much curiosity, and I am a woman, so
that will allow me to inquire into the mystery, for mystery it surely
is. Why should I be so strangely affected when visiting that spot? Why
these sudden head pains, and dizziness as though I were about to fall to
the ground? Can it be that some witch or evil spirit dwells there and is
displeased with my coming? Does it belong to them any more than to me?
Have I not the right to come and sit beside the little stream as often
as I choose? I will inquire into the matter this very day, and solve the
puzzle, for I will never rest until I do."

So saying, she hurried her steps and was finally standing at the head of
a small stream, where, from between rocks, the water came bubbling to
the surface and trickled away to lower ground. She was thirsty from her
long walk and climbing in the sunshine, and stooped to fill a drinking
cup she had brought with her for the purpose.

Suddenly she was seized with dizziness, then an electric thrill or
trembling passed through her whole body, and a wave of faintness swept
over her. She felt ill.

Her face grew very pale.

Was it the work of one of the witches she had heard so many times about?

At that she ran away a little distance and sat down upon a grassy knoll.
She had not yet quenched her thirst, and longed for the water. There was
no other spring near at hand, and she was determined to have a cupful
from that one. The witch, she thought, (if a witch's work it was) had
not done worse with her than cause the sudden illness and disagreeable
sensations, and she would repeat her visit to the spring and secure a
cupful of the water; which, though possibly bewitched, still looked as
pure and sparkling as that of her own bright mountain stream near home.

When she had fully recovered, she again advanced toward the spring. Not
until she stood above its waters and peered into their shallow depths
did the old and oddly unpleasant experience repeat itself. Exactly as
before it happened now; but the girl, always a determined and resolute
creature, secured the water as she had intended, and retreated to her
hillock where she again seated herself before tasting the liquid.

A second time the trembling left her, not so quickly as before, perhaps,
yet still in a very few moments she was again herself.

Gingerly she sipped the water. It tasted clean, sweet, and deliciously
cool. Again she cautiously sipped. Still no evil effects from the
draught. Thus enco