Gingerbread House

June 8, 2012 11:39 AM

"There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls. It’s been many years since any child was taken. But still, on nights like these, when the wind comes cold from Tsibeya, mothers hold their daughters tight and warn them not to stray too far from home. “Be back before dark,” they whisper. “The trees are hungry tonight.” Tor.com brings us some short horror/fairy tale fiction from Leigh Bardugo, "The Witch of Duva: A Ravkan Folk Tale."
posted by The Whelk (29 comments total)

Has Tor.com always been awesome? I've only started to notice the kickass content they've been posting over the past year or so.
posted by Think_Long at 11:41 AM on June 8, 2012 [3 favorites]

That was fabulous, haunting, and lovely.
posted by sarcasticah at 12:18 PM on June 8, 2012

Sounds like Hwy 16.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:25 PM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

I actually read this short story just an hour so ago and it is fantastic - well worth a read even for those who don't typically like fantasy
posted by nolnacs at 12:38 PM on June 8, 2012

It has more the feel of a fable than fantasy but yes, well worth a read.
posted by Fizz at 12:47 PM on June 8, 2012

Great story!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:14 PM on June 8, 2012

Beautiful..
posted by snaparapans at 1:28 PM on June 8, 2012

Love it. Thanks Whelk.
posted by stompadour at 1:31 PM on June 8, 2012

In some ways, I object to a retelling of the old tales even as knowing as that retelling is.

If it is a retelling of a real tale, what is that real tale really about?

Sitting on the porch of Baba Olya’s house, the old women peered into the forest and muttered, khitka. The word raised the hairs on Nadya’s arms, but she was no longer a child, so she laughed with her brother at such silly talk. The khitkii were spiteful forest spirits, bloodthirsty and vengeful. But in stories, they were known to hunger after newborns, not full-grown girls near old enough to marry.

It's about infanticide performed on babies they don't have the food to feed by people you've known all your life and blaming it on "spiteful forest spirits", because no one could live with the truth.

Yet everyone, at some level deep inside, knows what actually happened.

Try that on for horror.
posted by jamjam at 1:53 PM on June 8, 2012 [5 favorites]

Wow. That is brilliant. More, please.
posted by solotoro at 1:55 PM on June 8, 2012

Has Tor.com always been awesome?

Pretty much, yeah.
posted by AdamCSnider at 1:59 PM on June 8, 2012

Ive read it three times now and I don't think there is a single wasted word. It's so ...exact.
posted by The Whelk at 2:26 PM on June 8, 2012

Very good story. Thanks for sharing.
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:57 PM on June 8, 2012

That was delicious. Thanks for posting.
posted by mochapickle at 3:20 PM on June 8, 2012

Awesome read. Thank you.
posted by darkstar at 5:24 PM on June 8, 2012

Oh, lovely, thank you.
posted by pickingupsticks at 5:58 PM on June 8, 2012

This is great timing, too. I'd just rewatched The Brothers Grimm (2005) last night on Hulu (no subscription required).

Similar theme (village daughters being taken by nefarious forces in the deep, dark wood).
posted by darkstar at 8:30 PM on June 8, 2012

That was awesome.

Some wondered if the girls might have just walked into the wood, lured there by their hunger. There were smells that wafted off the trees when the wind blew a certain way, impossible scents of lamb dumplings or sour cherry babka. Nadya had smelled them herself, sitting on the porch beside her mother, trying to get her to take another spoonful of broth. She would smell roasting pumpkin, walnuts, brown sugar, and find her feet carrying her down the stairs toward the waiting shadows, where the trees shuffled and sighed as if ready to part for her.

So, so good.
posted by ZaphodB at 8:47 PM on June 8, 2012

Truly wonderful. I'll have to read more of her work.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:54 PM on June 8, 2012

The twist at the end was brilliant.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:17 AM on June 9, 2012

That is indeed a marvelously interesting take on familiar tales, gorgeously presented. Thanks - I'll enjoy sharing this around.
posted by harujion at 3:59 AM on June 9, 2012

Also, big plus for avoiding the sexist stereotypes, prevalent in fairy tales, that have been handed generation after generation.
posted by snaparapans at 7:20 AM on June 9, 2012

This is amazing. As I finished I realized my heart rate was up and I was taking only short breaths. Not scary, just... Good. Thank you for posting.
posted by samthemander at 10:20 AM on June 9, 2012

Wasn't expecting to like this quite as much as I did.
posted by newdaddy at 1:32 PM on June 9, 2012

Exceptional story.
posted by arnicae at 3:34 PM on June 9, 2012

This is great. More, please, internet.
posted by rtha at 9:34 PM on June 9, 2012

This was such an amazing story, thanks for sharing.

It looks as though this is a companion tale to The Geisha Trilogy being written by the author, the first of which was released June 5:

Shadow & Bone

The series is also mentioned in the Atlantic Wire in a post called The Race for the Next Hunger Games.

Can't wait to read this book. Thanks again.
posted by triggerfinger at 8:19 AM on June 10, 2012

Thanks for the heads up triggerfinger!
posted by kostia at 2:43 AM on June 11, 2012

Very cool, thanks.
posted by jeffburdges at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2012