{"id":22777,"date":"2025-06-20T22:39:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/?p=22777"},"modified":"2025-06-20T22:39:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:39:45","slug":"shirley-jackson-the-witch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/short-stories\/shirley-jackson-the-witch\/22777\/","title":{"rendered":"Shirley Jackson: The Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis:<\/strong> \u201cThe Witch\u201d (The Witch<\/em>) is a short story by Shirley Jackson, published in 1949 in the collection The Lottery or The Adventures of James Harris<\/em>. The story takes place inside a train carriage, where a boy is traveling with his mother and baby sister. While the mother tries to remain calm by reading a book, the boy watches the landscape, talks to the passengers, and lets his imagination run wild, populated by witches and fantastical creatures. The atmosphere changes when a stranger sits down next to the boy and begins to tell him a disturbing story.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Shirley<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Witch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Shirley Jackson
(Full story)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE COACH was so nearly empty that the little boy had a seat all to himself, and his mother sat across the aisle on the seat next to the little boy\u2019s sister, a baby with a piece of toast in one hand and a rattle in the other. She was strapped securely to the seat so she could sit up and look around, and whenever she began to slip slowly sideways the strap caught her and held her halfway until her mother turned around and straightened her again. The little boy was looking out the window and eating a cookie, and the mother was reading quietly, answering the little boy\u2019s questions without looking up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on a river,\u201d the little boy said. \u201cThis is a river and we\u2019re on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine,\u201d his mother said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on a bridge over a river,\u201d the little boy said to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The few other people in the coach were sitting at the other end of the car; if any of them had occasion to come down the aisle the little boy would look around and say, \u201cHi,\u201d and the stranger would usually say, \u201cHi,\u201d back and sometimes ask the little boy if he were enjoying the train ride, or even tell him he was a fine big fellow. These comments annoyed the little boy and he would turn irritably back to the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a cow,\u201d he would say, or, sighing, \u201cHow far do we have to go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot much longer now,\u201d his mother said, each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the baby, who was very quiet and busy with her rattle and her toast, which the mother would renew constantly, fell over too far sideways and banged her head. She began to cry, and for a minute there was noise and movement around the mother\u2019s seat. The little boy slid down from his own seat and ran across the aisle to pet his sister\u2019s feet and beg her not to cry, and finally the baby laughed and went back to her toast, and the little boy received a lollipop from his mother and went back to the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw a witch,\u201d he said to his mother after a minute. \u201cThere was a big old ugly old bad old witch outside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine,\u201d his mother said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA big old ugly witch and I told her to go away and she went away,\u201d the little boy went on, in a quiet narrative to himself, \u201cshe came and said, \u2018I\u2019m going to eat you up,\u2019 and I said, \u2018no, you\u2019re not,\u2019 and I chased her away, the bad old mean witch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stopped talking and looked up as the outside door of the coach opened and a man came in. He was an elderly man, with a pleasant face under white hair; his blue suit was only faintly touched by the disarray that comes from a long train trip. He was carrying a cigar, and when the little boy said, \u201cHi,\u201d the man gestured at him with the cigar and said, \u201cHello yourself, son.\u201d He stopped just beside the little boy\u2019s seat, and leaned against the back, looking down at the little boy, who craned his neck to look upward. \u201cWhat you looking for out that window?\u201d the man asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWitches,\u201d the little boy said promptly. \u201cBad old mean witches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see,\u201d the man said. \u201cFind many?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy father smokes cigars,\u201d the little boy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll men smoke cigars,\u201d the man said. \u201cSomeday you\u2019ll smoke a cigar, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a man already,\u201d the little boy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow old are you?\u201d the man asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy, at the eternal question, looked at the man suspiciously for a minute and then said, \u201cTwenty-six. Eight hunnerd and forty eighty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother lifted her head from the book. \u201cFour,\u201d she said, smiling fondly at the little boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs that so?\u201d the man said politely to the little boy. \u201cTwenty-six.\u201d He nodded his head at the mother across the aisle. \u201cIs that your mother?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy leaned forward to look and then said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d the man asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy looked suspicious again. \u201cMr. Jesus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJohnny<\/em>,\u201d the little boy\u2019s mother said. She caught the little boy\u2019s eye and frowned deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my sister over there,\u201d the little boy said to the man. \u201cShe\u2019s twelve-and-a-half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you love your sister?\u201d the man asked. The little boy stared, and the man came around the side of the seat and sat down next to the little boy. \u201cListen,\u201d the man said, \u201cshall I tell you about my little sister?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mother, who had looked up anxiously when the man sat down next to her little boy, went peacefully back to her book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTell me about your sister,\u201d the little boy said. \u201cWas she a witch?