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Tiffany Aching was lying on her stomach by the river, tickling trout. She liked to hear them laugh. It came up in bubbles.
‘a low soft sound, as of whispering or muttering’.
They didn’t have to be funny, they were father jokes.
she just said that the best medicine for sheep or man was a dose of turpentine, a good cussin’ and a kick.
It was a good clang, with the oiyoiyoioioioioioinnnnnggggggg that is the mark of a clang well done.
Looking like a witch can be dangerous when you walk among the uneducated.
You had to be a bit cunning to be a witch.
The geography teachers got lost in the woods and fell into bear traps.
They taught children enough to shut them up, which was the main thing after all.
‘Patronizing is a big word. Zoology is really quite short.’
People say things like ‘listen to your heart’, but witches learn to listen to other things too. It’s amazing what your kidneys can tell you.
‘Once you learn about magic, I mean really learn about magic, learn everything you can learn about magic, then you’ve got the most important lesson still to learn,’ said Miss Tick.
A witch pays attention to everything that’s going on. A witch uses her head. A witch is sure of herself. A witch always has a piece of string—’
The stories didn’t want you to think, they just wanted you to believe what you were told …
it was the blond people with blue eyes and the redheads with green eyes who got the stories. If you had brown hair you were probably just a servant or a woodcutter or something.
Granny Aching wrapped this silence around herself and made room inside it for Tiffany.
‘Oh, things like come by and away to me and that’ll do,’ said Tiffany. ‘They always did what she told them.’
‘my little jiggit’,
Granny wasn’t particularly at home around children, because they didn’t baa.
Yan Tan Tethera, the ancient counting language of the shepherds.
that time it had been magic. And it didn’t stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.
No one likes admitting to spying.
Speak up for those who don’t have voices,
‘Can I stop it?’ ‘And now I’m slightly impressed,’ said Miss Tick. ‘You said, “Can I stop it?”, not “Can anyone stop it?” or “Can we stop it?” That’s good. You accept responsibility.
But sometimes it’s so hard to find half a mind when you need one.’
A unicorn is nothing more than a big horse that comes to a point, anyway.
Witches are naturally nosy,’
free advice often turns out to be expensive,’
if you trust in yourself …’ ‘Yes?’ ‘… and believe in your dreams …’ ‘Yes?’ ‘… and follow your star …’ Miss Tick went on. ‘Yes?’ ‘… you’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy.
She’s impressed you, right? I know she did because you were quite nasty to her, and you always do that to people who impress you.’
“The land finds its witch”?
tiny, tiny bones. Soft. Soggy. Damp. Even limestone is better than that. But … she’s grown up on chalk and she is hard, and sharp, too. She’s a born witch. On chalk! Which is impossible!’
Grade One Prohibitory Monster.
‘If only people would think before they make up monsters.’
Thunder and Lightning. She knew them as dogs before she knew them as the sound and light of a storm.
Granny never, ever entered the arena because she was the Trials.
They only ever took orders from Granny Aching…
it was the silence of people trying hard not to make any noise.
She’d never really liked the book. It seemed to her that it tried to tell her what to do and what to think. Don’t stray from the path, don’t open that door, but hate the wicked witch because she is wicked. Oh, and believe that shoe size is a good way of choosing a wife.
a witch always listens to other people’s conversations.
Sheep are not known for their conversation.
Ye canna cross an Aching an’ this one’s a hag.
quite a truthful person, but it seemed to her that there were times when things didn’t divide easily into ‘true’ and ‘false’, but instead could be ‘things that people needed to know at the moment’ and ‘things that they didn’t need to know at the moment’.
‘We are as gods to the beasts o’ the field, my jiggit. We order the time o’ their birth and the time o’ their death. Between times, we ha’ a duty.’
So, she thought, they are immensely strong as well as being incredibly fast. I’m really being very calm about this.
There were unlimited supplies of no answer at all.
Nothing’s louder than the end of a song that’s always been there.
She had two legs, slipping on ice. A horse had twice as many legs to slip. She’d seen horses try to tackle this hill in icy weather.
Look him in the eye!’ ‘He hasn’t got any eyes!’ ‘Crivens! Are ye a hag or no’? Look him in the eyes he hasnae got!’
‘Nac Mac Feegles,’ said the toad. ‘Also known as pictsies. They call themselves the Wee Free Men.’
