Weird Tale by Else Cederborg: "The Reward" (Edited, Previously Published)

The Reward

It dawned upon Yvonne that her choice wasn't the best one. No, she shouldn't have asked for "never dying" when that genie told her she had some wishes coming her way for helping his nephew out from that old flask that had kept him prisoner for ages. 

No, she should have asked for something else, like e.g. "never aging and never getting poor". She even had three wishes, but somehow she couldn't remember the other two ones.

However, this never dying-promise simply begged another wish, but she had no idea of how she would get a fourth wish. It seemed impossible, also because the genie had gone, as he went to see another one of his troublesome nephews, this one having fun as a mass murderer in some far off country. (Yeah, genies are like that, they do exactly what they want themselves, also they are sloppy and don't always get the wishes right).

The sad thing for Yvonne was that by now, she saw someone in her mirrors who didn't resemble her - who simply couldn't be her – only, confusedly enough, she is dressed like her and when she stuck out her tongue at her, she did the same at her.

Horror! This creature in the mirror has spots all over, her hair is almost gone, well, at least that on her head. On her chin it grows like weeds and is very profuse. If that lady in the mirror doesn't start doing something to get rid of it she shall end up looking like a goat or some old gent from the 18th century. At that time all of them grew beards, which Yvonne knew for a fact as she was there and watched them, but alas, they didn't notice her sitting there, decrepit, destitute and desperate. Bad "Ds", bad situation, but better now as she came into money because she let the money come to her.

Yes, even though she at that time was 208 years old she still knew how to find ways of "finding" money.

All it took was some green stuff into the cups of some hapless people who hadn't met the genie: However, they knew the art of dying and die they did ....

Yvonne often fingered the flask that had held the nephew of the genie prisoner for such a long time. When she did, she felt its narrow shape confine as a solace. Just imagine the safety of sitting in that flask. Nothing could come out, that's true, but then neither could anything get in. Yes, one would be safe in such a small confine.

One day she even pulled the cork and took it to her nose to smell the perfume it had held long ago. When she did, the room started to vibrate, the light flickered and there he was, that "good", old genie!

"Oho," he yelled, smiling benevolently at her. "Looking fine, eh'?"

"You or me?" she asked, not at all amused.

"You, Madam, you," he bristled.

"I have mirrors and I wish I didn't," she said.

"So you don't like your looks as they have developed?"

"”Developed”!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course not, I’m a woman, not a scarecrow!!!!!"

He laughed and then said, in a teasing voice: "So what's your wish now? To regain your wonderful looks?"

"I had my wish," she said, "although I know there were more than one …."

"Yes, your second wish was "Give me a beautiful dress for the ball" - and I did - you were very satisfied. As to your third wish it was quite strange because what you said was: "Up yours!""

"What!" she exclaimed in horror at the by now somewhat bashful looking genie. "What did you just say?"

"Not my fault, you did, and as you can see, I sort of ignored it so it's still hanging there. Of course, I shall fulfill your wishes, I always do when someone helps one of my nephews, but ...."

"No, no, no," she yelled, utterly appalled, "Don't overexert yourself, I asked for too much. I withdraw that wish 100% right away!"

"Hmmm," he said, "It would be nice for me, but you see, that's not the way it works. The system is built on trust and sooner or later I have to fulfill the three wishes of the clients. I don't like this one bit more than yourself, but a promise is a promise, so .... "Up yours" it is ...."

Utterly horrified she considered her situation: Her first wish had been to never die, so she would never get release, and right now she was heading "Up yours" inside a deranged genie with several utterly evil and murderous nephews whose crimes were forcing him to travel all over the planet.

"No-no," she stuttered, "I free you of your obligation. I do it freely and with all

my heart."

"Mmmm," he said, but this statement or whatever it was, turned into a singing or humming sound as she felt herself being lifted by unseen powers and shot forward towards him, at the same time being shrivelled and shrunk into the same size as the cork she had been fingering. She knew she screamed when she plunged inside a very deep and dark place that didn't exactly smell of roses, but at the same time she felt sure that nobody heard her .…

Not Worth Dying For

When I saw the most recent interview with one of tRump's most infamous "advisors", Stephen Miller, jubilant that the USA now was killing even more Iraneans, I got mad. First of all, I haven't been able to find anything - or anybody - who proves beyond doubt that the tRumpian "feeling" of danger was based on realities. WHY then are people dying because the cheater-president of America chose to attack Iran??? As he is whom he is, I take for granted, that he is out to line his pockets by waging war, but still, he is playing with fire and should not feel safe enough to do what he did.

