'What sort of a beast do you want to kill ?' she asked him.
'That is no business of yours,' said he.

'But it is my business,' she replied, 'for the poison that a wolf or a savage dog will eat, a bear will not even sniff at, and what makes one beast ill, on that will another beast thrive.' 'Then you must know that it is a bear.'-- 'Swear that you do not want the venom for a human being.' Fatia Negra swore with all sorts of subterranean oaths that it was really for a bear that he wanted the poison.

The medicine-woman thereupon prepared for him a mortal concoction capable of killing the most vigorous beast in the world; then she kneaded honey-cakes, a delicacy to which bears are very partial as everyone knows, and mixed it well into them.

Fatia Negra gave her ten ducats for the poison, but the old woman's conscience would not allow her to rest, and the next day she brought the ducats to me for the church's needs, as she put it,--and would I help her to relieve her soul of the heavy burden which oppressed it.

And what now if Fatia Negra, contrary to his oath, were to make use of this poison against his fellow-men ?" "That would be horrible," said Henrietta apprehensively.
"I don't think he will," said the priest; "the poison is really meant for a beast." "I suppose he wants to kill some animal who is a domestic guardian, in order that he may rob a rich man's house." "No.