Once upon a time there lived a kind and generous young witch in the very darkest part of the forest. In her spare time she edited a wonderful magazine called Sein und Werden, to which writers and artists submitted from far and wide. One day she sent out a carrier pigeon to all those writers and artists, asking for their take on fairy tales, nursery rhymes and other children's stories. 'What I want,' said she, 'are stories about trolls who will slice a child's head clean off, step-daughters forced to dance naked on hot cinders, thieving thumbs and fingers pulled, hungry wolves and thunderous giants, witches with cauldrens in houses of dough. Billy goats gruff and piggies that huff, and pretty little girls all hanging in a row.