That I believe, but it will not work that way: By now he is just a pedophile - maybe even a murderous one - who is also a political disaster. 

As it is, I don't even believe that he won the presidency in what might be called a "fair game". I resent seeing him gloating at how he "screwed" the country and the people whom he is actually obliged to work for, not against. 

 

No, this particular individual and the ideologies he represents are not worth dying for, but that may happen anyway as the political situation doesn't leave much room for choices. It's very sad, and it should have been stopped long ago when he committed "High Treason" by stealing classified documents and stacking them in his private home.

 
 

The Fate of The Body of A Dead Queen

Katherine Parr (1512-1548) was an obliging woman. Twice had she let herself get wed to elderly men who were not of her own choosing. However, when she wanted someone younger and handsomer after the demise of her second husband, Lord Latimer, the - by then - fat, sick, unappetizing and ill-tempered King Henry VIII wanted to marry her. As we know, he wasn't someone who took no for an answer, so even though she had set her eye on his brother-in-law from his marriage to Jane Seymour, namely Thomas Seymour, she married the king and became his sixth wife. When he died in 1547 she was even richer than before which most likely is what brought Thomas Seymour back as her suitor as he for quite some time had been on the look-out for a rich bride.

 

Thomas Seymour 

In the meantime he had tried his best to woe her stepdaughters, the princesses Mary and Elizabeth. Both of them were close to her, but especially Elizabeth. Anyway, Thomas Seymour had to back off from pursuing the princesses so he married Katherine. While she was deeply in love with him, he may have contended with marrying her in lack of better opportunities. Nonetheless, she got pregnant with her first and only child, Mary Seymour, who was born in 1548

Mary Seymour

Neither one of the parents showed much interest in the child, and when her mother, Katherine, died shortly after giving birth, she hadn't left her anything: All her money and belongings went to her grifting husband, Thomas Seymour. As to her hapless daughter then she was neglected by everyone, including her foster mother, even though she had been a very close friend of Katherine. The reason for this was that it was costly to have a foster daughter like Mary as she didn't get the State allowances that she was entitled to. The situation of this motherless child can't have been easy as she, being the daughter of a former queen, was entitled to certain proceedings, but not being rich something like that made her a burden on those who were to see to her well-being.

One feels that Katherine was cheated out of the love and respect she ought to have had in her fourth and final marriage. Thomas Seymour didn't show her much love, if any, and when she died, her dead body had a very strange fate, nothing like was common with women who had been queens. Presumably her body was embalmed as was the fashion at the time: All her internal organs were removed, and the cavity was stuffed with herbs and spices. Also, her body was rubbed with salves before it was wrapped up in several layers of waxed cloth and sealed with lead as the corpse was put into a wooden coffin in the chapel of Sudeley Castle. However, strangely enough she was buried uncommonly quickly for a former queen, maybe even as early as the day after she died. 

King Edward VI

As to her widower, Thomas Seymour, then he obviously was too busy wooing the princess Elizabeth to mourn his dead wife or take care of their infant daughter. Also, he was extremely busy trying to make the half-brother of Elizabeth, who as the son of his dead sister, Jane Seymour, was his nephew, King Edward VI, do his bidding. Something that turned into an insane attempt at what looks like a sort of kidnapping. All the problems he gave rise to ended in Thomas Seymour being jailed and executed. The man whom Katherine had loved was gone, and so was their daughter, who presumably died at the tender age of 3, but whom some historians think lived to adulthood, only sort of forgotten by everybody.

After her burial the corpse of Katherine experienced some very strange events. The once so impressive Sudeley Castle was deteriorating for 200 years and lost its royal status as it had many new and negligent owners until it was bought by two rich brothers, the glove makers John and William Dent. Over the years it had been plundered several times, for instance of its lead roofs that had protected it against the often rough, English weather. I suppose the grave of Katherine was forgotten so big was the surprise when her coffin and quite well-preserved dead body was found and retrieved by an employee of the owner in 1782, namely Lord Rivers. The man who was said to have found her was John Lucas who poked around in the ruins of the chapel, presumably looking for lead. Lead he found, but in another form than he expected, as it was the sole prime protection of Katherine's dead body after her wood coffin had decayed away. 

