bewitchments...

[folksy]

The Hexli (Little Witch)

I whittled at a stick one day, -
'T was just to pass the time away;
A little girl cam tripping by,
With rosy looks and witching eye.

With artless smile and simple grace,
She looked me sweetly in my face,
And said, 'That knife is sharp, I ween, -
Another thing will cut as keen.'

And then she laughed, and said, 'Good-day,'
And like a dream had flown away;
The voice, the look, was with me still,
When all at once I felt me ill.

I could not work, I could not play;
I saw and heard her all the day.
That witching eye was sharp, I ween;
O, that was what would cut so keen.

I saw and heard her day and night,-
Her voice so soft, her eye so bright:
When others lay in slumber sweet,
I heard the clock each hour repeat.

I could not stay and linger so:
Like one entranced, away I go;
Through field and forest, far and wide,
I seek if there the witch doth hide.

By bush and brake, by rock and hill,
Where'er I go, I see her still:
The little girl, with witching eye,
Is ever, ever tripping by.

Through town and village, too, I stray;
At every house I call and say,
'O, can you tell me where to find
The little girl that witched my mind?'

I've sought her many a weary mile;
Methought I saw her all the while:
Ah! if I can't the witch obtain,
I never shall be well again.

Johann Peter Hebel
Translated by James Gates Percival

(click on photos for credit/link)