Mountain Moggy; The Stoning of the Witch, by William H G Kingston.
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This is quite a short book, taking only 2.5 hours to read, yet it packs
quite a punch.
It is devoted to the theme of Forgiveness. On a remote mountainside in
Wales there dwells a broken-down old woman, whom the local children
believe to be a witch. As such she will live for ever, and cannot be
hurt, so they amuse themselves by going to her hut, taunting her, and
throwing stones at the hut. One evening one of these stones knocks a
burning stick from the fire, and sets fire to the old woman, but by
chance a young midshipman who has lost his way, is nearby, helps her,
and takes word to the village that she is badly hurt.
The local clergyman had previously been a medical doctor, and rushes up
to the hut to see what can be done. One of the local women helps with
Old Mountain Moggy as well. Old Moggy shows true forgiveness to
William, one of the Doctor's sons, even though he had been one of the
ringleaders in taunting her. William is very much moved by this.
Time goes on, and on his next leave the young midshipman brings one of
his shipmates, Tom, to share his holiday with him. Tom tells the story
of how he had been brought up, and Mountain Moggy tells her story, as
well.
The story has a happy ending, after a fashion, literally on the very
last page of the book.
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