“She went, and I folded my arms, lay down and slept.

“When I woke, she was rocking me wildly to rouse me.

“‘I dreamed,’ said I, ‘that a great heap, as if it were a hill, lay on me and above me.’

“She put a cloak over me, gave me a hunting-knife and a wallet of food, and other things I did not note. Then under her own cloak she hid the lanthorn.

“‘Let us go,’ she said, and blindly I followed her.

“When I came out into the cold someone touched my face and my hair.

“‘Ha!’ I cried, ‘who now——?’ Then she swiftly clung to me, hushed me.

“‘Someone has touched me,’ I said aloud, still dazed with sleep.

“‘Oh hush!’ she wept. ‘’Tis snowing.’ The dogs within the house began to bark. She fled forward, I after her. Coming to the ford of the stream she ran swiftly over, but I broke through the ice. Then I knew where I was. Snowflakes, fine and rapid, were biting at my face. In the wood there was no wind nor snow.

“‘Listen,’ said I to her, ‘listen, for I am locked up with sleep.’