Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/451

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Miscellanea.
413

"They who eat the fairies' food
In the churchyard soon shall dwell.
Drink the water of this well,
And all things for thee shall be good.
Be but honest, bold, and true.
So shall good fortune come to you."

Then the little girl hasted to the house, swept up the kitchen, and made the dust fly quickly; for she thought she would surely be scolded for being away so long, and she was hungry too. The green lady then showed her how to cook the supper and take it into the parlour, and told her she could take some bread and milk for herself afterwards. But the little girl said she would rather have a drink of water and some of her own cake; she had found some crumbs in her pocket, you must know. Then the green lady went into the parlour, and the little girl sat down by the fire. Then she was thinking about her place and what the fish had said, and she wondered why the green lady had told her not to look through the keyhole. She thought there could not be any harm in doing this, and she looked through the keyhole, when what should she see but the green lady dancing with a bogey! She was so surprised that she called out: "Oh! what can I see, a green lady dancing with a bogey!" The green lady rushed out of the room and said: "What can you see?" The little girl replied: "Nothing can I see, nothing can I spy, nothing can I see till the days high die!" [probably, day I die]. Then the green lady went into the parlour again to have her supper, and the little girl again looked through the keyhole. Again she sang: "Oh! what can I see, a green lady dancing with a bogey!" The green lady rushed out: "Little girl, little girl, what can you see?" The girl said: "Nothing can I see, nothing can I spy, nothing can I see till the days high die!" This happened a third time, and then the green lady said: "Now you shall see no more;" and she blinded the little girl's eyes. "But," said the green lady, "because you have been a good girl and made the dust fly, I will give you your wages and you shall go home." So she gave her a bag of money and a bundle of clothes, and sent her away. So the little girl stumbled along the path in the dark, and presently she stumbled against the well. Now there was a fine young man sitting on the brink of the well; and he told her he had been sent by the fish of the well to see her home, and would carry her bag of money and