John Collier Spring

John Collier SpringCaravaggio The Crucifixion of Saint PeterCaravaggio The Cardsharps
But the weather was hard, and this pack was hungry enough to forget all about natural selection.
Esk remembered what all the children were told. Climb a tree. Light a fire. When all else fails, find a stick and at least hurt them. Never try to outrun them.
The treeto the bedrail. The crow, who had been through all this dozens of times before and who considered, insofar as birds can consider anything, which is a very short distance indeed, that a steady diet of bacon rinds and choice kitchen scraps and a warm roost for the night was well worth the occasional inconvenience of letting Granny share its head, watched her with mild interest.
Granny found her boots and thumped down the stairs, sternly resisting the urge to glide. The door was wide open and there was already a drift of fine snow on the floor. behind her was a beech, smooth and unclimbable. Esk watched a long shadow detach itself from a pool of darkness in front of her, and move a little closer. She knelt down, tired, frightened, unable to think, and scrabbled under the burning-cold snow for a stick. Granny Weatherwax opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, which was cracked and bulged like a tent. She concentrated on remembering that she had arms, not wings, and didn't need to hop. It was always wise to lie down for a bit after a borrow, to let one's mind get used to one's body, but she knew she didn't have the time. "Drat the child," she muttered, and tried to fly on