Elara looked at the Iron Witch and saw the result of such a deal—a distorted, inhuman form, representing the that characterizes true evil. Realizing that her Shadow was not an enemy to be killed, but a part of herself to be understood, Elara refused. Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise von Franz
That night, a figure emerged from the black spool—a woman who looked exactly like Elara, but with eyes like charcoal and a mocking smile. This was her , the personification of everything Elara had rejected in herself to remain "perfect". Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales
One day, a peculiar merchant offered her a spindle carved from a tree that grew in a valley where the sun never reached. "This is for the thread you do not see," he whispered. Intrigued, Elara began to spin. As she worked, the thread she produced was not white, but a shimmering, bottomless black. To her horror, as the thread grew, she began to feel things she had long since buried: a sharp envy for the king's riches and a cold rage at the village children who muddied her porch. Elara looked at the Iron Witch and saw