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爱上了美人鱼的渔夫，为了和爱人长相厮守，四处奔走想要找到可以摆脱自己灵魂的办法，可是神父为他的想法感到痛心疾首，而商贩又认为人类的灵魂一钱不值……
And at noon he remembered how one of his companions, who was a gatherer of samphire（海篷子）, had told him of a certain young Witch who dwelt in a cave at the head of the bay and was very cunning in her witcheries.
And he set to and ran, so eager was he to get rid of his soul, and a cloud of dust followed him as he sped round the sand of the shore.
By the itching of her palm the young Witch knew his coming, and she laughed and let down her red hair.
With her red hair falling around her, she stood at the opening of the cave, and in her hand she had a spray of wild hemlock（毒芹） that was blossoming.
'What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack?' she cried, as he came panting up the steep, and bent down before her.
'Fish for thy net, when the wind is foul（恶劣的）? I have a little reed-pipe（牧笛）, and when I blow on it the mullet（乌鱼） come sailing into the bay.
But it has a price, pretty boy, it has a price. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? A storm to wreck the ships, and wash the chests of rich treasure ashore?
I have more storms than the wind has, for I serve one who is stronger than the wind, and with a sieve（筛子） and a pail of water I can send the great galleys to the bottom of the sea. But I have a price, pretty boy, I have a price.
What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? I know a flower that grows in the valley, none knows it but I. It has purple leaves, and a star in its heart, and its juice is as white as milk.
Shouldst thou touch with this flower the hard lips of the Queen, she would follow thee all over the world. Out of the bed of the King she would rise, and over the whole world she would follow thee. And it has a price, pretty boy, it has a price.
What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? I can pound a toad（蟾蜍） in a mortar（碾钵）, and make broth（肉汤） of it, and stir the broth with a dead man's hand.
Sprinkle it on thine enemy while he sleeps, and he will turn into a black viper（毒蛇）, and his own mother will slay him. With a wheel I can draw the Moon from heaven, and in a crystal I can show thee Death.
What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? Tell me thy desire, and I will give it thee, and thou shalt pay me a price, pretty boy, thou shalt pay me a price.'
'My desire is but for a little thing,' said the young Fisherman, 'yet hath the Priest been wroth with me, and driven me forth.
It is but for a little thing, and the merchants have mocked at me, and denied me. Therefore am I come to thee, though men call thee evil, and whatever be thy price I shall pay it.'
'What wouldst thou?' asked the Witch, coming near to him.
'I would send away my soul from me,' answered the young Fisherman.
The Witch grew pale, and shuddered（发抖）, and hid her face in her blue mantle. 'Pretty boy, pretty boy,' she muttered, 'that is a terrible thing to do.'
He tossed his brown curls and laughed. 'My soul is nought to me,' he answered. 'I cannot see it. I may not touch it. I do not know it.'
'What wilt thou give me if I tell thee?' asked the Witch, looking down at him with her beautiful eyes.
'Five pieces of gold,' he said, 'and my nets, and the wattled（由编条织成的） house where I live, and the painted boat in which I sail. Only tell me how to get rid of my soul, and I will give thee all that I possess.'
She laughed mockingly at him, and struck him with the spray of hemlock. 'I can turn the autumn leaves into gold,' she answered, 'and I can weave the pale moonbeams into silver if I will it. He whom I serve is richer than all the kings of this world, and has their dominions.'
'What then shall I give thee,' he cried, 'if thy price be neither gold nor silver?'
The Witch stroked his hair with her thin white hand. 'Thou must dance with me, pretty boy,' she murmured, and she smiled at him as she spoke.
'Nought but that?' cried the young Fisherman in wonder and he rose to his feet.
'Nought but that,' she answered, and she smiled at him again.
'Then at sunset in some secret place we shall dance together,' he said, 'and after that we have danced thou shalt tell me the thing which I desire to know.'
She shook her head. 'When the moon is full, when the moon is full,' she muttered. Then she peered all round, and listened.
A blue bird rose screaming from its nest and circled over the dunes, and three spotted birds rustled through the coarse grey grass and whistled to each other.
There was no other sound save the sound of a wave fretting the smooth pebbles（鹅卵石） below. So she reached out her hand, and drew him near to her and put her dry lips close to his ear.
'To-night thou must come to the top of the mountain,' she whispered. 'It is a Sabbath（安息日）, and He will be there.'
The young Fisherman started and looked at her, and she showed her white teeth and laughed. 'Who is He of whom thou speakest?' he asked.
'It matters not,' she answered. 'Go thou to-night, and stand under the branches of the hornbeam（鹅耳枥）, and wait for my coming.
If a black dog run towards thee, strike it with a rod of willow, and it will go away. If an owl speak to thee, make it no answer. When the moon is full I shall be with thee, and we will dance together on the grass.'
'But wilt thou swear to me to tell me how I may send my soul from me?' he made question.
She moved out into the sunlight, and through her red hair rippled the wind. 'By the hoofs(蹄子) of the goat I swear it,' she made answer.
'Thou art the best of the witches,' cried the young Fisherman, 'and I will surely dance with thee to-night on the top of the mountain. I would indeed that thou hadst asked of me either gold or silver.
But such as thy price is thou shalt have it, for it is but a little thing.' And he doffed （脱帽）his cap to her, and bent his head low, and ran back to the town filled with a great joy.
And when the Witch watched him as he went, and when he had passed from her sight she entered her cave, and having taken a mirror from a box of carved cedarwood（雪松木）,
she set it up on a frame, and burned vervain（马鞭草） on lighted charcoal before it, and peered through the coils of the smoke.
And after a time she clenched her hands in anger. 'He should have been mine,' she muttered, 'I am as fair as she is.'
（1206 words）
今日短语
1. dwell in: 居住，存在于
2. get rid of: 摆脱
3. let down: 放下
4. sail into: 船驶入…
5. a pail of: 一桶
6. weave…into： 把…织成
7. circle over：在…上空盘旋
8. peer through: 透过…窥视
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