heard and saw again, but not as she, the maiden, was wont to hear and
see; for both her hearing and seeing and her thought was of a beast
and not of a maiden.

Said the witch-wife: It is done now, till I give thee grace again;
and now be off into the field; but if thou stray more than half a
bowshot from the brook, it shall be the worse for thee. And now the
day was done and night was come.



CHAPTER XIII. BIRDALONE MEETETH THE WOOD-WOMAN AGAIN



It was fifteen days thereafter that Birdalone awoke lying in her bed
on a bright morning, as if all this had been but a dream. But the
witch-wife was standing over her and crying out: Thou art late,
slug-a-bed, this fair-weather day, and the grass all spoiling for
lack of the scythe. Off! and down to the meadow with thee.

Birdalone waited not for more words, but sprang out of bed, and had
her work-a-day raiment on in a twinkling, and stayed but to wash her
in a pool of the brook, and then was amidst the tall grass with the
swathe falling before her. As she worked she thought, and could
scarce tell whether joy at her present deliverance, or terror of the
witch-wife, were the greatest. Sore was her longing to go see her
friend in the wood, but the haysel lasted more than a week, and when
that was done, whether it were of set purpose or no, the dame forgat
her other promise, to give Birdalone more holiday, and kept her close