But afterwards he crept back down below,
Outside within the courtyard dark to wait,
From whence his watching eyes could clearly show
Who through the doorway passed in darkness late.-
At midnight hour the portal opened slow,
And Spidala came out with silent gait.
Her body clad in clothing deepest black;
Her feet with golden shoes were firmly bound;
Her hair hung loosened free around her back;
Her eyebrows arched, her gaze was to the ground.
Her eyes he saw, where burning did not lack,
Her hand gripped tight a magic staff around.
A twisted log lay at the courtyard's rim,
And Spidala climbed up upon it high.
She spoke a spell and three times struck the limb,
Firm with her staff she smote its surface dry.
And, answering the hissing witch's whim,
At once the log rose up into the sky.
Long stood Bearslayer at the courtyard's verge,
For Spidala's return he looked in vain;
To seek her out he felt a mighty urge,
To see the Devil with the witch in train.
But such a task beyond his strength would surge,
And so he went back to his room again.
By morning's light within the courtyard still,
He saw the log back in its former place;
And looking close he saw with firming will,
Within the log an empty hollow space,
A space a man could crawl in and not fill.-
At once a purpose formed for him apace.
Next evening Spidala set off to bed.
Bearslayer swiftly hastened to his room;
He put his cap of marten on his head,
With sword in hand sought out the courtyard's gloom,
And, watching out for Spidala's light tread,
Concealed himself within the log's dark womb.
Again at midnight hour she left her cell,
And in her garments black her body dressed.
Astride the log she spoke a magic spell,
Struck with her staff, and then at her behest,
The branch bore both to where he could not tell,
Above Aizkraukle's forests on her quest.
Scene 4: In the Devil's Pit
The Devil digs the pit
At time's beginning, so is often told,
To birds and beasts gave Perkons stern commands,
To dig the Daugava, come from nature's fold,
To gnaw, to scratch, to peck in toiling bands.
Alone the peacock sat and did not work.-
The Devil, passing by, then asked the bird:
"Where is the place the other creatures lurk?"
"They dig for Perkons," answer then he heard.