A short story I wrote. If it is not allowed, moderators please delete:

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I watched in terror, unable to move or speak. Just a few moments ago it had been a normal September day. My only grandson and I had been gathering Sweet Annie to make a wreath to welcome Autumn. But I had taken Sammy too far from the path, lured by the bright blue sky and the beautyberries just a few steps further.

Both of my arms were full of the fragrant, weedy branches of wormwood, but I no longer could feel them. A small woman had stepped out of the woods, and my body had been stiffened to stone with one look of her clear green eyes. Those eyes had barely glanced at me, but had lingered hungrily on Sam. “Hello, my pretty one, “ she said brightly, “What are you doing on this merry mabon day?”

Sammy, perpetually friendly, answered, “Mawmaw and I are picking weeds to make the front door look nice.”

I wanted to grab up Sammy and run. This small woman was one of the fairy gentry my own grandmother had warned me about when I was a child, I was certain. She was barely taller than little Sam, but radiated an ageless sylvan strength. My body was frozen, but my thoughts cast about for the charms my Granny had taught me.

Nothing whatsoever came to mind.

“What is your name, sweet child?”, she asked.

Carelessly Sammy responded with a laugh, “Puddin’ Taime! Ask me again I’ll say the same!”

The Fae shrieked in frustration, and was gone the same moment.

Without a word, Sammy and I returned to path, still clutching the boughs of Sweet Annie. They would go on the door tonight to protect us from the old ones who wished us harm. I murmured a thanks back in time to Granny for teaching the rhymes of power to me as a child, and was grateful that I had faithfully passed them on.

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Some notes about this story:

I had taught my grandson the Puddin' Taime rhyme that I had learned as a little girl. ("What's your name? Puddin' Taime, ask me again I'll say the same. Where do you live? In a sieve. How did you come? On a ............. \*insert animal of your choice\* 's tongue." Donkey, Elephant, and Raven were my favorite to say. )

I was looking up where the rhyme came from, and it is mostly a southern rhyme, common in Appalachia with a lot of variations. Before that it was said in Scotland and Ireland, as early at the 1500's, in a different version as part of a story/joke about the devil. The gist is that a man asked the devil what to call him, and the devil said to call him at Pudding Time (in time for dinner), or Puddin' Taime. It was a misdirection, as it was common knowledge that if you knew a demon's name you had power over him. The same went for the Fae. If you let a fairy know your name, they could steal you, enslave you, or torment you. Anyway, that brings us to the rhyme many of us learned as kids. It actually started with a way to fool or be fooled by the devil, or the fae, and thus could be considered as a part of Appalachian magic.

Some time in the 1940s or 50s, as telephones became normal even in the most rural Appalachian areas, the last line changed from coming on an animal's tongue to "what's your number? cucumber!" This probably was also because the last line could be construed as a double entendre, and not appropriate for children.

Stock Image for attention. Not my photo