Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/225

Rh "Or has your good woman, if one you have,

In Cornwall ever been?

For an if she have, I'll venture my life

She has drunk of the Well of St. Keyne."

"I have left a good woman who never was here,"

The stranger he made reply;

"But that my draught should be better for that,

I pray you answer me why."

"St. Keyne," quoth the countryman, "many a time

Drank of this crystal well,

And before the angel summoned her

She laid on the water a spell.

"If the husband of this gifted well

Shall drink before his wife,

A happy man thenceforth is he,

For he shall be master for life.

"But if the wife should drink of it first,

God help the husband then!"

The stranger stoop'd to the Well of St. Keyne,

And drank of the waters again.

"You drank of the well, I warrant, betimes?"

He to the countryman said;

But the countryman smiled as the stranger spake,

And sheepishly shook his head.