"
So he went and stooped down and entered the cave, and found it
high and wide within, and clean and fresh and well-smelling,
and the floor of fine white sand without a stain.
So he knelt down and kissed the floor, and said aloud:
"God bless this floor of the rock-hall whereon my love shall
lie to-night!" Then he arose and went out of the cave,
and found the Lady at the entry stooping down to see what
he would do; and she looked on him fondly and anxiously;
but he turned a merry face to her, and caught her round
the middle and strained her to his bosom, and then took
the bow and arrows and ran down the slope and over the stream,
into the thicket of the valley.
He went further than he had looked for, ere he found a prey
to his mind, and then he smote a roe with a shaft and slew her,
and broke up the carcase and dight it duly, and so went his ways back.
When he came to the stream he looked up and saw a little fire
glittering not far from the cave, but had no clear sight of the Lady,
though he thought he saw her gown fluttering nigh one of the thorn-bushes.
Then he did off his raiment and entered that pool of the stream,
and was glad to bathe him in the same place where her body had been
but of late; for he had noted that the stones of the little shore
were still wet with her feet where she had gone up from the water.
But now, as he swam and sported in the sun-warmed pool
he deemed he heard the whinnying of a horse, but was not sure,
so he held himself still to listen, and heard no more.
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