Part 30 (1/2)
Then again she s ready for the feast But at ht was low and folk slept, Groa rose, and, veiled in a black robe, with a basket in her hand, passed like a shadow through the e, and in silence, always looking behind her, like one who fears a hidden foe, culled flowers of noiso filled, she passed round the stead to a hidden dell upon the , and near him burned a fire of turf In his hand he held an iron-pot It was Koll the Half-witted, Groa's thrall
”Are all things ready, Koll?” she said
”Yes,” he answered; ”but I like not these tasks of thine, mistress Say noouldst thou do with the fire and the pot?”
”This, then, Koll I would brew a love-potion for Asmund the Priest as he has bidden me to do”
”I have done many an ill deed for thee, mistress, but of all of them I love this the least,” said the thrall, doubtfully
”I have done ood deed for thee, Koll It was I who saved thee fro to prove thee innocent--ay, even when thy back was stretched on it, because thou hadst slain a man in his sleep
Is it not so?”
”Yea, iven thee ifts, is it not so?”
”Yes, it is so”
”Listen then: serve ift--thy freedolistened ”What -feast it will be thy part to pour the cups while Asmund calls the toasts Last of all, when men are e Unna his wife and Unna e Asmund Nohen thou hast poured, thou shalt pass the cup to ive the bride greeting on behalf of the serving-woh in error, and that is but a little thing to ask of thee”
”A little thing indeed,” said Koll, staring at her, and pulling with his hand at his red hair, ”yet I like it not What if I say no, mistress?”
”Say no or speak of this and I will pro only, thou knave, and it is, before winter comes, that the crows shall pick thy bones! Now, brave an toup his hand as though to ward away a blow
”Curse me not: I will do as thou wilt But when shall I touch the two hundred in silver?”
”I will give thee half before the feast begins, and half when it is ended, and with it freedoo where thou wilt And now leave me, and on thy life see that thou fail me not”
”I have never failed thee yet,” said Koll, and went his ways
Now Groa set the pot upon the fire, and, placing in it the herbs that she had gathered, poured water on thean to boil and as they boiled she stirred the she sat in that di spells, till at length the breas done
She lifted the pot fro a phial from her robe she poured out the liquor and held it to the sky The witch-water hite as rew clear She looked at it, then sht for a queen--ah, a love-draught for a queen!”
she said, and, still s scattered the fire with her foot, Groa took the pot and threw it into a deep pool of water, where it could not be found readily, and crept back to the stead before men were awake
Now the day wore on and all the coe-feast to the nuh seat, and ht her a bonny bride, and by her side sat Ash he had seen some three-score winters; but his mien was sad, and his heart heavy He drank cup after cup to cheer hiht sped back across the years and once more he see, and to hear her voice when she foretold evil to hiht to do with Groa the Witch-wife And now it seeh whence it should co the hall, uests; but he saw as she moved that her eyes were always fixed, now on him and now on Unna He remembered that curse also which Groa had called down upon him when he had told her that he was betrothed to Unna, and his heart grew cold with fear ”Noill change my counsel,”
Asmund said to himself: ”Groa shall not stay here in this stead, for I will look no longer on that dark face of hers She goes hence to-morrow”