ST. JOHN'S-WORT FLOWERS 163 



witch and wanted to see her, but she was afraid. 

 So she waited until St. John's eve when she be- 

 lieved that if she wore a piece of the plant hung 

 around her neck, the witch would lose her powers 

 for evil over her, and she also believed that no 

 other evil spirits or witches could enter her kitchen 

 or room while she was away because she had hung 

 pieces of St. John's-wort over the doors. 



" After Fraulein had put me to bed — in those 

 days I used to go to bed at dusk — she started off 

 for Witches' Lane. She went as far as she could 

 by the road, for she said if she had stepped on 

 a St. John's-wort in the meadow that the fairies 

 would have been so angry they would have carried 

 her off against her will. When she came to the 

 lane she ran along quickly. Every minute the 

 light was fading, but before she could see the old 

 house, something made her look up and just in 

 front of her stood the witch. 



" Fraulein said she knew at once she was a 

 witch because she had a look quite different from 

 any other old woman she had ever seen. She held 

 out a piece of St. John's-wort, and she was sing- 

 ing a queer sort of song that Fraulein could 

 scarcely understand. It appeared as though she 

 saw something very far away. 



" When the witch saw Fraulein she cast an ugly 

 look at her, but she could do her no harm be- 

 cause Fraulein was protected by the little piece of 

 St. John's-wort in the bag around her neck. Most 



