“Come on in and be welcome my dear. It’s not every day I get a visit from my favourite granddaughter. Let’s go through to the kitchen where it’s warm. So, what brings you here?”
“Mum sent you round this pot of soup,”
“She’s a good woman your mother even if we don’t always see eye to eye! I bet she told you to ask for something from me, didn’t she?”
“Yes Gran, she did mention that she has run out of that lotion she rubs on her skin.”
“Oh yes she’ll take advantage of the things I make and the things I know and at the same time she’ll accuse me of being a witch.”
“Are you a witch Granny? “
“I suppose some might call me that. How old are you now lass 13 is it. Well, it’s probably time I told you. Women of our family have always been healers, now I only had the one child and that was your father, so you’ll be next in line for me to pass the knowledge on to. But if I teach you all I know you will have to promise me never to speak about it to anyone until you have daughters of your own. No. Not even to your mother. She is one of these Christians and she doesn’t hold with anything not given out by the church. “
“Does that mean what you do is wrong?”
“No, I don’t believe it’s wrong to help people when they are ill or in pain, but the priest doesn’t like it. I don’t really know why! Do you want to be able to help people yourself or would you feel it better not to know anymore.”
“I want to know Gran. After all even Mum uses your skin lotion so it can’t be wrong.”
“Alright we’ll start with making that lotion. First pass me down that bundle of rags that’s in the rafters almost hidden in the thatch. Careful it’s quite heavy”
“Is this a cauldron Gran?”
“Well you might call it that my dear. Now look at it carefully, See it’s black on the outside from the fire but look how clean I scrub the inside. It’s important that you don’t leave anything in it from a potion you are making or it might spoil the next one. It’s quite heavy and thick so things don’t burn. You need to keep it away from all your other pots as you must never use it for food. Some of the things that it’s quite safe to put on your skin could make you quite ill if you ate them.”
“It doesn’t smell of anything, but the lotion you give Mum does smell. “
“That’s ‘cos I add lavender flowers to the other ingredients, you’ll find lavender just outside the door. But before we get to that I want to tell you a bit more about the cauldron. If you take to this work, you’ll have one of your own, so you need to know how to care for it. I’ll teach you to make a strong soap to clean it and where to find coarse sand to scrub it further. Then you need to find a place to keep it out of sight. There are some people who will use the fact you own a cauldron to make trouble for you, so it doesn’t want to be where everyone can see it. I Keep it wrapped in that cloth, and I always use the same cloth to dry and wrap it. Will you remember all that?”
“Yes Gran”
“Okay then we’ll make the lotion then you can help me clean it and get a feel for doing it yourself.”
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