Oh, that pair! How furious they made me! I couldn’t grab them. They ran from me. They tangled me up in a forest. Then they threw a lake between us. They slowed me down, sure, but they didn’t stop me! I reached the castle, climbed up over the garden wall, and got to the window where the princess was standing in plain view. I grabbed her but then she blew on me. Hundreds of snow-white doves flew out of her mouth. Arghhh! Awful things, worse than wasps! All that flapping and fluttering drove me so crazy, I seized up and tuned to stone right where I stood.

I stand here to this day, outside the castle window—having to listen to birdbrains talk about witches. What do they know, all those dull people, about the powers I once had? I would turn them to asses if I could only get my power back!

The Stone Witch in The White Dove, Pink Fairy Book. Picture by Maxfield Parrish.