WITCHES TALES

Varvarenco Anna
Witches are a folkloric characters that
commonly appears in fairy tales, such as 
Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel, and many more.
Witchcraft and witches are a motif across many literary and
cultural themes, they appear in fairy tales as reflections of
the culture they come from. Although this tales have many
different types of witches, they’re usually negative
characters. They are baking and eating small children and
handing out poison apples. This type of tales may tell us
about culture and women’s roles and exactly how witches
got to be so wicked.
The wicked witch in the fairy tale reflected how the
surrounding culture treated women, especially women with
power or childless women.
One of the most famous fairy tale where a witch is the main
antagonist is Hansel & Gretel tale

Hansel and Gretel are two siblings which were abandoned in an enchanted
forest by their parents. The Blind Witch wait for the children in a house
made of hard cake and candies, with windows made of clear sugar, to
kidnap the brother and sister with the intention of fattening them up,
cooking and eating them. Firstly she put Hansel in a cage to fatten him up
first, and forced a chained up Gretel to help her cook and clean. the Blind
Witch's poor eyesight leads her to using a string to measure how fat Hansel's
finger has gotten in the days or weeks that pass. However, from the food
he's fed he never gains weight. Losing her patience, the Blind Witch decides
to cook Hansel and forces Gretel to help her prepare the oven, telling the
girl to check If the oven is hot enough yet. Gretel pretends not to know
how to check the oven, so the Blind Witch shows her. As this happens,
Hansel unlocks his cage with bone and together both siblings push the Blind
Witch into the oven and lock it behind her, letting her burn to death.
Another famous witch character from Russian tales is Baba Yaga

A common Russian fairy tale character/archetype is the witch "Baba

Yaga". Sometimes portrayed as a giver, and other times as a villain. Baba
Yaga appears in multiple Russian fairy tales. Arguably the most famous
one is the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" which features many of her
most famous qualities of Baba Yaga ; including her hag-like crone
appearance, her giant mortar and pestle she flies around in (instead of a
stereotypical witch's broomstick), her home in the middle of a dark
forest that stands on giant chicken legs to walk around (often guarded by
a fence of human bones and skulls), and her three (mythological)
guardians: the White Rider (Bright Day/Dawn), the Red Rider (Radiant
Sun/Noon) and the Black Rider (Dark Knight/Dusk).
 CONCLUSION

Witches in fairy tales and folklore play a significant role.

They have been around in fairytales around for as long as the
tales themselves and have captured the imagination and
frightened children. They judge, reward, harm and heal, and
they're often the most intriguing characters in the tale.