A Limousin Witch Story for Halloween - Amelie the Witch

Looking for a witch story for Halloween? Here is a wonderful story about Amelie the witch. It was told to me on the banks of Videix Lake. Where is Videix Lake? In Limousin, deep in the heart of rural France. The story was told by the owner of the local riding stables.

I'd like to say that it was 'a dark and stormy night', but actually it was a lovely, summers day. More than that, though, it was a magical day.

Especially as there have always been witches in Limousin!

Videix is a tiny hamlet buried deep in the heart of rural France. Limousin is a secret place. Why? Limousin is secret France because so few people know about it. The magic of our little corner of Limousin, around Rochechouart, began a long, long time ago when a giant meteorite fell to the earth, forming a great crater. It happened many thousands of years ago.

This area of the Limousin is known as 'The Land of the Meteorite'

Because of the meteor, the houses here, in this particular part of Limousin, are built from 'moonstone'; stone of the meteorite that fell from the sky. Limousin has always been a land of lakes, of woods, of mystery, of were-wolves and of witches. The folk stories are rich and many. There are also healers and healing fountains here. People still believe.

I do hope you'll enjoy this witch story for Halloween.

It was here that we chose to live, but to be honest we didn't know about the witches then. We wanted to set up painting holidays because we love the rivers and woods and pretty villages and there were lots of beautiful, old, empty stone built farm houses. We bought one of these and the magic began to work. We became enchanted by Limousin. We worked and in the end we turned our house into a place for guests and visitors.

We run a Bed and Breakfast, Les Trois Chenes, and have a gite, or holiday cottage. We love the lake. It's ideal for swimming and family holidays with its beaches, restaurants and nautical centre where you can hire canoes and kayaks in the summer. There are also two riding stables near the lake, and it was the stables at Pressingnac, the Centre Equestres des lacs de Haute-Charente that organised the day of riding and story telling. This is a perfect tale for Halloween told by François DELARBRE. I was lucky enough to be there on the day.

One day, not so very long ago, by the side of Videix Lake .....

.... a man with lots of horses came to tell us stories from Limousin. The horses galloped, the man laughed and the children listened. Here the man is telling the children the story of Amélie the witch. It is all in French and do listen to it if you can. The man was very, very funny. This is roughly what he said:

I'm going to read to you the story of Amélie the witch. She's not a witch, she's a healer. The story starts this way. Think of her as a fairy who healed people. She's Amélie of ******. This isn't a castle, its a fountain. A fountain that can perform miracles.

And Amélie drank from this fountain and became a healer. There was another healer living not far from Amélie's house In the countryside at that time, and because everything was in balance in that world, another healer was needed to conserve the balance. It has to weigh as much on one side as on the other. But we'll speak of it again another time.

When I knew Amélie I was a teenager and I had two verrucas on my hand. They just came like that, furtively like enemies that we didn't expect. They slid under my skin and they just stayed there now on the palm of my hand. Imagine greeting my friends or cleaning my private parts wearing the bandages from the chemist. I felt their roots growing and it was ruining my teenage years. What did life have in store for me later?

He notices that the audience is not watching him, but the horses behind. "She's not there to be watched. We had to take away the horses last time because when there's a horse in sight and a comedian at the same time, everyone looks at the horse. Its not possible to do otherwise. Having horses here is a very bad move on my part. I know that all eyes are looking behind me. I'll go over there ha ha ha But then nobody will look at me!"

He continues ... Amélie of ***** was going to heal my warts. The warts that were ruining my childhood. Nowadays they just freeze the veruccas with chemicals. I knew Amélie from three years of care from her. I went into her house, through her tiny door, she looked very small to me, almost fragile,

"Would you like some treatment, sonny?" She was always lent over her cauldron and she hadn't noticed me ye.

"Your a person who comes from the fountain of fairies, aren't you?" I said. "What a good fountain that was" I was eager to leave and I got up

"Don't leave yet," said Amélie. I sit down again and I see her get a cup and a bottle of wine. As she filled up the cup without looking at me, she says to me, "Well, Do you come from the world of the verruca?" She looked at me and I saw her face. She took my hand. She opened a door and seated me on a big four poster bed. Then she closed the window and knelt down in front of me. She took my hand, she touched the verrucas one after another with the tips of her fingers as if the verrucas would bite her.

"Awe, they are so nasty!" She made some strange signs above my hand and muttered a few incantations. My skin wriggled as the verrucas burnt out of the flesh, finally Amélie dived her hand into her apron pocket and took out an enormous knife and slashed the air in front of me. I thought my life had come to an end but .. then, bit by bit she looked astonished Come and finish your drink, said Amélie. That's the end of the story. Oh, my warts were still there but I haven't got them now. I wasn't thinking about it when one morning they had completely disappeared. This was a true story.

We had a wonderful day on the shores of the lake, but that was just one of many. There are so many things to see and do here: golf, fishing, painting, riding, swimming and boating. You can visit castles, museums, gardens, galleries, farms and fairs. Here in Limousin we love our food and wine and you'll find plenty of festivals, communal meals and restaurants offering very good value. All in all it's the perfect place for a family holiday.

Have a look at some of these articles to catch a flavour of Limousin:

The Medieval Festival of Rochechouart

Limousin, a favourite holiday destination for families

The Castle of Montbron

The Route of Richard the Lion Heart

Rochechouart and the Land of the Meteorite

Saint Junien Food Exhibition

Limousin, Land of wolves and Witches

Oradour-sur-Glane - a monument to the horrors of war

Or how about some not too scary books to read to kids at Halloween? Best Halloween Stories for Kids

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