Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/409

 Collectanea. 367

the mountains. There she would lead him to pasture every day, while she would spin. Then, one day, the distaff fell from the girl's hand into the mouth of a cave. The lamb went on grazing above, while the girl went down to find her distaff. She enters, and what does she see but a witch a thousand years old lying there ! The moment she sets her eyes on the girl, the witch says, — " Maiden, the bird on its wing, the serpent on its belly, can not come here ; how did you come ? " In her fright, the girl replied, — '* Your love drew me here, mother mine."

The witch has her sit down, and asks her about every thing under the sun. This girl takes the fancy of the witch. " I will go and fetch you some fish to eat," says the witch. " You must be hungry now." The fish she brings are dragons and snakes ! The girl is terrified. She is nearly frightened to death, and she begins to weep. The witch says, — " Why do you weep, maiden ?" The girl replies, — " I was thinking of my mother ; therefore I wept." Then she tells the witch all that has happened to her. " Since that is the case," says the witch, " you sit here, and I will lay my head in your lap and go to sleep." First she lights a fire and puts the iron cross-pieces ^ in the fire, and says to the girl, — " If the Black-One comes by, don't waken me ; but, when the Green-and- Red-One comes, touch the red-hot iron cross-pieces to my feet that I may awake." The girl's soul shrivelled to the size of a pea. Oh, what shall she do ?

She sat down. The witch laid her head on the girl's knees, and went to sleep. Soon she saw a terrible Beast, the Black Goblin, pass by ; but she made never a sound. She waited a little longer, and she saw the Green-and-Red Goblin coming. Then she seized the red-hot iron cross-pieces and struck them against the witch's feet. The witch cries, — " Oh, the fleas are biting me," and wakes up. The girl calls out ; the witch rises, and the girl stands up. The Green-and-Red Goblin strokes the girl's hair, and all her garments turn to gold.

Then the girl kisses the hand of the witch, receives permission

'^Two iron bars held together by a pivot through the middle of each. When opened in the form of a cross, they are laid across the top of the opening in the earthen oven, called a tandour. The pots and kettle are set upon this, as on andirons.