The Old Woman Who Cheated Death
There are so many claims made on the internet these days about the wondrous effects of certain foods, drinks, or supplements. Recently I received an unsolicited email from a self-described nutrition expert extolling the health benefits of honey for those suffering from diabetes. Here’s part of that email message:
Although honey does contain natural sugars, honey is a REAL food with LOADS of powerful nutrients in it. Honey contains over a hundred different beneficial compounds including minerals, amino acids, vitamins, and antioxidants. You can definitely say honey is MORE than just sugar--it is actually a health food!
(source:Mike Geary’s Nutrition Watchdog Ezine)
Now I agree that many studies have shown that honey does contain many healthful elements, but my understanding is that these are trace elements only. And I have also been told that honey is easier for our bodies to take up because it is a monoglyceride, unlike refined sugars and as such has a low glycaemic profile. But what if I told you that honey can save or even prolong one’s life! When I first started keeping bees, some of the older RRAA members talked about how beekeeping and longevity went hand in hand. Many beekeepers lived to a ripe old age. I don’t think there are any studies on this subject, but being a storyteller, I know an old folktale concerning death where honey plays a crucial role.
In the story, there’s old woman who lives by herself on a little homestead. One day Death remembers that old woman and comes calling for her. “Your time has come,” he informs her.
But she stalls by telling him she was too busy to come with him that morning. There was bread to bake and cupboards to paint. Death returns the next day, but again she is far too busy to come. There is a cow to milk and weeds to hoe. And so it goes on for several days until one day the old woman tells Death to “come back tomorrow.”
“Okay,” says Death, “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
And he writes Tomorrow on the door and promises to return. But she has fooled him again, for each time he visits she reminds him that he said he would come Tomorrow and of course it was still Today. Finally in a fit of pique, Death uses his long sleeve to erase the word Tomorrow from her door and informs her that he will come one more time, and now she knows she’s in trouble. The following day she looks for places to hide, but nowhere seems suitable until she settles on hiding in a barrel of honey.
Once ensconced in the honey, with only her nose poking out, she begins to worry that Death will surely find her there. So she climbs out and instead hides inside a trunk filled with goose feathers that she has been saving to make a quilt. But again, she worries that Death will find her there. She climbs out of the trunk, just as Death opens the door to her cottage. She shrieks with alarm and tries to run around Death to get out the door. Death doesn’t recognize the old woman. He only sees a large misshapen creature with flailing appendages, and feather flying everywhere, oozing, and flapping and coming towards him with bloodcurdling shrieks. He turns tail and runs away and never darkens the old woman’s door again. For all we know she is still living there in her cottage, busily working every day.
As for me, I intend to keep on having my daily dose of honey in my tea and on my toast, because these old folktales have lasted a long time, so there must be some truth in them.
Mary Chown, professional storyteller.
Find Mary's website here:
https://marylouisechown.com