"But why," he asked, "do you not labour too?"
"To save my yellow feet," the peacock said!
Then to the river bird and Devil flew,
And dug a chasm in the torrent's bed,
Which down into this pit poured straight away.-
From fear all creatures lost the power of speech;
They all commenced to run and jump and bray,
And each one found a voice with which to screech.
The bears roared fierce, the wolves and dogs all howled,
The pigs made grunts, the oxen lowed unmuted,
The horses neighed, the strident cats all yowled,
The blackbirds shrieked, the owls all harshly hooted.
The cuckoos called, the hornets made a hum,
The little birds sang loudly all around!-
The noise rose up, a riot of such sum,
That, high in Heaven, Perkons heard the sound.
He soon grew angry with the Devil's wit,
Cast lightning down and blocked the water's track;
A hill with high steep slopes enclosed the pit-
Since then the peacock's golden feet are black!
Today the people all avoid this place.
Should travellers in the night risk passing still,
Their eyes behold foul spirits in the space,
That now is called the "Devil's Dark Pit Hill."
They enter the pit
Straight Spidala swooped down to this dread place,
Across the starlit sky flown swiftly thence.
Bearslayer crouched within the log's dark space,
And struggled for his breath with swooning sense.
Fierce fork-tailed dragons coiled around them there,
With gold and treasure flying through the night,
And breathed their fiery sparks into the air,
While other witches joined them in the height.
If but a movement caught the witches' view,
To save his life no mercy would be found.-
Down to the Devil's Pit the witches flew,
And planted each her staff into the ground.
A dozen staffs stood upright by the hill,
Twelve witches entered in the Devil's Pit.
Soon bold Bearslayer had regained his will,
And entered too the cavern through a slit.
Within the pit a thick deep darkness reigned,
And round his head bats fluttered in the gloom;
Until at length a glimpse of light he gained,
And, going further, saw a lofty room.
All kinds of things inside were found in store,
Too many far the name for each to learn:
With skulls and bones, and teeth and pelt and claw,
With mounted heads and antlers all in turn.
Round ladles, cauldrons, wooden bowls and pots,
And dippers, wicker baskets, mortars, urns,
Great hammers, pitchforks, rakes, in heaping lots,
Cartwheels, old whetstones, broomsticks scorched
with burns,
Black books and parchments that all good defiled.
A corner dim held plants and dried-up grass;
On shelves stood boxes next to baskets piled,
With herbs and potions stored in jars of glass.
Upon the hearth a sullen fire dull burned,
And in its light the walls unpleasant glowed;
Hung from a crooked hook a cauldron churned.
The fire's pale gleams foul toads and black cats showed,
While in the corners snakes writhed round the room,
And through the smoke flew bats and jet-black owls.-
Bearslayer started, hidden in the gloom,
When all at once the creatures all made howls!