How old is the wicked witch of the west

They waited until Dorothy awoke the next morning. The little girl was quite frightened when she saw the great pile of shaggy wolves, but the tin woodman told her all. She thanked him for saving them and sat down to breakfast, after which they started again upon their journey. Now this same morning the Wicked Witch came to the door of her castle and looked out with her one eye that could see far off.

She saw all her wolves lying dead, and the strangers still travelling through her country. This made her angrier than before, and she blew her silver whistle twice. The wild crows flew in one great flock toward Dorothy and her companions. So they all lay upon the ground except the scarecrow, and he stood up and stretched out his arms. When the crows saw him they were frightened, as these birds always are by scarecrows, and did not dare to come any nearer.

I will peck his eyes out. The king crow flew at the scarecrow, who caught it by the head and twisted its neck until it died. Then another crow flew at him, and the scarecrow twisted its neck also. There were forty crows, and forty times the scarecrow twisted a neck, until at last all were lying dead beside him. Then he called to his companions to rise, and again they went upon their journey. When the Wicked Witch looked out again and saw all her crows lying in a heap, she got into a terrible rage, and blew three times upon her silver whistle.

Forthwith there was heard a great buzzing in the air, and a swarm of black bees came flying toward her. The woodman had seen them coming, however, and the scarecrow decided what to do. The bees came and found no one but the woodman to sting, so they flew at him and broke off all their stings against the tin, without hurting the woodman at all. As bees cannot live when their stings are broken that was the end of the black bees, and they lay scattered thickly about the woodman, like little heaps of fine coal.

Then Dorothy and the lion got up, and the girl helped the tin woodman put the straw back into the scarecrow again, until he was as good as new. So they started upon their journey once more. The Wicked Witch was so angry when she saw her black bees in little heaps, like fine coal, that she stamped her foot and tore her hair and gnashed her teeth.

Then she called a dozen of her slaves, who were the Winkies, and gave them sharp spears, telling them to go to the strangers and destroy them. The Winkies were not brave people, but they had to do as they were told. So they marched away until they came near to Dorothy. Then the lion gave a great roar and sprang towards them, and the poor Winkies were so frightened that they ran back as fast as they could. When they returned to the castle the Wicked Witch beat them well with a strap, and sent them back to their work, after which she sat down to think what she should do next.

She could not understand how all her plans to destroy these strangers had failed; but she was a powerful Witch, as well as a wicked one, and she soon made up her mind how to act. There was, in her cupboard, a golden cap, with a circle of diamonds and rubies running around it. This golden cap had a charm - Whoever owned it could call three times upon the winged monkeys, who would obey any order they were given. No person could command these strange creatures more than three times.

Twice already the Wicked Witch had used the charm of the cap. Once was when she had made the Winkies her slaves, and set herself to rule over their country. The winged monkeys had helped her do this. The second time was when she had fought against the Great Oz himself, and driven him out of the land of the West - The winged monkeys had also helped her in doing this.

Only once more could she use this golden cap, for which reason she did not like to do so until all her other powers were exhausted. Now that her fierce wolves, her wild crows and her stinging bees were gone, and her slaves had been scared away by the cowardly lion, she saw there was only one way left to destroy Dorothy and her friends.

So the Wicked Witch took the golden cap from her cupboard and placed it upon her head. Now the charm began to work. When Dorothy claims the death was an accident, the Witch of the West replies, "Well, my little pretty, I can cause accidents too. She often, but not always, flies on a broomstick, and has a crystal ball through which she can see happenings elsewhere. When Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion are sent to kill her and bring her broomstick back, she captures Dorothy and tries to take her slippers, threatening to drown Toto if she doesn't give them to her.

She is unable to take them while Dorothy is still alive, so locks her in a room for an hour to figure out the best way to kill her without damaging the slippers' power.

Toto escapes and gets the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion, who get her out of the room, but the Wicked Witch and her guards chase them and corner them. In the movie, Dorothy's reasons for throwing the bucket of water are different; The Wicked Witch decides to kill everyone else before Dorothy, starting with the Scarecrow by setting him on fire. Dorothy throws a bucket of water to put out the fire, which is unwittingly thrown onto the Wicked Witch in the process, causing her to melt.

The Witch also has a counterpart in the Kansas world: a rich, grumpy single woman named Almira Gulch who seeks to have Dorothy's dog, Toto , put down.

There is some ambiguity as to whether Gulch turns into the Wicked Witch of the East or of the West in the Tornado scene when Dorothy sees her transform in the window. However, it can be argued both ways. Oz Wiki Explore. Movies Albums Theatre Collectibles.

New pictures New articles Current events Recent blog posts. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? The Wicked Witch of the West film. History Talk 4. There are also some interesting elements of the witch included in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that do not appear in the film, such as the replacement of a broom stick with an umbrella with which she then taunts the loyal Toto.

She does this with no cause or reason other than that she enjoys asserting control over the lives of those less powerful than herself. Margaret, who in contrast to the witch, is an incredibly charming and soft- spoken woman, discusses how she quickly identified two fundamental elements of her character; first, her enjoyment of everything she does whether it is deemed good or bad; and, second and most relevant to the outsider point , her deep frustration at never getting what she desires.

She also laments how frightened children became of her portrayal and expresses a great surprise and sadness at this. Given the dark and taunting nature of the Wicked Witch of the West, it is hard to imagine why the actress struggled to come to terms with children finding this terrifying. However, it is also testament to her loyalty to the character that she views her as more than just a cardboard cut-out representation of evil. It will come as no surprise to learn that Margaret herself went through some challenging times whilst filming.

The actress recounts how careful she was required to be during lunch times and breaks, as her hands and face were covered with green make up. In order to prevent any potential smudges or transferences onto her costume, she found herself depending upon an assistant to cut up her food and feed it to her in manageable pieces.

Not all of her experiences were as light-hearted as this however, as she also found herself face to face with great danger on one particular occasion.