"Excuse me," said Magrat, louder this time. "Who was Black Aliss? And," she added quickly, "none of this exchanging meaningful glances and talking over my head. There´s three witches in this coven, remember?"
"She was before your time," said Nanny Ogg. "Before mine, really. She lived over Skund way. Very powerful witch."
"If you listen to rumour," said Granny.
"She turned a pumpkin into a royal coach once," said Nanny.
"Showy," said Granny Weatherway. "That´s no help to anyone, turning up at a ball smelling like a pie. And that business with the glass slipper. Dangerous, to my mind."
"But the biggest thing she ever did," said Nanny, ignoring the interruption, "was to send a whole palace to sleep for a hundred years until..." She hesitated. "Can´t remember. Was there rose bushes involved, or was it spinning wheels in that one? I think some princes has to finger... no, there was a prince. That was it."
"Finger a prince?" said Margrat, uneasily.
"No ... he had to kiss her. Very romantic. Black Aliss was. There was always a bit of romance in her spells. She liked nothing better than Girl meets Frog."
"Why did they call her Black Aliss?"
"Fingernails," said Granny.
"And teeth," said Nanny Ogg. "She had a sweet tooth. Lived in a real gingerbread cottage. Couple of kids shoved her in her own oven at the end. Shocking."
I´m loving this passage. And since I devoured all the fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm as a child myself, I appreciate this even more.
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