| |
| HEAVEN help your home to-night, | |
| MacCormac; for I know | |
| A white witch woman is your bride: | |
| You married for your woe. | |
| |
| You thought her but a simple maid | 5 |
| That roamed the mountain-side; | |
| She put the witch’s glance on you, | |
| And so became your bride. | |
| |
| But I have watched her close and long | |
| And know her all too well; | 10 |
| I never churned before her glance | |
| But evil luck befell. | |
| |
| Last week the cow beneath my hand | |
| Gave out no milk at all; | |
| I turned, and saw the pale-haired girl | 15 |
| Lean laughing by the wall. | |
| |
| “A little sup,” she cried, “for me; | |
| The day is hot and dry.” | |
| “Begone!” I said, “you witch’s child,” | |
| She laughed a loud good-bye. | 20 |
| |
| And when the butter in the churn | |
| Will never rise, I see | |
| Beside the door the white witch girl | |
| Has got her eyes on me. | |
| |
| At dawn to-day I met her out | 25 |
| Upon the mountain-side, | |
| And all her slender finger-tips | |
| Were each a crimson dyed. | |
| |
| Now I had gone to seek a lamb | |
| The darkness sent astray: | 30 |
| Sore for a lamb the dawning winds | |
| And sharp-beaked birds of prey. | |
| |
| But when I saw the white witch maid | |
| With blood upon her gown, | |
| I said, “I’m poorer by a lamb; | 35 |
| The witch has dragged it down.” | |
| |
| And “Why is this, your hands so red | |
| All in the early day?” | |
| I seized her by the shoulder fair, | |
| She pulled herself away. | 40 |
| |
| “It is the raddle on my hands, | |
| The raddle all so red, | |
| For I have marked MacCormac’s sheep | |
| And little lambs,” she said. | |
| |
| “And what is this upon your mouth | 45 |
| And on your cheek so white?” | |
| “Oh, it is but the berries’ stain”; | |
| She trembled in her fright. | |
| |
| “I swear it is no berries’ stain, | |
| Nor raddle all so red;” | 50 |
| I laid my hands about her throat, | |
| She shook me off, and fled. | |
| |
| I had not gone to follow her | |
| A step upon the way, | |
| When came I to my own lost lamb, | 55 |
| That dead and bloody lay. | |
| |
| “Come back,” I cried, “you witch’s child, | |
| Come back and answer me:” | |
| But no maid on the mountain-side | |
| Could ever my eyes see. | 60 |
| |
| I looked into the glowing east, | |
| I looked into the south, | |
| But did not see the slim young witch, | |
| With crimson on her mouth. | |
| |
| Now, though I looked both well and long, | 65 |
| And saw no woman there, | |
| Out from the bushes by my side | |
| There crept a snow-white hare. | |
| |
| With knife in hand, I followed it | |
| By ditch, by bog, by hill; | 70 |
| I said, “Your luck be in your feet, | |
| For I shall do you ill. | |
| |
| I said, “Come, be you fox or hare, | |
| Or be you mountain maid, | |
| I’ll cut the witch’s heart from you, | 75 |
| For mischief you have made.” | |
| |
| She laid her spells upon my path, | |
| The brambles held and tore, | |
| The pebbles slipped beneath my feet, | |
| The briars wounded sore. | 80 |
| |
| And then she vanished from my eyes | |
| Beside MacCormac’s farm, | |
| I ran to catch her in the house | |
| And keep the man from harm. | |
| |
| She stood with him beside the fire, | 85 |
| And when she saw my knife, | |
| She flung herself upon his breast | |
| And prayed he’d save her life. | |
| |
| “The woman is a witch,” I cried, | |
| “So cast her off from you;” | 90 |
| “She’ll be my wife to-day,” he said, | |
| “Be careful what you do!” | |
| |
| “The woman is a witch,” I said; | |
| He laughed both loud and long: | |
| She laid her arms about his neck, | 95 |
| Her laugh was like a song. | |
| |
| “The woman is a witch,” he mocked, | |
| And laughed both long and loud; | |
| She bent her head upon his breast, | |
| Her hair was like a cloud. | 100 |
| |
| I said, “See blood upon her mouth | |
| And on each finger tip!” | |
| He said, “I see a pretty maid, | |
| A rose upon her lip.” | |
| |
| He took her slender hand in his | 105 |
| To kiss the stain away— | |
| Oh, well she cast her spell on him, | |
| What could I do but pray? | |
| |
| “May heaven guard your house to-night!” | |
| I whisper as I go, | 110 |
| “For you have won a witch for bride, | |
| And married for your woe.” | |
| |
