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       By ring, by spring, by cave, by shore,

       Minnie Troil has braved all this and more:

       And yet hath the root of her sorrow and ill

       A source that s more deep and more mystical still.”

      Minna, whose attention had been latterly something disturbed by reflections on her own secret sorrow, now suddenly recalled it, and looked eagerly on Norna as if she expected to learn from her rhymes something of deep interest. The northern sibyl, meanwhile, proceeded to pierce the piece of lead, which bore the form of a heart, and to fix in it a piece of gold wire, by which it might be attached to a chain or necklace. She then proceeded in her rhyme: —

      “Thou art within a demon’s hold,

       More wise than Heims, more strong than Trolld;

       No siren sipgs so sweet as he, —

       No fay springs lighter on the lea;

       No elfin power hath half the art

       To soothe, to move, to wring the heart, —

       Lifeblood from the cheek to drain,

       Drench the eye, and dry the vein.

       Maiden, ere we farther go,

       Dost thou note me, ay or no?”

      Minna replied in the same rhythmical manner, which, in jest and earnest, was frequently used by the ancient Scandinavians: —

      “I mark thee, my mother, both word, look, and sign;

       Speak on with the riddle — to read it be mine.”

      “Now, Heaven and every saint be praised! “ said Magnus; “ they are the first words to the purpose which she hath spoken these many days.”

      “And they are the last which she shall speak for many a month,” said Norna, incensed at the interruption, “ if you again break the progress of my spell. Turn your faces to the wall, and look not hitherward again, under penalty of my severe displeasure. You, Magnus Troil, from hardhearted audacity of spirit, and you, Brenda, from wanton and idle disbelief in that which is beyond your bounded comprehension, are unworthy to look on this mystic work; and the glance of your eyes mingles with, and weakens, the spell; for the powers cannot brook distrust.”

      Unaccustomed to be addressed in a tone so peremptory, Magnus would have made some angry reply; but reflecting that the health of Minna was at stake, and considering that she who spoke was a woman of many sorrows, he suppressed his anger, bowed his head, shrugged his shoulders, assumed the prescribed posture, averting his head from the table, and turning towards the wall. Brenda did the same, on receiving a sign from her father, and both remained profoundly silent.

      Norna then addressed Minna once more: —

      “Mark me! for the word I speak

       Shall bring the colour to thy cheek.

       This leaden heart, so light of cost,

       The symbol of a treasure lost,

       Thou shalt wear in hope and in peace,

       That the cause of your sickness and sorrow may cease,

       When,crimson foot meets crimson hand

       In the Martyrs’ Aisle, and in Orkney-land.”

      Minna coloured deeply at the last couplet, intimating, as she failed not to interpret it, that Norna was completely acquainted with the secret cause of her sorrow. The same conviction led the maiden to hope in the favourable issue, which the sibyl seemed to prophesy; and not venturing to express her feelings in any manner more intelligible, she pressed Norna’s withered hand with all the warmth of affection, first to her breast and then to her bosom, bedewing it at the same time with her tears.

      With more of human feeling than she usually exhibited, Norna extricated her hand from the grasp of the poor girl, whose tears now flowed freely, and then, with more tenderness of manner than she had yet shown, she knotted the leaden heart to a chain of gold, and hung it around Minna’s neck, singing, as she performed that last branch of the spell: —

      “Be patient, be patient, for Patience hath power

       To ward us in danger, like mantle in shower;

       A fairy gift you best may hold In a chain of fairy gold;

       The chain and the gift are each a true token,

       That not without warrant old Norna has spoken;

       But thy nearest and dearest must never behold them,

       Till time shall accomplish the truths I have told them.”

      The verses being concluded, Norna carefully arranged the chain around her patient’s neck so as to hide it in her bosom, and thus ended the spell — a spell which, at the moment I record these incidents, it is known, has been lately practised in Zetland, where any decline of health, without apparent cause, is imputed by the lower orders to a demon having stolen the heart from the body of the patient, and where the experiment of supplying the deprivation by a leaden one, prepared in the manner described, has been resorted to within these few years. In a metaphorical sense, the disease may be considered as a general one in all parts of the world; but, as this simple and original remedy is peculiar to the isles of Thule, it were unpardonable not to preserve it at length, in a narrative connected with Scottish antiquities.1

      A second time Norna reminded her patient, that if she showed, or spoke of, the fairy gifts, their virtue would be lost — a belief so common as to be received into the superstitions of all nations. Lastly, unbuttoning the collar which she had just fastened, she showed her a link of the gold chain, which Minna instantly recognised as that formerly given by Norna to Mordaunt Mertoun. This seemed to intimate he was yet alive, and under Norna’s protection; and she gazed on her with the most eager curiosity. But the sibyl imposed her finger on her lips in token of silence, and a second time involved the chain in those folds which modestly and closely veiled one of the most beautiful, as well as one of the kindest, bosoms in the world.

      1 The spells described in this chapter are not altogether imaginary. By this mode of pouring lead into water, and selecting the part which chances to assume a resemblance to the human heart, which must be worn by the patien around her or his neck, the sage persons of Zetland pretend to cure the fata disorder called the loss of a heart.

      Norna then extinguished the lighted charcoal, and, as the water hissed upon the glowing embers, commanded Magnus and Brenda to look around, and behold her task accomplished.