"The Witch" is a Russian

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

included it in ''

The Yellow Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

''. A version of the tale, under the title "The Twins and the Snarling Witch", appears in ''

A Book of Witches Ruth Manning-Sanders (21 August 1886 – 12 October 1988) was an English poet and author born in Wales, known for a series of children's books for which she collected and related fairy tales worldwide. She published over 90 books in her lifetime ...

'' by

Ruth Manning-Sanders Ruth Manning-Sanders (21 August 1886 – 12 October 1988) was an English poet and author born in Wales, known for a series of children's books for which she collected and related fairy tales worldwide. She published over 90 books in her lifetime ...

Synopsis

A poor widower with twin children, a girl and a boy, remarried. The

stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Ste ...

had several more children and mistreated the twins. Finally, she told them she was sending them to her grandmother in the woods; she said they would have to serve her, but would be well rewarded. The girl said they should visit their own grandmother first. They did this and found that their grandmother knew the woman was a

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

. She advised them to be civil and kind, and never touch a crumb belonging to anyone else, and gave them bread, milk and ham. The witch set the girl to spin, and the boy to carry water in a sieve. The girl, who could not spin, wept. Mice came up to her and asked for bread. She gave them some. They told her to give the cat ham, and it should show them a way from the woods; meanwhile, they would spin for her. She went out, where her brother was trying to carry water. Wrens flew up and asked for some bread. They gave it, and the wrens advised him to stop up the holes with clay. They then gave the cat the ham. It gave them a handkerchief and comb, which would become a river and a forest if they threw them behind them while they fled. The next morning, the witch set the girl to weave, and the boy to chop wood into chips. Instead, they fled. A watch-dog sprung up, but they threw it the last of their bread.

Birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

trees nearly put out their eyes, but the girl tied a ribbon on their branches, and they let her by. Meanwhile, the cat was tangling the weaving, and when the witch saw it, she demanded to know why it had not stopped the children. It told her that she had never given it a bone, and they had given it ham. The dog and the birch answered likewise, and she got her broom to follow. The children threw down the handkerchief, but in time, the witch found a way to go around it. The children threw down the comb, and she could not force her way through it. They found their father again and he drove the stepmother out of the house.

External links

The Twins and the Snarling Witch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witch (Fairy Tale) Female characters in fairy tales Russian fairy tales Witchcraft in fairy tales