'What sort of a beast do you want to kill?' she asked him.
'That is no business of yours,' said he. 'But it is my business,' she
replied, 'for the poison that a wolf or a savage dog will eat, a bear
will not even sniff at, and what makes one beast ill, on that will
another beast thrive.' 'Then you must know that it is a bear.'--'Swear
that you do not want the venom for a human being.' Fatia Negra swore
with all sorts of subterranean oaths that it was really for a bear that
he wanted the poison. The medicine-woman thereupon prepared for him a
mortal concoction capable of killing the most vigorous beast in the
world; then she kneaded honey-cakes, a delicacy to which bears are very
partial as everyone knows, and mixed it well into them. Fatia Negra gave
her ten ducats for the poison, but the old woman's conscience would not
allow her to rest, and the next day she brought the ducats to me for the
church's needs, as she put it,--and would I help her to relieve her soul
of the heavy burden which oppressed it. And what now if Fatia Negra,
contrary to his oath, were to make use of this poison against his
fellow-men?"
"That would be horrible," said Henrietta apprehensively.
"I don't think he will," said the priest; "the poison is really meant
for a beast."
"I suppose he wants to kill some animal who is a domestic guardian, in
order that he may rob a rich man's house.
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