"Mrs.," said the old woman, at length breaking silence, "I am dry with the heat of the day; can you give me a drink?"
"Alas!" replied the farmer's wife, "I have no drink to offer you except water, else you would have no occasion to ask me for it."
"Are you not the owner of the cattle I see yonder?" said the old hag, with a tone of voice and manner of gesticulation which plainly indicated her foreknowledge of the fact.
Mrs. Costigan replied in the affirmative, and briefly related to her every circumstance connected with the affair, whilst the old woman still remained silent, but shook her grey head repeatedly; and still continued gazing round the house with an air of importance and self-sufficiency.
When Mrs. C. had ended, the old hag remained a while as if in a deep reverie: at length she said--
She filled a jug from a vessel and handed it to the old sybil, who smelled it, then tasted it, and spat out what she had taken on the floor.
A messenger was despatched for Bryan, who shortly after made his appearance.
"Neighbour," said the stranger, "your wife informs me that your cattle are going against you this season."
"A cure!" re-echoed the man; "why, woman, I have sought cures until I was heart-broken, and all in vain; they get worse every day."
"What will you give me if I cure them for you?"
"Anything in our power," replied Bryan and his wife, both speaking joyfully, and with a breath.
"All I will ask from you is a silver sixpence, and that you will do everything which I will bid you," said she.
The farmer and his wife seemed astonished at the moderation of her demand. They offered her a large sum of money.
"No," said she, "I don't want your money; I am no cheat, and I would not even take sixpence, but that I can do nothing till I handle some of your silver."
The sixpence was immediately given her, and the most implicit obedience promised to her injunctions by both Bryan and his wife, who already began to regard the old beldame as their tutelary angel.
The hag pulled off a black silk ribbon or fillet which encircled her head inside her cap, and gave it to Bryan, saying--
"Go, now, and the first cow you touch with this ribbon, turn her into the yard, but be sure don't touch the second, nor speak a word until you return; be also careful not to let the ribbon touch the ground, for, if you do, all is over."