After three
days I saw a red light behind the Trees, and I heard a heavy noise. I
saw the Children of the Night dig red stones from a hole, and lay
them in fires. The stones melted like tallow, and the men beat the
soft stuff with hammers. I wished to speak to these men, but the
words were changed in my mouth, and all I could say was, "Do
not make that noise. It hurts my head." By this I knew that I was
bewitched, and I clung to the Trees, and prayed the Children of
the Night to take off their spells. They were cruel. They asked me
many questions which they would never allow me to answer.
They changed my words between my teeth till I wept. Then they
led me into a hut and covered the floor with hot stones and dashed
water on the stones, and sang charms till the sweat poured off me
like water. I slept. When I waked, my own spirit -not the strange,
shouting thing - was back in my body, and I was like a cool bright
stone on the shingle between the sea and the sunshine. The
magicians came to hear me - women and men - each wearing a
Magic Knife. Their Priestess was their Ears and their Mouth.
'I spoke. I spoke many words that went smoothly along like
sheep in order when their shepherd, standing on a mound, can
count those coming, and those far off getting ready to come.
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