn her what had happened.”

  “Let him tell the rest,” I said.

  All the colour drained from Franz’s face and I was glad to see him so ashamed.

  “I thought the bear was dead, so I stuffed a little gold into my pockets to take home. I planned to show it to my friends and return with carts to bring it back to the castle. My horse had run off, so I had to walk. I got thirsty and followed the sound of the river to a quiet bank where I could drink. After I wiped my lips, I saw a woman watching me. I realise now that she could take any form, but on that day all I saw was a beautiful maiden. She sat on a rock on the opposite bank, her hair threaded with bluebells. She smiled, and, well – I fell.”

  “You offered her my gold.”

  “I did.” Franz’s chin rested on his breast. “I took a fistful of gold from my pocket and waded across to offer it to her. I told her she was beautiful. I told her I lived in a big castle. I asked if she wanted to see it.”

  “Did she?” I asked, surprised how hard the words came.

  Franz wouldn’t meet my eyes as he continued. “She told me she didn’t know, but maybe. She told me to meet her again the next day and the next. Each day I went back to the cave to fill my pockets again. I chose the most beautiful pieces I could find. Bracelets studded with rubies and pearls, tiaras of fine silver thread, filigree rings of the brightest gold. She accepted each gift with a kiss and a smile that could melt the winter frost. I was enchanted. I lost all thought of a future. Pleasing her was all that pleased me, as back and forth I trod.”

  I turned away. I didn’t want to hear no more. I didn’t love him, for who could love a dishonest man? But I could have loved him once. I felt cheated of that happy thought. A bird returning to its nest to find a magpie had replaced its diamonds with coal.

  “Then, one day, I arrived by the river to see her talking to another man,” Franz continued. “The world turned red. I had given her all of my riches—”

  “My riches,” growled the bear.

  “Her kisses were my rain, without which I felt I would shrivel and die. I marched clean across the river and punched that man in the face.”

  “Our father?” Snow said.

  “Yes. He had just finished telling the Lady of the Forest where I was getting the gold.”

  Bern let out a laugh. “What did she tell him in return?”

  Franz mumbled something none of us could hear.

  “What was that?” Bern asked.

  “She told him that you were the Prince of the Forest.”

  “Well, fancy that,” Bern said, a wide grin exposing his teeth.

  “You punched our father?” Snow repeated, hardly hearing the rest of what was said.

  “I tried to punch him again,” Franz admitted, “only my fist became very small. One moment I was hitting his face, the next his knees.”

  “She turned you into a dwarf?”

  I stared at the tall, still begrudgingly handsome man beside the bush. “What?”

  “Don’t you get it?” Franz asked, his tone suddenly confident again. “You’re sisters, but you’re not the same. Rose, you see people for what they are, and Snow, you see them as they’re supposed to be. Bern here is a bear turned into a man, and I am a man turned into a dwarf. Rose, you see the truth, your sister sees the magic.”

  Snow stared at Bern so hard, but she still couldn’t believe it.

  “What happened to our father?” I asked.

  “Well, as it turns out, the Lady of the Forest and the Prince of the Forest are pretty good friends.” Franz’s voice faded again. “She wasn’t all that impressed when she found out what I’d done.”

  “She was never impressed in the first place,” Bern said.

  “She turned me into a dwarf and she told me that I would never be able to find my way home. If I ever tried to speak to her again, she would punish me.”

  “And our father?” Snow pressed.

  “She was so grateful for his service, and for what he had done for the bear, that she invited him beyond the veil.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “These woods belong to two realms,” the bear said. “One side mortal, the other side fae. We can cross into their world and they can cross into ours, for as long as we walk between the trees. The other side of the veil is an incredible place. Fairy lords and ladies do so love t
o dance. They throw huge banquets, fruit that is all juice and no skin. Cake as soft as clouds. Though mortals must never eat of it if they wish to come back to their own world. Everything is the colour of the morning sun or the ocean waves. Some men choose never to return after seeing it.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, turning to Bern. “You told me Franz stole our father. Now it seems he went willing?”

