Victorian Halloween Candle Witch Greeting Card Lithograph

Between the young girl in the blue dress with the enormous red bow and the sentient, wide-eyed candle with a distressed face, a troubling dynamic emerges—one of predator and prey. Titled 'Hallowe'en Signs' and signed by an artist named Heinmüller, the candle sits primly in its brass holder looking genuinely alarmed, which is a completely reasonable reaction to a Victorian child wielding a lit taper and breathing heavily in your direction. Two bats lurk in the upper corners as witnesses to what unfolds, as the verse below explains that the number of puffs it takes to blow out the flame predicts your marriage prospects—a romantic tradition that essentially turns spousal destiny into a lung capacity contest. The girl's expression reads less 'whimsical fortune-seeking' and more 'I have done this before and I will do it again.'