Fabled

This pumpkin had been the first to fruit, and now he set to hacking through its stem with a meat cleaver. Once sev- ered from the vine, he raised the gourd over his head and dashed it on the cobblestone footpath that wound through the garden. It splintered into a dozen crescents and there at its centre, slick with pumpkin meat, was the head of his wife. tIsbe aLways feLt far prettier than she looked. When she watched other girls - prettier girls - pass by on the road that led to the village, she counted herself among them. But whenever she stood in front of a mirror, she was surprised that her outsides did not match her insides. The young gentleman smiled, as though he was relieved to see he had found the right place. The right woman. Then, within seconds, he collapsed. Snow caught him instinctively, keeping her finger off the trigger of her revolver. She glanced each way, making sure no one else was in the hallway. Then dragged him inside.