There then were they feasted by that kind folk, and when meat was
done certain youths and maidens fell to singing songs very sweetly;
and the words of the songs were simple and harmless, and concerning
the fairness of the earth and the happy loves of the creatures
that dwell therein.
Thereafter as the night aged, they were shown to a sleeping chamber,
which albeit not richly decked, or plenished with precious things,
was most dainty clean, and sweet smelling, and strewn with flowers,
so that the night was sweet to them in a chamber of love.
CHAPTER 16
They Come to the House of the Sorceress
On the morrow the kind people delayed them little,
though they sorrowed for their departure, and before
noon were their old way-leaders ready for them;
and the old man and his two grandsons (for such they were)
were much honoured of the simple people for their way-leading
of the Heavenly Folk; for so they called Ralph and Ursula.
So they gat them to the way in suchlike guise as before,
only they had with them five sumpter oxen instead of two;
for the old man told them that not only was their way longer,
but also they must needs pass through a terrible waste, wherein was
naught for their avail, neither man, nor beast, nor herb.
Even so they found it as he said; for after the first day's
ride from the town they came to the edge of this same waste,
and on the fourth day were deep in the heart of it:
a desert it was, rather rocky and stony and sandy
than mountainous, though they had hills to cross also:
withal there was but little water there, and that foul and stinking.
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