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Young Witch mobile

US1531561

Young Witch mobile

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O u. 2: ^ oS PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY,

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^he Witch Mobile

The

WITCH MOBILE Miriam Young

Lothrop Lee (& Shepard

Co.

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TSljwYork

Text copyright b>i

©

J

969

b>'

Miriam Young/ Illustrations copyright

©

1969

Victoria Chess

Library of Congress Catalog Card Tsjumber: 73-81923 /Printed in the United States of

1

2

3

4

America/ All

5

rights reserved

73 72 71 70 69

U.S.

/I

11

day long they rode

1531561

their brooms, their black capes

0/ J- flying from their shoulders—four m the toy shop window—Hecate,

little

witches

Murka, Ulga

.

.

.

and

Nanette.

Swinging and turning, dipping and

from

rising,

their wires, looking innocent as toys.

they practiced witchcraft

they hung

But

at night

—practiced for Halloween, when

they would work their mischief. All but Nanette, the youngest,

who

didn't

know how.

They hung on a narrow

in the

street

window

of a shop

which stood

between a bakery and a flower

by a

in a beautiful city divided in half

river.

stall,

All day long

the breeze blew in at the door, bringing odors of bread

and carnations. But the longing, for they

youngest,

bree2;e filled the

wanted to get away. All but Nanette, the

who wanted something

Hecate rode the highest wire, a queen.

Her

witches with

face

else.

sitting tall

and straight

was long and narrow, with eyes

as

as

cold as stones. "I wish a sea captain sail

on the

Murka

us," she said. '1 long to

sea."

rode leaning backward, her long nose pointed

toward the ''I

would buy

ceiling as she ga2;ed at the chandelier.

wish we'd be bought by a rich man's wife, a lady with

lots of

diamonds," she sighed. She loved

Ulga rode bent forward

like a

man

glitter.

in a bicycle race,

her jutting chin almost touching her hands.

''An airplane

pilot!

That's

she said. She liked to go

fast.

who

I

wish would buy us!"

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Nanette rode holding tightly with both hands. She had a

round face and big eyes and was smaller than the other witches. She didn't like being

her nose

when

the mobile

when

hurt her knees

it

up so

high.

She often bumped

swung forward. She sometimes

tipped like a seesaw.

And

when it went suddenly backwards, she felt dizzy and sure she would ''I

fall.

wish ...

I

wish

The wide-eyed

." .

little

.

witch was happiest watching the

children outside and listening to their games.

"If they fall," she said to her sisters, ''someone picks

them up and brushes them dear, you'll be

off

and says gently, 'Never mind,

" all right.'

"Magic words, no doubt,"

said Hecate.

"We know

plenty of magic words." "I

wish

we had someone

to comfort us like that,"

Nanette sighed.

Murka can't

laughed. "Pooh! That's just a mother. Witches

have mothers."

"We

don't need them," said Ulga.

"We

have magic

powers."

^r.

One

fall

Hecate suit

day when the leaves were starting to turn,

felt

sure she

came up the

"A

would

get her wish.

A boy in

a sailor

steps carrying a boat in his arms.

sea captain!'' Hecate called to the others. ''Here's

our chance.

Sit straight,

Nanette."

But the boy slammed the door and the wind blew

off

Nanette's hat.

The boy marched over those witches," he said.

on

my

''I

to the witch mobile.

want

to use

them

''I

want

as pirates

ship."

Then he saw Nanette. Without her witch hat, her pigtails could be seen. They were tied with bows. She looked like a little girl.

The boy made an he

said.

ugly face. 'That one can't be a pirate,"

"She doesn't even look

want her on

my

ship.

She looks

like a witch. I don't like a doll,"

he sneered,

and stamped out of the shop.

The minute

was closed Hecate turned upon Nanette. "Look what you've done! You've lost us our the door

chance to go to sea!"

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"Yes,

your

it's all

"You might

fault,"

Murka

at least learn to

agreed.

keep your hat on!" snapped

Ulga.

"Even

Hecate

so,"

said, "that

He could have painted her look

a moustache

fierce. Besides, he's rude.

He has no

or 'thank you.'

boy should be punished. on Nanette to make

He never said

manners."

She looked with stony eyes

at the boy,

who was

passing the window.

"Halloween "just

.

.

.

coming," she chanted,

is

you

.

.

.

'please'

wait!"

just

A few days later, when a shiny limousine stopped in front of the shop,

Murka

felt

sure she

would

get her wish.

A lady in diamonds and furs stepped out of the car. ''A millionaire's wife!" cried Murka. ''Nanette! Lean

back in a casual

pose.''

But Nanette leaned back too

far

and

lost

her balance.

broom tipped and the

price tag flipped upside

now

6.

read 9 instead of

''Heavens,'' cried the lady, reading the price lorgnette. "That's far too

for

my

cook's

will do."

little girl.

much.

