"The Hollow of the Three Hills"

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Summary: A young woman seeks the help of a withered hag to learn what has happened to her parents, husband and child whom she abandoned to commit sin. She finds that her parents are broken-hearted, her husband distraught and her child dead. She herself dies on the spot.

“ ’Here has been a sweet hour’s sport,’ said the withered crone chuckling to herself.”

Comment: One of Hawthorne’s themes is the consequences of sin. Sin absorbed the consciousnesses of the Puritans of Colonial times. RayS.

Title: Tales and Sketches. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1972. Copyrighted by the Ohio State University Press. P. 7-11.