And with that Gretel snapped into action. "Now you take this broom, and you twirl it all around. Now you put it on the ground. And you sit right down. Now you tell that broom, Va, va, voom! Fly around the room!"
And sure enough, Gretel began to fly. And the witch turned green with envy. (Well, actually she was already pretty green to begin with, but you get the idea.) She snatched the broom away and off she flew. Unfortunately, the witch had forgotten to ask Gretel how to turn off the broom, so once she started it, she had to keep going. And in a little while, the witch had zoomed so far that she was in orbit around the Earth, where she remains to this day.