Nae king, nae  quin. We`ll nae be fooled again

A fossil echinoid than once lived in the prehistoric seas that form The Chalk landscape is found by a farmer. He keeps it because it looks like a crown, and this fossil is handed down from generation to generation of Achings.
Tiffany Aching, young witch of The Chalk has some ominous feelings. These feelings are stronger up by the Dancers, a group of stones from the old days. She confides this with Jeannie, the kelda of the Nac Mac Feegles. Jeannie too has felt it. She asks Tiffany about her young man, Preston who has gone to study medicine in Ankh-Morpork. Tiffany confesses that they only seem to exchange letters about how they are doing. Jeannie suggests Tiffany needs to see more of him

The Chalk one farthing stamp. The folk there do not write many
letters going outside the area. Tiffany is probably the main exception to this

Granny Weatherwax, after tending a forester`s badly injured foot high up in the Ramtops, returns home. She spends a long time cleaning every inch of her cottage, attends to the goats and the bees, has a bath and dons her best attire. She then lies down on her bed with two pennies at the ready at her bedside. A witch knows when she is going to die.
The reverberations of Granny`s death ripple out across Discworld. Mrs Proust feels it. At the Unseen University Hex takes it on itself to write the news down. Magrat looks back towards Lancre as her with Verence royal visit to Genua is underway.

The Autumn half farthing stamp issued
by the Ramtoppost service

Esmerelda Weatherwax, accompanied by a raven
flying above the mountain kingdom of Lancre on the
Irish Convention LBE label.

Ridcully, who had affections for Granny in their youths, gets out his broom, ready to fly. Vetinari is amazed that his Times crossword completes itself automatically.

             Hex, the ant driven computer on the        The Lancre three pence with one stamp each for King   Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully on the
                       University one pence.                                Verence II and Queen Magrat                                  AMPO 50p football stamp

Nanny Ogg and Tiffany bury Granny in a spot in the forest that she had already chosen. Granny has left a note nominating Tiffany as her successor and leaving everything to Tiffany; except You who will choose. Its good enough for Nanny Ogg. Ridcully arrives first to pay his respects at the grave and leaves before others arrive. There is a wake with the locals hanging back because of all the witches present. There is much discussion as to who should be the next leader they do not have. Mrs Earwig reckons she is senior enough, but Nanny produces Esme`s will, points out that You has adopted Tiffany, and Granny`s bees fly in to a form a golden crown around her head. Tiffany is installed in the cottage.

Nanny Ogg featured on a Royal Mail first class stamp.

The Lancre Honey bee on one of a set of four Wincanton postal labels.

Over in the Shires, at Swivel Hall, Lord Swivel`s third son is a sensitive and clever lad, who desires to learn, but is bullied by his father. The last straw was the insistence that Geoffrey goes on a fox hunt. Geoffrey decides to leave there and then. He hitches up the goat he has reared from a kid, Mephistopheles, to a cart and feels himself drawn to Lancre. At an inn he demonstrates how his goat can count and use the privy. He also manages to calm two feuding men.
Granny`s death has not gone unnoticed in Fairyland. Lord Peaseblossom wants to invade Discworld now that one of the major defences has gone. The Queen is not so sure, and a goblin who is not cowed by her shows them the railway that now crosses the plains. It is now the age of iron there.
Peaseblossom challenges the queen and she finds her glamour sapped. His arguments defeat hers. Peaseblossom orders that her wings be torn off and that she is expelled. As she is lead out the former queen mutters May you feel the force of thunder and lightning, and Tiffany Aching.  Tiffany is wakened by the old queen`s screams

The railway does not actually reach The Chalk. You need to alight at
Twoshirts and perhaps hope for a passing cart. The toots of the engine
will be heard though. The five pence Iron Girder stamp

 The Feegles find the injured queen near the Dancers, real name Nightshade, and Tiffany is summoned to the mound. She surprises all by not ordering the Nightshade`s death but declaring she will reform her. Over the next few days Tiffany treats her wounds and introduces the elf to the concepts of help and cooperation. She emphasises that the new age of iron is not a place for elves, and tells Nightshade that without empathy to others the elves will surely become self-destructive and stagnant. Nightshade is eventually convinced and wants to return to Fairyland to reclaim her throne and changes attitudes there.
Geoffrey arrives in Lancre and calls on Tiffany. He wants to become a witch. Though a male witch is unheard of, Tiffany agrees to give him a trial doing all the less glamourous tasks. She has been finding it hard going keeping two steadings going, and there have been muttering that Tiffany never seems to be available. Geoffrey seems to make friends easily, and is soon chums with the gentleman of leisure of Lancre and is party to what hobbies they pursue in their sheds.

