The Witch

 The Witch, as I’m sure will surprise no one at this point, is also a Russian fairy tale from the Yellow Fairy Book. It’s sort of Hansel and Gretel meets Little Red Riding Hood.

A woman has two step children—a little boy and a little girl—who she hates. One day she sends them out into the woods to visit her grandmother.

They decide to stop and visit their own grandmother on the way. She tells them the woman they’re on their way to meet isn't actually their step-great-grandma; she’s an evil witch! Then she gives them some milk, bread, and ham, and sends them on their way. To the witch. Instead of, you know, keeping them at her house, or going to find their dad and asking, “hey, are you aware your wife is trying to murder your kids?”, or any of the sensible things one could do when faced with two small grandchildren on their way to certain death.

The children reach the witch, and are assigned some tasks to complete, otherwise she’ll fry and eat them. She sets the girl to spinning yarn, and the boy to fetching water from the well with a sieve.

Some mice help with the yarn in exchange for bread. Some birds tell the boy how to stop up the sieve with clay so it can hold water, in exchange for more bread. A cat gives them an enchanted comb, an enchanted handkerchief, and directions home in exchange for ham.

The next day, they make their escape. A dog is going to stop them, but they give him some more bread—seriously, how much bread do these children have?—so he lets them go. Some enchanted trees try to stop them next, but the girl ties their branches back with ribbons.

The witch discovers that the children are gone, and that her pets and servants have let them go because the children treated them better than she ever did. She goes after them on her broomstick, but they use the handkerchief to make a deep river to slow her down, and then the comb to make a dense forest. She can’t get through the forest, so gives up and goes home.

The children go home, too, and tell their father what happened. He’s furious, and drives their stepmother out of the house, never to be seen again. Which is THE APPROPRIATE WAY TO HANDLE THIS SITUATION. Take notes, dad from last week.

Also. They didn’t have to go through any of this. Their dad was not aware of or on board with this plan. Their grandma knew it was a trap. If she had just TOLD THE KIDS NOT TO GO, and TALKED TO THEIR FATHER ABOUT THE SITUATION, the whole mess could have been avoided.

I’m a big fan of dad who do not let their wives murder their kids.

One unanswered question I have is why the grandma sent the kids off with milk. Was it just for them to drink? The bread and ham went to various animals, and the girl provided her own ribbons to deal with the trees, but the milk is never mentioned again. It’s probably not of any significance, but I’m particularly attuned to instances of unexplained milk because I still don’t understand the relevance of milk to King Lindorm.

The only other really noteworthy thing about this story is the broomstick. Witches have been depicted flying on broomsticks for hundreds of years. Fairy tales are chock full of witches. But I think this is the first time I’ve ever encountered a witch flying on a broomstick in a fairy tale.

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