Oct 1, 2026 · 27 min · 11 segments
Adam Gidwitz shares an early version of a brand-new, Grimm-inspired tale and invites listeners to help shape it. A young girl named Annie is left in the care of her friend’s mother after her own…
Adam GidwitzHost
Once there was a wealthy merchant whose wife had died and left him alone with two children, a boy named Hans and a little girl named Annie.
On the way, they would drop off little Annie at the home of her friend so her friend's mother could take care of her.
Every evening after work, the merchant would return home to start making dinner for his children, and Hans would go and pick up Annie.
Now, the merchant was admired in town for being a good father and being kind and successful in his business.
He was especially admired by Annie's friend's mother, who had no husband, and also who was a witch.
Did you see that coming? Did you expect her just to be a witch? I mean, if you've listened to a lot of these stories, then yeah, you probably did actually.
So one day, this witch made up a very special meal for Annie, and when Annie ate it, she became very ill.
When Hans came to pick Annie up that evening, the witch said, "Your sister is very sick.
Run home and tell your father that she won't get better unless he marries me." Okay, what do you think about this witch? She's awful, right? Should you ever try to force someone to marry you? Obviously not, especially by keeping their kid hostage and making them sick.
The merchant demanded that the witch give him Annie back so that he could take her to the doctor, but the witch said that only her magic could lift the poisonous spell, and if the man told anyone, she would make sure that Annie died.
The father demanded to see Annie, and when he saw his little girl lying in bed close to death, he swore he would do anything to save her, even marry this evil woman.
A very small wedding was held, and the mother smiled throughout, and the father was so sad.
But after the wedding, Annie did indeed get better, and the father was glad and decided the marriage was worth it until he disappeared.
Annie and Hans didn't know what had happened to their father, but they feared the worst.
Hans decided to go looking for him, and though he considered taking Annie with, she was just too young to set out into the wide world.
Annie stayed with the witch, who was now very wealthy because of the merchant's money, and her friend lived there, too.
We kinda forgot about the friend, didn't we? I, I mean, what does the friend think of all this? She can't be a very good friend if she just is silently letting her mother do all this evil stuff without saying anything, right? You know what upstanders and bystanders are? Have you heard of that? When an upstander sees someone being mean, they stand up to the bully, or they go get help, whereas the bystander says nothing.
This friend was definitely a bystander, though, to be fair to her, when it's your parent, it can be very, very hard to know what to do.
And when your parent is a witch with poisonous magic and stuff, well, probably even harder, right? Annie was forced to be a servant to the witch and to her friend, and they both treated her terribly.
Once there was a wealthy merchant whose wife had died and left him alone with two children, a boy named Hans and a little girl named Annie.
On the way, they would drop off little Annie at the home of her friend so her friend's mother could take care of her.
Every evening after work, the merchant would return home to start making dinner for his children, and Hans would go and pick up Annie.
Now, the merchant was admired in town for being a good father and being kind and successful in his business.
He was especially admired by Annie's friend's mother, who had no husband, and also who was a witch.
Did you see that coming? Did you expect her just to be a witch? I mean, if you've listened to a lot of these stories, then yeah, you probably did actually.
So one day, this witch made up a very special meal for Annie, and when Annie ate it, she became very ill.
When Hans came to pick Annie up that evening, the witch said, "Your sister is very sick.
Run home and tell your father that she won't get better unless he marries me." Okay, what do you think about this witch? She's awful, right? Should you ever try to force someone to marry you? Obviously not, especially by keeping their kid hostage and making them sick.
The merchant demanded that the witch give him Annie back so that he could take her to the doctor, but the witch said that only her magic could lift the poisonous spell, and if the man told anyone, she would make sure that Annie died.
The father demanded to see Annie, and when he saw his little girl lying in bed close to death, he swore he would do anything to save her, even marry this evil woman.
A very small wedding was held, and the mother smiled throughout, and the father was so sad.
But after the wedding, Annie did indeed get better, and the father was glad and decided the marriage was worth it until he disappeared.
Annie and Hans didn't know what had happened to their father, but they feared the worst.
Hans decided to go looking for him, and though he considered taking Annie with, she was just too young to set out into the wide world.
Annie stayed with the witch, who was now very wealthy because of the merchant's money, and her friend lived there, too.
We kinda forgot about the friend, didn't we? I, I mean, what does the friend think of all this? She can't be a very good friend if she just is silently letting her mother do all this evil stuff without saying anything, right? You know what upstanders and bystanders are? Have you heard of that? When an upstander sees someone being mean, they stand up to the bully, or they go get help, whereas the bystander says nothing.
This friend was definitely a bystander, though, to be fair to her, when it's your parent, it can be very, very hard to know what to do.
And when your parent is a witch with poisonous magic and stuff, well, probably even harder, right? Annie was forced to be a servant to the witch and to her friend, and they both treated her terribly.
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