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy laughed excitedly, and the man leaned back and puffed at his cigar. \u201cOnce upon a time,\u201d he began, \u201cI had a little sister, just like yours.\u201d The little boy looked up at the man, nodding at every word. \u201cMy little sister,\u201d the man went on, \u201cwas so pretty and so nice that I loved her more than anything else in the world. So shall I tell you what I did?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy nodded more vehemently, and the mother lifted her eyes from her book and smiled, listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI bought her a rocking-horse and a doll and a million lollipops,\u201d the man said, \u201cand then I took her and I put my hands around her neck and I pinched her and I pinched her until she was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy gasped and the mother turned around, her smile fading. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again as the man went on, \u201cAnd then I took and I cut her head off and I took her head\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you cut her all in pieces?\u201d the little boy asked breathlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cut off her head and her hands and her feet and her hair and her nose,\u201d the man said, \u201cand I hit her with a stick and I killed her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait a minute,\u201d the mother said, but the baby fell over sideways just at that minute and by the time the mother had set her up again the man was going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I took her head and I pulled out all her hair and\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour little sister<\/em>?\u201d the little boy prompted eagerly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy little sister,\u201d the man said firmly. \u201cAnd I put her head in a cage with a bear and the bear ate it all up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAte her head<\/em> all up?\u201d the little boy asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mother put her book down and came across the aisle. She stood next to the man and said, \u201cJust what do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d The man looked up courteously and she said, \u201cGet out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid I frighten you?\u201d the man said. He looked down at the little boy and nudged him with an elbow and he and the little boy laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis man cut up his little sister,\u201d the little boy said to his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can very easily call the conductor,\u201d the mother said to the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe conductor will eat<\/em> my mommy,\u201d the little boy said. \u201cWe\u2019ll chop her head off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd little sister\u2019s head, too,\u201d the man said. He stood up, and the mother stood back to let him get out of the seat. \u201cDon\u2019t ever come back in this car,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mommy will eat you<\/em>,\u201d the little boy said to the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man laughed, and the little boy laughed, and then the man said, \u201cExcuse me,\u201d to the mother and went past her out of the car. When the door had closed behind him the little boy said, \u201cHow much longer do we have to stay on this old train?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot much longer,\u201d the mother said. She stood looking at the little boy, wanting to say something, and finally she said, \u201cYou sit still and be a good boy. You may have another lollipop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little boy climbed down eagerly and followed his mother back to her seat. She took a lollipop from a bag in her pocketbook and gave it to him. \u201cWhat do you say?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d the little boy said. \u201cDid that man really cut his little sister up in pieces?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was just teasing,\u201d the mother said, and added urgently, \u201cJust teasing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProb\u2019ly,\u201d the little boy said. With his lollipop he went back to his own seat, and settled himself to look out the window again. \u201cProb\u2019ly he was a witch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE END<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Witch\u201d (The Witch) is a short story by Shirley Jackson, published in 1949 in the collection The Lottery or The Adventures of James Harris. The story takes place inside a train carriage, where a boy is traveling with his mother and baby sister. While the mother tries to remain calm by reading a book, the boy watches the landscape, talks to the passengers, and lets his imagination run wild, populated by witches and fantastical creatures. The atmosphere changes when a stranger sits down next to the boy and begins to tell him a disturbing story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[572,595,570],"class_list":["post-22777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories","tag-horror-en","tag-shirley-jackson-en","tag-united-states","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":559,"label":"Short stories"}],"post_tag":[{"value":572,"label":"Horror"},{"value":595,"label":"Shirley Jackson"},{"value":570,"label":"United States"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/lecturia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Shirley-Jackson-La-bruja.webp",1024,1024,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Juan Pablo Guevara","author_link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/author\/spartakku\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":559,"name":"Short stories","slug":"short-stories","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":559,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":419,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":559,"category_count":419,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Short stories","category_nicename":"short-stories","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":572,"name":"Horror","slug":"horror-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":572,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":127,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":595,"name":"Shirley Jackson","slug":"shirley-jackson-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":595,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":570,"name":"United States","slug":"united-states","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":570,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":294,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}