LADY IN GREEN
(Rumpelstiltskin from Scotland)
Jack lived with his mother
in a cottage on a hill.
They were poor
but had a pet pig
they called Gracie.
Every morning,
Jack fed Gracie in the barn.
Then he played and ran with her,
One day, Jack found the pig
in the barn, shivering.
“What’s the matter with her?”
he asked his mother.
“Gracie must be sick,” she said.
They covered Gracie with a blanket
and brought her favorite food.
“I hope she gets better soon,”
said Mother.
She stayed in the barn,
didn’t eat, and didn’t move.
“Mother, is Gracie going to die?”
asked Jack.
“I don’t know, Son,” she replied.
Later, they saw a lady in green
coming up the road.
Jack’s mother stood to greet her.
“Why are you so sad?”
the lady asked.
“Our pig is sick and may be dying,”
she answered.
if I cure your pig?” asked the lady.
“Anything you’d like,”
Jack’s mother replied.
“It’s a deal, then,” said the lady,
and she went into the barn.
She took out of her pocket
a tiny bottle of green oil
and rubbed it on Gracie’s snout.
Then she muttered something.
Finally, she said, “Get up, beast!”
Gracie stood up
and went to eat her food.
Jack’s mother was so happy,
she bent down to kiss
the hem of the lady’s dress.
“Stop that,” said the lady.
“Let’s settle our bargain.
All I ask, and will have, is your son.”
Jack’s mother, who knew now
she was dealing with a fairy,
started to wail.
said the lady in green.
“But I can tell you this:
By our fairy law, I can’t
claim your son until the third day.
And not even then
if you can guess my name.”
Then she turned around and left.
Jack’s mother couldn’t sleep.
She wrote down all the names
she could think of,
but she knew the fairy’s name
probably wouldn’t be common.
as Jack was playing outside,
Gracie suddenly took off
and ran toward the woods.
Jack chased her
to bring her back.
Gracie jumped over fallen trees
and stopped at the edge of a cliff.
Jack caught up with Gracie
and looked down over the ledge.
was the lady in green, singing,
Tomorrow is the day
when the child I want, I will claim,
’cause nobody can guess
that Allegra is my name.
Jack ran back home with Gracie
and told his mother
what he had seen and heard.
She was so happy!
She wrote down the name Allegra
so as not to forget it.
the lady in green came back.
“So,” she said, “what’s my name?”
Jack’s mother pretended to think.
“Give me your son right now!”
ordered the lady.
“take me instead,
mighty fairy Allegra!”
The lady in green spun around
and backed down the hill,
never to be seen again.
