A curse can be nothing more than the application of any magic in the cause of vengeance
or spite: transformations of this ilk occur in hundreds of stories all over the world.
Judith Tarr's fantasy novel A Wind in Cairo tells the wonderful story of a
selfish and arrogant prince who is transformed into a stallion for having raped a wizard's
daughter.
However, in this context I mean the curse as a spontaneous discharge of malign will-power,
usually shaped by a spoken phrase, such as the faerie are reputed to cast when the mood
takes them. Such a curse must always have an out: a way, however improbable, of breaking
the curse. In the parish of Brocileande, a prideful young priest boasted that
his faith was stronger than the magic of the Fair Folk who dwelt in the forest. Finding
this rash statement most amusing, a young Rusalka seduced him by a forest pool and
transformed him into an ass, so to remain until the day he led his congregation three
times around the church and then preached to them from the pulpit in his
ass's shape and repented of his pride. It was reputedly seven years
before he achieved this, being able to attempt it only once a year, and having remained an ass so long,
he kept his donkey's tail when restored to human form.
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