The Witch Must Die by Sheldon Cashdan

Author:Sheldon Cashdan [Cashdan, Sheldon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780465073986
Publisher: Basic Books

BE SURE IT’S TRUE WHEN YOU SAY I LOVE YOU

The heroine of L’Héritier’s story, Finette, is the youngest of the three. She is virtuous, thoughtful, and resourceful, whereas her two elder sisters, Nonchalante and Babillarde, are just the opposite. Nonchalante, appropriately named, is slovenly and lazy. Thoroughly lacking in ambition, she not only struts about all day with her buttons unbuttoned and her hair unkempt but refuses to take off her bedroom slippers, claiming she is too tired to get dressed. Her sister Babillarde (French for “chatterer”) is not much of an improvement. She is an indefatigable gossip and babbles on about anything and everything. Unable to keep her mouth shut, she suffers from what L’Héritier refers to as “a frantic itch to talk.”

One day the father of the three princesses decides to join the crusades. Concerned about his daughters’ physical as well as moral well-being, he consults a wise fairy, who advises him to lock the three princesses in the castle. She tells him to give each a magical glass distaff, a traditional symbol of virginity, as a parting gift. The distaff of any daughter whose virtue fails will shatter, thus providing the king with evidence of her indiscretion.

The king was very wise to be concerned about his daughters for in a nearby kingdom there lived another king who had a malevolent son called Riche-en-Cautèle (Rich in Cunning). The prince bore a special grudge toward Finette because she had foiled a treaty between their two fathers. The treaty, unbeknownst to either of the two kings, contained a hidden clause placed there by the prince that would have put Finette’s father at a sore disadvantage. Finette exposed the prince’s underhanded scheme at the last moment and had the treaty voided. Because of this, Riche-en-Cautèle bore a great hatred toward Finette and vowed vengeance on her and her entire family.

The moment the king sets off on the crusades, Riche-en-Cautèle disguises himself as a beggar woman in order to gain entry to the castle. He makes his way to the bed chambers of Nonchalance and Babillarde and swears his unending love for the them, seducing each in turn and thereby causing their magic distaffs to shatter. He marries each of the sisters in separate ceremonies and then goes looking for Finette.

The prince searched all the rooms in the castle until he came across a locked door. He concluded Finette was on the other side, and proclaimed his love to her through the closed portal. Finette sat silently on the other side listening to the prince’s overtures but was not moved. She was infinitely wiser than her sisters, and recognized Riche-en-Cautèle for the lying scoundrel he was.

When Finette refused to open the door, Riche-en-Cautèle broke it down, only to find Finette defiantly standing before him with a hammer in her hand. She cried out, “Prince, if you come any nearer I will break your head with this hammer.” The prince, realizing Finette was serious, retreated, resolving for the moment that discretion was the better part of valor.

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