The Island of the Nine Whirlpools

The dark arch that led to the witch's cave was hung with a / black-and-yellow fringe of live snakes. As the Queen went in, keeping / carefully in the middle of the arch, all the snakes lifted their wicked, / flat heads and stared at her with their wicked, yellow eyes. You know it / is not good manners to stare, even at Royalty, except of course for / cats. And the snakes had been so badly brought up that they even put / their tongues out at the poor lady. Nasty, thin, sharp tongues they were / too.

Now, the Queen's husband was, of course, the King. And besides being a / King he was an enchanter, and considered to be quite at the top of his / profession, so he was very wise, and he knew that when Kings and Queens / want children, the Queen always goes to see a witch. So he gave the / Queen the witch's address, and the Queen called on her, though she was / very frightened and did not like it at all. The witch was sitting by a / fire of sticks, stirring something bubbly in a shiny copper cauldron.