42 THE WONDERFUL HARE-HUNT.

voice, aS she pointed to the dead hares, ‘‘ you have murdered
these poor innocents for your sport: know, I am the fairy called
KINDNESS, and these hares were all of them my friends. In
punishment for your cruelty, you sportsmen shall be changed
into Martens, and you attendants into Weasels. In such shapes
you may pursue your cruel sports; you are not worthy of the
forms of men.”” And, waving her wand, the swans bore her in-

stantly out of sight.

They who live in this country say that every old Michaelmas-
day, five martens and four weasels, with long sticks, may still
be seen hunting hares near this wood; sometimes a dog’s bark
is heard and a shrill whistle, but if any of mankind appear in
their sight, the creatures run quickly away, and hide themselves
in the wood.