th may ever sleep."
"_What give you for his body fair and slender_,
_To draw it from the dangers of the deep_?"

"I'll give you both my silver comb and earrings,
I'll give you all my little treasure store."
"_I will but take what living thing comes forward_,
_The first to meet you_,_ passing to your door_."

"O may my little dog be first to meet me,
So loose my lover from your dreaded hold."
"_What will you give me for the heart that loved you_,
_The heart that I hold chained and frozen cold_?"

"My own betrothed ring I give you gladly,
My ring of pearls--and every one a tear!"
"_I will but have what other living creature_
_That second in your pathway shall appear_."

"To buy this heart, to warm my love to living,
I pray my pony meet me on return."
"_And now_, _for his young soul what will you give me_,
_His soul that night and day doth fret and burn_?"

"You will not have my silver comb and earrings,
You will not have my ring of precious stone;
O, nothing have I left to promise to you,
But give my soul to buy him back his own."

All woefully she wept, and stepping homeward,
Bemoaned aloud her dark and cruel fate;
"O, come," she cried, "my little dog to meet me,
And you, my horse, be browsing at the gate."

Right hastily she pushed by bush and bramble,
Chased by a fear that made her footsteps fleet,
And as she ran she met her little brother,
Then her old father coming her to meet.

"O brother, little brother," cried she weeping,
"Well you said of fairy-tree beware,
For precious things are bought and sold ere mid-night,
On Hallow-eve, by those who barter there."

She went alone into the little chapel,
And knelt before the holy virgin's shrine,
Saying, "Mother Mary, pray you for me,
To save those two most gentle souls of thine."

And as she prayed, behold the holy statue
Spoke to her, saying, "Little can I aid,
God's ways are just, and you have dared to question
His judgment on this soul you bought--and paid."

"For that one soul, your father and your brother,
Your own immortal life you bartered; then,
Yet one chance is allowed--your sure repentance,
Give back his heart you made to live again."

"For these two souls--my father and my brother--
I give his heart back into death's cold land