The Wicked Witch of the West was an 'old, wrinkled hag' who lived in a cottage in the forest near Fleur de Lys. She was very short tempered, hating wizards and any intruders in her home which she shared with a black cat. She always appears and disappears in a puff of smoke. She once captured Repulser as a piglet and cursed her to spin wool in the tower, stopping anyone that tried to rescue her and turning some of them into meat pate.
Simon stumbles into her cottage and tries to take her broomstick, but she appears and sends him away. However Simon then becomes an official wizard, and learns some magic words overheard by the old tree on the mountain. He returns with Calypso's spellbook and challenges the witch to a duel, the stakes being her broomstick for his life. She sets 3 rules: No vegetable or mineral, no dragon, and no cheating. They use their magic powers to transform into different animals and Simon bests her and takes her broomstick. However, bitter at her defeat she breaks her own rule and turns into a massive dragon, blocking the doorway of her cottage. She gives Simon one chance to fight her, and he turns into a mouse and escapes via the mouse hole in her skirting board. The witch is then trapped up against her door, stuck as a dragon and unable to move. We hear her crying for help and looking for Simon the mouse.
Dueling
The duel that Simon has with the Witch involves saying different magic words in order to change into different animals, which are able to scare other animals and score a point. The first to 3 points wins the duel. The words and animals are:
- Alakazam - changes Simon into a snake. The snake beats the mouse and the cat, but is beaten by the ferret.
- Hocus Pocus - changes Simon into a cat. The cat beats the mouse and the ferret, but is beaten by the snake.
- Sausages - changes Simon into a ferret. The ferret beats the mouse and the snake, but is beaten by the cat.
- Abracadabra - changes Simon into a mouse. The mouse is beaten by all other animals, and is only useful to escape through the small hole.
It is essentially a game of rock, paper, scissors where you must anticipate what animal the witch will turn into and be the animal that will beat her. However her choices are random so it is mainly a guessing game as long as you never turn into the mouse (apart from to escape).