1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,879
Speaker 1: The tie at the moor Stone by Nigel Turner. The

2
00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:10,039
boat was fastened and I clambered up the broken steps.

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,679
Their silence met me like a friend. No sounds were

4
00:00:14,679 --> 00:00:17,879
to be heard, but measured lapping of water against the

5
00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,879
stone lined banks, and the occasional cheap of a screech

6
00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:28,000
bat I gained the terrace. Nowhere was a light visible.

7
00:00:28,879 --> 00:00:34,280
The grange seemed filled with silence and darkness. Slowly I

8
00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,759
wended up the long alley the beldum. That witch hag

9
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:44,000
weighed heavily upon my spirits, and a loathsome fear possessed me.

10
00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,320
In daytime I had brooded over her address, and hell

11
00:00:48,399 --> 00:00:53,799
got lear. Yet sunshine and fellowship of men, and ripened

12
00:00:53,840 --> 00:01:00,960
wine had beclogged my apprehensions. Now, walking betwixt the high

13
00:01:01,039 --> 00:01:04,920
dense hedges of box, where no sound was for the

14
00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,200
thick turf as velvet sunk my footsteps, I was once

15
00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:14,519
more affrighted. Twice had she crossed me, and two times

16
00:01:14,519 --> 00:01:19,599
had evil fortune befallen. The galleon captured my brother slain,

17
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,000
Ye gad man, What of old wives prattle? Quoth I

18
00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:30,599
to myself. Their gizzards are stuffed with ancient tails. Tush

19
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,920
a fig for the hag's rubbish did not bab may last,

20
00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,319
Saint Agnes Eve tell her beads to my name, and

21
00:01:38,439 --> 00:01:44,040
that even the too nay, nay, her malignanty cannot wantonnon me.

22
00:01:46,159 --> 00:01:48,959
But ever and anon. As I paced up the silent,

23
00:01:49,359 --> 00:01:56,400
fragrant ally, her words fell back again, and unwittingly I shuddered, God,

24
00:01:56,519 --> 00:02:00,799
what courage was a constant companion? Yet a fright grew

25
00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:06,159
and overwrought me. My bilbow fastened in a blown branch,

26
00:02:06,439 --> 00:02:11,000
and I stooped to release it. A torturing scream broke

27
00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:16,159
shrilly upon my ears, an oath, a scuffle, then silence.

28
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,000
In God's name, What's ado? I muttered, and sped up

29
00:02:21,039 --> 00:02:25,639
to the terrace door. It was bolted. This threw me

30
00:02:25,719 --> 00:02:29,400
all aback, for never before had it been so encountered.

31
00:02:30,599 --> 00:02:34,280
Now I heard the west gates thrown open, creaking villainously

32
00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:39,360
upon their hinges, A clatter of horses, hoofs, then no noise.

33
00:02:40,479 --> 00:02:45,240
I ran swiftly round the terrace, leapt the small stream, and,

34
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,960
hastening up the steep, stood upon the margin of the moor.

35
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,719
But darkness of night and softness of verdure had swallowed

36
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,039
up both sight and sound. I turned into the courtyard

37
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,280
and hurried to the wicket gate by the ancient buttery.

38
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,520
It swung over to my touch, So speeding through the

39
00:03:06,599 --> 00:03:11,479
smaller hole, I gained the great staircase. At the first turn,

40
00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,879
I tripped over a sprawling body in a trice. I

41
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,840
was on it, and at the throat it was a

42
00:03:17,879 --> 00:03:22,199
woman with nervous hands. I struck a light and beheld

43
00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:27,840
the countenance of her handmaid, Mistress Marian. Cried I thickly,

44
00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,840
what has happened? But she had been stunned by a

45
00:03:32,879 --> 00:03:36,840
heavy blow, which yet left a thick red welt upon

46
00:03:36,879 --> 00:03:40,599
her forehead. So in haste to ascertain the safety of

47
00:03:40,639 --> 00:03:44,080
my beloved, I caught up the maid and rushed down

48
00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:49,240
the long corridor. The door of Viola's room stood ajar.

