And biting Halewyn’s flesh with his sharp teeth, striking him with his little fists, and with his nails pinching and pulling him, and laughing harshly, the little mannikin said: “I am the Prince of the Stones, I have fine treasures; seek, seek, Miserable!”
And saying this, he pommelled him beyond endurance. “He wants,” he screamed, mocking him, “Siewert Halewyn wants strength and beauty, beauty and strength; seek then, Miserable.”
And he pulled out his hair in handfuls, and tore his dress with his nails until he was all in rags, and kept saying, with great bursts of laughter: “Strength and beauty, beauty and strength; seek, seek, Miserable!” And he hung from his ears with his two hands, and kicked his stone feet in his face, notwithstanding that the Sire cried out with pain.
And the little mannikin said: “To get strength and beauty, seek, Halewyn, a song and a sickle, seek, Sir Miserable!” And the Miserable went on scratching out the earth with his piece of sword.
Suddenly the earth fell away under the stone, leaving a great hole open, and Halewyn, by the light of the mannikin’s eyes, saw a sepulchre, and within the sepulchre a man lying, who was of marvellous beauty and had none of the appearance of death.
This man was clad all in white, and in his hands held a sickle, whereof both handle and blade were of gold.
The Man in White
“Take the sickle,” quoth the little mannikin, thumping his head with his fists.
Sir Halewyn did as he was bid, and straightway the man in the tomb became dust, and from the dust came a white flame, tall and spreading, and from the white flame a wonderfully sweet song.