And the property of this wondrous sound is such
that they who hear it must needs burst into a laugh; whence it is the
cause that the men of these our modern times are so sorrowful, since
that sound is no more heard in the land. And to him Glooskap was also
affable, sending Marten into the woods to seek a certain mystical and
magic root, which when eaten would make the miracle the young man
sought. But he warned him not to touch the root ere he got to his home,
or it would be the worse for him. And so he kindly thanked the lord,
and left.
It had taken seven years to come, but seven days were all that was
required to tread the path returning to their home, that is, for him
who got there. Only one of all the three beheld his lodge again. This
was the hunter, who, with his pipe in his pocket, and not a care in his
heart, trudged through the woods, satisfied that so long as he should
live, there would always be venison in the larder.
But he who loved women, and had never won even a wife, was filled with
anxious wishfulness. And he had, not gone very far into the woods
before he opened the bag. And there flew out by hundreds, like white
doves, swarming all about him, beautiful girls, with black burning eyes
and flowing hair. And wild with passion the winsome witches threw their
arms about him, and kissed him as he responded to their embraces; but
they came ever more and more, wilder and more passionate.
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