Jolly Ella Dirttooth
An Antaen story used to frighten small children to behave.
Summary
Jolly Ella was an Antaen woman who enjoyed sweets, the story goes that she had a talent for turning all kinds of fruits into candied treats for the village children and honysuckle delight. Ella's village was near the river, weary of the things from the water the villagers erected a fence between the village and the river to protect their livestock and the children. The Children would often disregard the fence however, and climb over it in search of flowers for Jolyl Ella to turn into sweats for the children to enjoy, and one night seven of the children vanished into the water. The towns folk blamed Ella for the encouraging the children and their reckless behavior and chased her out of town, the parents of the children following the young woman long after that. they trapped her in a clearing, the fog setting in and chilling them all to the bone. they broke jars of Ella's honysuckle delight over her head, and went about beating the poor woman senseless. They left her broken and alone in the fog, covered in her own sweets for the horrors of Antaeus to find her.They filled her mouth with dirt and sewed it shut before they left. Ella didn't die however, many claim the woman became one with the fog and now haunts Antaeus, the smell of her sweets linger in the air when she's about. Ella returned to her village for revenge, breaking everyone the way they broke her, claiming their teeth as a prize. Now Ella wanders Antaeus, looking for more sweets to delight in, turning those she finds into various candies and feeding the victems portions of their own candied flesh.
Historical Basis
As with most tales from Antaeus it is difficult to sift through the legend to find any sort of truth. Antaeus is a strange and unnerving place, the supernatural occures there almost every day, so it is entirely possible the legend of Jolly Ella Dirttooth may be entirely fictitious, some blend of half truths and fear, or entirely real.
Spread
Jolly Ella Dirttooth isn't a tale that spread outside of Antaeus, though certainly everyone who visits the swollen fog woods have heard its tale.
Variations & Mutation
There are a number of variations, some where Ella possesses the mothers to abuse the children and goad the townsfolk into breaking the host she wears, some where Ella doesn't die at all but becomes a witch, selling her cursed goods to plague and torment the descendants of her abusers.
Cultural Reception
Jolly Ella was used as a tale to frighten small children to behave, and not over induldge on sweats unless they wanted to draw the attention of the witch.
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