To wit; one month or so after she had vanished away,
I held talk with a certain old fisherman of our water,
and he told me that on that same night of her vanishing,
as he stood on the water-side handing the hawser of his barque,
and the sail was all ready to be sheeted home, there came along
the shore a woman going very swiftly, who, glancing about her,
as if to see that there was none looking on or prying, came up to him,
and prayed him in a sweet voice for instant passage down the water.
Wrapped she was in a dark cloak and a cowl over her head,
but as she put forth her hand to give him gold, he saw
even by the light of his lantern that it was exceeding fair,
and that great gems flashed from the finger-rings, and that there
was a great gold ring most precious on her arm.
"He yeasaid her asking, partly because of her gold, partly
(as he told me) that he feared her, deeming her to be of the fairy.
Then she stepped over his gangway of one board on to his boat,
and as he held the lantern low down to light her, lest she should
make a false step and fall into the water, he noted (quoth he)
that a golden shoe all begemmed came out from under gown-hem
and that the said hem was broidered thickly with pearl and jewels.
"Small was his barque, and he alone with the woman, and there
was a wind in the March night, and the stream is swift betwixt
the quays of our city; so that by night and cloud they made
much way down the water, and at sunrise were sailing through
the great wood which lieth hence a twenty leagues seaward.
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