One Witch at a Time (2 page)

Rudi's mouth fell open at the sight. He stared, and then he sputtered. “Sorry,” he blurted. “There's been a . . . misunderstanding.” He pushed the bread and bacon into the girl's hand and hurried off.

No wonder the greengrocer and butcher had been insulted. Rudi might be the son of a dairy farmer from a tiny village in the mountains, but he was no rube. So she was hungry. He was hungry too, but fair was fair. He could not afford to trade his wares for nothing, not even to a lost-looking foreign girl with exquisite red hair and liquid brown eyes. Rudi stalked through the marketplace, muttering to himself.

After a few minutes' wandering and muttering, Rudi came upon a sheep pen, and there was Susanna Louisa.

“Rudi!” she cried, bouncing up to him. “I have something to tell you!”

He noticed that her basket was empty. “You sold your eggs?”

“No, I dropped them. But something else! I sold your cow for you, and now you'll never be hungry again!” She held out her hand, and Rudi saw that she was holding exactly what the foreign girl had offered him only a few minutes before.

Rudi felt the blood drain from his face. “You sold one of our cows for
that
?”

She nodded, looking very pleased. “I told her she could come to your farm this very day. Isn't that wonderful?”

“No! It's not! Our cows are not yours to sell! How could you be so stupid? How could you trade an entire cow for
that
?” Rudi jabbed a finger at her open hand. “For a . . . a handful of
beans
?”

Susanna's smile faded. She regarded the pile of dried beans in her hand. Then she lifted her chin in indignation. “Rudi. I am not stupid. I would not trade a beautiful cow for a bunch of plain old beans. But these are not plain old beans. These . . .” She held them up to his nose. “These are
magic
beans.”

“Come with me.”
Rudi pulled Susanna Louisa through the marketplace, frantic to find the foreign girl and undo what Susanna had done.

“Don't you want your beans?” Susanna Louisa called out.

“No!”

The red-haired girl was nowhere to be found, but she had left a trail of gossip in her wake.

“She tried to trade a pocketful of pole beans for one of my best cabbages,” said the greengrocer's wife with a scowl. “I can't do business like that. I sent her on her way.”

The butcher told a similar tale. “I has no use for such lunking great beans. Even a soup bone requires a fair trade.” He shook his head. “She wore shearling, did you see that? Didn't think such folk ventured this side of the mountains.”

At every stall Rudi and Susanna heard the same story: a furtive, foreign girl had approached, hoping to trade a handful of dried beans for a loaf of bread, or a smoked sausage, or a sack of apples. But no one had been gullible enough to make such a trade (except, of course, Susanna Louisa), and now it seemed the stranger herself was gone.

There was nothing to do but race home and hope to arrive before the girl did. Or, if they were lucky, they'd catch up with her on the road.

But they would not be lucky. Susanna Louisa could barely keep pace. And Rudi's pack was still heavy. He'd never had the chance to sell his goods at the market, and now they were only weighing him down.

“I can't, Rudi!” cried Susanna. She pulled out of his grasp and collapsed, breathless, by the side of the road.

He handed over his skin of water, and she drank in huge gulps. “Please, Susanna. I know it's far, but we must get home. If that girl takes a cow, we'll be ruined for sure!”

Just then Rudi heard a clattering along the road, coming toward them from the direction of the marketplace.

A wagon. And instead of a lumbering slow draft horse, it was being pulled by a sprightly pony at a brisk pace. In desperate hope, Rudi stepped into the road and waved his arms.

The driver reined his pony to a halt and regarded Rudi with a squint. “Here now, what's all this? I could've run you over.”

Rudi hurried around the pony. “Are you going toward Brixen? We need to get to Brixen!”

“Brixen? I has no business there. I'm on my way to the abbey of Saint Adolphus. I'm to load casks of ale to sell at market for the Adolphine brothers.”

Rudi's heart sank. The abbey was nowhere near Brixen. But he would never get home quickly enough on foot. He searched his brain for a solution, and found one—he hoped.

He wiggled his knapsack off his shoulders. “I can pay you. A pack full of cheese and butter if you'll give us a ride to Brixen.” It was a desperately high price to pay, but this was a desperate situation.

The driver rubbed his chin and chewed his cheek. He craned his neck and regarded the sun, as if to gauge the time.

Rudi tried again. “Please? I'm sure the good brothers would enjoy a supply of fresh butter and cheese.” He held his breath, waiting for an answer.

Finally the driver cocked his head toward the wagon. “Hurry up, then.”

With a yelp of relief, Rudi hoisted his pack onto the wagon, and then helped Susanna Louisa. He climbed up next, and they were off.

After a few moments' silence, Susanna Louisa spoke. “Don't worry, Rudi. We haven't seen the foreign girl on the road, so maybe she went the other direction. I never did tell her where you live.”

Rudi's stomach dropped as he realized his own error. “No. But I did.”

And there it was. He could blame Susanna Louisa for being foolish, but it did nothing to change the truth: The fault was all his own. He was the one who had begged Papa to let him go to the market in Klausen. He was the one who had assured Mama that he could strike a fair bargain, and now he had traded a month's worth of butter and cheese for a ride on a wagon. He was the one who'd lost sight of Susanna Louisa when he'd promised he would mind her.

How had things gotten so bad so quickly?

