title: Can't Bury Tales: Short Stories Inside a Short Story
author: Cathy Sproul
description: CATHY SPROUL was born and raised in south suburban Chicago. She holds a B.A. in Communications and English from Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan), and an M.A. in Creative Writing/Satire from Prescott College (Arizona). Her prior works have appeared in Teacher Magazine and The Wittenburg [sic] Door. A secondary English and mathematics teacher, she currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, where she works with at-risk youth, promotes responsible dog ownership, and creates bad puns.
zlib_text: # In the Greenwood
  
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  [Cover](text/cover.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![cover image](../media/epub-to-image.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #
  
  
  _Tor.com blogger, fantasy writer, and insatiable reader Mari Ness makes her
  Tor.com short fiction debut with a beautifully told tale of complicated and
  conflicted love, a translation and transformation of a very old story that is
  sure to be familiar to every fan of folklore and history._
  
  
  _This short story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by editor[Liz
  Gorinsky](https://www.tor.com/tags/edited%20by%20Liz%20Gorinsky)._
  
  
  
  
  
  Afterwards, neither could agree on where they’d first met, or when. She
  thought she’d been six; he said four. Both agreed he’d been older than she,
  although how much older was something they never discussed, nor tried to
  figure out, quite deliberately. He’d been infuriating, she remembered. She’d
  been aggravating, he said. He’d once thrown rocks at her. No, they’d been
  sticks, and she’d thrown them