The Magic Ointment

Aunt Goody was a nanny. She cared for the sick and nursed little children. One night, she was awakened at midnight. She descended from her bedroom to the hallway and saw a strange, cross-eyed old man. He asked Aunt Goody to come to his wife—she was too weak, as he explained, and couldn’t nurse her newborn baby herself.

Aunt Goody didn’t like the strange visitor, but business was business. So she quickly dressed and went out with him. He immediately seated her on a jet-black steed with fiery eyes, and they galloped off at an incredible speed. Afraid of falling, Aunt Goody clung to the cross-eyed old man with all her might.

They raced and raced until they finally stopped at the door of a small house. There, they dismounted and entered the house. The mistress lay in bed, and the baby—a beautiful, healthy child—lay beside her. Other children were playing nearby.

Aunt Goody took the baby in her arms, and the mother handed her a jar of ointment, instructing her to apply it to the baby’s eyes as soon as they opened.

After a while, the baby opened his eyes slightly, and Aunt Goody noticed that he, too, was cross-eyed, just like his father. She took the jar of ointment and dabbed it on the baby’s eyelids.

“What’s this for?” Aunt Goody wondered. She had never seen anyone apply ointment to a baby’s eyelids before. Seizing a moment when no one was looking, she lightly dabbed her own right eyelid.

No sooner had she done this than everything around her seemed to change. The room’s furnishings appeared luxurious. The woman in bed transformed into the most beautiful lady, dressed in white silk. The baby looked even more adorable than before, and his swaddling clothes became transparent and shimmering, like silver gauze. But his siblings, who were playing by the bed, turned into little imps with flattened noses, pointed ears, and long, hairy paws. They made faces at each other, scratched, pulled at their sick mother’s ears—in short, they were up to all sorts of mischief. And then Aunt Goody realized she had entered a house of devils.

But she didn’t say a word about it. As soon as the woman recovered and could nurse the baby herself, Aunt Goody asked the master to take her home. He led her to the jet-black steed with fiery eyes, and they galloped as fast as before, if not faster, until they reached Aunt Goody’s house. The cross-eyed old man helped her down, thanked her very politely, and paid her more generously than anyone ever had for such services.

The next day—market day—Aunt Goody went shopping. She had been away from home for a long time and needed a few things for the household. As she was inspecting the goods, she suddenly saw the very same cross-eyed old man who had taken her on the jet-black steed! And what do you think he was doing at the market? He was going from stall to stall, taking something from each: fruit from one, eggs from another... And no one seemed to notice.

Aunt Goody thought it wasn’t her place to interfere. However, she decided she shouldn’t miss the chance to exchange a word or two with such a generous client. So she approached him, curtsied, and said:

“Good day, sir! I hope your wife and baby are as well as...”

But before she could finish, the strange old man recoiled in surprise and exclaimed:

“What, you can see me now?!”

“See you?” she repeated. “Of course! As clearly as I see the sun in the sky. And even more,” she added, “I see you’re very busy... with your profitable shopping.”

“Is that so? It seems you see too much,” he said. “Tell me, please, with which eye do you see all this?”

“With my right, of course,” she replied, pleased to have caught him.

“The ointment! The ointment!” cried the old thieving devil. “Take this for meddling in what’s none of your business! You won’t see me again!”

With that, he struck her right eye, and she immediately lost sight of him.

But the worst of it was that from that moment on, she became blind in her right eye and remained cross-eyed for the rest of her life.

↑ To the top

The Magic Ointment

More fairy tales