“A curse upon this house!” cried he,

Slamming the door behind,

Turning to shake a furious fist

At windows closed and blind.

“A curse upon it night and day,

From north unto the south,

And east and west and in and out

I curse it with my mouth!”

“Down with this house of treachery,

And down with all within!”

While those who listened gave no sign

Or answer to his din.

But as the lengthening shadows fell

Of dark hills all around,

From that day forward fell the curse

On all that house and ground.

For panes grew cloudy and with greenish film

That once had been clear as air;

Doors stuck fast and a mirror cracked,

And the newell fell from the stair.

Fungi gleamed from the dairy’s flags

And walls grew dark with damp;

The chimney fouled and would not draw

And the flame burned low in the lamp.

Then up from the cellars swarmed the rats

In frightened and frantic gangs!

They slew the cat on the kitchen floor

And the dog howled under their fangs.

Tails and whiskers and blood-shot eyes,

They hurried away in the dark;

That was the night that the well went dry

And the lamp would not show a spark.

Quietly, steadily, sank the house…

Of those who huddled here

One went mad, but nobody fled,

Bound in a spell of fear.

Then came the night when the earth beneath

Cracked with a stealthy sound,

And a huge mouth opened…and all that house

Vanished into the ground!