t hold of the Silver
Shoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she had
lost. She watched Dorothy carefully, to see if she ever took off her
shoes, thinking she might steal them. But the child was so proud of
her pretty shoes that she never took them off except at night and when
she took her bath. The Witch was too much afraid of the dark to dare
go in Dorothy's room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of water
was greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near when
Dorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, nor
ever let water touch her in any way.

But the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of a
trick that would give her what she wanted. She placed a bar of iron in
the middle of the kitchen floor, and then by her magic arts made the
iron invisible to human eyes. So that when Dorothy walked across the
floor she stumbled over the bar, not being able to see it, and fell at
full length. She was not much hurt, but in her fall one of the Silver
Shoes came off; and before she could reach it, the Witch had snatched
it away and put it on her own skinny foot.

The wicked woman was greatly pleased with the success of her trick, for
as long as she had one of the shoes she owned half the power of their
charm, and Dorothy could not use it against her, even had she known how
to do so.

The little girl, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grew
angry, and said to the Witch, "Give me back my shoe!"

"I will not," retorted the Witch, "for it is now my shoe, and not
yours."

"You are a wicked creature!" cried Dorothy. "You have no right to take
my shoe from me."

"I shall keep it, just the same," said the Witch, laughing at her, "and
someday I shall get the other one from you, too."

This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of water
that stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head to
foot.

Instantly the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear, and then, as
Dorothy looked at her in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fall
away.

"See what you have done!" she screamed. "In a minute I shall melt
away."

"I'm very sorry, indeed," said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to see
the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes.

"Didn't you know water would be the end of me?" asked the Witch, in a
wailing, despairing voice.

"Of course not," answered Dorothy. "How should