49
00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,120
I broke in, clamoring her name, but there came no response.

50
00:03:55,759 --> 00:04:00,400
The chamber was empty. I flung down the woman, and

51
00:04:00,479 --> 00:04:03,800
with trembling hands, lit the flambo by the tall mirror.

52
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,240
As the light filled the room, I noticed full disorder

53
00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:13,319
on every side. Viola must have retired to rest. For

54
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,879
her garments, with many dainty frills and ravishments of white

55
00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:22,839
lay flung aside, while the bedclothes were betossed. Hastily. I

56
00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:26,439
threw water over the damsel's face and violently shook her.

57
00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:31,680
Mistress Marian, I shouted loudly in her ear, where is

58
00:04:31,759 --> 00:04:37,040
my lady? She opened her eyes, her lips moved, but

59
00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,959
I heard no sound. Bending down, I caught the low moan,

60
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:49,000
my lord, the tie at the mow stone, Sir Jasper,

61
00:04:50,759 --> 00:04:55,120
and the goodly maid fell a faint. Again, This is

62
00:04:55,199 --> 00:05:00,720
the devil's ploy, thought I suddenly the heart within me.

63
00:05:01,759 --> 00:05:05,160
Now I knew of a certain that an evil eye

64
00:05:05,199 --> 00:05:09,319
had been cast upon us. My feet seemed rooted to

65
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,279
the oaken floor. Action was wanting in all my members.

66
00:05:14,079 --> 00:05:19,120
I stood as a stucco doll. Me seemed an age passed,

67
00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,120
and no sounds heard, but the sough of the wind

68
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,759
through the blighted pines, and the dismal hoot of a

69
00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:34,000
ranging owl. It was strange. Fragrance of Jessamine still lingered

70
00:05:34,079 --> 00:05:37,279
in the room, as it was at even when last

71
00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:42,000
we sat in Love's sweet bower. This perturbed my senses

72
00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,680
with dear recollections, and as a lout, struck dumb with

73
00:05:46,759 --> 00:05:51,959
fears indefinite, with bitter grief, tearing at my heart strings. Heedlessly,

74
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:58,199
I loitered, then recurred that bodeful wording seeker by the

75
00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:03,439
mols stone when no time is and cursing my tardiness,

76
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:08,000
I hastened from the chamber. As I fled along the dark,

77
00:06:08,199 --> 00:06:12,560
re echoing corridors, A mighty blast of wind drave into

78
00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:18,120
the house, swirling and screeching through the many passages. Then

79
00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,600
fell a great silence all around, and my heart pat

80
00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,560
exceedingly within me. For I on this night did evil

81
00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:32,079
fortune befall. From one a babe would be reft, ne'er

82
00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:36,120
to be seen again. From another, a fair virgin would

83
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,920
be ravished to be discovered. Next morn, lying afield, babbling

84
00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,439
and disfigured. Oft times, a wedded wench would be lifted

85
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,839
from beside her slumbering bridegroom, And next morn, at the

86
00:06:49,879 --> 00:06:54,959
waking hour, a dead corpse chilled his living blood. All

87
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,000
this crushed into my head, as unwitting of the way,

88
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,439
I traversed the outer hall. Its porch stood open, and

89
00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,759
I marveled thereat. Neither in my life nor in my

90
00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,759
father's had this been For time had so rusted and

91
00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,639
encrusted the iron bratticed halls of the great door that

92
00:07:14,839 --> 00:07:18,120
nigh A scoursome of strong men could scarce accomplish the

93
00:07:18,199 --> 00:07:24,879
opening thereof. But now it gaped to the thickening darkness.

94
00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,839
I gained the heath. All was still behind me lay

95
00:07:30,879 --> 00:07:37,040
the grange, buried in the gathering night beyond the moorstone.

96
00:07:37,319 --> 00:07:41,920
I plunged impetuously forward, scudding up the rising grounds like

97
00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:48,600
a leverett before pursuit. Now arose all my grandam had told.

