Just A Snippet of the Wise Crone

I recently found this lovely snippet of text in Martin Shaw's book Scatterlings - a reminder of the wise crone as the keeper of the old stories.

The Old Peasant Woman by Giacomo Ceruti

" And one day, just a moment ago, an old woman came from her place at the edge of the village, her ears replete with listening, a mouth of fresh-cut meadow flowers, and told us to light the kindling.

Once it was dark and the little ones were drifting under the antelope robes, the strange one loped forward into the light of the flames and stood in front of the village.

She said:

Once upon a time.
Once upon a time.
Once upon a time.
So she said.
and she told us the story of ourselves back to ourselves."