There are several stories of what happened next to the body, but it's understandable that poor John Lucas got surprised to find more than bones of the dead queen. Actually, it seems that her body was quite well-preserved, presumably mostly because of the many layers of waxed cloth and the lead casing. Anyway, John Lucas reburied the dead queen, but then some time later she was refound once more when some tourists also went poking the ground of the chapel. When they saw the face of Katherine, they somehow came to the strange decision to rebury her without even telling anybody about their find. Unfortunately they didn't put the protective waxed cloth back over her face. When a friend of the owner of Sudeley Castle, Lord Rivers, came to see the dead queen for herself she found it fetid and quite smelly because of the removal of the waxed cloth by the tourists. 

 

Next time the dead Katherine was made to leave her grave was when some gross individuals took her body out of the casing and danced with it before leaving it on a refuse heap. That event made the local vicar see to it that it was properly re-interred, but not for long as it underwent an archaeological examination by the Reverend T. Nash two years later. He wanted this, the first Protestant queen of England, to be buried in a more honorable manner, but what happened next wasn't short of utter horrors of its own: Poor Katherine was abused by some drunken men who were hired to bury her in a safer manner. According to legend they ripped off her arms, knocked out her teeth before decapitating her with a shovel, and then they went on to bury her corpse upside down.

When the wealthy glove makers, the Dent-brothers, bought Sudeley Castle, they decided to restore the chapel and some parts of the castle. At long last the former queen of Henry VIII, Katherine, had her own beautiful tomb where she is able to rest in peace. 

https://boobytrapec.blogspot.com/2025/08/unwanted-female.html

 

https://sudeleycastle.co.uk/history 

 

Encyclopedia Britannica 

 

Wikipedia

 

Poem By Else Cederborg: "Hauntings"

Hauntings

Gone, they said, gone forever

No coming back, they said

No-no-no never again

that is, except as a ghost

Do I want that?

Want to see your dear face an unmoveable mask?

To see your handsome frame grown threadbare?

But what if your eyes are still yours?

Lovely and loving?

Still portals to a soul worth loving?

Then I say: Haunt me

yes, haunt me by day or by night

let the seal between us be your glance

your eyes

the portal to Eternity

ALL rights reserved

© EC

Not What She Looks Like

 

If anybody of the female sex have been sporting what I see as a very distinctive "English Lady-Look", then it is Helen Violet Bonham Carter, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury (1887-1969). Not much sprightly womanhood to be found in those sort of elonged and rather stiff facial features. No, she is a lady of the old, genuinely, English stock, and it shows in all photos of her. To me she looks like a prudish, humorless and rather dried-up tea-drinker which isn't what I like women to be. One shouldn't suspect that someone like her might be the grandmother of the very sprightly, vivacious and charming actress Helena Bonham Carter who've made many fictive characters stand out, especially in movies by her former husband, Tim Burton. Nonetheless, the stiff-faced baroness is the grandmother of sprightly Helena. However, I came to realize that I'm biased and shouldn't go after looks and demeanor as they all too often prove to be misleading: The fine lady may not look or behave like her granddaughteer, but she had qualities of her own.

I simply had to rethink my first impression of Helena's grandmother, the typical English lady. It turns out that she was the daughter of Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, who was knighted in 1925. That gave his daughter the "courtesy title" of "Lady Violet" which was the name she was known by as a writer and liberal politician in her own right. Many of her writings was fierce attacks on the Nazis, and it has been said that she did so well in her criticism that Hitler himself is supposed to have sworn to arrest her when he "conquered England". Something he, as we know, never did. However, it takes some special qualities to be seen as a thoroughly hated personal enemy of a dictator, whom he wants to jail - or worse - whenever he gets the opportunity. In my opinion that Hitler-hatred was a genuine recommendation of the aristocratic, but stiff-faced English lady. As it is Lady Violet had a fine career when she stood for Parliament and she became a life Peer. What. to me, also is a recommendation of her character is that she was the closest female friend of Winston Churchill and often fought side by side with him.

 

There is no doubt that she in character and demeanor was a typical Englishwoman as they were a few generations back. That's also obvious when looking at the cartoons that figured her. I have to admit that I was biased against her without even knowing her. At first glance I saw her as a special woman type of the past that I don't like very much, but I have to admit that she was so much more than just another English, stiff-faced prude.