I

Here, this

want little box

just

down.

Her

It

through her

a present of crayons

Murka pounced on wives come

in?''

Nanette. ""How often do millionaires'

she demanded.

''Clumsy!" said Hecate.

"We'll never get out of here at

this rate,"

Ulga grumbled.

Murka pointed her long nose toward the lady. She was buying an expensive music box for said

Murka. "We'll teach her a

Murka

herself. ''She's selfish,"

lesson."

fastened her beady black eyes on the lady's

back as she stepped into her limousine.

"Halloween "just

.

.

.

is

you

.

coming," she murmured, .

.

wait!"

xz

Ulga thought she would get her wish one day when a

girl

late

October

dashed into the shop. She was wearing a cap

with a propeller on top.

"A pilot!"

Ulga cheered. ''Hang on, Nanette."

The witch mobile had "Can't

it

already started to spin.

go faster than that?" the

up and batted

it

girl asked.

She reached

with her hand.

The witch mobile swung forward sharply. Nanette flat on her broom and the witch mobile swung back

fell

—

again and crashed into the bird mobile, sending

it

spinning

frantically.

''That bird mobile really goes fast," laughed the "Fll take that instead of the witch mobile."

girl.

''If it

took

weren't for you," mourned Ulga, as the shopkeeper

down

with that

the bird mobile, ''we'd be 2;ooming around

on her

girl

bike."

"Can't you do anything right?" asked Murka.

"Baby!" said Hecate.

"Nanette

"But that

is

spoiling our wishes

girl hit

—

that's true," said Ulga.

us too hard. I've never been so frightened.

She's too rough."

Ulga

fixed her ghostly gray eyes

she plummeted "She'll see

what

down it's

"Halloween "just

.

.

.

be frightened.

coming," she warned, .

girl's

back as

the steps with her package.

like to

is

you

on the

.

.

wait!"

Nanette was happy the girl

last

day of October, when a

little

with a gentle look came into the shop. She was poorly

dressed but she had a coin knotted in the

comer

of

her handkerchief.

'Td

love to have that witch mobile," she said, and

seemed to Nanette that the

The shopkeeper took one enough," he said

girl

at her.

look at her coin.

crossly. ''It's

anything in the shop."

was smiling

it

''It's

not

not nearly enough for

Nanette's

blame?

And

sisters

Was

looked at her expectantly.

suddenly Nanette remembered her

who stood biting

''Halloween ''just

.

.

.

is

she to

there something she should have done?

and knew she must do the same. She looked girl,

Was

her

sisters'

warnings

at the little

lip tearfully.

coming,'' she whispered,

wait!"

>>.

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There wasn't long to

The

night

was growing

By

it

cave.

eleven

midnight a yellow sailed by.

The

was Halloween already. By ten o'clock it was dark as

wait. It

dark.

was blacker than a witch's

moon

appeared.

hat.

At

An owl hooted.

A bat

clock in the shop struck twelve.

Hecate. ''Time for our mischief. Come,

"It's time!" cried

down."

Sisters,

time to

fly

The

witches

left

the mobile and flew to a counter

There each of them pulled a

in the center of the shop.

straw from her broom to see whose turn would come

"My straw is longest. work my charm."

"Mine!" cried Hecate. gather round while

I

They gathered round her their heads

began to

a

in a circle.

first.

Sisters,

She stared past

with her stone-cold eyes and in a high voice

sing:

}Aagnabus, fordi\um, goblins caul, Captain,

rise that

you may

tAagical moonlight, hear

fall.

my

song,

Let him he stuc\ the whole night long.

Hecate mounted her broom, touched the window, and

The others followed. Nanette bumped her head on

flew out.

dizzy but struggled to keep

In the ink'black sky the

the

window

up with her

moon was

ledge.

She

sisters.

sailing,

round

as a

felt

^ir
^'

yellow

ball.

The witches

flew to a

tall

brick house and in

through a bedroom window. The boy

them

as pirates

on

his ship

was now

didn't

sleeping.

want

But suddenly

—clickety clack—to the

window shade snapped up top. The moon shone in like a the

who

searchlight.

The boy

woke and

blinked his eyes.

Then he scowled and threw back

the covers and stamped over to the window.

reach the shade but

and

it

was

in anger

made fell

—

still

—and

of cane. feet

up

was too

out of reach. it

went

right

high.

He stood on

tried to

a chair,

The boy stamped

his foot

through the

which was

seat,

He tried to pull his foot out and down he

in the air,

''Help, help!

help him.

it

He

And

arms pinned to

Ouch, ouch!" he

cried.

his sides.

But no one came to

there he stayed the whole night long,

the cane pinching and poking and prickling.