98
00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,360
This was the eve of Witchery's highest revelry, the thirtieth

99
00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:59,040
of April. A great offering was brought this night to

100
00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:04,480
the moorstone around hearthstones at eventide, it was whispered the

101
00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:09,399
evil One himself came and feasted. But no mortal had

102
00:08:09,439 --> 00:08:14,600
ever seen and told. Had not my father been found

103
00:08:14,639 --> 00:08:18,120
two score years ago on the first of May, lying

104
00:08:18,199 --> 00:08:22,720
in deathly stupor nigh to the moorstone, his body naked

105
00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:27,120
and livid, with impress of great taloned fingers all over,

106
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:33,399
And never again had his voice greeted the ear. My

107
00:08:33,519 --> 00:08:37,200
eager feet sank in a bog and tardily I set

108
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,399
them down again, lest I be pitted and drawn in

109
00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,519
by the quickening morass. There was no noise but the

110
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,360
swishle of reeds against my body. As I bent on

111
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,559
now and again a moor hen or what a rat was, startled,

112
00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,919
and I heard it scuttle from me. Ever and anon

113
00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:01,200
elusive lights shimmered out in the distance to tell of

114
00:09:01,279 --> 00:09:06,080
mortals lured to destruction by malicious goblins. And I gathered

115
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:10,080
in my mind how that travelers crossing between Murk and

116
00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:15,879
morning had been lost, luckless whites snared into depthless morasses.

117
00:09:17,639 --> 00:09:21,240
I broke out into a speedier pace and prayed the

118
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,919
saints for a stout heart. Haply stumbling into a narrow

119
00:09:26,039 --> 00:09:30,240
westerly track, I gained courage with firm ground beneath me.

120
00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,080
My God, I groaned to think of my love in

121
00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:40,759
their hellish tricks. The blood thickened at that very thought.

122
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,720
As I sped up to the waste land, my brain

123
00:09:45,919 --> 00:09:52,960
pieced together the case. The heart was with my mistress, Yester.

124
00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:56,879
Even as she lay in my arms, a cold shiver

125
00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:01,080
chilled her gentle frame, and breath failed for the space

126
00:10:01,159 --> 00:10:06,879
of a lamb's bleat. As life pulsed back, she clung

127
00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:11,399
her tender soft body to mine, and knew the quickening

128
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,679
beat of her heart was felt, and sweet caresses calm

129
00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:20,840
to the terrified spirit. She wist not the cause, but

130
00:10:21,039 --> 00:10:25,960
subtle love caught upon the reason. An evil eye had

131
00:10:26,039 --> 00:10:31,159
rested upon her and thralled ay, And by Sir Jasper

132
00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:35,679
had it been cast. May God smother him in his

133
00:10:35,799 --> 00:10:41,080
own slime. I muttered thickly, and sped the faster onwards.

134
00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:46,879
At last the dreary highlands were reached. No knowledge had

135
00:10:46,919 --> 00:10:50,679
I whereby to gain the center, where lay the moor stone,

136
00:10:50,759 --> 00:10:55,159
within the circle of stone pillars gathered by heathenish hands.

137
00:10:56,039 --> 00:11:00,240
I was all uncertain of it. Neither moon nor your

138
00:11:00,279 --> 00:11:05,200
stars broke the sullen darkness, No stir was in the air.

139
00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,919
All in a clap out of the blackness. To my

140
00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:14,879
right came a shrill cry of help, Help. Then the

141
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,799
silence was broken by shrieks of a tortured being borne

142
00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,840
far into the night. They beat upon my ear full

143
00:11:22,879 --> 00:11:28,200
of a dread terror, and I stood rooted to the spot.

144
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:33,919
Suddenly the air rang with a faint echo of Jeffrey Geoffrey.

145
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:40,080
The vague sound died away, and I heard nought but

146
00:11:40,279 --> 00:11:45,000
the pit pat of my bosom, Now a harsh hurtling

147
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:50,080
noise passed overhead, an echo of discordant laughter and gibberish talk.

