102 THE MANDRAKE. 
For the king was sick and of help had need ; 
Or he had a foe whom art must quell, 
So he sent to the learned man with speed 
To gather for him a mandrake-spell. 
And at night when the moon was at the full, 
When the air was still and the stars were out, 
Came the three the mandrake root to pull, 
With the help of the ban-dog fierce and stout. 
Oh, the mandrake root! and they listened all three, 
For awful sounds, and they spoke no word, 
And when the owl screeched from the hollow tree, 
They said *twas the mandrake’s groan they 
heard. 
And words they muttered, but what none knew, 
With motion slow of hand and foot ; 
Then into the cave the three withdrew, 
And carried with them the mandrake root. 
They all were scholars of high degree, 
So they took the root of the mandrake fell, 
And cut it and carved it hideously, 
And muttered it into a charmed spell. 
