The Very Wicked Witch and the Village Play

THE VERY WICKED Witch sat at her gnarled breakfast table and chuckled.

- By Mark Gartside. Art by Rupert van Wyk

At least, she made a sound that she thought was a chuckle. To you or me it would have sounded like sandpaper scraping on a rock.

But the Very Wicked Witch had not earned her status as the wickedest witch in all of England by worrying about how her chuckle sounded. She had earned it by devising wicked plans. Very wicked plans. And she had a new one.

The Very Wicked Witch had a problem. Every time she went out, people ran away screaming. It was her black hat, pointy nose, and warty green face. They gave her away. It made her plans very hard to put into practice.

One day, the Very Wicked Witch got a leaflet in the mail. It read:

She could barely believe her luck. Hansel and Gretel had a witch in it! A wicked witch. She could go on stage looking like her usual self and no one would notice. And then, on opening night when all the village was assembled, she could put her wicked plan—and it was a very wicked plan—into action.

The Very Wicked Witch went to Village Hall and watched the other witches try out. They were pathetic. Velvet hats covered in cute little stars, cackles that sounded friendly, fake plastic warts. Absolutely terrible.

Unlike her. She did a splendid job. She stomped around, growling and cackling, her face a hideous grimace. Several children waiting to audition ran off, never to return.

Afterwards, everyone left. Everyone except Molly, the girl playing Gretel, who was hiding behind the curtain. She watched the Very Wicked Witch take a newt from her robe.

The witch spoke to the newt. The newt spoke back. “Hmm,” Molly thought.