Taen in the Forest

On the after day of my mams funeral, her sister Aunt Ciara came to my house saying she had something important to tell me.

"Something happened to Erin years ago and I swore to her I wound not say a word. But now she's gone and I feel you should know the truth."

She sat me down and held my hands, as she looked me in the eye.

"Ye pap is not your real pap if you know what I mean."

She stopped here to see my reaction but I had not any as I was in too much of a state of shock.

"Did not ye ever wonder why you be ginger as no one else in ye family? In fact did ye not ask me that very same question as young lass?"

Indeed I had wondered why I was the only red head and I'd suffered great teasing from my brothers and sisters all of black hair and dark eyes. My aunt went on to tell me a tale of her and my mother in the woods, the year before I was born.

She said that mam and she would go into the woods daily to pick berries and wild flowers but mainly to enjoy the freedom from their chores. One day they came to a clearing they'd never seen before and in the center of the clearing was a ring of mushrooms. Ciara warned Erin to stay away for she knew it to be a faire ring filled with magical things both good and bad. Erin called her silly and stepped into ring to show her. To Ciara's dismay, her sister disappeared into solid earth. She ran closer only to find what could only be called a looking glass and as she peered into it, she saw her sister lying on her back. Ciara could neither put her hand through the glass or were her calls to her sister heeded. Erin's eyes were open and she appeared to be awake but she must have been in a trance for she neither moved nor blinked.

Then to Ciara's horror, three woodland creatures approached her sister. Due to the diaphanous gowns and the ring of flowers in their hair, she was sure they were fairies. Even though they looked lovely, Ciara had heard all the legends of how they steal a young lass' virtue and sometimes even their souls. In panic she began to pound on the looking glass until one looked up to see what the noise was. The beautiful looking creature had a face of pure evil. Her eyes close together and menacing, her nose sharp and bent but it was that evil smile showing those vicious teeth that frightened her most.

Ciara helplessly watched as the fairies began to undress Erin until she was naked as the day she was born. Next, they prepared her hair, braiding flowers into it as they combed. They then propped her head up on a stone and Ciara watched as her sister smiled at something approaching her. The thing cast it shadow on Erin before Ciara saw it. Was it horns or merely hair she could not tell and then she saw it big and red and horrid looking. The last thing she remembered was her sister smiling up at the monster as if she was glad to see him. Ciara must have fainted for when she next looked up, there was her sister sitting beside her as if nothing had happened. She was now dressed and yet she still had the flowers plaited throughout her locks.

It was now close to dark and as they hurried home, Erin denied any of the things that Ciara had witnessed with her own eyes. She had in fact claimed they both had just lain down in the clearing to take a wee nap. Ciara never believed this and to her thinking, the strange actions of her sister right after that day only proved it to her.

"Why, whatever do you mean, strange actions, Auntie?"

"Well first strait away as soon as she got home she went to see your father to say she would marry him. This a lad, she hardly knew and had only been to town for a soda with him one time. Another was she searched for that clearing everyday but of course, the fairies had moved it now that they had what they wanted. One day she left without me so I followed behind and when she got to the place she thought the clearing had been she sat and cried until someone or something spoke to her. I could no see a soul but it was plain to me that she was talking to something. I watched as she stopped crying and then she patted her belly happily. She then came home singing a happy song."

"Auntie, are you saying that mam was sired by the devil himself and I'm the result?"

"Well Siofra you were named after a sprite and god knows you were a red headed little devil as a lass. But, as far as Beelzebub being your father, I can no say. I'm sure you know the legend of the ginger child being part sass and part brimstone. If I were you, I would stay out of the woods and away from faire rings if you see one. Oh and one other thing I would suggest that you marry a ginger man that way your children would have the devil on both sides of the family."

At that time I almost told my auntie my darkest secret but then I couldn't. No one but mam and I know that I have a wee tail growing from my bum.