“Let me tell you a story. Little ones. It’s a story to keep you warm through all this cold. Now, take a seat and come in close. Get yourself something warm and relax as I tell you the story of the Yukinba. You see many have come to know the Yukinba as the spirit of the holiday season. They’ve come to know her as Saint Nickolas or Santa Clause. But, the tale of Yukinba is closest to the story of Krampus.” I ran my fingers over the edge of the paper and turned the page “despite the names you may know her by, the stories you’ve may come to know. The Yukinba is a creature born of human flesh, adored by the Gods who created her but also damned by them only be to be welcomed in by the fae we’ve come to despise.”

I lifted the book to show everyone. She was a beautiful woman, wrapped in purple silk with long black hair dancing in the snowfall as she smiled at everyone “this was Yuki. Yuki was one of the first humans to be created by the Gods. She was named for the snow which she was born from. Benten was the Goddess who created her, and she crafted her to be the purest and beautiful of all the children that walked this Earth.” I turned the page “However, her beauty was too powerful and the Gods began to lust after her flesh. Futsu-Nushi-no-Kami was the first God to go after the human. It was the Goddess who he served, Ameratsu who caught him trying to steal the woman from the mountain she called home.”

“Yuki was asked to go into hiding as not to tempt the Gods any longer. And she did. Until the God known as Baku came to her in her sleep and tried to take her purity from her. Her mother Benten quickly began to fear for the child’s safety and asked the Gods of roads, Dosojin to take her away from the world of the Gods. However, Dosojin was at the mercy of her beauty as well. To stop himself from taking her purity he created her a road to take that would strip her of her beauty and power.” I turned the page and coughed a bit to clear my throat “Yuki began to walk the road. With every twist she aged, with every turn, her body twisted and contorted till it was disfigured. Until-” I turned the page and the children screamed. The picture of Yuki was now that of a one-legged hag with rows of jagged teeth reaching out to catch a fleeing child. “This was what Dosojin had done to the beautiful Yuki. Dosojin named this creature Yukinba so that way Benten would never know of his doings. For without a true name, a God or Goddess couldn’t find her.”

I motioned everyone close to me “Yukinba was forced to continue walking the roads. Until she ran into the God Gekka-O who fell in love with her despite her looks. When the God approached her wrapped her in his red silken rope and kissed her. This kissed birthed a child, a child that Gekka-O was so happy to have. Until Yukinba decided to eat the child!” Everyone in the room screamed as I turned the page showing the God crying as the Yukinba licked the bones of her child. “Gekka-O realized this was no longer a person and asked Dosojin to end her walk and allow Haniyasu-Hiko the God of Earth to return her flesh to the mountain. But Yukinba heard this conversation and stepped off the road Dosojin had created and fell to into the realm of the Fae.” I licked my finger and turned the page “discovering her the fae welcomed her into their world as one of their own, even teaching Yukinba the language of humans and fae. She told the fae about her torturous walk and how they hated her for being created. It was then the fae knew how to truly hurt the Gods. See, once Yukinba ate the flesh of an innocent she was labeled a demon by the standards of the Gods. They taught Yukinba how to steal children. Some to eat and some to bring to the fae. They gave her an endless red sack made of the rope Gekka-O placed upon her. She would walk the Earth and take children from their beds in the middle of the night.”

“Scary?” I asked smiling “Santa’s sack isn’t filled with toys?” I laughed at their pale faces “But the Gods were always watching for the return of the child eater. The only time Yukinba could walk the Earth was during the dying phase of the Earth. The time when the Gods would allow the Earth to sleep and be reborn. Winter. So when the snow began to fall, Yukinba was able to walk into the world and take the children. After years of plaguing the Earth, the parents of the children who were spirited away gathered together under the pine trees. They crafted a spell in the name of Kishi-Bojin the Goddess of Children. The spell birthed a mixture of wheat, sugar, and plums.” I lowered the picture to the kids.

“Cookies!” One boy shouted.

“More or less.” I said laughing “the spell is still used today, in the form of cookies and milk. See, no one can kill Yukinba because the fae gave her the gift of eternal life. And she cannot be stopped from walking the Earth because she is still human by all accounts. But she can be stopped by giving her sweets. See Kishi-Bojin blessed these treats with a powerful trance upon them. When the Yukinba eats the treats she forgets what she was sent there to do and by the time she remembers it’s the new year! And the new year begins with Dosojin making a road for the spring. And Dosojin knows what she looks like and always searches for her. So she has to make her way back to the den of the fae’s. Until, next year. And in her quick retreat, she leaves behind the thing she was going to tempt the child into her bag with. Her present. The present of the Yukinba. So remember to make your cookies this year, thank your parents, for keeping you safe, and never go into a red bag regardless of the toy waiting for you on the other end. ” I closed the book and smiled “now who’s going to help me bake some cookies?”

Writers Notes:
Hope you all have had an amazing year! 2017 has been a fantastic journey for this series and I'm excited to see what 2018 has in store for us! Thank you all for going on this ride with me! 
Here is a *TOAST* to the new year and to each and every one of you!