The trial begins

“Who accuses this woman of witchcraft?” the judge asked.

The farmer stood.

“I do.”

“What did she do?”

“Well,” the farmer said, “You know my farm has always been good.”

From the looks of it, that farm hasn’t been good in years.

“But this year,” the farmer continued, “nothing is growing. You all have that problem.”

Many of the men in the room shook their heads.

“I knew something was wrong,” the farmer said. “Then one night I heard music in the woods.

“I went to find out what was wrong. I took my guard dog, Kaiser. You know he’s tear the arm off anyone who dared come on my land.

“Well, in the woods we saw a fire. We got near, and I saw women dancing. They were naked.”

The farmers all looked at Anna, hungry looks in their eyes. She blushed.

Nicholas started to react, but I shook my head.

“I, I saw them bring out a child,” the farmer went on. “The child was screaming.”

He started to cry. A fine job of acting, I thought.

“I wanted to do something, but I was afraid. I thought of running away.

“But I knew I had to do something. I said, `Go save the child, Kaiser.’ He ran toward the circle where they were dancing. I couldn’t see him in the brush. I started running toward them. Then I heard Kaiser yelp. He ran past me, away form them. Then I saw people moving in the woods toward me. And animals. There were bears. And wolves. And some of the people were changing into animals.”

He stopped and sobbed. The priest patted him on the back. The other men in the room all looked at him sympathetically.

“Go on,” the judge said.

“Kaiser and I ran all the way home. I closed the door and prayed and prayed. We heard sounds outside, but no one came in. In the morning, all my chickens were dead. My cow was dry. Kaiser began to lose weight. Oh, but he was still a good guard dog.

“Then yesterday, that woman came to my gate. You all know Kaiser. He bites anyone except me. Well, she walked right up to the gate, said some strange words, and Kaiser just lay there. He even let her touch him.

“I was in the barn, working, when I saw her. I was about to say something, when it hit me she looked familiar.

“That’s when I remembered. She was one of the ones dancing naked in the woods. She was dancing a witch dance. Naked.”

Now the men really began to look at Anna with hunger.

“She’s a witch. How else would she have such control over Kaiser?”

The priest rose.

I have heard many such tales,” he said. ”The power of the evil one is very strong. That is why our people get sick, our crops fail, our animals die. Even the forest is touched by evil. Trees are dying. How many wild animals have wandered into town? ”

The crowd murmured.

I stood.

“May I speak?”

“I saw him in the woods,” the farmer yelled. “He was the leader. He’s the devil!”