Rudi reminded himself that nothing could be worse than last summer. When all the children of Brixen—all except Rudi—had been lured away by the enchanted music of an evil fiddler. Rudi had found his friends and brought them safely home, but only with the help of the old woman on the mountain.

Of course, she was more than just an old woman. She was Brixen's very own witch. But it was bad luck to talk of such things. And yet, perhaps too many villagers had done just that, for the winter had been especially harsh, even for the mountains. All of Brixen had suffered, but none worse than those at the Bauer farm. Papa's supply of winter feed had become buried in the drifting snow, and then it had rotted. One by one the cows had starved. Rudi had worried that before the winter was out, he and his family might starve too.

Now it was spring and the snows had melted, except for the shadiest patches. Rudi had insisted on carrying everything he could to the first market day in Klausen, in an effort to replenish the larder at home.

Instead he was returning empty-handed, and who knew what he would find at home? One less cow, a furious Papa, a distraught Mama. And Oma, who would be shaking her head at his foolishness.

“It'll be all right, Rudi,” said Susanna Louisa, who must have seen the despair on his face. “I'm sure your papa will know what to do. He'll give that girl the worst cow. The bad-tempered one who always kicks the milk bucket.”

Rudi groaned under his breath. And though he knew it would do no good, he couldn't help saying what was on his mind. “You were tricked, Susanna. That girl told you a wild story about magic beans so she could get a cow for nothing.” His heart sank at the thought. He had felt sorry for the shearling girl. He had almost begun to like her.

“I was not tricked!” Susanna protested. “These beans are worth a hundred cows, if you ask me. They'll grow wherever you plant them. And they'll sprout so many beans that everyone in Brixen will have their fill.”

“I suppose the foreign girl told you that, too?”

“She didn't need to,” said Susanna. “What else would magic beans do?”

Her words hung in the air for a long moment. Then, with a creeping realization, Rudi turned toward Susanna Louisa. “So, the girl didn't
say
they were magic beans?”

Susanna patted him patiently on the arm. “Rudi. It's not something you say
out loud
. Think of the great huge fuss it would cause.”

An unexpected glimmer of relief kept Rudi's frustration from boiling over. He squinted at Susanna as they bumped along the road. “What about the cow, then? Did she ask you for a cow?”

“Oh no,” said Susanna with pride. “That was my idea.”

“Your idea?
Why
?”

“Because, Rudi! You can't trade magic beans for just anything!” She sounded as exasperated as Rudi felt.

And so the truth was out. Rudi forced himself to take one deep breath, and then he spoke as evenly as he could. “You took it upon yourself to give away one of our last three cows for . . . for nothing.”

She blinked up at him in hurt indignation. “It's not nothing!”

The pony and cart rounded the last bend in the road. Ahead lay the River Brix with its footbridge; and beyond it, the Bauer farm on the edge of Brixen. Rudi strained to watch and listen for activity at the farm: any bustling or shouting or lowing of cows. But all was quiet. Rudi wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried.

The cart came to a stop at the footbridge. “You'll have to walk from here,” said the driver. “Good luck with them beans of yours.” He winked at Rudi and left them standing at the side of the road.

“See that?” said Rudi. “I'm not the only one who thinks you were gullible.”

Susanna Louisa narrowed her eyes at him. “What's gullible? Stupid? I told you already, I'm not stupid.” Her mouth became a thin line, and her eyes filled with tears.

Rudi gulped, and despite all the trouble she had caused, his heart softened. “No, not stupid. Just . . . too trusting.” He swallowed his pride and offered his hand.

But Susanna Louisa sidestepped Rudi and stomped away across the bridge. Then she turned, swiped at her eyes, and reached into the pocket of her pinafore. Without a word, she drew out one bean and held it up for Rudi to see. Then she flung the bean toward the riverbank, where it bounced once and became lost in the soft new grass. She plopped onto the ground, planted her chin on her fists, and stared at the spot.

Rudi blinked at her. If an angry look were enough to make a bean sprout, Susanna Louisa was the one to make it happen. He shook his head and left her to watch over her bean. She knew her way home from here. He needed to see what kind of damage had been done at the farm.

Just as Rudi
had imagined, his grandmother stood waiting in the doorway of the cottage, tapping her foot.

“How did you fare at market?” she said. “You traded for something tasty, I hope.”

Rudi hurried through the gate. “Has anyone been here, Oma? A red-haired foreign girl with muddy boots?”

Oma raised an eyebrow. “You traded for a foreign girl? I was hoping for something more like a ham.”

“Oma!” Rudi tugged at his collar, which suddenly felt tight. “Have you seen such a girl? Wearing a heavy thick shearling coat?”

Now both her eyebrows lifted. “Shearling? No. I've seen no one all day.”

Mama stepped outside. “Home so soon, Rudi? But
your knapsack looks empty. Did you bring nothing home in exchange for all that cheese and butter?”

“He traded it for a shearling girl,” said Oma. “I hope she knows how to milk a cow.”

“The cows!” cried Rudi, forgetting everything else. “Has anyone come to claim a cow?”

“Did you sell a cow after all?” said Mama. She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. “Perhaps I heard you wrong. Perhaps you said that someone will deliver
us
a cow. In trade for the goods you carried to market?”

“I never made a trade with anyone!” said Rudi. And then, eager to explain how the day's events were not all his fault, he told them everything. How Susanna Louisa had taken it upon herself to offer one of their precious cows for a handful of dried beans.