{"id":1163,"date":"2019-10-21T03:20:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T03:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/?p=1163"},"modified":"2026-03-19T22:33:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:33:42","slug":"witchcraft-a-vignette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/index.php\/2019\/10\/21\/witchcraft-a-vignette\/","title":{"rendered":"Witchcraft- A vignette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Note9<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

The characters:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A young girl of about twenty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A pastor of about fifty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SETTING:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We are in colonial Massachusetts circa 1690.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AT RISE:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The young girl bounds on to the stage running in horrified grief. She wails and cries, howls and trembles, screams into the air and then slowly composes herself looking straight out into the audience in a wordless plea to God.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Enter the Pastor behind her. He is wearing a black veil over his face but soon removes it as he begins to speak.\u00a0 The two never make eye contact.\u00a0 Instead he remains a few steps behind her at all times.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My child, what you just witnessed was the purging of sin!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, what I just witnessed was the murder of a child and the murder of my friend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

You accuse your elders of murder?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do. My friend was not a witch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh but all the evidence says she was.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evidence? Or superstition, Reverend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a trial. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trial? I could burst out laughing.\u00a0 There was a hunt for a witch and a determination to find one.\u00a0 A trial based on false testimony, hearsay, nonsense and gossip.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My dear child, every adult in the village testified under oath, including most of the women, including yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

My testimony was cut short. I was not allowed to say everything I intended to say.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Say it now, child.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why? It is too late. My friend has been burned at the stake as a heretic.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your friend is in heaven now. Purged on her sin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heaven? How can you be assured of such a thing among such wickedness?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are you saying, child?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am saying that burning human beings, children at the stake does not seem to me to be an act condoned by heaven or God or anything holy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a strikingly long pause.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Young lady, there are forces of evil in the world that your young and na\u00efve mind cannot comprehend. There are forces of evil so insidious and subtle and difficult to discern that\u00a0even the most able minds can\u00a0not\u00a0understand. The devil is vicious and cunning. He was once the most beautiful angel, remember. And he took a third of the host of heaven with him into hell. Despite God\u2019s love and mercy, there are those who rebel and spit in the face of goodness.\u00a0 Your young friend was a HERETIC. She paid the price for her heresy in fire but she is free now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

You will condemn my skepticism, Pastor. But I cannot accept or abide these words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

You are risking your immortal soul, child. I am warning you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

My friend was not a witch. She had\u2026she had\u2026she had I believe a mental malady of some kind.\u00a0 That is what we do not understand.\u00a0 The weakness in her mind that was diseased.\u00a0 We do not know what to call it but I believe one day we will.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know exactly what to call it. BLASPHEMY.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have known her since early childhood. I have seen her on a daily basis.\u00a0 She was a good soul.\u00a0 Good to others, good to animals and good to all living things.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am sure you are correct but then she was invaded by terrible evil forces. The devil himself took possession of her.\u00a0 She used profane and foul language, she disgraced the cross, she bled on church relics, she was found with the tools of WITCHCRAFT in the very forest that surrounds our village. This cannot be denied.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes they can because there are other angles of thought here. She was curious about these symbols, of witchcraft, she was not practicing it. She was simply learning about it\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My child, THIS IS PRECISELY MY POINT. There are reasons that one does not prowl into these mysteries or go anywhere near them out of curiosity or not.\u00a0 They are the devil\u2019s tricks to lure us into sin. There are legitimate reasons why some things are FORBIDDEN and must remain hidden from normal lives.\u00a0 Do you now see that, child?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 I see this: I see I have a brain and the power of reason and I must follow my path to the truth and I believe God, or whatever this vast Mystery is, that permits me this freedom.\u00a0 This free will I possess.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My dear one, you are on the precipice of losing your soul to the devil. You are a moment or two away from landing yourself in hell for eternity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor, why not leave me alone with my grief. I have witnessed the death of a friend.\u00a0 I grieve for her because I believe she was unjustly and grossly convicted of a crime or a sin that she could not commit because she did not have the intention or the will or the mental capacity to do such a thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A pause.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I followed you here, child, because I saw your grief and your understandable horror. I do see it. I came to comfort you but you will not allow it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