148
00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,039
Even now, where the devilish gang are loose, Already some

149
00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,840
luckless wight had they fastened upon and done to death.

150
00:12:00,159 --> 00:12:03,879
For this hellish brood was my mistress to be sacrificed.

151
00:12:05,519 --> 00:12:08,759
A mighty wrath flowed up within me, and I pressed

152
00:12:08,799 --> 00:12:14,519
on fiercely. Hell's dawn broke red behind a ridge. Some

153
00:12:14,759 --> 00:12:19,279
small deer drove rapidly past me. My limbs slackened as

154
00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:23,360
timorously I clambered up, muttering a pater noster. The top

155
00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:29,320
was reached. The sight therefrom terrified me by reason of fear.

156
00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:34,639
My body shook before the druid circle, wherein lay the

157
00:12:34,759 --> 00:12:38,960
stone sat a horrid being of evil growth, possessing the

158
00:12:39,039 --> 00:12:44,039
voice of man. Around him, red columns of fire belched forth,

159
00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:49,799
beclouding the air with Hell's vapors. Far back, until enveloped

160
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:54,360
with the mists of night. Grinned myriads of babbering skulls,

161
00:12:54,879 --> 00:13:00,039
ancient witches and wizards again to renew the past. On

162
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,519
a sudden the earth trembled, and I fell, quaking upon

163
00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,919
the salts. Methinks I had lain there in stupor a

164
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:13,240
goodly time. As when breath crept back, the space before

165
00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:18,440
me was covered with crawling, flickering flames, and numberless voices

166
00:13:18,519 --> 00:13:22,720
filled the air with hoarse revelry. My heart gave a

167
00:13:22,759 --> 00:13:27,480
great bound, but the blood clotted within its runs. For

168
00:13:27,639 --> 00:13:32,320
bound to the moor, stone lay violer. I sank on

169
00:13:32,399 --> 00:13:37,440
the turf, riven with unutterable agony. No prayer issued from

170
00:13:37,519 --> 00:13:44,200
trembling lips. Indeed my head was blank. Then thoughts slowly

171
00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:50,200
shaped themselves. Tradition hath it that every volpurgis eve, the

172
00:13:50,279 --> 00:13:54,759
evil one demands the pure soul of maidenhood thereafter to

173
00:13:54,840 --> 00:14:00,879
woo it to destruction. So Sir Jasper, maddened at my felicity,

174
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,000
had outrun all humanity of God and man. His base

175
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:11,159
malignity roused my beclotted blood, and I cursed him. Nay,

176
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,080
I could but die beside her and bulk his devilish intent.

177
00:14:15,399 --> 00:14:19,480
And I started up. But I was borne upon the

178
00:14:19,559 --> 00:14:25,120
grass by an overmastering hand that stiffening all flesh, turned

179
00:14:25,159 --> 00:14:32,840
my body into stone. I lay prostrate, speechless and mightily afraid. Verily,

180
00:14:32,919 --> 00:14:35,440
man is but a beast of the fields. When the

181
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:40,720
spirits of evil and of darkness do stalk abroad. A

182
00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,000
voice sounded from among the crawling flames. As it receded

183
00:14:45,039 --> 00:14:48,679
from the circling witchery and drew nigh unto the evil one.

184
00:14:49,159 --> 00:14:54,080
It died away into a long, drawn sob. The person

185
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,720
of a male appeared amongst the many wavering fires. With

186
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:03,120
bowed head and low, crouching body. He adored. Then, with

187
00:15:03,279 --> 00:15:08,480
indistinct voice, he proffered the offering. Great clouds of smoke

188
00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:13,000
gathered above as a roof. All sound died away into

189
00:15:13,039 --> 00:15:18,559
a deadened silence, and human utterance issued from the pillar

190
00:15:18,639 --> 00:15:25,080
of fire that, slowly filling the circle, enwrapped the evil growth.

