"Oh his son still cries, if you forgive, Sister Helen, The body dies, but the soul shall live." "Fire shall forgive me as I forgive, Little brother!" (_O Mother, Mary Mother_, _As she forgives, between Hell and Heaven!_) This needs some explanation in reference to religious belief. The witch, you will observe, has the power to destroy the soul as well as the body, but on the condition of suffering the same loss herself. Yet how can this be? It could happen thus: if the dying man could make a confession before he dies, and sincerely repent of his sin before a priest, his soul might be saved; but while he remains in the agony of suffering caused by the enchantment, he cannot repent. Not to repent means to go to Hell for ever and ever. If the woman would forgive him, withdrawing the curse and pain for one instant, all might be well. But she answers, "Fire shall forgive me as I forgive"--she means, "The fire of Hell shall sooner forgive me when I go to Hell, than I shall forgive him in this world." There will be other references to this horrible belief later on. It was very common in the Middle Ages. "Oh he prays you, as his heart would rive, Sister Helen, To save his dear son's soul alive." "Fire cannot slay it, it shall thrive, Little brother!" (_O Mother, Mary Mother_, _Alas, alas, between Hell and Heaven!_) _Rive_ is seldom used now in prose, though we have "riven" very often. To rive is to tear. The last line of this stanza is savage, for it refers to the belief that the black fire of Hell preserves the body of the damned person instead of consuming it. "He cries to you, kneeling in the road, Sister Helen, To go with him for the love of God!" "The way is long to his son's abode, Little brother!" (_O Mother, Mary Mother_, _The way is long, between Hell and Heaven!_) "A lady's here, by a dark steed brought, Sister Helen, So darkly clad, I saw her not." "See her now or never see aught, Little brother!" (_O Mother, Mary Mother_, _What more to see, between Hell and Heaven?_) As the horse was black and the lady was all dressed in black, the child could not at first notice either in the shadows of the road. On announcing that he had seen her at last, the excitement of the sister reaches its highest and wickedest; she says to him, "Nay, you will never be able to see anything in this world, unless you can see that woman's face and tell me all about it." For it is the other woman, who has made forgiveness impossible; it is the other woman, the object of her deepest hate. "Her hood falls back, and the moon shines fair, Sister Helen, On the Lady of Ewern's golden hair." "Blest hour of my power and her despair, Little brother!" (_O Mother, Mary Mother_, _Hour blessed and bann'd, between Hell and Heaven!_)