‘In time the heartwood house was finished, and the creature came to the wealthy man’s door to tell him so. He went to inspect the place. It was indeed a splendid sight, standing tall and fair in his home field, the thatch golden in the sun, the timbers fine and strong, the stone well-shaped. He could find no fault in it. So he had his steward bring the child – a slimy, puling thing that his servants had loathed to touch, an abomination that had wailed all night and lain curled in a tight ball all day – and gave it back to its mother.’

‘She held her little one close as she made her way to the river. Not saying a word. Not until she was under the bridge again, and soothing his poor blistered skin with cool water and kisses. Not until she had fed him and rocked him and comforted him, and he, worn out by crying, had fallen into a hiccupping half-sleep.

‘When it was twilight she ventured out, and bathed her son tenderly, and sang a new song. A farm hand coming home late happened to hear it, and so strange a song was it that he remembered every word. Every tree in the house, every tree but the ivy, the poplar and the crooked yew. Every tree in the cruel man’s house but the ivy, the poplar and the crooked yew.

‘The farm hand had no idea what it meant, but it sounded interesting, so the next day he told a friend, and that friend told his friend, and in time the words the creature had sung came back to the wealthy man. And he raged to hear them, for this could mean only one thing. The creature had tricked him. She had not used every timber in the wood after all. She had left out ivy, poplar and crooked yew. He asked a druid what that might mean. The druid told him that by omitting those three, the creature had denied him and his heirs the vital blessings of self-knowledge, protection against illness and safe passage to the next life. Even if he might now father a child, without those three neither he nor his line would have a sure future.

‘The wealthy man was enraged. He would kill the monster. He would chain her up and lock her away. No, he would take the child again, and he would make the wretched creature finish the job properly. He summoned his men, armed them with pitchforks and scythes, and marched down to the river, cursing all the way. Where was the monster?