Weedy Peg
Overview
Weedy Peg lives down by the riverside. She's not the first hag to live down there and she won't be the last, but she's there now and the ladies of the court tell the childlings not to go there. "Weedy Peg will get you," they say, "if you venture too close to the water. Weedy Peg will pull you in."
They're wrong, of course. If Weedy Peg waited for her prey to get to the waterside, she'd starve. She's a proactive sort of hag, though she's careful not to let the word get out. She's careful to let herself be seen only by the riverside and only on brief occasions. Too long a glimpse and others might notice she's not as old as one might think or that she doesn't look much like the Weedy Peg who used to haunt that particular stretch of river. Truth is, she's the latest in a long line of river hags who've called this particular stretch their own. When the old one's about to move on, her heir mysteriously arrives and sets up camp. The old hag instructs her successor as to the legends and secrets of the place, and then expires about as gently as a redcap.
The new Weedy Peg then makes the name and position officially hers by eating her predecessor, but only as a mark of respect. The chain has continued unbroken for centuries and there's no reason to expect this Weedy Peg will be the last. She's only another link in the chain. And if this one looks a little young or not quite as snuggle-toothed, well, none of the witnesses will be around long enough to complain.
References
- CTD. Kithbook: Redcaps, p. 66.