Eve with the dew still wet upon it. If a maid shall gather it, fasting, it shall bring her a husband within the year, and if she places it under her pillow she shall see the face of the man she will wed. They also claim that if a barren wife desires a child, she should strip herself naked and go out to pick the flower on Midsummer's Eve, then she shall surely bear a child before the next feast of St John.
But beware lest you step on St John's Wort whilst it is growing, for a horse will rise up from the ground under you and carry you away. And though it rears and bucks, drags you through thorn thickets and stinking ditches until you are bruised and exhausted, you will not be able to slide from its back. You shall be forced to ride the beast until cockcrow, whereupon the faerie horse will vanish and you shall be left to walk home for many a mile.
The Mandrake's Herbal
Mother Margot
The two boatmen gripped Elena's arms on either side, hurrying her up the darkened streets. They had reached Norwich before dark, but the men had moored up on the River Wensum a little way short of the town in the shelter of the marshes. They had offered Elena bread and onions, and strips of dried eel. But though she had not eaten for more than a day, she felt full and nauseous after only a few bites of the coarse bread. Her breasts burned and ached, so swollen with milk that she couldn't even bear the touch of the cloth of her kirtle on them.
As soon as it was dark the boatmen sculled up the river into the outskirts of the town and tied up near a decaying wooden jetty that tilted precariously into the oozing mud. Now they scuttled through a maze of alleys and snickets, avoiding the main streets where the flames of the torches guttered and danced in their brackets on the walls of the houses. These little alleys huddled in darkness save for the dagger-thin blades of yellow light that struck out between shutters or under doors.
In Gastmere most villagers lived in tiny one-roomed cottages, separated from their neighbours by wide tofts where vegetables, herbs and fruit grew, and chickens, geese and pigs wandered freely. Elena had not dreamed that any place could have so many streets or houses so squashed together.
The men finally halted in front of a large wooden house. Elena guessed they must have looped back towards the river again, for she could feel the sharp, damp breeze on her face, though she could not see the water. The dwelling, though large enough to be owned by a merchant of some property, was not in the sort of street any man with money would choose for his wife and children. The ground was ankle-deep in bones, vegetable peelings and worse, thrown out by the inns and alehouses which lined it. The music of the hurdy-gurdy and frestelles tumbled from the windows, and bawdy songs and raucous laughter spilled from the casements.
One of the boatmen pulled on a rope, and somewhere from deep inside the building a bell tolled. Almost at once, as if he had been waiting behind it, a small panel behind a grill opened and a man peered out, holding up a lantern to illuminate his visitors.
The boatman moved closer to the grill. 'The Bullock said to bring this package to Mother Margot.'
'Did he now? Then we'd best take a look at it, hadn't we?'
After much fumbling, the door swung open and the boatman pushed her inside.
'Meet me in the Adam and Eve tonight, we'll reckon up then,' the gateman said. The two boatmen nodded tersely and, with a rapid glance up and down the street, retreated back into the shadows.
Placing a hand on her shoulder, the gateman guided Elena into a long, narrow room. A fire burned brightly in a pit in the middle, the smoke meandering to the blackened roof beams far above. Around the top of the walls were carved grotesques, masks of green men and other leering faces, like those Elena had seen on the church in Gastmere. At the far end of the hall was a long table set on either side with benches. The table was laden with flagons, leather beakers and half- eaten platters of cold meats, roast fowls, pies, bread and slabs of yellow cheese. It appeared that a great company had sat