Is robbing me still and doing me ill—I shall never be rich.”

“My son,” the mother mild replied,

“See that you pay the fairies their due;

A tribute due should ne’er be denied—

Others don’t grudge it, and why should you?

Nor thrive their flocks nor kine, I ween,

Who scorn or neglect the shian green.”

“But, mother, the witch that lives down i’ the glen?”

“A widow, my son, with a fatherless oe,

Who has seen much sorrow and years of woe;