'This is the place; here must we part.'

But his heart failed him and he faltered in his speech as he said:

'When shall I see thee again? Wilt thou slay me if I seek to thee
hither once more?'

'Hearken,' she said, 'autumn is now a-dying into winter: let winter
and its snows go past: nor seek to me hither; for me thou should'st
not find, but thy death thou mightest well fall in with; and I would
not that thou shouldest die. When winter is gone, and spring is on
the land, if thou hast not forgotten us thou shalt meet us again.
Yet shalt thou go further than this Woodland Hall. In Shadowy Vale
shalt thou seek to me then, and there will I talk with thee.'

'And where,' said he, 'is Shadowy Vale? for thereof have I never
heard tell.'

She said: 'The token when it cometh to thee shall show thee thereof
and the way thither. Art thou a babbler, Gold-mane?'

He said: 'I have won no prize for babbling hitherto.'

She said: 'If thou listest to babble concerning what hath befallen
thee on the Mountain, so do, and repent it once only, that is, thy
life long.'

'Why should I say any word thereof?' said he. 'Dost thou not know
the sweetness of such a tale untold?'