Tiffany takes Geoffrey to see Ankh-Morpork and get him his own broom. The stay with Mrs Proust at Boffos Novelty shop. While Derek Proust shows Geofffrey a night out on the town Tiffany and Mrs Proust catch up on the news. Mrs Proust is pleased that Mrs Earwig`s ambitions have been halted, in favour of Tiffany.  Next day Tiffany goes to see Preston at the Lady Sybil Free Hospital. Stepping outside herself she secretly goes in, finds Preston, and is relieved to find he is absorbed in his work, and not the attractive Igorinas who help there. Meeting in person they both wish they were together, but their futures lie in witching and doctoring. Preston has been promoted by Dr Lawn to surgeon at the Lady Sybil Free Hospital

Boffos Novelty and Joke shop even sponsored
 their ownMerchants Guild $2 stamp, shown
here on a pre-paidenvelope for mail orders.

Vetinari has been keeping an eye on what is happening in the hills. Consulting with Drumknott, he too is satisfied that Mrs Earwig has not succeeded. However, he is wary that Tiffany is guarded by the Feegles, remembering their visit to the city and the events at The Kings Head, now called The Kings Neck. He is relieved that Tiffany is not accompanied by the Feegles on this visit

There is no mention of Dr Lawn being a member of the Guild of Barber-Surgeons.
This may be because he does not seem to give short back and sides. However it is
more likely due to him employing Igors and Igorinas at the Lady Sybil Free Hospital,
and the Guild being opposed to them working in Ankh-Morpork

Peaseblossom`s elves carry out some sorties into Discworld, mostly cheap and nasty tricks, like spoiling the beer. But up near Slice at a logging camp the workers have short advance notice of a big incursion, thanks to the predictive pines. But they do not have enough time. The elves attack in numbers and many loggers are killed. Elves even attempt to steal a baby on the Chalk, and Tiffany finds herself killing them.

Tiffany and Nanny visit Magrat who declares Elves! Not in my kingdom! Magrat goes to visit Letitia, the Baroness of the Chalk and sort-of-witch. Nanny suggests Tiffany should visit the Long Man where the King of the Elves, long since separated, lives a life of idle manliness. She takes the shepherds crown, which her father has handed onto her, with her to keep a grasp of her own world. The King is not much interested in what goes on elsewhere, but always on the lookout for something new to interest him. Tiffany backs away at this point, but suggests that the Feegles build him a shed! This they do.

Magrat (and Verence) pictured on the
label of their Royal Wedding LBE

There is a council of as many witches that could be found, at Lancre Castle. There are ten or twelve, plus Geoffrey and a couple of Miss Tick`s young apprentices. Tiffany introduces them to Nightshade. They are wary of her, but Nightshade shows them all how the elvish glamour can overcome them. They experience feelings of diminuation and worthlessness; all except Mrs Earwig who is impervious. Nightshade also predicts the elves will attack in full force at midnight at the full moon, in both Lancre and the Chalk where there are portals between the worlds. That night Tiffany dreams of being beneath the prehistoric sea, talking to a sea urchin with many purple spines. The shepherd`s crown belongs to the king of the shepherds and that is Tiffany Aching. Tiffany is now the Queen of the Shepherds.

The Lancre three pence stamp from the Year of the Reciprocating
Llama shows the Castle where the meeting takes place.

When the elves attack the defenders are ready. In Lancre the witches swoop down on their broomsticks, and Laughing Boy Sideways has cooked up a weapon in his shed; a ballista that can fire iron swarf, lots of it, at the elves. This burns the elves, deprives them of their power, and drives them back.
On the Chalk despite the Feegles pitching in, things are not going so well. Nightshade confronts Peaseblossom on the battlefield but he just slices her through with his sword. Tiffany is summoning up the power of the earth, when she smells the King of the Elves approaching. He is now more impressed with Tiffany now, as Queen of the Shepherds, and was amused by his shed. And he is upset over Nightshades death, despite their falling out long ago. Peaseblossom is dealt with and the elves returned to their own land.

Nightshade is buried where she fell and the spot marked with a cairn. Tiffany feels that she can no longer sleep in Granny`s bed. Instead Geoffrey can stay there, and learn under her tutorage, and the witches agree that he can be called a calm-weaver in reflection of his abilities to create peace.
Geoffrey has one more thing to do. He visits his family, as the Official Ambassador of Lancre, carrying the royal flag. He takes Mephistopholes who takes a well aimed kick when Lord Swivel turns his back on them. Lady Swivel however is delighted to get a personal invite to visit the Queen of Lancre.

Tiffany get some tuition from a local carpenter. She builds her own shepherding hut on the downs using the wheels from Granny Aching`s hut, and settles down to a life on the hill practicing witchcraft. The Shepherd`s Crown take pride of place in her new home.

The Chalk and Cheese LBE label showed the remains
of Granny Aching`s shepherding hut after it had been burned.