  “Well, yes. I suppose he did. But the Lady of the Forest would never have known his name had it not been for this rascal.”

  I understood what he meant, but that was not the same as stealing our father from us. A small mercy, which in no way excused his other crimes, and which weighed heavy upon my heart, that our father would forego us for a fairy crown.

  “Please don’t feel bad,” Bern said, as though reading my thoughts. “Your father loved you very much. But he was mortal. A man of flesh and blood. And he was a child of the forest. He was born here, raised here, and he came here as often as he could. This was already home for him. The chance to cross the veil is too much for any human to resist. An adventure beyond measure. I’m sure he intended to return to you.”

  “Sounds like he left gladly. What makes you say he loved us?”

  “Because, before he went to speak with the Lady of the Forest, he made me swear an oath. I asked what I could do to repay him for saving my life. He told me that, should anything happen to him or his wife, I was to go to the valley and take care of his two infant daughters. Well, for many years you didn’t need my help. I would journey each full moon and peer in at the window, but you were happy and healthy with your mother. It was only when she became sick that you needed me.”

  “You brought us into these woods knowing full well we would never find our father,” I said, anger plain in my voice.

  “I had to get you to the Royal City somehow.”

  “Why?”

  “Rose, I have enough wealth to make ladies of you both. You’d want for nothing in this life. You’d wear the finest gowns, eat the riches food, sleep safe and comfortable every night. How could I possibly offer less after your father spared me eternal sleep?”

  WHITE

  My mind was racing to take all this in. I kept glancing at Bern’s boot, remembering the thick scar knotted beneath the leather. Only, what else lay beneath the leather – a paw? With his thick whiskers and arms as strong as oaks, I supposed there was something bear-like about him, but I could not possibly believe that he actually was a bear.

  All those many times my sister had used the word ‘beast’ returned, telling me I was wrong.

  I didn’t understand why our father had left us. I had never met a person from a town, yet alone a world beyond the magic veil. Who was I to say what he thought or felt at the time? All I knew with certainty was that, without Bern’s help, we would have starved during that long winter after our mother died.

  “Our father saved your life, but you saved ours,” I said. Rose looked at me and closed her mouth. I knew there was more she wanted to say, but that thought calmed her. “I have a question, though,” I said, turning to Franz. “The Lady of the Forest told you she would punish you if you tried to speak with her?”

  “Yes.”

  “So why did you keep trying to speak with her? Your beard, the stream, the crows, the tree, the bees – they were all punishments?” Franz nodded. “So, what was so important you kept bringing them upon yourself?”

  Franz stared at his feet.

  “Oh, I’m done with this,” my sister said. “If he doesn’t want to come, leave him here to suffer. I want a hot bath and a good meal. I don’t see why any of us should care what he does after all that he’s already done.”

  “Agreed,” said Bern.

  As they turned to walk out of the woods, I remained, looking at Franz. A tear slid down his cheek and his shoulders sagged.

  “They’re right,” he said, turning to walk in the opposite direction.

  “No. Stop. I want to know. We’ve walked for weeks through this forest. I’m not leaving it until I know the whole story. Franz, if you knew our father, then you’ve been lost in this place for years, unable to find your way home. Now you’re within sight of it. Why won’t you walk down the valley with us?”

  Rose turned back, and I could see she was curious too.

  “It doesn’t matter,” the dwarf said.

  “If it doesn’t matter, then you won’t mind saying.”

  Franz shifted from foot to foot, as though there were ants in his shoes.

  “I’m tired and I’m hungry,” Bern said. “Tell them, or I’ll make you tell them.”

  “Very well. There was more to the curse.”

  “How much more?”

  Franz looked at Bern, who took a step towards him.

  “There was a way to find my way home.”

  “Go on.”

  Franz took a deep breath and looked up at the trees. “The Lady of the Forest told me that I would only find my way home if I found a woman willing to lead me there. If I found a girl who would let me follow her out of the woods.”

  Rose’s eyes flashed fury. “You little creep!” she cried. “You only pretended to be nice to me so that I would show you the way out of here.”

