The Water of the Wondrous Isles · Chapter
II: Now Shall Be Told of the House by the Waterside explained
The witch-wife travels through the wood for four days with the stolen child, treating her with occasional kindness.
What happens
The witch-wife travels through the wood for four days with the stolen child, treating her with occasional kindness. On the fifth day, they emerge from the forest to a great lake with two eyots. The witch-wife leads them to a small house on a knoll by the water, where she unloads the ass, brings the child inside, and prepares food, establishing this as her home.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Wild
The journey through the wood and the arrival at the lake with its eyots, greensward, and meadow highlight the natural setting.
Class and Servitude
The witch-wife's control over the stolen child, treating her as a possession to be fed and handled at will, reflects a power imbalance.
Characters to notice
- Birdalone
The stolen child, carried in a pannier and occasionally allowed to roam; she is glad despite the circumstances.
- The Witch Wife
The witch-wife who stole Birdalone; she feeds and sometimes caresses the child, and leads them to her house by the lakeside.
Key passages
“Four days they wended the wood, and nought befell to tell of.”
They traveled through the forest for four uneventful days.
Describes the initial journey after the abduction.
“The witch-wife (for even such was she) fed the stolen child well and duly, and whiles caressed her and spake sweetly unto her;”
The witch-wife, as she truly was, fed the stolen child properly and sometimes showed her affection and spoke kindly.
Reveals the witch-wife's identity and her mixed treatment of Birdalone.
“At last, when the fifth day was waning, and they had been a long while wending a wood set thick with trees, it began to grow grey betwixt the distant boles, and then from grey to white, and it was as if a new world of light lay before them.”
On the fifth day, as they traveled through a dense forest, the space between the trees turned from grey to white, revealing a bright new world ahead.
Describes the transition from forest to lakeside.
“Went the witch-wife straight to the door of the said house as if she were at home, as was sooth indeed.”
The witch-wife went directly to the house door as if she belonged there, which she truly did.
Confirms the house belongs to the witch-wife.