第17章 THE FISHERMAN AND HIS SOUL(4)

'Faster,'cried the Witch,and she threw her arms about his neck,and her breath was hot upon his face.'Faster,faster!'she cried,and the earth seemed to spin beneath his feet,and his brain grew troubled,and a great terror fell on him,as of some evil thing that was watching him,and at last he became aware that under the shadow of a rock there was a figure that had not been there before.

It was a man dressed in a suit of black velvet,cut in the Spanish fashion.His face was strangely pale,but his lips were like a proud red flower.He seemed weary,and was leaning back toying in a listless manner with the pommel of his dagger.On the grass beside him lay a plumed hat,and a pair of riding-gloves gauntleted with gilt lace,and sewn with seed-pearls wrought into a curious device.A short cloak lined with sables hang from his shoulder,and his delicate white hands were gemmed with rings.Heavy eyelids drooped over his eyes.

The young Fisherman watched him,as one snared in a spell.At last their eyes met,and wherever he danced it seemed to him that the eyes of the man were upon him.He heard the Witch laugh,and caught her by the waist,and whirled her madly round and round.

Suddenly a dog bayed in the wood,and the dancers stopped,and going up two by two,knelt down,and kissed the man's hands.As they did so,a little smile touched his proud lips,as a bird's wing touches the water and makes it laugh.But there was disdain in it.He kept looking at the young Fisherman.

'Come!let us worship,'whispered the Witch,and she led him up,and a great desire to do as she besought him seized on him,and he followed her.But when he came close,and without knowing why he did it,he made on his breast the sign of the Cross,and called upon the holy name.

No sooner had he done so than the witches screamed like hawks and flew away,and the pallid face that had been watching him twitched with a spasm of pain.The man went over to a little wood,and whistled.A jennet with silver trappings came running to meet him.

As he leapt upon the saddle he turned round,and looked at the young Fisherman sadly.

And the Witch with the red hair tried to fly away also,but the Fisherman caught her by her wrists,and held her fast.

'Loose me,'she cried,'and let me go.For thou hast named what should not be named,and shown the sign that may not be looked at.'

'Nay,'he answered,'but I will not let thee go till thou hast told me the secret.'

'What secret?'said the Witch,wrestling with him like a wild cat,and biting her foam-flecked lips.

'Thou knowest,'he made answer.

Her grass-green eyes grew dim with tears,and she said to the Fisherman,'Ask me anything but that!'

He laughed,and held her all the more tightly.

And when she saw that she could not free herself,she whispered to him,'Surely I am as fair as the daughters of the sea,and as comely as those that dwell in the blue waters,'and she fawned on him and put her face close to his.

But he thrust her back frowning,and said to her,'If thou keepest not the promise that thou madest to me I will slay thee for a false witch.'

She grew grey as a blossom of the Judas tree,and shuddered.'Be it so,'she muttered.'It is thy soul and not mine.Do with it as thou wilt.'And she took from her girdle a little knife that had a handle of green viper's skin,and gave it to him.

'What shall this serve me?'he asked of her,wondering.

She was silent for a few moments,and a look of terror came over her face.Then she brushed her hair back from her forehead,and smiling strangely she said to him,'What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body,but is the body of the soul.

Stand on the sea-shore with thy back to the moon,and cut away from around thy feet thy shadow,which is thy soul's body,and bid thy soul leave thee,and it will do so.'

The young Fisherman trembled.'Is this true?'he murmured.

'It is true,and I would that I had not told thee of it,'she cried,and she clung to his knees weeping.

He put her from him and left her in the rank grass,and going to the edge of the mountain he placed the knife in his belt and began to climb down.

And his Soul that was within him called out to him and said,'Lo!

I have dwelt with thee for all these years,and have been thy servant.Send me not away from thee now,for what evil have I done thee?'

And the young Fisherman laughed.'Thou hast done me no evil,but Ihave no need of thee,'he answered.'The world is wide,and there is Heaven also,and Hell,and that dim twilight house that lies between.Go wherever thou wilt,but trouble me not,for my love is calling to me.'

And his Soul besought him piteously,but he heeded it not,but leapt from crag to crag,being sure-footed as a wild goat,and at last he reached the level ground and the yellow shore of the sea.

Bronze-limbed and well-knit,like a statue wrought by a Grecian,he stood on the sand with his back to the moon,and out of the foam came white arms that beckoned to him,and out of the waves rose dim forms that did him homage.Before him lay his shadow,which was the body of his soul,and behind him hung the moon in the honey-coloured air.

And his Soul said to him,'If indeed thou must drive me from thee,send me not forth without a heart.The world is cruel,give me thy heart to take with me.'

He tossed his head and smiled.'With what should I love my love if I gave thee my heart?'he cried.

'Nay,but be merciful,'said his Soul:'give me thy heart,for the world is very cruel,and I am afraid.'

'My heart is my love's,'he answered,'therefore tarry not,but get thee gone.'

'Should I not love also?'asked his Soul.

'Get thee gone,for I have no need of thee,'cried the young Fisherman,and he took the little knife with its handle of green viper's skin,and cut away his shadow from around his feet,and it rose up and stood before him,and looked at him,and it was even as himself.

He crept back,and thrust the knife into his belt,and a feeling of awe came over him.'Get thee gone,'he murmured,'and let me see thy face no more.'

'Nay,but we must meet again,'said the Soul.Its voice was low and flute-like,and its lips hardly moved while it spake.