Daye 40 / A Quaint Old Bretagne Ballad

this lady was neither pig nor maid
and so she was not of the human mould
not of the living nor the dead
her left hand and foot were warm to touch
her right as cold as a corpse’s flesh
and she would sing like a funeral bell
with a ding-dong tune

the pigs were afraid
and viewed her aloof
and women feared her and stood afar
she could do without sleep
for a year and a day
she could sleep like a corpse
for a month and more
no one knew how this lady fed
on acorns or on flesh

some say that she’s one of the swine-possessed
that swam over the sea of gennesaret
a mongrel body and a demon soul
some say she’s the wife of the wandering jew
and broke the law for the sake of pork
and a swinish face for a token doth bear
that her shame is now
and her punishment coming
~ J. Sheridan Le Fanu