Die Schmutzhexe

The Dirt Witch

"Wash yourself before the sun sets", my father would insist, and to me, that simple request felt like an ultimatum. He told me of the Schmutzhexe, the Dirt Witch who haunts the oldest hollow trees, ready to claim any child too soiled to be clean. The legend was a comforting bedtime story until it wasn't.

A few days later, my reluctance to walk further into the woods became undeniable. It all started with an unbrushed smile and a specific tree—a massive, lightning-hollowed sentinel. Suddenly, that ancient trunk wasn't just wood; it was her waiting throne, and the Schmutzhexe was ready to take me home.