Reading Notes More English Fairy Tales Part A

The Old Witch

(Wicked Witch of the East from Wikipedia Commons)

Plot: In this story, a girl goes to find work as a servant. On her way to find a job, she hears a loaf of bread asking to be taken out of the oven. Kindly, she does this. Then she hears a cow asking to be milked. Kindly, she milks the cow. Then she hears an apple tree asking to be picked. Kindly, she picks the apples. Eventually, the girl reaches the home of a witch who agrees to take her on as a servant but warns her to never look up the chimney. One day the girl forgets the instructions and looks up on accident and finds bags of money. She runs away with this money and the witch chases after her. She comes upon the tree and asks it to hide her from the witch. Then she does the same with the cow and the oven. When she gets home she becomes rich and marries her sweetheart and lives happily ever after. Her sister then decides to try and accomplish the same thing but refuses to help the cow, oven, and apple tree. When she finds the money and tries to hide from the witch they all refuse to hide her and the witch beats her and sends her home.

Lesson: Helping others when they ask for it is always good.

Idea: I would probably just keep this story as it is since I really like it and it's a pretty familiar tale.

Story Source: This story is from More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs