From alt.pub.dragons-inn Mon Dec  6 19:46:43 1993
Path: netcom.com!csus.edu!decwrl!nic.hookup.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!po.CWRU.Edu!scl4
From: scl4@po.CWRU.Edu (Selina C. Lee)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Character:  Winter's Child] History
Date: 6 Dec 1993 15:51:18 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Lines: 70
Message-ID: <2dvkdn$ou4@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Reply-To: scl4@po.CWRU.Edu (Selina C. Lee)
NNTP-Posting-Host: eeyore.ins.cwru.edu


ADMIN:  I know that there is already another character with the name of
"Winter."  Please note that THIS character is not "his child."  Winter's Child
is HER name as in a girl who was born in the season of winter.  How she
got this unusual name will be explained below.  Do not interact with her
just yet for I have not formally introduced her to the Dragon's Inn, and
when I have the energy, I will post the intro.  :)

History of the Character:

     Winter's Child.  That was her name.  How she became a druid was as
strange as the name she was bestowed upon.

Begin the tale...

     Her parents were approaching middle-age yet still they were childless
even though they had tried many charms, magic chants and prayers
recommended to them by travelling peddlers, old wise women, and many
fertility clerics.  They knew they were taken advantage of by these quacks
of society, but they were desperate.  They longed for a child, to love,
raise and bestow on the little one their wisdom and family history so
always the family line was kept immortal.  However, money was dwindling
fast and so were their hopes.  Slowly, their greatest fear, sterility,
crept upon them, threatening to destroy their common dream.  

     During that desperate time, a stranger came.  He wore the dress of a
rugged outdoorsman with a wooden staff in his hand and a long chain of
bear's teeth around his neck.  People recognized him as a druid, one of
the many protectors of the forest which was only a few miles walk thru the
eastern meadows.  The druids, people whispered, were a private, secret
society that shunned the ways of civilization and could care less about the
affairs of the common man.  It was thus a great surprise, seeing this man
out of the confines of the forest offering his services to the unhappy
couple.  
     "I will guarantee you many children," he said, "strong, healthy ones
that many will admire and cause you to be the envy of all parents." 
     The husband and wife were doubtful in their minds, but in the wells of
their souls, they felt the small spring of hope rush forth again after a
long drought of despair.  
     "How much will this cost, " said the husband anxiously, already
thinking maybe he could go to the market and sell their dairy cow to get
the required cash if they came up too short.
     "To do this service for you, I ask as my price your first-born
daughter," the druid replied simply.  "You will vow that you drop all your
rights as parents of that child and give her to me when I return."  
     The parents were stunned, but they soon recovered and quickly agreed
to the druid's price.  They had failed so many times before.  If they fail
again, at least they wouldn't lose anything, they thought simultaneously.

     Few months later, the wife was, as predicted by the stranger,
pregnant.  The future parents rejoiced in their hearts as a new chapter in
their married life was about to begin.  However, their efforts were now
turned to hoping for a son.  They tried not to think of what would happen
if they had a daughter, their minds anxious and fearful of the man from the
forest.  

     However, it was not so.

     A girl was born in the middle of cold winter's night. The woman was bathed
in sweat, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. The father was looking at
his new daughter in dismay.  
     The druid came immediately to take her away.
     "Do not worry, " said he to the grieving parents, childless again,
"more will come." 

     With that, he took the infant girl to the forest.  There, he named her
Winter's Child, a logical, simple name, the druid thought.  He raised her as
his own and she grew to follow the footsteps of her foster father.
-- 
"Here...is..where the story ends..." ---The Sundays