The hairy heart of a witch

Once upon a time, there was a handsome, wealthy and intelligent young male sorcerer who found that his friends, once they fell in love and liked to dress up playfully, became foolish and lost their taste and dignity. The young wizard makes up his mind that he will never be a victim of such weak will and uses black magic to strengthen his immunity.

The boy wizard's family, who did not know his secret, made fun of him when they saw him so lonely and cold.

"Everything will change," they prophesied, "after a girl captures his heart!"

However, the young male wizard's heart remained untouched. Despite the fact that many girls were attracted by the lofty manners and used all kinds of subtle tricks to please him, none of them managed to impress him. The male wizard gloated over his indifference, and the wisdom behind it.

The initial stages of youth passed, and all of the boy wizard's peers began to marry and have children.

"Their hearts must have become empty shells," he sneered, seeing the antics of the young parents around him, "being frazzled by these wailing dolls!"

Once again, he was glad that he had made such a wise decision in his early years.

Later, the wizard's elderly parents died. The wizard did not feel sad about it. On the contrary, he thought that their death had brought him good luck. Now he was alone in charge of their castle. He transferred his most important wealth to the deepest dungeons and let himself live a life of wealth and comfort, with many of his servants making it their only job to keep him comfortable.

The male wizard thought that whoever saw his luxurious and carefree solitary life would surely be very envious. Therefore, when he overheard two servants talking about his master one day, the atmosphere and irritation inside him could not be contained.

The first manservant expressed his sympathy for the sorcerer, who, despite his wealth and power, had no one to love him.

But the other manservant laughed and asked rhetorically: Why has a man with so much gold and a palatial castle not been able to find a wife?

When the wizard heard this, his pride was dealt a heavy blow.

He immediately decided to find a wife, and she must be better than all other wives. She had to be so stunningly beautiful that every man's heart would stir with love and desire at the sight of her. She should come from a magical family, so that their children will inherit outstanding magical talent. She also has to have at least as much wealth as he does, so that even if the family adds to the population, his comfortable life can be guaranteed.

The wizard was afraid that it would take him fifty years to find such a woman, but as luck would have it, the day after he decided to look for a wife, a woman who met his requirements came to his neighbor's house to visit his relatives.

She was a highly skilled sorceress with a lot of wealth. Her beauty was so amazing that men's hearts would flutter at the sight of her. Of course, there was only one exception, the heart of the male witch remained senseless. However, since she was the trophy he was looking for, he asked her to marry him.

People noticed the change in the witch's attitude and were surprised, saying to the girl that what a hundred women had not succeeded in doing, had succeeded with her.

Faced with the wizard's solicitude, the young girl felt both novel and repulsive. She sensed the coldness behind his warm and sweet words; she had never before met such a strange and solitary man. But her relatives thought they were a perfect match and were eager to make it work, so she accepted the invitation to the great banquet that the wizard had thrown for her.

The table was decorated with the finest silver and gold cutlery and contained the most sumptuous food. The artists played the ribbon-wrapped lute and sang of a love their hosts had never felt before. The girl sat on the throne next to the male witch, who whispered the love words he had stolen from the poet, not understanding their true meaning.

The girl listened, perplexed, and finally she replied, "You speak well, male witch, and if I thought you had a heart, I would be happy for this attentiveness of yours!"

The male wizard laughed and told her not to worry about it. He instructed her to follow him out of the banquet and walk downstairs to the locked dungeon, where his most important treasure was hidden.

In an enchanted crystal box, there was a beating heart of the wizard.

This heart was long isolated from eyes, ears and fingers; it was never captured by beauty, by a musical singing voice, by satin skin. The girl was terrified at the sight before her, for the heart was crumpled and covered with long black hairs.

"Oh, what have you done?" She said sadly, "Put it back where it belongs, I beg you!"

Seeing that this was the only way to make her happy, the male witch drew his wand, opened the lock of the crystal box, cut open his chest, and put the hairy heart back into the hollow where it had been.

"Now what about being healed, just know what real love is!" The girl said aloud and embraced him.

The touch of her white soft skin, the breath she sprayed on his ear, the fragrance of her thick golden hair: all of these pierced his newly awakened heart like a spear. But in its long exile, in the darkness of its captivity, this heart had become alien, reckless and savage, its desires fierce and perverse.

The guests at the feast noticed the departure of the host and the girl. At first they were not disturbed, but after a long time had passed, they became anxious and later began to search the castle.

Finally they found the dungeon, and what awaited them was a very horrible sight.

The girl was lying on the floor, dead, her chest cut open, and the crazed male sorcerer crouched beside her, grasping in one bloody hand a large, bright red and smooth heart, which he licked and stroked, vowing to exchange it with his own heart.

In his other hand, he held his wand as he tried to persuade the crumpled, shaggy heart to leave his chest. But the shaggy heart was stronger than he was, refusing to relinquish its hold on his senses and return to the coffin in which it had been imprisoned for so long.

As the guests watched in horror, the wizard tossed aside his wand and grabbed a silver dagger. Vowing never again to be controlled by his own heart, he picked that heart out of his own chest.

The male wizard fell to his knees in triumph, grasping a heart in each hand. Then he fell on the girl's body and died.