_THE ENCHANTED RIVER._
Eva had heard so much about this wonderful stream that, as she stood
upon its banks, she could scarcely realize that she had at last reached
it. And it looked quiet enough, now that she had come to it. It had
seemed to her that the waters of the Brook of Mists had ended in
nothing; but now, as she stood upon the river-bank, and looked back,
she could see no water. The curling mists and vapors had spread over
and covered all the way by which she had come, and the only things
left to show the place of the brook were the two black rocks, half
hid, half revealed, by the mists playing around them. But to remain
there, looking back, would, as Eva well knew, never do. Her way lay
down the river, and she might as well go boldly forward. So, slowly and
carefully, she began to walk along the bank.
Quiet as the river had at first seemed, it was not very long before Eva
found that it deserved its name. What she thought was land would very
often prove to be water; and then again places which seemed to be a
broad expanse of river would afford her a firm foothold. Here and there
were sheets of what Eva thought at first was ice, so smooth and glassy
did it look, yet it would not be cold to the touch. The river had no
perceptible banks,--it was almost impossible to tell where earth ended
and water began. Yet, walking along, sometimes with the water splashing
above her ankles, Eva’s feet were never wet. The trees along the river
seemed to walk on, and little green flames, tipped with orange, danced
among them. Once one of these little flames fell on Eva’s dress, and
when, fearing it might burn her, she brushed it off, she found that it
was nothing but a harmless green leaf, with a golden tip, which had
dropped from a tree hanging over the river.
Many wonderful things, too, lay on the bottom of the river. Eva saw
them, and remembered dimly what they were as she caught sight of them
through the clear water, though she could not tell where she ever had
heard of them. An old lamp, rusty and cracked, she knew was Aladdin’s
wonderful lamp; near it lay Cinderella’s little glass slippers; not far
off was Blue Beard’s key; and the next thing that she saw was Jack’s
famous bean-stalk. Seeing these things, and many more, she began to
wonder if the flower which Aster had lost could possibly be among them,
or if the piece of his coat was there; when she suddenly remembered
that she had seen the latter in the possession of the Green Frog.
On she went, meeting no one and with no hindrance in her way. Then she
saw a tiny worm, writhing, as if in pain, and trying to crawl away from
a twig which lay on it and seemed to hold it. And pitying the feeble
creature, even more helpless than she was, Eva stooped and took it from
under the twig, and laid it gently down again. The twig immediately
put forth many legs and ran away, and the worm crept into a hole near
by. And a few minutes later Eva saw an old woman sitting in the water
and warming her hands over a fire built upon a stone, and the child
went up to her, and asked her if she would tell her where Aster was.
But the old woman would not even look at her; she only shook her head
and mumbled something which sounded like “Ask my sister,” and then she
seemed, as Eva stood by her, to fall apart and melt away, and then
there was nothing left of her except a little vapor, and the child saw
that the fire was only a little heap of the same green leaves which she
had seen among the trees.
And Eva went on, eager to leave a place where such strange things as
this happened. Then the river seemed to disappear, and only a number
of little pools of water were left. Picking her way carefully among
them, in one she saw a poor, half-drowned mouse struggling, unable to
get out; and when Eva saw it she took the little animal in her hand and
laid it on dry land. It never even looked at her, but crept shyly away,
as if it was afraid of her, and hiding itself under a leaf, Eva saw it
no more.
Weary and tired, the child went slowly onward. At last the pools of
water were all gone, and the river flowed on as before, but its waters
were now white like milk. Tall, shadowy forms every now and then rose
from it, and made threatening gestures; yet they always vanished
before she came up to them. The banks of the river became high and
steep, and Eva was compelled to walk in its bed; at times these rocky
sides were so close together that it looked as if it would be almost
impossible to pass between them; then again it would spread out into a
vast expanse, with no visible limit, or else the water would run, not
_down_, but _up_ a rocky slope; it would smoke, and yet the water would
be freezingly cold; masses of something as clear as ice would float in
this smoking water, which were so warm that Eva could scarcely bear
her hand upon them; on one of these masses lay a bird, like a robin,
worn and exhausted, its feathers all wet and ruffled. Eva took it up
tenderly, smoothed and dried its plumage, and held it till it was warm.
And then the bird, seemingly impatient of her gentle hold, struggled to
get free, and Eva released it, and in another moment it was gone too.
And then she came to where another old woman sat on a rock, around
which the milky waters were foaming, and mists and vapors rose above
and behind her. To this old woman she also spoke, and asked her the
same question which she had asked before,--where Aster was. And in
reply she was told that still farther down the river, at the Cascade of
Rocks, was where the Toad-Woman lived, and that perhaps she might tell
Eva what it was that she wished to know. “But,” the Mist-Woman added,
“my sister will not always answer those who speak to her, and I cannot
tell you how to make her.” And, as she spoke, the vapors thickened
and gathered around her for a moment, and then melted away, and the
Mist-Woman had vanished with them, and nothing was left except the bare
rock.
