THE KING OF ELFLAND’S DAUGHTER
“No,” said an elder of the will-o’-the-wisps, “none loves the proud unicorns.”
“Come then,” said the traveller, “and we will hunt them. And you shall light us in the night with your lights, when we hunt them with dogs over the fields of men.”
“Venerable traveller,” said that elder will-o’-the-wisp: but at those words the traveller flung up his hat and leaped from his long black coat, and stood before the will-o’-the-wisps stark naked. And the people of the marshes saw that it was a troll that had tricked them.
Their anger at this was slight; for the people of the marshes have tricked the trolls, and the trolls have tricked the people of the marshes, each of them sO many times for ages and ages, that only the wisest among them can say which has tricked the other most and is how many tricks ahead. They consoled themselves now by thinking of times when trolls had been made to look ludicrous, and consented to come with their lights to help to hunt unicorns, for their wills were weak when they stood on the dry land and they easily acquiesced in any suggestion or followed anyone’s whim.
It was Lurulu who had thus tricked the will-o’-the-wisps, knowing well how they love to lure travellers; and, having obtained the highest hat and gravest coat he could steal, he had set out with a bait that he knew would bring them from great distances. Now
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