Since we announced our witch anthology we might as well give you a witchy treat: “The Witch” from Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book (1894) with illustrations by Henry Justice Ford. It’s a Russian tale.
I first read the Yellow Fairy Book a very long time ago, but I recall liking this story very much for two reasons. First, the witch’s cat is the hero and, second, the “magic” articles the cat gives the children to aid in their escape made sense to me for some reason: a handkerchief that turns into a broad river and a comb into a dense forest.
And since the cat is the story is gray, here’s my favorite gray cat (and latest addition to my family), Nala.