Dame Margery went out to the little old gentleman in green, and asked
him what he would have with her. He told the dame that his wife was
sorely sick, and that he wanted her to come and nurse her for the night.
At this Dame Margery hemmed and hawed and shook her head, for she did
not like the thought of going out at night, she knew not where, and with
such a strange little body. Then the little man begged her and pleaded
with her, and his voice and his words were as sweet as honey. At last he
persuaded her to go, promising her a good reward if she would nurse his
wife back into her health again. So the dame went back into the cottage
to make ready for her journeying, throwing her red riding-cloak over her
shoulders, and drawing her thick shoes upon her feet. Then she filled
her reticule with a parcel of simples, in case they should be needed.
After this she came out again, and climbed up behind the little man in
green, and so settled herself upon the pillion saddle for her ride. Then
the little man whistled to his horse, and away they went.

They seemed to fly rather than ride upon the hard ground, for the hedges
and cottages and orchards flew past as though in a dream. But fast as
they went, the old dame saw many things which she had never dreamed of
before. She saw all of the hedge-rows, the by-ways, the woods and fields
alive with fairy-folk. Each little body was busy upon his or her own
business, laughing, chatting, talking, and running here and there like
folks on a market-day.

[Illustration: DAME TWIST VISITS A STRANGE PATIENT]

So they came at last to a place which the dame knew was the
three-tree-hill; but it was not the three-tree-hill which she had seen
in all of her life before, for a great gateway seemed to open into it
and it was into this gateway that the little man in green urged the