The Straw Cage There was once an old shopkeeper named Aren who kept a stall of simple wonders — beads of bone, pots of clay, and charms woven from straw. His hut was little more than reeds and mud, but people came from far away villages to trade for his wares.
One morning, Aren was spotted hanging a new and somewhat different piece above his doorway. It was what we now call a straw cage, woven from the last stalks of the harvest. Its lattice work was tight and square.
An elder passed by and said, “Why a cage, Aren? What do you mean to trap?”
Aren smiled. ‘Not to trap’, he said, ‘but a piece to keep away the spirits that wander after dark and whisper through the cracks. They fear the weave of straw. It reminds them of the earth’s promise, that life shall be reborn every Spring time.
The elder laughed.
However, a week later, the wind howled through the neighbourhood, rattling shutters and shaking the houses. In Aren’s shop, the straw cage trembled once, then fell still.
The next morning, the villagers inspected the damage of the storm and were amazed to find that Aren’s shop was the only place which seemed completely untouched by the storm.
Soon everyone in the village was making straw cages and hanging them on the front of their homes. They weren’t meant to imprison the Spirits, but to protect the household from them. Aren and his shop became even more renowned than it was previously, proving that a little straw cage can bring good fortune to the inhabitants.