Wyrd Sisters

them. It’s the other way around.”
    “Bugger destiny,” agreed Nanny.
    Granny glared at her.
    “After all, you never thought being a witch was going to be easy, did you?”
    “I’m learning,” said Magrat. She looked across the moor, where a thin rind of dawn glowed on the horizon.
    “I think I’d better be off,” she said. “It’s getting early.”
    “Me too,” said Nanny Ogg. “Our Shirl frets if I’m not home when she comes to get my breakfast.”
    Granny carefully scuffed over the remains of the fire.
    “When shall we three meet again?” she said. “Hmm?”
    The witches looked at one another sheepishly.
    “I’m a bit busy next month,” said Nanny. “Birthdays and such. Er. And the work has really been piling up with all this hurly-burly. You know. And there’s all the ghosts to think about.”
    “I thought you sent them back to the castle,” said Granny.
    “Well, they didn’t want to go,” said Nanny vaguely. “To be honest, I’ve got used to them around the place. They’re company of an evening. They hardly scream at all, now.”
    “That’s nice,” said Granny. “What about you, Magrat?”
    “There always seems to be such a lot to do at this time of year, don’t you find?” said Magrat.
    “Quite,” said Granny Weatherwax, pleasantly. “It’s no good getting yourself tied down to appointments all the time, is it? Let’s just leave the whole question open, shall we?”
    They nodded. And, as the new day wound across the landscape, each one busy with her own thoughts, each one a witch alone, they went home. *

    THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Terry Pratchett lives in England, an island off the coast of France, where he spends his time writing Discworld novels in accordance with the Very Strong Anthropic Principle, which holds that the entire purpose of the Universe is to make possible a being that will live in England, an island off the coast of France, and spend his time writing Discworld novels. Which is exactly what he does. Which proves the whole business true. Any questions?

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UNANIMOUS PRAISE FOR TERRY PRATCHETT
    “Humorously entertaining…subtly thought-provoking…. Pratchett’s Discworld books are filled with humor and with magic, but they’re rooted in—of all things—real life and cold, hard reason.”
    Chicago Tribune
    “He’s arguably the purely funniest English writer since Wodehouse.”
    Washington Post Book World
    “Discworld takes the classic fantasy universe through its logical, and comic evolution.”
    Cleveland Plain Dealer
    “His books are richly textured, and far more complex than they appear at first.”
    Barbara Mertz
    “Unadulterated fun…witty, frequently hilarious.”
    San Francisco Chronicle
    “Truly original…. Discworld is more complicated and satisfactory than Oz…. Has the energy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the inventiveness of Alice in Wonderland …. Brilliant!”
    A. S. Byatt
    “For lighthearted escape with a thoughtful center, you can’t do better than…any…Discworld novel.”
    Washington Post Book World
    “Consistently, inventively mad…wild and wonderful!”
    Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
    “Simply the best humorous writer of the twentieth century.”
    Oxford Times
    “A brilliant storyteller with a sense of humor…whose infectious fun completely engulfs you…. The Dickens of the twentieth century.”
    Mail on Sunday (London)
    “If you are unfamiliar with Pratchett’s unique blend of philosophical badinage interspersed with slapstick, you are on the threshold of a mind-expanding opportunity.”
    Financial Times (London)
    “The funniest parodist working in the field today, period.”
    New York Review of Science Fiction
    “Pratchett demonstrates just how great the distance is between one- or two-joke writers and the comic masters whose work will be read into the next century.”
    Locus
    “As always he is head and shoulders above the best of the rest. He is screamingly funny. He is wise. He has style.”
    Daily Telegraph (London)
    “Pratchett is a comic genius.”
    Express (London)
    “Terry Pratchett does for fantasy what Douglas Adams did for science fiction.”
    Today (Great Britain)
    “What makes Terry Pratchett’s fantasies so entertaining is that their humor depends on the characters first, on the plot second, rather than the other way around. The story isn’t there simply to lead