So ‘twere that Maggie Peasebody was married on the morrow, and all the folk of our village came to see the nuptials, which everyone agreed were beautiful ‘n’ charmin’ and all of the sort.
So pleased Maggie at her beautiful wedding that she had forgotten all about the hagstone and Robin’s warning until after she’d said “I Do” and the pastor had gone home, drunk on mead and merry.
Her kinfolk helped her pack her finery, and in a knapsack she brought with her the little horse that Robin had given her, and off she was sent, bridal caravan and all to the South, where her new groom told them his kingdom was.
For a few days they rode, stopping to drink and eat and water their horses. Underneath a cherry tree, Maggie stopped, and feeling the hagstone in her pocket, she had a fancy to look through it at her bridegroom from afar, while he was tending to his horse (tittering to herself about Robin’s mischief all the while).
And how horrified she was, you can imagine, when she looked through the hagstone and saw a great horned beast, so horrible I cannae describe it to your young ears.
She thought to fly from her groom, but they had come too far, and the night was too deep, and she had no ideer how to get back to her village safe and sound!
So Maggie had to stay with the bridal caravan, and on they went, until they stopped once again to water their horses.
Here a little old woman, a wandering vagrant by the looks of her, hobbled up to her and said, “Why, Maggie Peasebody. What’s that worry on your brow I see?”
Maggie did not think it strange that the old woman knew her name. She said, “Oh, grandmother!” and sighing and weeping, she recounted her story to the little dear.
“Never fear, Maggie,” said she. “There may be a way out yet. Let’s ask the cards what they think.”
The little old woman read from a deck of cards, and then said, “Here’s what you shall do. You’ll put a pebble in your groom’s shoe, and whisper these secret words three times.” She whispered the magic words in Maggie’s ear, kissed her cheek, and off she went.
The bridal caravan went on. This time they went on until they came to a stream, where they stopped once again to water their horses. Maggie, sighing and weeping, sat on the edge of the water. As before, an old woman came hobbling toward her and asked her what was the matter. She told her tale.
“Not to worry, Maggie Peasebody,” said the grandmama. “Look at my stones here, they’ll have the answer.” And she whispered the secret into Maggie’s ear, kissed her cheek, and disappeared.
They rode on, the bridal caravan, through treacherous heights and long roads, until they came to the gates of the stranger’s castle. But quick as a whip, Maggie whispered the secret words.
The pebble in the horse’s shoe grew into a boulder, so heavy it was that no matter how much her groom hiya-d and whipped the poor thing, it couldn’t move. Then, out of her knapsack Maggie pulled out her little horse, and whispered the secret words in its ear. And that grew too, larger and swifter than any horse that ever rode.
Maggie jumped up to its back, and the story says that the horse that Robin Goodfellow gifted her, rode day and night until she was returned to our village.
It’s told that after that, the fair folk came to our village no more, perhaps afraid of the bridegroom’s return and revenge, although he came no more to the village. Some say he’s there still, trapped on his horse underneath that giant boulder.
Whate’er the reason, he’s never bothered us again, and Maggie Peasebody never married a second time, but became an old maid.
But it’s said, that some days when the moon is full, you could see Maggie Peasebody on that hill there, dancing with a red-haired man as looks like Robin Goodfellow.
Perhaps we’ll see them tonight.
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