ll, by
Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, _and_ by the Hammer of Asa Thor"'--again Puck
made that curious double-cut in the air--'"that you may leave me out of
all your counts and reckonings." Then I went out'--he snapped his
fingers--'like the puff of a candle, and though they called and cried,
they made nothing by it. I didn't promise not to keep an eye on the Boy,
though. I watched him close--close--close!

'When he found what his people had forced me to do, he gave them a piece
of his mind, but they all kissed and cried round him, and being only a
boy, he came over to their way of thinking (I don't blame him), and
called himself unkind and ungrateful; and it all ended in fresh shows
and plays, and magics to distract him from folk in housen. Dear heart
alive! How he used to call and call on me, and I couldn't answer, or
even let him know that I was near!'

'Not even once?' said Una. 'If he was very lonely?'

'No, he couldn't,' said Dan, who had been thinking. 'Didn't you swear by
the Hammer of Thor that you wouldn't, Puck?'

'By that Hammer!' was the deep rumbled reply. Then he came back to his
soft speaking voice. 'And the Boy _was_ lonely, when he couldn't see me
any more. He began to try to learn all learning (he had good teachers),
but I saw him lift his eyes from the big black books towards folk in
housen all the time. He studied song-making (good teacher she had too!),
but he sung those songs with his back toward the Hill, and his face
toward folk. _I_ know! I have sat and grieved over him grieving within a
rabbit's jump of him. Then he studied the High, Low, and Middle Magic.
He had promised the Lady Esclairmonde he would never go near folk in
housen; so he had to make shows and shadows for his mind to chew on.'

'What sort of shows?' said Dan.

'Just boy's magic as we say. I'll show you some, some time. It pleased
him for the while, and it didn't hurt any one in particular except a few
men coming home late from the taverns. But I knew what it was a sign of,
and I followed him like a weasel follows a rabbit. As good a boy as ever
lived! I've seen him with Sir Huon and the Lady Esclairmonde stepping
just as they stepped to avoid the track of Cold Iron in a furrow, or
walking wide of some old ash-tot because a man had left his swop-hook or
spade there; and all his heart aching to go straightforward among folk
in housen all the time. Oh, a good boy! They always intended a fine
fortune for him--but they could never fi