be said that therein she happened on nought worser than herself.



CHAPTER II. NOW SHALL BE TOLD OF THE HOUSE BY THE WATER-SIDE



Four days they wended the wood, and nought befell to tell of. The
witch-wife (for even such was she) fed the stolen child well and
duly, and whiles caressed her and spake sweetly unto her; whiles also
she would take her out of the pannier, and set her on the ass's back
and hold her thereon heedfully; or, otherwhiles, when they came upon
grassy and flowery places, she would set her down on the ground and
let her roam about, and pluck the flowers and the strawberries. And
whoso might be sorry, the child was glad, so many things new and fair
as she came upon.

At last, when the fifth day was waning, and they had been a long
while wending a wood set thick with trees, it began to grow grey
betwixt the distant boles, and then from grey to white, and it was as
if a new world of light lay before them. Thitherward went they, and
in a little, and before the sun was set, came they to the shore of a
great water, and thence was no more land to be seen before them than
if it had been the main sea itself, though this was a sweet water.
Albeit, less than a half mile from the shore lay two eyots, as it
might have been on the salt sea; but one of these sat low down on the
water, and was green and well bushed, but the other, which lay east
of it, and was nigher to the shore, was high, rocky, and barren.