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The Witch and the Cobbler




Once upon a time,

in a land not so far from here,

a cobbler, mired in misery,

inquired about who might help

to allay his anxiety and grant him counsel.

 

The baker, the midwife, and the barber –

the three most respected persons he knew –

suggested to the cobbler that he visit

the Witch of Widespread Renown

who lived in the forest outside of town.

 

This witch, they said, was unlike

the past wizards of note,

who endeared themselves

to troubled townspeople

with pretense and spectacle.

 

The Witch of Widespread Renown,

they claimed,

possessed quiet, yet powerful magic.

 

He had heard of this witch

but had not, to this point,

taken occasion to seek her advice.

The time seeming ripe,

the man gathered his courage

(as he found it peculiar to ask for help)

and set out.

 

The way was long. The day hurled

a cold, steady wind at the cobbler’s face,

the kind of wind that invigorates a person

even as its force leaves one

wheezing and exhausted.

 

Though the cobbler was unaccustomed

to walking such a distance, he strode

deliberately, shoulder to the wind,

deeper and deeper into the woods.

 

The Witch of Widespread Renown

frequented long sitting periods

on a well-worn tree stump

next to a clearing in the forest,

where, it so happened,

the cobbler stumbled upon her.

 

Taken aback by her still gaze,

and her blackness,

the man struggled to contain his fright.

 

A minute passed like an hour.

The Witch broke her trance and shifted her eyes.

In a low, slow voice, she asked,

“Are you here by design, or would you be lost?”

 

“I am not lost,” said the cobbler quite proudly.

“I knew the way here.”

 

“I am not asking about your directional acuity,”

said the Witch of Widespread Renown.

 

“When I ask, ‘Are you lost?’

I refer to your state of mind.

By ‘lost,’ I mean an emptiness of purpose,

a liminal, tentative, space,

betwixt and between,

neither here nor there,

where turning from the past,

and fear of the future beckon.

Where one feels

dislocated from one’s deepest desires.”

 

A puzzled expression seized the cobbler’s face.

“She has just told me about myself,”

he thought.

“How will I answer her?”

 

Realizing he was in the presence of a sorcerer,

or in any case, a person with special powers,

the cobbler squirmed, then uttered,

 

“I shall admit to you that

according to your description

I am surely lost.”

 

“Tell your story, if you please,”

invited the Witch of Widespread Renown.

 

“I have come upon many difficulties which…”

(the cobbler fidgeted, clearing his throat)

“…conspired to occur in rapid succession,

leaving me without a desire to live.”

 

“My wife took ill and died last week,

throwing our children and me into grief.”

 

“My sister abandoned me years ago

due to a debt she could not repay,

and that I refused to forgive.”

 

“I had hoped that a life of hard work

at the cobbler’s bench

would secure my future, and indeed

my money sack is full.

But, despite my good fortune,

an emptiness has overtaken me,

and I have lost my way.”

 

The cobbler lowered his head, as if shamed.

 

After a long period of silence,

the Witch of Widespread Renown spoke.

 

“I will repeat back to you what I heard,

Not in your words but in my own,” she said.

 

“Your wife has died, and you are in grief.”

 

“Your children have lost their mother.”

 

“You value the principle of an unpaid debt

ahead of your relationship with your sister.”

 

“You have pursued an honest living,

but money has not purchased your fulfillment.”

 

“You wish to end your life.”

 

Hearing his own citations repeated back,

in stark and unmistakable words,

shook the cobbler into a state of great clarity.

 

“I must walk with my children through

our grief, for we have suffered a shared loss,”

He declared.

“I cannot abandon them – or myself.”

 

He continued:

 

“My sister is an upstanding woman

whom financial luck has bypassed.

In my shunning of her,

I have placed justice ahead of mercy.

I must seek her out,

and ask for her clemency.”

 

“As for my money, perhaps I can set myself free

from my hollow existence

by employing my funds for the good

of others.”

In response to the cobbler’s oration,

the Witch of Widespread Renown sat motionless.

 

“Thanks be to you,” the cobbler said.

 

“You have helped me hear my own foolish thoughts

that burdened me towards self-destruction. 

Your presence unstuck me.

How fortunate I am to have met you this day.”

 

The cobbler turned from the

Witch of Widespread Renown, and

started home.

 

All along the way, he found himself pondering,

 

“What treasure exceeds the value

of a non-biased listener

in whose presence I am able to

hear my own voice?”

1 Comment


John Moyer
John Moyer
Feb 02

This powerful story shows how deep listening can help bring clarity to the tension, allowing the one with the problem to decide what they will do to solve that problem.

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