And in an instant he remembered what the Great Magician had said:  “Bite no bit, sup no drop, for if in Elfland you sup one drop or bite one bit, never again will you see Middle Earth.”

So he dashed the bowl to the ground, and standing square and fair, lithe and young and strong, he cried like a challenge: 

“Not a sup will I swallow, not a bit will I bite, till fair Burd Helen is set free.”

Then immediately there was a loud noise like thunder, and a voice was heard saying: 

  “Fee, fi, fo, fum,
   I smell the blood of a Christian Man. 
   Be he alive or dead, my brand
   Shall dash his brains from his brain-pan.”

Then the folding-doors of the vast hall burst open and the King of Elfland entered like a storm of wind.  What he was really like Childe Rowland had not time to see, for with a bold cry: 

“Strike, Bogle! thy hardest if thou darest!” he rushed to meet the foe, his good sword, that never yet did fail, in his hand.

And Childe Rowland and the King of Elfland fought, and fought, and fought, while Burd Helen, with her hands clasped, watched them in fear and hope.

So they fought, and fought, and fought, until at last Childe Rowland beat the King of Elfland to his knees.  Whereupon he cried, “I yield me.  Thou hast beaten me in fair fight.”

Then Childe Rowland said, “I grant thee mercy if thou wilt release my sister and my brothers from all spells and enchantments, and let us go back to Middle Earth.”

So that was agreed; and the Elfin King went to a golden chest whence he took a phial that was filled with a blood-red liquor.  And with this liquor he anointed the ears and the eyelids, the nostrils, the lips, and the finger-tips of the bodies of Burd Helen’s two brothers that lay as dead in two golden coffers.

And immediately they sprang to life and declared that their souls only had been away, but had now returned.

After this the Elfin King said a charm which took away the very last bit of enchantment, and adown the huge hall that showed as if it were lit by the setting sun, and through the long passage of rough arches made of rock that was transparent and all encrusted with sheep-silver, rock-spar, and many bright stones, where twilight reigned, the three brothers and their sister passed.  Then the door opened in the green hill, it clicked behind them, and they left the Dark Tower of the King of Elfland never to return.

For, no sooner were they in the light of day, than they found themselves at home.

But fair Burd Helen took care never to go widershins round a church again.

[Illustration:  They both met together upon Nottingham bridge]

THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM

OF BUYING OF SHEEP

There were two men of Gotham, and one of them was going to market to Nottingham to buy sheep, and the other came from the market, and they both met together upon Nottingham bridge.