They hissed, and croaked, they whistled, such a roar!
And soon a crone, a witch all old and bowed,
Into the chamber entered through a door,
Who, since the room seemed empty, called aloud:
"What foul ill wind has brought base spirits here?
When clear is known that all who tread this place
A broken neck and dreadful fate must fear!"
These words the creatures silenced in a trace.
The witch then took a ladle in her hand,
And going to the cauldron thrust it in:
"The time has come to supper to command.
The meat is cooked. The meal can now begin."
And thrice upon the cauldron's side she beat.
The twelve came in, a place for each reserved,
Their portion was a sausage and some meat.-
Bearslayer thought that suckling pig was served.
A door into a second chamber led;
This room held but a chopping block alone.
The walls and ceilings like the floor were red,
And on the block a blood-red axe was thrown.
The room was starkly empty but for this.
And further yet there led another door.-
Into this open chamber, without miss,
The witches went with bowls of meat, he saw.
Horrors are revealed
Bearslayer followed silently behind,
And through the door he saw a chamber bright,
With pallid chairs and tables it was lined,
And all the walls were of a colour light.
Two stoves of like pale colour at one side,
One glowed with coals, and one held beans of white.
The witches at their meal he here espied;
Who ate in deathly silence every bite.
Again, a door a lofty room clear showed,
Where vaulted ceilings stood on pillars tall,
And all the room with golden colour glowed;
Inside the room he saw twelve beds in all.-
The sated witches each removed her dish,
Cleared up the table, swept the bones from view.
"Into the kitchen," was the old one's wish,
"And sharpened sight my spells will give to you."
"Your suitors soon will come hence to this place,
And all the brides should thus themselves prepare."
On hearing this, the youth went back apace,
Hid in the kitchen, in the corner there.-
The old one took a pot of powder then,
And brushed it in their eyes with touches light.
Then afterwards they all went out again;
Their eyes, enchanted, now were glowing bright.
Bearslayer sought for Spidala at last,
But still her form he could not recognize.
The pot of powder he had noted fast,
And with its contents smeared himself his eyes.-
It was as though a veil fell from his sight,
And now he saw unblinded, without whims:
Still in the cauldron, from the meal that night,
There lay the scraps of little children's limbs!
And where he thought a sausage to have seen,
Were foul black snakes, boiled squirming in their gore.
In that red chamber, where he first had been,
Of copper pure were ceiling, walls and floor.
And on the block the axe was copper too,
Although its use he did not understand.-
Of silver pure the second room on view,
Both chairs and tables, lanterns, all at hand.
What seemed like stoves were silver chests, he saw,
In one gold jewels, the other precious pearls.
Still further, gazing through the final door,
He saw the ceiling glittered gold in swirls,
Of gold the beds between the pillars tall.-
Back in the silver room the robes they bore,
As in a bath-house, down each witch let fall;
Just golden slippers on their feet they wore.