darted forth rays of light as it fell, and tinkled like a silver coin rolling down flights of marble steps.
The Banshee corked the bottle and held it up proudly to the light. "Will you look at that, now?" she crooned. "The finest ever I brewed. Ah, the mystic droplet! Some swain will be buying that, now, and putting it in a lassie's cup o' tea, and she'll be pining away for love of him before the day's out."
She put the bottle on the shelf, pasted a label on it, and turned to them with a businesslike air."Now, dearies, what'll you be wanting? Philtres? Poison?--I've a special today, only five shillings a vial. A spell? What about your fortunes?--one shilling if seen in the crystal ball, one and six if read from the palm. A hex?--I've the finest in six counties. A ticket to the Walpurgis Night Ball?"
"We want a Wail," said the Phoenix. "And we shall accept nothing but the best and loudest you have."
"Ah, a Banshee's Wail, is it?" cried the hag. "You've come to the right shop, dearies, to be sure. Now, let me see...." She hobbled to a shelf which contained a row of boxes, ran her finger along them, stopped at one, and took it down. "Here we are--key of C-sharp, two minutes long, only five shillings threepence."
"No, no," said the Phoenix. "A larger one. We have something more than mice to frighten."
"A bigger one? Och, here's a lovely one, now--five minutes long, ascending scale with a sob at the end, guaranteed to scare a statue. Yours for ten and six. I call that a real bargain, now!"
"Bah!" said the Phoenix impatiently. "Enough of these squeaks! We want a real _Wail_, my dear Banshee--such a Wail as never before was heard on the face of this earth. And stop this babbling about shillings and pence. We are prepared to pay in gold." The Phoenix took the four pieces of gold from David and carelessly tossed them into the air.
The Banshee's eyes flew wide open, and she twirled herself around like a top. "Och, the sweet music of its tinkling!" she exclaimed. "The lovely sheen of light upon it! _There's_ a sight for eyes used to naught but silver! Ah, but dearies, I've no Wail worth four pieces of gold. I'll have to make one up special." She hobbled rapidly around the chamber until she had found a box as large as a bird cage, and an ear trumpet. She opened the box, shook it to make sure it was empty, and put in two heads of cabbage. ("Such monstrous appetites these Wails do
Prev.
Back
Top