Once upon a time, in a land far away, a little witch lived most of her life in a comfy cave, deep in the secluded woods and many would say that she was called Witchy Chloe.

She always minded her own business and never bothered anybody. For 363 days of the 365 days of the year, Chloe fed all the forest creatures that came near her cave. She stayed away from the villagers because she was told they would hurt her, due to her very small size, and they would forbid her to fly her broom. Over the years, the animals all became good friends with her except for one animal, who we will learn more about later.

For the other 2 days of the year, Chloe was busy getting ready to venture far from her cave for Halloween. The two days before All Hollow’s Eve, she made her special potion to sprinkle the trick or treaters, as they visited from one house to the next in the village. She was getting ready to hop on her broom when she heard yelling and smelled smoke.

At the front of the angry group of pitchforks and torch holders, slithered Sneaky Spinelly the Snake, who sanctimoniously pointed her sleek tongue at Chloe. She must have told the people about Chloe’s Hallows Eve routine because they were demanding that Chloe explain herself. They did not want anything sprinkled on the innocent kids, especially their own.

One villager yelled, “How dare you! Why would you do this? It made no sense. You never bothered anybody, and everyone left you alone. Why, oh why is this happening?” as they all moved closer to the mouth of the cave.

Chloe quickly lifted her arms and clapped her hands above her head, and everyone was frozen in place, including Spinelly. Chloe lowered her arms and smiled. They weren’t trying to hurt her. They didn’t tease her about being small. All they wanted was to make sure that she wasn’t hurting their children. That seemed quite reasonable.

They jumped to conclusions because they don’t know me, she thought. Chloe was part of the reason why they didn’t know her. She had spent most of her life avoiding people. Maybe Spinelly had somehow done Chloe a favor.

Chloe clapped her hands again (it worked the first time) and the crowd was quiet and still. In a loud voice she asked calmly. “What is going on here? I have never done any of you harm?” The Leader of the villagers stepped forward and asked why she would sprinkle an unknown substance on their children?

The witch smiled and calmly said, “Please step inside, I can explain and show you what I am doing”.

She welcomed the villagers into her home and passed Comfrey tea, day old scones and apple marmalade around and then sat down. Chloe explained that she had prepared the protection brew this year and every year for many, many years and no one knew it was happening. “And the children were always safe, weren’t they?”, asked Chloe.

“See this brew I am making right now?”, Chloe asked as she pointed to the bubbling cauldron. “It will cool overnight and turn into a type of fairy dust, with beautiful little multi-colored stars. When I drop it from the sky and it reaches your children, it turns to a fine white dust. This dust protects your children while they visit strange houses, it keeps them safe!”

You could hear many gasps and sighs of relief coming from the villagers. They were stunned, they always believed witches to be bad people and had always stayed away from this one for the same reason. As they thought back, they did realize that their children came home safe and they never had a bad piece of candy, in all those years.

Many minds were changed that night by one sweet little witch and a slither some snake.
Although, Witchy Chloe continued to live alone and generally stayed to herself, she welcomed visitors every first Saturday when she would teach classes in herbal gardening and candy making. The villagers welcomed the sight of the little flying witch every year on Halloween. They all knew by now, that their children were safe and protected by the least likely person they thought existed and a village that loved children.

Protection Brew

1 eye of newt or 2 eyes of scallywags
3 toes of frog or 1 toe of crocodile
1 wing of bat or 1 ear of rat
1 forked tongue of snake
1 tail of lizard
3 scales of dragon or 1 tail of skunk

Put all ingredients into a large cauldron at midnight, over a flickering fire, stir steadily after adding 6 quarts of water and bring to a boil for one hour. Add more water, as needed.

After the hour, remove from the flame and let the cauldron sit for 2 hours. Bring the vetch outside under the shimmering stars. Let it sit overnight.

The next morning you will have a powdered substance with many stars that the potion pulled from the night sky. Put this dry mixture into a burlap sack at night. Get on your broom and ride like Mother Wind is guiding you. As you fly through the night, Sprinkle any children you see below. Any brew left over should be placed in a vat of liquid for safe keeping, and left under starry, starry nights.

*Disclaimer: This is not a real recipe, please do not try this at home. It takes an experienced witch to produce good results. In the wrong hands, it could be a disaster.