Baba Yaga

art by Mike Mingola
from a Russian folk tale:

…There sat Baba Yaga the witch, weaving at a loom. She had scraggly white hair, a very long nose, and when she smiled, showed a mouth full of iron teeth. The witch was skinny and bony.

"Good day to you, auntie," said Natasha, trying to sound not afraid.

"Good day to you, niece," said Baba Yaga.

"My stepmother has sent me to you to ask for a needle and thread to mend a shirt."

"Has she now?" smiled Baba Yaga, flashing her iron teeth.

"You sit down here at my loom, and continue to weave,” said Baba Yaga. “I will go and fetch you that needle and thread." So the little girl sat down at the loom and began to weave.

Instead, Baba Yaga went to the bathhouse to start up the fire for the bathwater.

“It must be very hot,” she said to herself. “A delicious meal I will make of the child...”