And the head let a great pitiful cry of pain.
“So,” said the Prince of the Stones, “did the poor virgins cry out when thou madest them pass from life unto death; sixteen times hast thou brought death about, sixteen times shalt thou die, besides the death thou hast suffered already. The cry is the cry of the body when the soul leaves it; sixteen times hast thou drawn this cry from other bodies, sixteen times shall cry out thine own; sing, Miserable, to call the virgins to the reckoning.”
And the head sang again the faery song, while the first virgin walked away silently towards the wood like a living person.
And the second virgin came to the body of the Miserable and did to it as the first had done.
And she also walked away into the wood like a living person.
So did each of the sixteen virgins, and for each of them a ruby was changed into good red blood.
And sixteen times the head sang the faery song, and sixteen times gave the death-cry.
And one by one all the virgins went away into the depth of the wood.
And the last of all, who was Anne-Mie, came to Magtelt, and kissing her right hand wherein she had held the sword: “Blessed be thou,” she said, “who camest without fear, and, delivering us from the spell, leadest us into paradise.”
“Ah,” said Magtelt, “must thou go so far away, Anne-Mie?”