Our stepmother hates me and my twin brother. She beats us and drives us out of the house. We don’t dare tell our father how cruel she is. Father wouldn’t believe us, and besides, he needs her to look after the house.

She was very kind to us this morning. She said, “You have been such good children that I am going to send you to visit my Granny, who lives in a dear little hut in the wood. Serve her well, and she will reward you with the best of everything.”

We find Granny’s hut standing in the middle of a great gloomy wood. It is the queerest place. Granny is lying with her head on the threshold of the door, and a foot in each corner. Her knees are cocked up and almost touch the ceiling. There is no possible way that we can fit in her house.

My brother and I are in a worse situation than the one we were in at home!

The Twin Sister in The Witch, Yellow Fairy Book. Illustration by H.J. Ford.