60 THE MAGIC OAK TREE

‘* Revenge !"’ they croak from tiny throats,
Nor can I hear unmov’d their plaintive notes.
Rise, Venomista, rise! before me stand

And firmly grasp thy crutch within thine hand.’

With a moan of anguish the wicked fairy
arose, being evidently unable to resist the
power of the other, who thus. continued in a
calm tone of voice—

‘Strike ! for in vain my will thou wouldst defy—
Bat, weasel, adder, all by thee must die!’

As soon as she heard this dread sentence,
which would for ever deprive her of her
three companions in evil, the wretched
Venomista set up a dismal cry of woe, which
was at once re-echoed by the creatures who
had just heard their well-deserved doom
pronounced. But the Fairy of the Falls
took no further notice of this than to knit
her brows and look sternly at Venomista,
whilst once more she uttered the fatal word,
‘Strike!’ The wicked old fairy would fain
have resisted if she could, but knowing that
any attempt of the kind would not only be
useless, but might bring upon her a still
worse punishment, she heaved one more
sigh, and then struck a wild blow at the bat,