The Legend of the Well

There was a legend about the well in the garden. Grandma said the well had been there since the house had been built in the late 1800s. She wasn’t exactly sure how long ago that was, but it sounded like a million years ago. Wade just couldn’t quite wrap his 8-year-old mind around it.

Grandpa told him the legend last year when he and his cousins were having a campout in the backyard. Grandpa had started a fire, and they toasted marshmallows and made s’mores. It was so much fun!

Once it got good and dark, Grandpa said it was time for ghost stories. Wade wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, but his older cousins got all excited. He had to save face in front of them.

Wade didn’t like being the youngest. He liked it even less when his cousins reminded him.

Once the fire started to die down, they all sat down around it and prepared to hear Grandpa’s story. He put a flashlight under his chin and began his story. Wade kept telling himself that Grandpa was just telling a story, and it wasn’t scary.

By the time he got to the end, it was obvious that Grandpa was pulling their legs. Everyone had a good laugh.

They all sat around and laughed and told jokes until even the oldest boy started to yawn.

After Grandpa went back in the house, the boys crawled into their sleeping bags. They were so excited that they stayed up talking despite the yawns.

Wade’s cousin, Joe, he was the oldest, started telling them all about the legend of the well.

“Back in the olden days when Grandpa’s house was built, the well was built, too. Of course, everyone thought it was for water, but no, that’s not really what it was for.”

“What was it for?” whispered Marky.

“Well, the man who built it had seven kids…seven little kids. They weren’t the first kids the husband and his wife had.”

“What happened to the other kids? Did they grow up and move away?” asked Jerry.

“Nope. They were still there, but no one knew it.”

“Why didn’t they know it? Were they invisible?” guessed Todd.

“Nope. It wasn’t anything that cool. The husband and his wife were terrible people… mean people…evil people.”

“What did they do?” breathed Ralph.

“The husband took them out to the pond one by one over the space of a week, and held them under the water.”

“What’d he do that for?” asked Marky.

“It had been a really bad year for crops. It had rained so much it just drowned the crops. It rained and rained and rained…”

“So, he drowned them because there wasn’t enough food to feed them?” guessed Ralph.

“Nope. He figured he and his wife needed to eat, and they could always make new kids. They couldn’t grow more food in time to keep from starving, though. After he took them to the pond, he carried them to the smokehouse.”

“No, he didn’t!” exclaimed Jerry.

“Oh, he did indeed! After that, whenever the husband and wife ate a meal, they would take the bones out and throw them in the well.”

“Have you seen the bones?” whispered Todd.

“Never! After that year, the husband and wife just wanted more. Every year after they had a kid that was old enough…about 8…they would take them to the pond.”

All the boys gasped.

“Now, anytime an 8-year-old kid is here overnight, the bones join back together and come out of the well and grab the kid and drag them to the pond.”

Wade no longer cared if his cousins thought he was a baby. He was 8 years old and wanted to live to be 9.

He ran to the house, crying and screaming for Grandpa to drive him home before the bones drowned him in the pond.

Joe laughed until his ribs hurt, but the younger cousins didn’t know what was so funny.

Grandpa scooped Wade up and shot a look at Joe. Grandpa didn’t know what had happened, but Joe was laughing too hard. He had to be behind it.

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