The witches

stood on the

All but Nanette,

work

a

charm

who was

like that!

I

a

little

ledge and laughed.

thinking, '7 will never be able to

don't

Murka's turn came next.

Murka drew

window

As

know any magic her

sisters

words."

formed a

circle,

mortar and pestle from her cape.

Then, plucking a few objects from her pocket, she dropped

them

ground them to powder with

into the mortar. She

the pestle,

all

the while chanting:

One ounce

of hat's breath,

A pinch of beetle

s

wings,

Four eyes from dead

flies.

And six bees 'stings. Mix

well for magic dust

Wa\e

—

in fright the lady must.

A moment later Murka was on her broom. Nanette was shivering with fright but she followed her

yellow house.

sisters.

Past the

moon they sailed, over the river to a tall stone The witches went right in through the long

French doors. In a big gilded bed the

millionaire's

wife lay asleep, curlers in her hair and cream on her face.

On a little table beside the bed the witches spied the music box she had bought for herself.

Murka tossed a handful of magic The music box began to play.

dust into the room.

Startled, the lady sat up.

''Who's there? Who's

there?''

she called in fright.

But only the music answered. Louder and louder and louder

it

played.

Wilder and wilder and

lady turned the switch but

her head with a pillow. in her ears.

The room

it

rose

and swelled

shook with the sound.

the lady snatched the music box and threw

window.

The

did no good. She covered

The music

itself

wilder.

it

At

last

out of the

^_-_^\

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The

witches danced and sang, their sides splitting with

laughter. All but Nanette,

any magic

who was thinking,

''I

don't

know

spells."

Ulga's turn came next. She drew her cape around her,

shook back her long matted Pomeraz, cerihan,

hair,

and recited

eight, nine, ten,

Say the words (hac\wards) over again.

Zaremop, nahirec, cross your

The person you

eyes,

thin\ of will get a surprise.

Ulga crossed her

eyes.

They

all

knew

of the unkind girl with the propeller

popped onto her broom, Nanette

would come

she was thinking

on her

the

posts. In

clothes

As Ulga

realized that her turn

next.

Up a broad avenue the witches sailed, street,

cap.

and down a narrow

moon watching them from behind chimney

an untidy bedroom the

girl

was

and broken toys strewn over the

bird mobile

was almost

asleep, her

floor.

Even the

in tatters.

Ulga's magic set the birds from the bird mobile free.

They

flapped their wings and with

girFs head.

She screamed and

streaking so close that a

happy

sat up.

The

cries flew

birds

wing touched the

by the

came

girFs cheek.

''Help!" she cried. ''Bats!"

She pulled the blankets over her head and rolled out of bed with a bump.

The witches bent double with laughter. Even Nanette was laughing. But she didn't laugh long.

It

was her turn now.

Her sisters were waiting.

y

Nanette recited a

spell

used by the children in the

street.

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo,

Catch a hunny If

he hollers

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let

the toe,

him

go,

O^U^T spells Out. Nanette mounted her broom. Her

sisters followed.

They

The girl who didn't have enough money started to wake up. Her tooth felt funny. She touched

flew to a small bedroom.

it

with her tongue.

and then

it

came

It

out.

wobbled.

The

It

wobbled some more

little girl

pillow and went back to sleep.

put

it

under her

I

I

i

(I.

The witches flew back to the shop. They gathered around Nanette and shook their heads in despair. ''As usual," sighed Hecate, ""you got things wrong. In

the

first

place,

you picked the wrong

victim.''

''You shouldn't have picked someone nice,"

"Why

Murka

you pick the shopkeeper? Don't you remember how mean he was when he saw

explained wearily.

the

girl's

didn't

coin?"

"You should have played a trick on him," Ulga said with an impatient sigh. "You should have turned him into a frog. Or filled his cash register with glue."

Now the witches

put their heads together, whispering.

"We'll give you one more chance," they

said.

some magic words. She thought and thought. At last she said, ''All right. Hold your fists up.'' The witches raised their fists, and Nanette hit each Nanette

fist

tried to think of

with her own, saying: Ihhity, bibbit>', sibbit)', sab! Ihhity, bibbit>', ShopXeeper!

us. 15315S1

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At like

moment the shop shook. The moon went out a candle. The tops of the trees began to tremble, and that

wind was heard. It grew and grew to a terrible Then the wind came all in a rush. It battered the and bent the bushes. It raised white caps on the

a

wailing roar.

trees

and toppled chairs

in the park.

Rubbish cans were overturned and hoops.

The

rooster

merrygo'round like kites

till

river

on the church

hinges and went sliding

around

it off.

Papers sailed

A shutter was torn from down

like

steeple whirled like a

the wind carried

over rooftops.

rolled

the street like a

its

sled.

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