191
00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,039
It is good, it said, and the soul of the

192
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:34,799
maid is without stain. Yet their up spake a voice

193
00:15:34,879 --> 00:15:40,600
in reverent accents, Almighty Master, we cast a spell upon her,

194
00:15:40,919 --> 00:15:44,960
for she cried on her lover to save. So the

195
00:15:45,039 --> 00:15:51,879
bane was recalled. Yet the recumbent figure lay motionless. Forthwith

196
00:15:52,159 --> 00:15:56,519
there arose a mighty clamoring of many tongues, crying, Am

197
00:15:56,639 --> 00:16:03,080
mortali is with us. The harsh, unhallowed outcry filled the air,

198
00:16:03,679 --> 00:16:07,840
and curling flames, shooting out their long tongues sprang upon

199
00:16:07,879 --> 00:16:12,600
me from the surface of the earth. My breath hardened,

200
00:16:13,279 --> 00:16:17,840
my pulse throbbed. Not meseemed, I was and was not

201
00:16:19,399 --> 00:16:22,840
scant knowledge had I that Hell's crowd surged upon me,

202
00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:29,279
and surged back again. Baffled again, they thronged around, endeavoring

203
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:34,879
to devour me, But I was unharmed. Hideous forms filled

204
00:16:34,879 --> 00:16:39,399
the air. Griffins with hurtling wings and monstrous faces swarmed above,

205
00:16:39,919 --> 00:16:45,080
darkening the dim light. Huge embodiments of winged snakes swelled

206
00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:52,000
up and spitting at me, raged impotently with hellish spleen. Suddenly,

207
00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:57,639
like a base chimera, the unholy crew went not before

208
00:16:57,679 --> 00:17:01,200
me but the lurid round of flame and the motionless

209
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:06,839
body of my love. Yet on all sides, great bodied creatures,

210
00:17:07,279 --> 00:17:13,160
mingling with gigantic, wavering shadows, noiselessly massed themselves. In the

211
00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:18,039
heavens above, and upon the face of the sleeping lands

212
00:17:18,759 --> 00:17:24,559
afar and surrounding, the forces of Hell were arranging. My

213
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,599
heart went from me. I lay heaped upon the ground.

214
00:17:30,279 --> 00:17:33,359
Now the blast of a mighty hurricane wind was to

215
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:38,839
be heard. Then, speeding nearer and nearer, Many things tossed

216
00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,480
by me, Yea, the evil one would snatch at me.

217
00:17:42,599 --> 00:17:46,440
As that thistle down borne on the gusty breeze. A

218
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,480
speck of gold flashed in the red gloomed air. Another

219
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:55,319
and another. Then a multitude of small birds with golden

220
00:17:55,319 --> 00:18:00,559
plumage and whitened breasts broke over the body of my love,

221
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,759
settling thereon until she was a mass of wavering gold.

222
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:12,240
The wind caught me. The grim countenance of night blanched

223
00:18:12,319 --> 00:18:16,920
before the uncoming morn, gray dawn peered upon the mist

224
00:18:17,079 --> 00:18:22,559
swaved hills. I awoke, starting to my feet. I gazed

225
00:18:22,599 --> 00:18:26,640
with surprise at my strange bed quarters, twas deuced odd

226
00:18:26,759 --> 00:18:31,400
to fall asleep upon the moor. Suddenly the wild fantasy

227
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:35,200
of midnight clappered upon my brain, and I shivered at

228
00:18:35,279 --> 00:18:39,880
mere thought of it. A scurrying breeze tore asunder the

229
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,839
seething rack. In a hollow at my feet, between the

230
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,759
parting shreds, was revealed a body upon the moor stone.

231
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,000
I attained the spot with frantic speed, catching hold of

232
00:18:53,079 --> 00:18:57,839
the massive slabs, I drew up my cramped figure. Before

233
00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:04,200
my eyes lay Viola, and upon her swarthy tresses floated

234
00:19:04,279 --> 00:19:09,880
one small, golden plume. Through the monstrous enactment of evil,

235
00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,720
God had preserved her in the hollow of his hand.

236
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:24,440
Valpurgis Eve eighteen ninety six and of the Tie at

237
00:19:24,519 --> 00:19:27,200
the Moorstone by Nigel Turner