same
lying half asleep under a thorn-bush with the key in her hand. She was
an old woman, so withered and dry, she looked as if no water could
have ever passed her lips.

When Noodle asked for a drink from the well, she looked at him bright
and sharp, and said: 'Before any man drinks of my water he must make a
bargain with me.' 'What is the bargain?' asked Noodle; and she led him
down to the well.

Then she unlocked the lid and bade him look in; and at the sight
Noodle knew for a second time that his heart had been stolen from him,
and that to be happy he must taste that water or die.

Again he asked, with his eyes intent upon the blue wrimpling of the
water in the well's depth, 'What is the bargain?' And the old woman
answered, 'If you fail to draw water out of the well you must fling
yourself into it.' For answer Noodle swung down the bucket, lowering
it as fast as it would go; then he set both hands to the windlass and
wound.

He heard the water splashing off the sides of the bucket all the way
up, as the shortening rope brought it near; but when he drew it over
the well's brink wonder and grief held him fast, for the bucket was as
empty as vanity. From behind him came a noise of laughter, and there
was the old witch running round and round in a circle; and everywhere
a hedge of thorns came shooting up to enclose him and keep him fast
for her.

'What a trap I am in!' thought Noodle; but once more he lowered the
bucket, and once more it returned to him empty.

The old woman climbed up into the thorn-hedge, and sat on its top,
singing:

'Overground, underground, round-about spell;
The Thirsty has come to the Thirsty Well!'

Again Noodle let down the bucket; and this time as he drew it up he
looked over into the well's heart, and saw all the way up the side a
hundred blue arms reaching out crystal scallops and drawing water
out of the bucket as hard as they could go. He saw thick lips like
sea-anemones thrust out between the crevices of the wall, sucking the
crystals dry as fast as they were filled. 'Truly,' he said to himself,
'this is a thirsty well, but myself am thirstier!'

When he had drawn up the bucket empty for the third time, he stood
considering; and at last he fastened to it the firestone ring, the
Sweetener, and lowered it once more. Then he laughed to himself as he
drew up, and felt the bucket lightening at every turn till it touched
the surface of things.

Empty he found it, with only