“Oh? Then why do you sit here?”
“So that she may be free of the curse.”
“And that is all?”
“Should there be more?”
She smiled briefly. “I suppose not. Now, won’t you come in and share supper with me? It is still several hours until midnight. You would be able to return to this spot in plenty of time.”
“I thank you for your hospitality, but I cannot.”
Her face grew suddenly sad. “I understand. What is the company of a poor old woman when there is the promise of a beautiful princess.”
“Please, that isn’t what I meant....”
But she turned and slowly walked back into the cottage as if she hadn’t heard him.
As he sat on the woodpile, he thought of her, eating alone inside. He had eaten many meals alone and knew how it felt. The silence broken only by one’s own chewing. How many meals had she taken in solitude? How many more lay before her, an unbroken line stretched out until her life ended?
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