Phantastes, A Faerie Romance | Page 7

her
flowers. She spoke rapidly, however, all the time, in a low tone, as if
talking to herself, but evidently addressing the purport of her words to
me.
She seemed afraid of being observed by some lurking foe. "Trust the
Oak," said she; "trust the Oak, and the Elm, and the great Beech. Take
care of the Birch, for though she is honest, she is too young not to be
changeable. But shun the Ash and the Alder; for the Ash is an
ogre,--you will know him by his thick fingers; and the Alder will
smother you with her web of hair, if you let her near you at night." All
this was uttered without pause or alteration of tone. Then she turned
suddenly and left me, walking still with the same unchanging gait. I
could not conjecture what she meant, but satisfied myself with thinking
that it would be time enough to find out her meaning when there was
need to make use of her warning, and that the occasion would reveal
the admonition. I concluded from the flowers that she carried, that the
forest could not be everywhere so dense as it appeared from where I
was now walking; and I was right in this conclusion. For soon I came
to a more open part, and by-and-by crossed a wide grassy glade, on
which were several circles of brighter green. But even here I was struck
with the utter stillness. No bird sang. No insect hummed. Not a living
creature crossed my way. Yet somehow the whole environment seemed

only asleep, and to wear even in sleep an air of expectation. The trees
seemed all to have an expression of conscious mystery, as if they said
to themselves, "we could, an' if we would." They had all a meaning
look about them. Then I remembered that night is the fairies' day, and
the moon their sun; and I thought--Everything sleeps and dreams now:
when the night comes, it will be different. At the same time I, being a
man and a child of the day, felt some anxiety as to how I should fare
among the elves and other children of the night who wake when
mortals dream, and find their common life in those wondrous hours that
flow noiselessly over the moveless death-like forms of men and women
and children, lying strewn and parted beneath the weight of the heavy
waves of night, which flow on and beat them down, and hold them
drowned and senseless, until the ebbtide comes, and the waves sink
away, back into the ocean of the dark. But I took courage and went on.
Soon, however, I became again anxious, though from another cause. I
had eaten nothing that day, and for an hour past had been feeling the
want of food. So I grew afraid lest I should find nothing to meet my
human necessities in this strange place; but once more I comforted
myself with hope and went on.
Before noon, I fancied I saw a thin blue smoke rising amongst the
stems of larger trees in front of me; and soon I came to an open spot of
ground in which stood a little cottage, so built that the stems of four
great trees formed its corners, while their branches met and intertwined
over its roof, heaping a great cloud of leaves over it, up towards the
heavens. I wondered at finding a human dwelling in this
neighbourhood; and yet it did not look altogether human, though
sufficiently so to encourage me to expect to find some sort of food.
Seeing no door, I went round to the other side, and there I found one,
wide open. A woman sat beside it, preparing some vegetables for
dinner. This was homely and comforting. As I came near, she looked
up, and seeing me, showed no surprise, but bent her head again over
her work, and said in a low tone:
"Did you see my daughter?"
"I believe I did," said I. "Can you give me something to eat, for I am

very hungry?" "With pleasure," she replied, in the same tone; "but do
not say anything more, till you come into the house, for the Ash is
watching us."
Having said this, she rose and led the way into the cottage; which, I
now saw, was built of the stems of small trees set closely together, and
was furnished with rough chairs and tables, from which even the bark
had not been removed. As soon as she had shut the door and set a
chair--
"You have fairy blood in you," said she, looking hard at me.
"How do you know that?"
"You could not have got so far into this wood if it were not so; and I
am trying to