t, and I will provide that she
shall be away all to-morrow. Then bind verbena on the cow's horns, and
hang a crucifix over the door, and sprinkle all the floor with holy water
and incense, and sing to the cow:

"'The witch is not thy mother in truth,
She stole thee in thy early youth,
She has deserved thy bitterest hate,
Then fear not to retaliate;
And when she comes to thee again,
Then rush at her with might and main;
She has heaped on thee many a scorn,
Repay it with thy pointed horn.'

"'And note that there is a _halter_ on the cow's neck, and this is the
charm which gives her the form of a cow, but it cannot be removed except
in a church by the priest.'

"And to this he added other advice, which was duly followed.

"Then the next day the young man went to the stable, and did all that the
wise man had bid, and hiding near, awaited the return of the witch. Nor
had he indeed long to wait, for the witch, who was evidently in a great
rage at something, and bore a cruel-looking stick with an iron goad on
the end, rushed to the courtyard and into the stable, but fell flat on
the floor, being overcome by the holy water. And the cow, whose halter
had been untied from the post, turned on her with fury, and tossed and
gored her, and trampled on her till she was senseless, and then ran full
speed, guided by the young man, to the Baptistery, into which she
entered, and where there was a priest awaiting her. And the priest
sprinkled her with holy water, and took the halter from her neck, and she
was disenchanted, and became once more the beautiful Artemisia.

"And this done, the young man took the halter, and hurrying back to the
stable, put it about the neck of the witch, who at once became a cow
without horns, or such as are called 'the devil's own.' And as she,
maddened with rage, rushed forth, attacking everybody, all the town was
soon after her with staves, pikes, and all their dogs, and so they hunted
her down through the Uffizzi and along Lung' Arno, all roaring and
screaming and barking, out into the country, for she gave them a long run
and a good chase, till they came to a gate of a _podere_, over which was
a Saint Antony, who, indignant that she dared pass under him, descended
from his niche, and gave her a tremendous blow with his staff between the
horns, or where they would have been if she had possessed them.
Whereupon the earth opened and swallowed her up, amid a fearful