It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you. Never accept candy from someone you don’t know, or even from those who you know and don’t trust. So, this is an important lesson for us to keep in mind at all times. We have heard so many sad stories about children being kidnapped after being offered sweets or harmful substances in the form of candy. The bad people also know about this and used it as a method to fool the kids into doing evil things.

He knew of their love for sweets and he knew that sometimes when someone offers us candy, it is a little hard to resist. One day, he is accosted by a mysterious woman in a store trying to offer him candy, which leads to his grandmother relating a story about how witches seduce children with candy and then turn them into animals to be easily killed! The witches hate the children! She knew this because her friend Alice was turned into a chicken by a witch. In her attempts to make the boy less sad, the grandmother brings home a new friend for him – a pet rat.

Alice did something no child should ever do. So, rather than feeling sorry for her grandson, the grandmother tries to understand how he feels and helps him to overcome sadness and also helps him get back on his feet. With empathy, you put yourself in another person's shoes, often feeling things more deeply than if you just felt sympathy. It is the ability to put yourself in the place of another and understand someone else's feelings by identifying with them. She does not sympathise with her grandson, but she empathises. This is what the grandmother says to the grieving boy. I am sad for you, but I am not sorry for you. Yet, it is important to discuss the lessons hidden in the story because the lessons Roald Dhal is trying to teach us through the story are very significant for living a good life. For those who have not watched the movie, there may be a few spoilers here in this article. If you haven’t read the book or watched the 1990 version, you might find the story quite unpredictable and full of spooky surprises. Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, and Stanley Tucci play the main characters and the story is narrated by Chris Rock. The movie was released on 22 October 2020.

By Kusumanjalee Thilakarathna Based on Roald Dahl’s 1983 novel by the same name, “The Witches” is about an orphaned boy whose encounter with the Grand High Witch turns into a dramatic tale of courageous rescue and revenge.