WAILING WRAITH
' "And what were they like? Do tell us!" said
Algernon and Wilfred eagerly.
"Rags and bones, young gentlemen: all four of
'em: flutterin' rags and whity bones. It seemed to
me as if I could hear 'em clackin' as they got along.
Very slow they went, and lookin' from side to side."
"What were their faces like? Could you see?"
"They hadn't much to call faces," said the shepherd,
"but I could seem to see as they had teeth."
"He looked
at the field, and there he saw a terrible figure —
something in ragged black — with whitish patches breaking
out of it: the head, perched on a long thin neck, half
hidden by a shapeless sort of blackened sun-bonnet.
The creature was waving thin arms in the direction of
the rescuer who was approaching, as if to ward him
off: and between the two figures the air seemed to
shake and shimmer as he had never seen it: and as he
looked, he began himself to feel something of a waviness
and confusion in his brain, which made him guess
what might be the effect on someone within closer
range of the influence."
M.R.James, The Wailing Well
No comments:
Post a Comment