The Altar
Wendy the witch, who lived up on Huckleberry Hill, seemed quite peculiar to the people below. To her, however, chanting nonsense, mixing together concoctions out of weeds from who-knows-where, and screaming at random intervals during the night were perfectly normal things to do.
Wendy the witch had felt the Fall Maven spirit every fall, and was very grateful for the warm feelings it brought her. To show her appreciation, Wendy decided to make an altar for the wonderous spirit.
And so she carefully placed an old blanket on the grass at the top of Huckleberry Hill, and lit a few candles to be placed on top it. She collected berries from the surrounding woods, sprinkling them all over the blanket, and placed a basket of coins in the center.
She also placed two rotten, old, and stinky shoes on the altar. She claimed this was because their potent smell unlike any other would let Fall Maven know where her altar was, but really, she just needed a place to put the stinky old shoes where she wouldn't be able to smell them. Wendy's old aunt Esmerelda had gifted the shoes as a birthday present to her many years ago, and she thought that it would be rude to just throw them out. Yes, an altar several feet away from the home would make a perfect place for two stinky old sneakers.
Wendy the Witch couldn't wait for Fall Maven to discover her altar. She sat patiently by the altar, watching and waiting, watching and waiting, watching and waiting....
Ugh. So much WAITING!
Wendy the witch was not a patient creature.
Wendy started to yawn. Oh goodness. Was she falling asleep? She sure hoped not.
The Raven Discovers the Altar
From high up in the sky, riding in the wind as all birds do, (don't you wish you were able to do that, to soar in the wind?) a raven smelled the metallic scent of some beauiful, shiny coins.
Well, mostly she smelled rotten old stinky shoes. But she smelled a little coin smell!
The coins glistened in the golden sunlight. They looked interesting, so the raven decided to investigate.
The raven swooped down to grab the coins, but a grumpy old witch who had just awoken from her slumber stood up to shoo the raven away.
"Pesky old raven!" Wendy the witch stood up, blinking all the sleepy out of her eyes. "That altar is not for you, it's for Fall Maven!"
"It's okay," whispered Fall Maven to Wendy, "the raven can have the coins from my altar." But Wendy the witch had spent a little bit too much time listening to Oingo Boingo at a volume that was a tad bit louder than what was healthy, and she did not hear the spirit.
Pesky Old Raven
I'm going to have to stay here to watch over the altar, Wendy decided, because otherwise the raven will steal from it.
And so, even though her legs were tired from sitting all morning, and her throat ached from not having been able to chant her random nonsense, Wendy the witch sat and waited.
And waited.
....And waited.
..................And waited.
It wasn't long before Wendy the witch decided she was tired of waiting, and stood up to head back inside.
Surely it wouldn't take long for Fall Maven to discover her altar, right?
However, as soon as Wendy stood up to head back inside, the Raven swooped down once again, heading after the glistening coins.
"PESKY OLD RAVEN!" Wendy shooed the raven away once again, her face ablaze.
"That altar is for the FALL MAVEN SPIRIT!"
"It's fine," said Fall Maven, this time loud enough for Wendy to hear, "let the raven have the coins from my altar."
Having heard the Fall Maven spirit, Wendy still protested. "Of course not! That altar is for you, oh marvelous spirit, not just any old pesky raven." She spat the word, as if the raven were some nasty creature, and not the intelligent and elegant bird she was.
The Raven Brews Up A Plan
"I've tried to convince Wendy the witch to let you have the coins from my altar," said Fall Maven to the raven, "but she didn't listen."
Seeing that Fall Maven had done everything that it could do to help her, the raven decided to take matters into her own hands.
And so, being the intelligent creature that she was, the raven snuck into Wendy the witch's house through her open window. (Because Wendy left her window open for some reason? Stupid idea, really.)
Inside the witch's house, a cauldron bubbled happily. Seeing herbs nestled happily in a boiling pot of vinegar, the raven began to brew up a plan.
Using her handy-dandy beak, the raven opened up the witch's old, creaky cupboard. Upon opening it, a huge cloud of dust erupted out of it, stinging the raven's eyes. It was clear that the cupboard had not been opened in a long time. (Because who needs a cupboard anyways when you can eat concoctions of random weeds you find in your backyard?)
Inside the cupboard, the raven puled out a orange cardboard box filled with baking soda. She was careful not to tip it over so that it wouldn't spill on the witch's floor.
The raven flew to Wendy the witch's cauldron, and poured the whole container of baking soda into it. The baking soda immediately reacted with the vinegar in the cauldron.
The mixture exploded to twice its' original size, erupting into a huge mass of popping and sizzling bubbles. It became a sort of creature, crawling along the witch's wooden floor.
"PESKY OLD RAVEN!" Wendy the witch quickly ran back to her cottage, having heard the explosion from her altar outside. As Wendy rushed to clean up the mess, the raven flew back out threw the window, grabbing the basket of coins from the altar while the witch was distracted.
But she made a mistake.
The Plan Is Foiled
It wasn't long before the raven realized that in all her frantic hurry, she had accidently grabbed the rotten and smelly shoes instead of the sparkling basket of coins.
I should turn back and get the coins while the witch is still distracted, thought the raven.
And yet a soft voice in the wind told her to do the opposite: "keep going," said the voice, "just bring the shoes to your nest."
And so, even though the longing in her chest for the shiny luxury urged her not to, the raven followed the strange voice's advice.
It wasn't until the raven made it back to her secret lair, (as in, her nest,) that she realized why the voice had told her to leave the coins behind, opting for the shoes instead.
The shoes would make a nice storing place for all of her shiny knick-knacks. The raven also discovered several tasty worms curled up inside the shoes. The shoes ended up proving to be much nicer than a basket of coins.
Wendy the witch spent several hours cleaning up the horrible mess that the raven had created in her cottage. After a lot of scrubbing and scrapping, the witch gave up, deciding maybe it would be okay if a few strange marks remained on the walls.
Wendy the witch stepped outside her cottage, peering at the altar. Her eyebrows fell into knots upon noticing that the raven had not stollen the basket of coins, but rather her aunt's old and smelly shoes.
That was okay. She was fine with that.
She hadn't ever really wanted the sneakers anyways. She was sure Fall Maven would be okay with that too.
The wind was laced with giggles, the laughing of a spirit delighting in the mischievous exploits that came with the fall season.