“What else is different about them, Grandmamma?”

“The feet," she said. "Witches never have toes."
      "No toes!" I cried. "Then what do they have?"
      "They just have feet," my grandmother said. "The feet have square ends with no toes on them at all."
      "Does that make it difficult to walk?" I asked.
      "Not at all," my grandmother said. "But it does give them a problem with their shoes. All ladies like to wear small rather pointed shoes, but a witch, whose feet are very wide and square at the ends, has the most awful job squeezing her feet into those neat little pointed shoes."
      "Why doesn't she wear wide comfy shoes with square ends?" I asked.
      "She dare not," my grandmother said. "Just as she hides her baldness with a wig, she must also hide her ugly witch's feet by squeezing them into pretty shoes.”

“Isn't that terribly uncomfortable?" I said.
      "Extremely uncomfortable," my grandmother said. "But she has to put up with it."
      "If she's wearing ordinary shoes, it won't help me to recognise her, will it, Grandmamma?"
      "I'm afraid it won't," my grandmother said. "You might possibly see her limping very slightly, but only if you were watching closely.”

Chapter 2: “How to Recognise a Witch