10
"Now art thou a bachelor, stranger?" quoth he,
"For an if thou hast a wife,
The happiest draught thou hast drunk this day
That ever thou didst in thy life.
"Or, has thy good woman, if one thou hast,
Ever here in Cornwall 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 Cornishman, "many a time
Drank of this crystal well,
And before the Angel summon'd her,
She laid on the water a spell:---
"If the husband---of this gifted well
Shall drink before his wife,
A happy man henceforth is he,
For he shall be master for life.
"But if the wife should drink of it first,---
Oh, pity the husband then!"
The stranger stoop'd to the well of St. Keyne,
And drank of the water again.
"You drank of the well I warrant betimes?"
He to the Cornishman said:
But the Cornishman smiled as the stranger spake,
And sheepishly shook his head.
