The Old Witch
by The
Brothers Grimm
There was once a little girl who was very wilful and who never obeyed
when her elders spoke to her - so how could she be happy?
One day she said to her parents, "I have heard so much of the old
witch that I will go and see her. People say she is a wonderful old woman, and
has many marvellous things in her house, and I am very curious to see
them."'
But her parents forbade her going, saying, "The witch is a wicked
old woman, who performs many godless deeds - and if you go near her, you are no
longer a child of ours."
The girl, however, would not turn back at her parents' command, but went
to the witch's house. When she arrived there the old woman asked her:
"Why are you so pale?"
"Ah," she replied, trembling all over, "I have frightened
myself so with what I have just seen."
"And what did you see?" inquired the old witch.
"I saw a black man on your steps."
"That was a collier," replied she.
"Then I saw a grey man."
"That was a sportsman," said the old woman.
"After him I saw a blood-red man."
"That was a butcher," replied the old woman.
"But, oh, I was most terrified," continued the girl,
"when I peeped through your window, and saw not you, but a creature with a
fiery head."
"Then you have seen the witch in her proper dress," said the
old woman. "For you I have long waited, and now you shall give me
light."
So saying the witch changed the little girl into a block of wood, and
then threw it on the fire. When it was fully alight, she sat down on the hearth
and warmed herself, saying:
"How good I feel! The fire has not burned like this for a long
time!"
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