The witch and the raven

The witch lived in a nice house in a forest, not far from a beautiful city that was the seat of the eastern empire. The western empires were now more powerful, but the eastern empire was still more beautiful. The beautiful witch loved her beautiful home. She left tasty seeds on her terrace and the birds came to eat and enjoy the spirit of love that filled her home. 

A black raven lingered long in the wonderful spirit of love, in the garden. The witch gazed out her window and spotted the black raven perched on the table on the terrace. "What have you been up to, black raven?"

The black raven understood perfectly. He had flown to many lands and understood many languages. He wanted to say "I spent the last weeks journeying to places humans only dream of being able to visit. It amuses me watching humans, who think they are so smart because they can make toys like telephones and cars and spacecraft. Ravens are much more intelligent than humans think we are, because we fly and see so far, what humans cannot see."

But ravens never let humans know about how intelligent they really are. The humans have to find out for themselves. So the raven made his usual communicate-with-humans sound. "Rark!"

The raven did not know that the witch was filled with magic and love and light. She could see what was in the heart of all living creatures. She saw clearly the journeys, and the amusement, and the intelligence, in the raven's tiny beating heart. "You have such a wonderful life, my friend."

The raven felt his heart fill with curiosity and light as she walked out onto the terrace. He wanted to say "Who are you?" but could only spontaneously let out another sound. "Rark!"

The witch tapped her shoulder. "Would you like to sit here and talk to me, black raven?" 

The raven felt his usual urge to fly away, but a much stronger wish to stay with the beautiful witch. He plucked up enough courage, and flitted from the table to her shoulder. "Rark!"

She cocked her head to the side to talk with him. "Tell me about your journeys, my friend."

"Rark!"

"That's very interesting. When you flew over Paris, and saw the city from above, was it as beautiful as it is when I walk around the up-and-down streets of Montmartre?"

"Rark!"

"Sometimes I fly over cities too, to get a bird's-eye-view of life. Do you ever try to get a human's-eye-view of life?"

"Rark! Rark!"

The two of them talked a while longer in the afternoon sun. 

From that day, the raven returned to the beautiful house of the beautiful witch in the forest, to perch on her shoulder and talk with her.

The witch adored her very interesting conversations with the raven who flew to so many interesting places. One day she told him a secret. "Do you know, when I was a child, I wished to meet a black raven to talk with…!"

Since the first day they met, the raven had become a lot more talkative. "Rark! Rark! Rark! Rark! Rark! Rark! Rark! Rark!" 

An enormous smile appeared on the face of the witch. "Is that so? When you were a tiny baby raven, squawking loudly in the noisy raven's nest with all your brothers and sisters who were all squawking as loudly as you, you dreamed of having a human friend…"

The witch and her raven friend are alive and well and living in Vienna