asheathes:

{ tales from the wizarding world: the gold cauldron }

There once was talk of a gold cauldron hidden in a cave in the Culy Woods. No potion brewed in it would spoil, and medicine stewed in the cauldron would cure any sickness. Many had searched for it to no avail, and the cauldron was soon believed to be mere fantasy.

One day, a little boy was chasing hares through the woods when a glimmer of light from one of the caves caught his eye. He climbed into the cave, and there amidst the jagged teeth of stalagmites and stalactites stood the gold cauldron gleaming like a shiny coin, and sitting behind it was a withered witch who watched the boy silently. She said, “What is it that you come for, boy? This cave hasn’t been visiting in centuries.” The boy said, “I was chasing hares in the woods, Ma’am,” for it was the truth. She took the cauldron in her hands and offered it to the boy. “You who do not seek but shall have. Take it, boy, for I have no use for it,” the witch said. It was no bigger than the biggest of his Mother’s flower pots, so he took it from the witch and carried it home.

His sister fell ill with a fatal disease not three days after he brought the cauldron home, but she was cured with medicine that their Mother cooked in the golden cauldron. The townspeople started whispering about her miraculous recovery, and soon, word reached the king who sent soldier to investigate this strange phenomenon. Upon finding the gold cauldron, the soldiers confiscated it and presented it to the king, who had, himself, been searching for it for many years.

One night, he recklessly slipped poison into the wine that his wife had been drinking, and ordered for an antidote to be brewed in the gold cauldron. And so, it was done, but the antidote failed to work, and the queen quickly succumbed to the poison. After that, the gold of the cauldron flaked off and the cauldron turned a dreadful, rusted brown. The king fell into a fitful rage and ordered the cauldron to be thrown into the lake, where it lies to this day, half buried in dirt and disintegrating with time.
(insp)