The History of the Flying Broomstick

The Broom; the most necessary part of a witch’s outfit. Without a flying broomstick, a witch would not be able to get anywhere (remember, all witches have weak legs).

            But from whence did the flying broomstick come? It all began in the year 1313 when a witch named Thunderella tripped and broke both of her legs. In those days, witch’s were forced to walk everywhere or ride a dragon. As dragons are the most temperamental of all magical beings, the latter option was never wise, and as witch’s legs are weak, the former option was also foolish. How then can a witch travel from place to place?

            Thunderella, being a stupid witch, had no idea and complained to her coven mother, Hellesbane. Hellesbane was significantly smarter than Thunderella and took to studying. Her first idea was to transplant wings to the heels of all witches. This attempt sorely failed after a trial run (witches and wings DO NOT mix). The second and final attempt of Hellesbane proved a better idea, but it was nonetheless discouraged by the magical community (she hoped to enchant humans to carry witches piggyback). Hellesbane might have made another attempt except for the fact that she also tripped and broke her neck and consequently died.

            It was fifty years later that a young witch named Grimmelda stumbled upon the writings of Hellesbane. Intrigued, Grimmelda also started experimenting with witch transportation. One day, as she was carrying a book to her library she tripped over her broom. Angry, she cursed the broom to fly away and leave her alone. Immediately, the broom zoomed away of its own accord. Grimmelda flew into a happy frenzy at the discovery, and the next day enchanted a broomstick to fly. After two years of different enchantments, more broomsticks and twenty-seven broken noses, Grimmelda successfully marketed flying broomsticks. Now in the flying broomstick’s 650^th anniversary, we hope to honor the hard work of Hellesbane and Grimmelda by displaying the first flying broom at the Toadspike Museum (open mon-thu, 6am-midnight. Tickets are three thousand mushbusks each).