4TH JANUARY 2024

Rapetta

A man and his wife had hoped, for years and years, to have a child. Finally their great dream came true. In the months leading up to the child's birth, the woman loved to pause and gaze at the beautiful garden that stretched out below her window. This garden belonged to a terrible witch. One fine day the woman discovered a wonderful field of radishes right in the middle of the bewitched garden, and suddenly she felt an overwhelming desire to have those little roots. She turned to her husband: "If I cannot have at least a couple of those beautiful radishes, I am sure I will die. And so the poor man sneaked into the garden at night and filled a basket with succulent radishes. But suddenly he was confronted by the witch who, in a rage, cried out to him: "Curse you!" Terrified, the man stammered: "I had to do it! My wife is expecting a baby and if I don't bring her some radish she will die!" The witch reconsidered and concluded, "All right, take as many as you like, but in return I want the child that will be born." In terror the man agreed. A girl was born and the witch presented herself to the two poor parents. The child was named Rapetta and was taken away by the evil fairy.