She hung her
head, and said: Fair sir, it may not anywise be; yet I thank thee, I
thank thee.
So came they to the water-side and the Sending Boat, and Birdalone
stayed her feet there, and the young man said: What is this keel,
that seemeth unto me as if it were a ferry for malefactors wending to
a death of torment, so grey and bleared and water-logged and sun-
bleached as it is, and smeared over with stains of I know not what?
Said Birdalone: Such as it is, it is my ferry over the water to
where I would be. Strange! said Otter; to my mind it is like to our
fortunes on this isle, we who were once knights and merry squires and
are now as gangrel men, and of ill conditions, thinking of nought
save our first desires, even those which we share with the wolf and
the kite.
She said: But art thou of evil conditions, thou who hast just
delivered me from trouble? He smiled grimly: Damsel, said he, I
have not delivered thee yet from me, though I have from him. But
tell me, art thou a sorceress? Not a black one, said Birdalone; but
I will tell thee at once that I have been bred by a witch most
mighty, and some deal of lore have I learned.
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