“Let it snow!” ❄️❄️😀
For #folktaleweek Day 3, the prompt is Witch. I chose to paint La Befana, a kindly Italian witch who visits children on the night of Epiphany and delivers small gifts to those who have behaved themselves. If you leave her offerings, she might also sweep your floor before she leaves through the chimney, whisking away last year’s problems in the process.
“Viene, viene la Befana
vien dai monti, è notte fonda;
com'è stanca e la circonda
neve, gelo e tramontana,
viene, viene la Befana.”
-Giovanni Pascoli
“Hear the sledges with the bells—
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.”
~ Edgar Allan Poe, The Bells
crown of teeth, horns, plasma, and bones; this is death’s daughter and she has come for the wicked
crown of moss, ores, amber, and vines; this is earth’s daughter and she has come for the unjust
crown of coal, kindling, embers, and soot; this is fire’s daughter and she has come for the iniquitous
crown of stars and dreams and bleeding seams; this is night’s daughter and she has come for the cruel.
crown of thunder, rains and wind; this is a storm’s daughter and she has come for the malevolent
crown of icicles, shadows, and howling winds; this is winter’s daughter and she has come for the arrogant.
crown of cobwebs, fallen leaves, and woodsmoke; this is autumn’s daughter and she has come for the deceivers.