I cannot be comforted by ignorance and superstition, Pastor. I cannot. I will risk my soul if need be. I am willing to die too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another brief pause.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I implore you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I implore you to hold your tongue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since I was a girl I knew of three other women who were hanged and burned in our village and nearby. When I was very young I thought they must be witches and evil and deserved to die.\u00a0 But Pastor\u2026I no longer\u2026I no longer believe such foolishness. I DO NOT.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My heart is full of pity for you. I shall pray and pray for you and I will keep to myself for one full week while you search your conscience and come back to us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

You need not take a week or a day or an hour or a minute. I shall never return to the church. I demand to be excommunicated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know not what you are doing. You are being an obstinate CHILD.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pause.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

(She sits and remains calm and speaks in a warm tone) No, Pastor, it is you who are being obstinate and ignorant. I see it clearly now whether you turned me into your gang of murderers or not. I am at peace with my thoughts and with my soul\u2026if I have a soul\u2026I often wonder.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your words are like daggers to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your words are like poison daggers to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

This dreadful standoff will not end well, child.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. I am sure it won\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

And yet in your rebellious foolishness you will not retreat, even for a day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

No.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My child, they will hang you or burn you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then may God have mercy on you. I have failed.\u00a0 I have failed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

You HAVE failed, Pastor. <\/strong><\/p>\n

He puts the veil back on and begins to withdraw.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once my friend nursed a wounded pigeon back to health and she brought it to the forest to let it go. When the pigeon left her hand it flew to freedom in the sky.\u00a0 It turned into a dove. A white dove.\u00a0 I saw it.\u00a0 I saw it soar to the clouds, white like an angel with lovely delicate wings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pastor walks away shaking his head. He is gone. She sits there for a few beats before the lights descend into darkness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

5\/10\/19<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lake Carmel<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The characters: A young girl of about twenty. A pastor of about fifty. SETTING: We are in colonial Massachusetts circa 1690. AT RISE: The young girl bounds on to the stage running in horrified grief. She wails and cries, howls and trembles, screams into the air and then slowly composes herself looking straight out into … Continue reading Witchcraft- A vignette<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-play"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7zCq3-iL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":910,"url":"https:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/index.php\/2017\/06\/11\/three-fairy-tales\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":0},"title":"Three Fairy Tales","author":"James Crafford","date":"June 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0n our town, legend has it, we are sometimes visited by\u00a0\u00a0 goblins and fairies not always friendly and tame. rom an early age, all of us have heard tales of this, \u00a0and we\u00a0would sometimes laugh them off, \u00a0while other times, perhaps evenings when the fire burned long and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fiction"","block_context":{"text":"Fiction","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/index.php\/category\/fiction\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"caprice_medium","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/caprice_medium.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":807,"url":"https:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/index.php\/2016\/12\/31\/winter-solstice\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":1},"title":"Winter Solstice","author":"Tom Kersting","date":"December 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 My wife looked out upon a single fawn that gnawed, unaware, at the hedge beside the rock garden on this first day of winter. \u201cThere\u2019s something wrong with one of its legs,\u201d she told me with a frown. \u00a0As it grazed its way to the yew bushes along the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","block_context":{"text":"Poetry","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/index.php\/category\/poetry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"fawn","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/fawn.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":397,"url":"https:\/\/wordpress.talesfromthelake.org\/index.php\/2016\/08\/01\/about-alexandra-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":2},"title":"About Alexandra- Part 2","author":"Kathy Follett","date":"August 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Alexandra is my daughter but I\u2019ll let her speak for herself even if I can\u2019t stand it. . . . . 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