The Old Witch
by The Brothers Grimm
There was once a little girl who was
very willful
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 marvelous 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 gray 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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