The next day at noon, the queen and her daughter and three hundred other
fairies came up the cliff to the green grass plot, and they carried a
pole, and a tape, and a mirror. When they reached the plot they planted
the pole in the ground, and hung the mirror on the pole. The queen took
the tape, which measured ten yards and was fastened to the top of the
pole, and walked round in a circle, and wherever she set her feet the
grass withered and died. Then the fairies followed up behind the queen,
and each fairy carried a harebell in her left-hand, and a little blue
cup of burning perfume in her right. When they had formed up the queen
called the lad to her side, and told him to walk by her throughout. They
then started off, all singing in chorus:
“Round and round three times three,
Tell me what you see.”
When they finished the first round, the queen and lad stopped before the
mirror, and she asked the lad what he saw?
“I see, I see, the mirror tells me,
It is the witch that I see,”
said the lad. So they marched round again, singing the same words as
before, and when they stopped a second time before the mirror the queen
again asked him what he saw?
“I see, I see, the mirror tells me,
It is a hare that I see,”
said the lad.
A third time the ceremony and question were repeated.
“I see, I see, the mirror tells me,
The hares run up the hill to the mill.”
“Now,” said the queen, “there is to be a hare-hunting this day week; be
at the mill at noon, and I will meet you there.”
And then the fairies, pole, mirror, and all, vanished and only the empty
ring on the green was left.