The sorceress lived in a clay hut deep in the dark woods of Zoersel. The peasants avoided these woods and passed through them in broad daylight only, making the sign of the cross. At nightfall weird melancholy sounds, which seemed to come from another world, murmured in the tree-tops. It took an hour to reach the cottage from Viersel. Rika calculated that she could be home before midnight. Her master and mistress would not return earlier than that. She overcame her last fears, and set out bravely towards the lonely heath. "In this bag, little one, are the ashes of the tooth of a corpse; the tooth was picked up in the cemetery of Safftingen, the village that was submerged by the Scheldt; therein is also a mushroom, called 'toadstool,' gathered at the foot of the tree on which Nol Bardaf the cobbler was hanged. Next full moon, on a cloudless night, sprinkle the magic powder at the foot of your bed, and prick the mushroom deeply with a hairpin, uttering these words three times:--'I command thee, charmed plant, to bring me the man who shall wound me as I wound thee!' Then go to bed with the mushroom under your pillow, and wait in perfect quiet without speaking. The beloved one will appear. Open your eyes, but above all things neither speak nor move. You must even hold your breath. If he leaves you, do not try to detain him. You will see him again, and will then become his wife." Thus spoke Zanne Hokespokes. Rika followed the instructions of the sorceress. She waited several days for the fine cloudless night, and when the full moon rose she did as the witch had bidden her. "I command thee, charmed thing, to bring me the man who shall wound me as I wound thee!" Once--twice--thrice. Rika, with wide-open eyes and strained ear, lay in bed eagerly awaiting the promised vision. Shadow became substance in the garret, which was bathed in the silvery-blue beams of the moon. The silence was so overwhelming that Rika thought she heard the sound of the white light as it fell on the bare floor. Now she regretted her traffic with a servant of the Devil, now she rejoiced at the prospect of seeing _him_, the man who would love her; but again she feared that he might not come. The yard door swung on its hinges. A hasty, heavy step crossed the court without disturbing the watch-dog. _He_ opened the kitchen door. _Clope! Clope!_ rapidly he climbed the ladder which led to the attic. Terror seized Rika; she stifled a cry, as the trap-door opened. There he was in her room; a soldier, a young artilleryman. He passed by her unnoticed in the white light of the moon.