Alexandra and the Shrew

The four black crows gathered in their usual spot that overcast October day to show what they had gathered, usually a collection of coins, beads from costume jewelry and shiny pebbles.
They hoped to to find a particular special treasure and each day displayed what they had found. The place they gathered used to be a park and was now an overgrown wooded area, which ironically was what it was before it had become a park.
It seemed like they had been around here forever though they hadn't grown tired of searching, for it served a great purpose.

For once upon a time, there had been a young lady named Alexandra wandering into the woods, going for a walk.
In a clearing, she came upon what looked like a simmering cauldron over a crackling fire. No one seemed to be around, so she pretended to be tending to it and threw leaves in and stirred it with a stick.
Then a thundering voice was suddenly behind her.
"You've ruined it."
There stood a very angry shrew, who had been doing some very important spells with the cauldron. She had gone into the deeper part of the forest to gather things she needed.
"Now my spells won't work and you are cursed."
" From now on, you will be invisible to people but animals will still be able to see you."
Suddenly a cameo pin flew from Alexandra's collar and flew into the shrew's hands.
"You will have to earn your life back. I will take this cameo and hide it, and finding it will give you back your existence."
"Eventually you will get helpers if you need them and you will know who they are.
"There will be four of them and they will come to this spot."
She threw an ordinary-looking stick into Alexandra's hands.
"When you find them, wave this stick around them; then they will see you."
And with that, the shrew disappeared.
Years and years went by, and she spent them being frustrated by being invisible to everyone she knew. They could neither hear or see her and yet she aged along with them.
Whenever she had looked in a mirror she could see herself but no one else could.
She was now an old woman.
Animals saw her, as the shrew said but none of them seemed like the helpers she had mentioned.
One day, she noticed four little girls playing in the dirt.
It was around Halloween, and they were feeling festive.
One of them stirred the ground with a twig and murmured, "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble."
Then they all interrupted into fits of laughter.
Alexandra knew they were the ones and this was her chance.
The shrew had not said that the helpers would be human, but she knew with the stick wave they would do her bidding.
She quickly took her stick and waved it around the circle they were sitting in.
To their mutual surprise, they suddenly all turned into crows.
Gathering herself, Alexandra told them the experience with the shrew and what needed to be found.
Shocked, they all nodded obediently

Every day, for the longest time, the crows searched for the cameo. Years passed while they looked for the valuable treasure, the ticket to their freedom.
And then on that overcast October day, one of the crows displayed the much coveted, weather-beaten cameo.

The woods suddenly became a park and they were eight year old children again. They were back to the day in the moment before they turned into crows. Being human again would take some getting used to.

Alexandra appeared before them, young and jubilant. She thanked them before disappearing back to the space-time she was supposed to be in, clutching the beloved cameo.
And the girls had a lifelong bond with crows, understanding them in a way that of course no other humans could.