 

Wikipedia 

The Shadowy Daughter of Mary Boleyn

 

Mary Boleyn (c. 1499-c. 1543)

She was the sister of the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, who met a gruesome fate in the hands of the highly skilled French executioner who was commissioned by the king himself to execute her. Something which happened on May 19, 1536. Also, Mary was the mistress of that same king who had her sister killed, and that has led to certain guesses by historians for ages: Was King Henry the biological father of her two children or were they the true offspring of her husband, William Carey, whom she married in 1520? If they were the king's children then the Tudor-genes survived and were preserved in future kings and queens, like for instance queen Elizabeth II and her son, king Charles III and his children.

I suppose it shall never be proven beyond any doubt whether the bloodline really is the one of Mary Boleyn and king Henry VIII or not. Anyway, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, the wife of king George VI, the so-called Queen Mother Elizabeth, was a descendant of Mary Boleyn's daughter, Catherine Carey (1524-1569). As said before, whether Catherine was a biological daughter of the king or not, we don't know for sure, but she was without doubt the first cousin of the King's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, her maybe-half-sister. As neither the king nor his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, claimed her as a close relative, I take it that it is more of a rumor than anything else, but it is what has kept the interest alive even today. After all, neither Mary Boleyn nor her daughter, Catherine Carey, were all that interesting in themselves, but the possibility of their being closely connected with the Tudors, and not only through Anne Boleyn, turns the searchlight on them and their descendants.

It has been suggested that this is a portrait of Catherine Carey, but nobody knows for sure. There are also some presumed Catherine Carey-portraits of women bearing a likeness to Elizabeth I, red hair and everything, but although it may be tempting they furnish the same problem: Nobody knows for sure who they are. 

"True Daughter"? Naaahhh, but a "maybe-daughter", yes. Anyway, this niece of Anne Boleyn is said to have been present when she was executed. That's a much more interesting scenery in my opinion, than being a maybe-daughter or not. Also, she was recognized as the favorite cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, so I suppose it wasn't a great surprise that she was appointed her Chief Lady of the Bedchamber. She even kept that position for many years, at the same time giving birth to several children. To me, it seems a bit odd, that Catherine also had been "Maid of Honor", to two of King Henry VIII's queens, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard before she became Elizabeth's "Chief Lady of the Bedchamber". However, quite a nice career, so to speak.

 

Wikipedia 

 

When Murderers Really Love What they Are Doing

 The Gang of Amazons

One of the detectives investigating what has been nicknamed "The Gang of Amazons" has said that this Russian, family-murder-squad was the most cruel and sick one he had ever encountered. The gang members didn't feel any remorse at the approximately 30 murders they had committed over a time period of six years. The main point for the gang was what most often is the one for people engaging in this kind of serial killings, namely money, but they didn't always get what they wanted. For instance, their first murder spree only brought them a coat and a remote television controller. Not very impressive, but that didn't deter them as they went on.

Inessa Tarverdiyeva

The matriarch of the gang was 46 years old Inessa Tarverdiyeva. Others were her two daughters, Viktoria and Anastasiya, as well as her husband, 35 years old Roman Podkopaev, and their son-in-law, Sergei Sinelnik. It's not well-known when they started out on their mercenary serial killings, some say 2007, but there are indications that they started as early as 1998. 

 

 

The name of the gang stems from the finding of a knife by their, at that time, presumably first victims. This particular knife was named "My Favorite Amazon", but actually, it didn't belong to the gang, but to the victims. Nonetheless, the name stuck with them from then on. 

 

 

What I find very strange is that the goal of the gang was to enrich themselves, but they were not poor or socially marginalized. For instance, Inessa was a nursery school teacher, but relinquished her job for the family business of robberies and murder. Her husband, Ramon, was a registered dentist. However, also he was the suspect in the murder of her first husband so maybe he started his murder "career" before he married Inessa. As to the husband of Anastasiya, Sergei Sinelnik, then he was a police officer which furnished the gang with valuable inside information that they used in their criminal activities. When considering the loot of the gang I must say that I don't understand why they bothered their crimes, murders and all, because it was often something that wouldn't bring in much if sold. I take it that they enjoyed doing what they did, and that that was what kept them going for many years. They are sad specimens of people who, for some reason or another, turn sadists without any obvious cause.    

 

https://www.toptenz.net/10-bone-chilling-stories-of-serial-killing-families.php

 

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Wikipedia