Once upon a time, there was a small blue river, winding like a ribbon around a vast green forest.
Once upon a time, there was a vast green forest, guarding the wooden witch’s hut in its center.
Once upon a time, there was a white-haired witch who lived within the green forest; she wore black earrings engraved with a golden sun and moon, bearing fine inscriptions upon them.
The witch wore a cloak and magic robes made from the wings of the giant dragon of the mountains, possessing the deep black of midnight and the deep blue of the sinking moon, as well as the dragon race’s power to soar. They were embellished with tiny bright spots, resembling stars flashing in the dark night.
The witch always weaved through the tall woods like the wind. She was hunting for prey—the uninvited humans who crossed the river and intruded upon her territory—and she was also looking for her companions, her treasures: the cats that might sprout up anywhere in the forest.
She remembered that yesterday, behind a black stone, in the shadow of the ferns, beside the shallow stream, on the damp shoal, she had found a brownish-yellow kitten, curled up in a ball, its body rising and falling with its faint breathing.
The witch carefully placed the kitten into her pouch. The other side of the pouch led to the cat paradise she had built, where countless adorable kittens lived, though that place was quite some distance from here.
The witch soon discovered the uninvited visitor: a frail little girl, crying and shouting as she stumbled toward the depths of the forest.
The little girl had come to this forest on her father’s ship. After her father died in an accident, she was left all alone.
The witch cut off the little girl’s head and buried it together with her father’s head.