thiel@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Stephen W. Thiel) (06/21/85)
["How do you know she is a witch?" "She looks like one!"] A while back, I asked >A "trivial" question: > >Can anybody tell me why the Wicked Witch of the West melted when she got >wet? My mail on this subject has died down, so here's what I found out ... I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath. These are pretty much verbatim replies, with identification stripped off. First, my favorite answer: >Because she's a witch! Didn't anyone ever tell you that all witches melt >when they get wet?! Next, the answer I remembered, but was embarassed to post. I was thoroughly chuckled at by some of my co-workers for suggesting that >The wicked witch melted because she was made of brown sugar. I don't think >that fact came out in the movie, but it was in several of the 'Oz' series >written by L. Frank Baum. (By the way, I don't think this is so strange, so if this is your answer, don't feel badly about it.) An interesting theory: >In one of the Oz books, someone observes that the reason that the >Witch of the *East* turned to dust and dissolved when she got >slammed by a house was that (paraphrase) she was old and completely >dried up, only her magic arts had kept her alive. Evidently the >impact of the house disrupted the spell sufficiently. Likely enough, >the Witch of the West was in a similarly dessicated state and the >effect of water was to turn this walking pile of clay into a mud pie. > >It is not clear whether the Good Witches are equally subject to >bathing, but I suspect that they have a more benign way of >increasing their longevity. An interesting observation: >The reason the witch melted when she got wet probably has to do with the >custom of throwing witches into water to see if they were indeed witches. >Of course, they didn't melt then, but this could be the basis for it. This is, I think, the "true" answer: >If we go by the movie, she melted because "troubles melt like lemon drops" >in the land over the rainbow :-). But we should go to the source - the >book by L. Frank Baum. In _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ it says: > >"The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she was so wicked the >blood in her had dried up many years before." > >"Indeed, the Witch never touched water, nor ever allowed water to touch >her in any way." > >Later it speaks of her "dissolving like brown sugar" into a "brown, >melted, shapeless mass." The text shows that since her body was >completely dehydrated she dissolved easily in water, like sugar. My thanks to all who replied. I'm sure I'll sleep better at night now that I understand this important physical phenomenon. -- Steve Thiel ...ihnp4!ut-ngp!thiel "How can we tell if she is a witch?" "Build a bridge out o' 'er!" "Ah yes, but can we not also build bridges out of stone?"