ur
feet? Yonder is a well; leave your carriage here and go wash it off.'

"So the traveler kissed his daughter, for he was very fond of her, and
went to the well to wash his feet. When he came back, daughter,
carriage, and old woman had all disappeared. He wandered around like a
crazy man for many days, and at last came to where my mother lived and
told his story. This wasn't the first time she had heard such a tale,
and she concluded to see what the matter was. So she called me and
gave me a black chicken and told me to go by the old woman's house and
see what happened.

"I took the chicken, which was tied by the legs, and went along the
road until I came to the quagmire. I tried to pick my way around it,
but the black mud bubbled up and flew at my feet, and finally it
became so thick and heavy I could scarcely walk. When I got across,
there sat the old woman smoking her cob pipe and grinning.

"'Howdy, dearie!' says she.

"'Howdy, granny!' says I.

"'Leave your fat chicken here,' says she, 'and go to yonder well and
wash your toe.'

"'Thanky, granny; that I will,' says I.

"So I went to the well, but when I came back my chicken was gone. And
so was the old woman, and the quagmire. But I didn't get frightened. I
went back to the well and began to sing,--

"'Chickamy, Chickamy Crany Crow,
I went to the well to wash my toe,
But when I came back my chicken was gone--
What o'clock, old witch?'

"I hadn't been there long before the mud began to bubble up again, and
out of it came the old witch. And then what seemed to be a thick mist
cleared away, and there was the old witch's house, and inside I could
see the beautiful little girl crying for her father. I intended to run
home and tell what I had seen, but before I could move out of my
tracks I heard the old woman coming to the well. In coming up out of
the quagmire she had got mud on her feet. She had pulled off her shoes
for comfort, and had been going about in her stocking-feet, and of
course when she disappeared in the quagmire, and came up through it
again, her stockings were full of mud; and so she came to the well to
wash them.

"I didn't know whether to run or stay, but I stayed, and as soon as
the old woman got in sight, I sat on the ground and began to rock my
body backwards and forwards, crying,--

"'Oh, mercy me! Oh, what shall I do?
I can't get the black mud off of my shoe!'

"The old woman seemed to be very angry