So sweetly did the sound of their voices mingle with the birds homing to their nests, so uncannily did the last shaft of light from the sun fall now upon the little circle of stones and dye the muddy pool of water the colour of blood, that the villagers gave a great gasp of relief and believed their ogres were finally dead.
* * * *
That night the villagers sang and danced to the strangers, and this time there was no menace or cruelty in the dance as there had been in the hunting dance of their last host village, where, although no one was actually killed, the lust for killing was in the air.
This dance was only of joy, and the air was filled with feelings of release.
* * * *
A day or two later the three were sorry to move on. They had made friends. The villagers believed that their mo
