Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second SeriesBottrell, William
General
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
Bottrell, William
Cornwall (England : County) -- Social life and customs; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
Duffy waited up many hours after the servants had gone to
bed, in great impatience for her husband's return. Her fears
and doubts increasing, she remained seated in the kitchen
chimney-corner, attending to a pie on the hearth; that it might
be kept hot for the Squire's supper. It came into her head at
times, as a kind of forlorn hope, that the crafty old witch might
somehow get the Devil to take her husband instead of herself.
About midnight, however, her uneasy musings were interrupted
by the dogs rushing in, followed by Squire Lovell, who seemed
like one distracted, by the way he capered about and talked in
broken sentences, of which his wife could make neither head nor
tail. Sometimes he would caper round the kitchen, singing
snatches of a strange dancing-tune; then stop, try to recollect
the rest, and dance till tired out. At last the Squire sat down
and told his wife to bring him a flagon of cider. After draining
it, he became more tranquil, and, when Duffy asked if he had
caught a hare, he answered,
"I've seen queer sights to-night, and the damn'd hare—as
fine a one as ever was chased—most in the dogs' mouths all the
while. We coursed her for miles, yet they couldn't catch her at
all." Then he burst out singing,
"To-morrow, my fair lady,
You shall ride along with me,
Over land and over sea,
Through the air and far away!"
O! the funny devil! How he tossed up his heels and tail
when he danced and sang,
"'To strange countries you shall go,
For never here can you know.'
"I've forgotten the rest," said he, after a pause; "but give me
supper, and fill the tankard again. Then I will begin at the
beginning, and tell 'e all about the strange things I've seen
to-night. I wish you had been there; it would have made ye[15]
laugh, though I havn't seen 'e so much as smile for a long time.
But give me supper, I tell thee again, and don't stay gaping at
me like a fool frightened! Then, and not before, I'll tell thee
all about our uncommon chase, and we will ride 'Over land, and
over sea, with the jolly devil, far away, far away!'"
Duffy placed a pie on the board and helped the Squire.
After supper he came more to himself, and said,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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