The child began to think that the wonders of the river would never
cease, and that her journey down it would be endless. Yet, tired as she
was, she persevered, and went on until all the water was gone, and only
stones and rocks lay in its former bed. But, strange to say, as Eva
walked among the stones and rocks, she found they were only shadows.
Then, all at once, a loud noise, as of falling stones, met her ear,
and on coming to a sudden turn in the river, she saw that the noise was
caused by what she at once knew was the Cascade of Rocks; for from a
high precipice crossing the river’s bed fell an endless stream of huge
stones, and seated in a sort of cavern, just behind the fall, there was
a third old woman, with a head like that of a toad, fanning herself
with a fan made of peacock’s feathers.
Eva was at first afraid to go near the woman, lest the stones should
fall and crush her. But at last she ventured to go near, and she saw
that at her approach the stones parted, as though to make room for
her; and summoning all her courage, she went close to the cascade, and
finding that none of the stones touched her, but rather got out of her
way, she walked into the grotto.
The Toad-Woman stopped fanning and looked at her. Then she took a pair
of spectacles out of her pocket and put them on, and Eva thought she
looked funnier than ever. And then she asked:
“What do you want?”
And Eva answered, “I am looking for Aster.”
“I’ve not got him,” the old woman said.
“I know,” Eva replied; “but I was told that you might be able to tell
me where he was.”
“Hum!” the Toad-Woman said. “You have, then, come down the Enchanted
River, and seen my sister, the Mist-Woman. But even that won’t help
you, though she did let you pass her, and though the stones did not
trouble you. I do know where Aster is, but I promised my cousin that
I would only tell it to the person who would bring me back the two
feathers that her servant the jackdaw stole out of my fan.”
She held up her fan as she said this, and Eva saw that two feathers
out of it were gone. And then the child remembered the two feathers
which the jackdaw had dropped in the boat, and which, as the trout had
advised her, she had brought with her from the brook. So she showed
them to the woman, and asked her if these were not the same ones which
she had lost. And the Toad-Woman was very much astonished, for they
were the very feathers she had been talking about.
“Take a seat,” she said to Eva, “and tell me how you got them.”
And then a great big brown toad hopped out of his hole when he heard
his mistress say this, bringing a three-legged stool on his back. He
put it down before Eva, and then went back to his hole, and Eva sat
down on the stool and looked at the Toad-Woman.
“Now, tell me about it,” said the Toad-Woman.
So Eva had to begin at the beginning and tell the whole story. And
every time that she said anything about the green toad the old woman
would nod her head, as much as to say, “I know all about that.” But she
never interrupted Eva; only when she was done she said to her:
“I am the only person who can help you now, and as you brought me back
my feathers, I will do what I can for you. The Green Frog, who has done
all this harm, is a distant cousin of mine, but she delights in doing
mischief, and we have not been friends since her servant the jackdaw
stole the feathers out of my fan. She it is who has got Aster, and you
cannot find him until you get his coat, and the piece of it. You will
have to work for them, for I cannot help you there; all I can do for
you will be to send you where she lives.”
Then Eva thanked the Toad-Woman very earnestly, who told her that she
must be content to remain with her for that night, and the next morning
that she would tell her where the Green Frog lived, and what she should
do when she got there.
So that night Eva slept in the grotto behind the Cascade of Rocks. The
Toad-Woman waked her up very early in the morning. She had a dress in
her hand, just the color of mud, which she told Eva to put on.
“Leave your white dress here with me,” she said. “Because you will
have to deal with the things and the inhabitants of Shadow-Land, and
it would, if it touched them, change them all into mists and shadows.
Then, too, you must not be recognized.”
Then the Toad-Woman tied Eva’s head up in a cap, so as to hide all her
golden curls, and made her wash her face and hands in some water which
she gave her. Then she told her to go and look at herself in a little
pool of water which was just outside of the grotto, and Eva could not
help laughing when she saw herself, for face, hands, cap, and dress
were all the same color.
“My cousin lives on the other side of the Cascade of Rocks,” the
Toad-Woman went on. “Go to her--one of my servants will show you the
way--and ask her to hire you. She will not recognize you, but will take
you, and will tell you that if you do your work well you may name your
own wages at the end of each week. You will be able to do any work she
may give you, and at the end of every week she will ask you what wages
you want. Tell her you cannot say without asking your mother. Then she
will tell you to go and ask her, and you must then come to me, and I
will tell you what to say. In the mean time I will take care of your
dress till you need it again.”
Eva listened attentively to all that the Toad-Woman said to her, and
thanked her for her advice. And then the woman called her servant, and
the same big brown toad who had brought the stool, and who, by the way,
was just the color of Eva’s dress, hopped out of his hole, and his
mistress bade him take Eva to where the Green Frog lived.
[Illustration]