Sacred Sierra by Jason Webster

napkins. It was about all this and more: you captured it in moments or visions such as these, but it remained elusive: a timeless, human quality, one that had to be quietly nurtured and protected to survive. None there could give it a name, but I felt sure it lay behind all their talk of ‘witches’ and ‘spirits’ – and it was this that faced the greatest danger.

The Story of Old Mother Misery and the Pear Tree
    OLD MOTHER MISERY lived in a
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on the outskirts of the village, where she kept a few chickens running around in a yard, in the middle of which stood a large pear tree. When she wasn’t cooking, or cleaning, she used to go out and about sowing seeds of misery wherever she went, making people’s lives as wretched as she could – making shepherds lose their sheep, farmers lose their crops, children lose their toys and old people lose their wits. So it was no surprise that she didn’t have a single friend in the entire world.
    Now Old Mother Misery was getting on in years, and she knew that sooner or later Death was going to appear one day at her door to take her away with him. So one night she sat down to think about what to do and came up with a plan.
    The next day she went to Heaven to see God.
    ‘Oh me,’ said God when he saw her approaching. ‘It’s her again.’
    ‘God,’ said Old Mother Misery in her high, scratchy voice, ‘I need a favour. Little boys from the village keep coming into my yard, climbing the pear tree and stealing all the fruit! It has to stop!’
    ‘Well, what do you want me to do about it?’ said God.
    ‘I want you,’ said Old Mother Misery, ‘to make it so that if ever anyone climbs my pear tree, they won’t be able to get down again unless I go up there myself to fetch them. Just to teach them a lesson.’
    Now it did seem to God that this was an odd thing to ask for, but Old Mother Misery had given him enough headaches in the past, and it didn’t seem like too big a task, so he said, ‘If I do this for you, will you promise to go away and leave me in peace?’
    ‘Certainly,’ said Old Mother Misery.
    ‘Very well then,’ said God. ‘Consider it done.’
    Now about this time the Devil was down in Hell doing his annual inventory check to see how many souls he’d got and who was expected to be joining them in the near future.
    ‘Death,’ he called out to Death. ‘Isn’t it about time Old Mother Misery was making her way down here? She’s certainly getting on a bit. Why don’t you go and pay her a visit?’
    So Death set off to find Old Mother Misery’s
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, where he knew she lived.
    When he arrived he found Old Mother Misery tending her chickens in the yard.
    ‘Oh Death,’ she said when she saw his dark black shadow over her. ‘Is that you? Has my time come already? Surely you can spare me for a bit longer yet.’
    But Death was implacable. ‘Come along now,’ he said. ‘You’ve been here far too long already. It’s about time we got going.’
    ‘Oh but please,’ said Old Mother Misery. ‘It’s going to be a long journey. Couldn’t we take something with us to eat in case we get hungry along the way. I’ve got some lovely ripe pears up in that pear tree if you’d be so good as to climb up and get some.’
    ‘Good idea,’ said Death. ‘You’re right, it is a long way, and doubtless I’ll be wanting something myself during the journey. I’ll just nip up and get those delicious looking pears up there at the top.’
    And so it was that Death climbed the tree to pick some pears. But no sooner did he have the fruit in his hands than he realised he was stuck and couldn’t get down again.
    ‘Hah!’ cried Old Mother Misery. ‘I’ve got you now. You’re trapped, and you shan’t be taking me anywhere.’
    Death cried out and cried out, but all to no avail. It looked like he was going to be there for a long time, perhaps even for ever.
    Now with Death stuck up Old Mother Misery’s pear tree, nobody was dying: builders fell from their