Lobkyn smote a man to earth and, sighing regretful, stepped aside.
“Back!” screamed the Witch. “Stand back, I say, all three,
And leave this wicked rabblement to me.
Now shall they learn the terror of my curse,
Black magic shall they feel—and something worse!”
Then uttered she a sudden, hideous cry,
And, leaping, whirled her bony hands on high,
And lo! a choking dust-cloud filled the air;
That wreathed in whirling eddies here and there.
“Perendewix!” she cried. “Oh Radzywin—
Thraxa! Behold, my witchcraft doth begin!”
Back shrank their foes, back reeled they one and all,
They choked, they gasped, they let their weapons fall;
And some did groan, and some did fiercely sneeze,
And some fell prone, some writhed upon their knees;
Some strove to wipe the tears from blinded eyes,
But one and all gave voice to awful cries.
“Come!” cried the Witch, “to the door—the door. Lobkyn, bear ye the brave Fool—and tenderly! Haste, naughty bantling, haste—I hear the tread of more soldiers!”
So Lobkyn stooped and, lifting Jocelyn's inanimate form, tucked it beneath one arm, and with Robin and Will the Tanner, followed the old Witch into the house.
My daughter GILLIAN commandeth:
GILL: Go on, father, do; why will you keep stopping?
I think the old Witch is just perfectly topping.
And what frightful words she uses for curses!
MYSELF: Very frightful, indeed, though your slang still much worse is,
With your “topping,” “top-holing,” your “swishing” and “clipping,”
GILL: Well, I merely intended to say it was ripping;
But, if you object to my praises—
MYSELF: I only object to your phrases,
For there's no author but will own
He “liveth not by bread alone.”
As for myself, if what I write
Doth please—then praise with all your might.
GILL: Well, then, the Witch is splendid, though
I'm very curious to know
Just how her face all fiery grew,
And what the stuff was that she threw—
The stuff that made the soldiers sneeze
And brought them choking to their knees
It sounds as though it might be snuff.
MYSELF: My dear, they'd not found out such stuff.
But grisly witches long ago
Did many strange devices know.
Indeed, my Gill, they knew much more
Than wise folk gave them credit for.
GILL: Well, what was it? You haven't said.
MYSELF: I'll get on with our Geste instead.
FYTTE 7
That telleth to the patient reader nought,
Save how the Duke was to the wild-wood brought.