Now the mice peep abroad,
And the cats take them,
Now do young wenches sleep,
Till their dreams wake them.
Make a ring on the grass
With your quick measures:
Tom shall play, I will sing
For all your pleasures.
Thus danced they a good space: at last they left and sat down upon the
grass; and to requite Robin Good-fellow's kindness, they promised to tell
to him all the exploits that they were accustomed to do: Robin thanked them
and listened to them, and one began to tell his tricks in this manner.
THE TRICKS OF THE FAIRY CALLED PINCH
"After that we have danced in this manner as you have beheld, I, that am
called Pinch, do go about from house to house: sometimes I find the doors
of the house open; that negligent servant that left them so, I do so nip
him or her, that with my pinches their bodies are as many colours as a
mackerel's back. Then take I them, and lay I them in the door, naked or
unnaked I care not whether: there they lie, many times till broad day, ere
they waken; and many times, against their wills, they show some parts about
them, that they would not have openly seen.
"Sometimes I find a slut sleeping in the chimney-corner, when she should be
washing of her dishes, or doing something else which she hath left undone:
her I pinch about the arms, for not laying her arms to her labour.
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