Read Online Thistle and Thyme by Sorche Nic Leodhas - Free Book Online Page A

as merry and kind as she could be. The only thing strange about her was her eyes, for they were the sort that made you feel that nothing in the world could ever be unseen if she took the trouble to look at it, no matter where it was hidden.
    When she heard the soldier’s story, she said at once that she’d be glad to help them if she could. Folks were probably right when they said the lass was bewitched, but what she’d have to find out was how it had happened. That might take time because the lass couldn’t help her, since she couldn’t talk.
    Then the old woman told the soldier to take himself off for a walk and leave the lass with her and not to come back too soon for if he did, she’d just send him away again.
    The soldier walked around and around, and at last he found the village that belonged to the place. There was a blacksmith shop and an old stone church and a post office and a pastry shop and a little shop with jars of sweeties in the windows, that sold everything the other shops didn’t have. When he’d seen them all, he went and sat in the only other place there was, which was the tavern, and the time went very slow. But at last he thought it must be late enough for him to go back and fetch his lass. Maybe he’d been foolish to bring her to the old body after all. He’d not go back if the old woman sent him away again. He’d just pack up his lass in the cart and take her home and keep her the way she was. If he’d known what was going to happen, maybe that’s what he’d have done.
    They were waiting for him when he got back to the little old woman’s cottage, and the old body told him at once she’d found where the trouble lay.
    â€œâ€™Tis plain enough,” said she. “Your wife has offended the water kelpie. When she went to walk in the gloaming, she drank from the well where the water kelpie bides. And as she leaned over to drink, one of the combs from her hair dropped into the water and she never missed it. The comb fouled the water, and the kelpie can bide in the well no more till she takes it out again. So angry he was, that while she drank of it, he laid a spell on the water that took her speech away.”
    â€œBut what shall we do now?” asked the soldier.
    â€œAll you need to do,” said the old woman, “is take your lass back to the well and have her take the comb from the water.”
    â€œAnd she’ll talk then?” the soldier asked.
    â€œOch, aye! She’ll talk. But watch out for the water kelpie, lest he do her more harm for he’s a queer creature always full of wicked mischief and nobody knows what he may do.”
    The lass and the soldier were so full of joy that they hardly knew how to contain it. The soldier wanted to pay the old woman for what she’d done, but she said it was nothing at all, and in any case she never took pay for doing a kindly service. So the soldier thanked her kindly, and he and his lass went home.
    When they had found somebody to look after the croft, they started off to take the spell off the lass’s tongue. When they got to the place, the soldier and the lass went out to find the well in the woods. The lass bared her arm and reached down into the water and felt around till she found the comb. She put it back in her hair, and as soon as she did, she found she could talk again.
    The first thing she said was, “Och, my love, I can talk to you now!” And the second thing she said was, “Och, I have so much to say!”
    They went back to the weaver’s house, and when he found that his daughter could talk, he was that pleased. He ran about the village telling everybody, “My lass has found her tongue again!” ’Twas a rare grand day for the weaver. And of course for the soldier, too.
    The weaver and the soldier couldn’t hear enough of her chatter. They took to following her about just to listen to her as if it were music they were