“To the north of Lucca, where the mountains rise highest, and the country is most wild, there was, at the period those people lived concerning whom I write, an immense ilex wood, which covered the Apennines, and was lost to sight in the grey distance, and among the folds and declivities of the hills. In this forest there lives a witch; she inhabited a cottage aptly built of the trunks of trees; partly of stones, and partly was inclosed by the side of the mountain against which it leaned. This hut was very old; that part of it which was built of stone was covered with moss, lichens and wall-flowers, whose beauty and scent appeared alien to the gloom around; but, amidst desolation and horror, Nature loves to place the lovely and excellent, that man, viewing the scene, may not forget that she, the Mother, dwells every where” (323). Bindo convinces Beatrice to visit this witch, Fior di Mandragola. Beatrice “mounted the horse that Bindo had brought, and followed him across the country, towards the mountains which divide the the Lucchese from the Modenese territory; the dark forests extended into the valley, contrasting their black shadows with the dun hues of the low country; the stars shone keenly above. They rode swiftly; but the way was long; and it was two o’clock before they arrived at the witch’s cave. It was dreary habitation, and now, as the shades of night fell upon it, it appeared more desolate than ever; the pines made a sorrowful singing above it. The earth around was herbless; and a few pine cones lay about, mingled with the grey rock that here and there peeped above the soil” (378).