THE RAVEN WOMAN

Juan C. Di Pane

To my women: Maru (thanks for your unconditional support, your contagious passion and for inspiring me to dream); Isabel, Matide and Maruja, beings of inspiring light.

Š From illustrations and text: Juan C. Di Pane 2016Salamanca, Spain. December 2016.

All rihgts reserved. Any quind of reproduction, distribution, public communication or transformation of this work can only be done with the authorization of its owner, except as provided by law.

Juan C. Di Pane

There are stories written with black feathers, red ink and secrets.

Stories like that of The Raven Woman.

No one listens to fear if it needs to be cured.

The potions of that witch were the only medicine in leagues.

One morning the children baptized her with a shout: RAVEN WOMAN! DAMN RAVEN WOMAN!

the village joined the choir and she left forever.

That night, everyone prayed that the Raven Woman would not take revenge with a curse.

Nobody perceived that those black feathers, with their indelible red, had tattooed on the Raven Woman a voracious guilt.

Human contact resurfaced later, when a young girl desperate for her mother’s illness decided to confront the witch.

The Raven Woman took pity on her, invited her to come and a new story began to be written.

After decades together, the young girl observed everything; the old woman taught her the world of letters and the healing power of nature.

That was not witchcraft ...

The apprentice became her shield against civilization: she brought the potions to the village and brought back the payments.

One day, while putting order in the hermitage, the girl discovered the secret that had chained her to the old oak tree.

Until one evening, besides bringing the money, the apprentice returned with something else.

A piece of the past had risen.

Father Here an envelope is pasted with a letter inside. The reader must take it out to read it. The text of that letter is reproduced on the next page.

La aprendiz se convirtió en su escudo contra la civilización: llevaba las pócimas al poblado y traía las pagas, hasta que un día regresó con algo más.

Un trozo del pasado había resucitado.

Autumn brought a foreigner to the village; she was looking for one MarĂ­a Emilia Villamandos del Castillo.

The Raven Woman’s assistant intuited who she was and that it was something serious.

She lowered the protective shield and pointed her the path.

More than sixty years erased with a walk.

Each leaf trampled by MarĂ­a Emilia and Margarita vanished the secrets: the disappointment with Arturo; her dead son; the repentance of their parents; how could Margarita resume the searching ...

The youngest sister had found her to take her back home, and never ever separate again.

The Raven Woman refused, but her sister promised to return and convince her.

That night the doubts struck the Raven Woman without rest, but she found all the answers in the tender little voice that fluttered among the leaves of the old oak tree.

The dawn brought Margarita back ...

As promised, she never left her again.

There are stories written with black feathers, red ink and secrets.

Stories like that of The Raven Woman.