The Witches’ Cellar

John Twist was courting a young girl who lived alone with her widowed

mother.

His friends warned him that they were both witches, and that he ought to

be very cautious, but he refused to believe them. One day, however, he

determined to discover if it were true.

That day when he visited his fiancée, he pretended to be very tired, and

after having chatted a while with the two women, he tipped his chair

against the wall, drew down the peak of his cap over his eyes, in order

to see what took place without appearing to do so, and feigned sleep.

“I think he is sleeping soundly,” the mother said to her daughter.

“I will make certain,” said the girl. She called him softly by name. The

young man apparently heard nothing, and never moved a muscle.

The two women were quite reassured. The mother put on a beautiful red

dress, and her daughter dressed herself in her best clothes. They then

removed two bricks from the back of the stove, took out a little jar of

pomade and rubbed it on their faces and hands.

When they had put everything carefully back in its place, they went

out.

Then John Twist got up, and creeping as quietly as a mouse to the door,

spied through the keyhole.

“Over hedges and fences, towards Spain, into the cellar,” he heard them

say, and at the same moment they disappeared from view.

“I must find out what it all means,” said the lover. He went to the

stove, took out the jar of pomade from its hiding-place, and after

rubbing it on his face and hands, said, “Through hedges and fences,

towards Spain, into the cellar.”

He was immediately lifted off his feet, and found himself flying through

the air like a bird. He very quickly arrived in a cellar in Spain. There

he saw the two witches, in a company composed of all nationalities. They

all appeared to be mad. Some wore stove-pipes or saucepans instead of

hats. Some were half man, half frog or stag. In one corner, mysterious

dishes were in course of preparation, under the direction of a crow in

spectacles, who was holding the recipe in his claw.

John Twist was in a deplorable condition. His clothes were torn to

ribbons, and his skin was grazed all over.

“How is it that you have arrived in such a tattered state,” said his

fiancée.

“I said, ‘Through hedges and fences,’” replied John Twist; “you may not

believe me, but I assure you I have left half my clothing and skin

hanging on thorn-bushes and palings.”

“You ought to have said, ‘Over hedges and fences,’” said the girl.

The subject was then dropped.

The company then sat down to eat tarts and drink wine out

of large goblets. A witch, in a large hat, with two black cats in

attendance, organized games. John Twist was so tired that he fell into a

deep sleep. When he awoke the entire company had vanished, with the

exception of an old man who was seated at a little table with a bottle

of wine before him, at the entrance to the cellar.

“Where are the two ladies I know?” asked John Twist.

“Gone,” he replied.

“How shall I return home?” asked John uneasily.

“There is one way,” said the little man; “ride astride this pig, and he

will take you home, but you must not utter a word on the way.”

“Oh, if that is all,” said John, “I know how to hold my tongue.”

So saying, he got on the pig’s back, and they started.

The pig travelled very quickly, obstacles were nothing to him. He leapt

over hedges and ditches, until they reached a river twenty feet wide.

“We shall never arrive on the opposite bank,” thought John Twist, but

the thought had hardly occurred to him, when w-whip--the pig landed on

the other side.

“That was a splendid jump,” said John Twist. But, alack, the words were

hardly out of his mouth before he was struggling in the water.

How he succeeded in getting out again, I am sure I do not know.