Ficlets

The Juniper Tree (Truely Grim) pt. 1

It was many years ago when Willhelm Sojourn won the heart of the fair Juliana Rose and married her. He earned a great wealth and made himself and his new bride very comfortable. But the one thing that Juliana longed for she did not have. A child. She prayed and wished everyday to bear a child, but the years passed and no child came.

Outside their cozy home grew a Juniper tree and more than anything Juliana loved to sit beneath it. Even in the winter she sat below the tree’s empty boughs. So it happened that one winters morning she sat beneath the three coring an apple. In a moment of absent mindedness the sharp blade slipped from the red skin of the apple, piercing the soft white skin of her finger.

As she watched a single drop of red blood welled from her finger and fell into the white snow at her feet.
“Oh,” she whispered to the wind. “If only I could have a child as red as blood and as white as snow.”

The moment the words left her lips, Juliana knew she would get her wish.

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