164 ST. JOHN'S-WORT FLOWERS 



witches, Fraulein thought, would rather do people 

 harm than good. 



" ' Mother,' Fraulein said, ' tell me how I shall 

 get my wish.' 



" At first the old woman paid no attention to 

 Fraulein but went on singing her song. 



" Fraulein said again : ' Tell me. Mother, how 

 I shall get my wish.' 



" The witch went on singing. 



" The third time Fraulein asked : ' Tell me, 

 Mother, how I shall get my wish.' 



" Then the witch turned around and gave such 

 a sharp grunt that Fraulein would have been 

 frightened out of her wits had she not clutched the 

 St. John's-wort hanging around her neck. 



" ' Begone,' the witch cried, 'and marry the 

 first man who comes in at the door in the morning.' 



" Fraulein ran back a good deal faster than she 

 had gone down the lane, and that very night she 

 dreamed of the milkman, and that he wore a sprig 

 of St. John's-wort across his shoulder. 



" Sure enough he was the first man to come 

 in the kitchen-door in the morning, and she mar- 

 ried him before the summer was over. Uncle 

 Hiram used to say that old witch was the milk- 

 man's mother, so perhaps she knew all the time 

 how things were going to turn out. 



" Anyway," Grandmother said, " that's all I 

 know about witches and St. John's-wort." 