  “Yes, at first,” he said, meeting her eyes. “When you told me you were going to the Royal City, I was determined to come with you.”

  “And you have. Whoopee for you.”

  “Wait,” said Bern. “There must be more to it. Here we are, yet you will not go. Why aren’t you running to the castle as fast as your little feet will take you?”

  “You know the Lady of the Forest. You know what makes her laugh.”

  Bern grunted. “She does have a particular sense of humour.”

  “So, what’s the joke?” I asked.

  “If I follow the girl out of the forest, I get to go home.”

  “Yes.”

  “But she will die.”

  We stood silent for a very long time.

  “The moment we step beyond those trees, I return to the way I was, and she falls down dead.”

  “Now that is a cruel joke,” I whispered.

  “Very particular indeed,” said Bern.

  Rose folded her arms and raised her chin. “When did you decide against it?”

  “Pardon?”

  “You’ve followed us all this way. Is it only now you’re having doubts?”

  “No.” Franz shook his head. “I’ve been trying all this time. The first time I saw you and your sister, I went to the Lady of the Forest to ask whether you were the one. She was sitting beside a spring. The moment I opened my mouth, she pulled my beard until it grew so long she could wrap it around a tree.”

  “And the flowers?”

  “When you took them, I knew you were the one. But I also knew that you were sweet, and kind, and, well, rather endearing.” He attempted a smile but the look on my sister’s face stopped it dead. “I went to the Lady of the Forest to ask if there was any way to change the curse. I found her bathing her feet in a brook. She took one look at me and threw me in the water. Then she threw a rock and it fell on my foot, trapping me there.”

  “The crows?”

  “I was going to bribe her.”

  “The tree?”

  “I was going to beg.”

  “The bees?”

  “I was going to ask her to take me instead. To let us both go down to the city, and to give me one turn of the moon to see my family and friends, and then to take my life as I slept, not yours.”

  Rose’s arms relaxed a little and her chin lowered.

  “You missed your home so much that you would have gone back if only for a single moon?”

  “And you love my sister so much you would never go back if it harmed her?”

  “Perhaps you’re no longer the greedy hog I first met,” Bern said, scratching his beard with a frown.

  “I am sorry to all of you,” Franz said. “I have never been a nice man.”

  “What if we take i
t in turns?” Rose said. “I could go down to the city and return with food. Then you could go. Perhaps if only one of us is out of the woods at any time, the curse won’t catch us. We could build a little house here on the edge of the forest. You could visit the castle whenever you liked.”

  “I won’t risk it,” Franz said. “One foot beyond those trees at the same time, even by accident, and it’s over. I could never ask you to live with such worry over you. Besides, once my friends learn I’m alive, they wouldn’t hear of me living in the woods. I was rather well known.”

  “I don’t see any way around it,” Bern said. “We need to go soon, before it gets dark. They close the gates come evening.”

  “I won’t leave you here alone,” Rose said. “I’ll stay.”

  My sister’s entire being had changed. If the dwarf were three foot taller, his eyes wider apart and his voice a little deeper, I could see how they might make a good pair. That must be what she already saw. That he had suffered so much on her behalf was rather romantic, and it was clear that she felt something in return.

  “You don’t have to stay,” I said. “You are both free to go to the castle.”

  “I don’t understand,” Rose said.

  “Tell us again how the curse goes. The exact words the Lady of the Forest used.”

  Franz took a deep breath. “I would never be able to find my way home, unless I found a girl who would let me follow her to the edge of the forest. Once within sight of home, I would be returned to my former self. Only, the moment we step beyond the trees, I’d be free and she would be dead.”

  “But you didn’t follow Rose.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t you remember? All day, Rose has been walking ahead of us, and you have been walking behind. It is me you have been following to the edge of the woods, not her.”

  “Snow,” Bern cautioned.

  “No, it’s true. Rose isn’t in danger. I am.”

  “That doesn’t change a thing,” Franz said. “I won’t harm her, and I won’t harm you.”

  “You don’t have to. I never wanted to go to the Royal City anyway.”