"Yes," said Rick, so frightened that he was hardly able to speak the word.
"You see one now, and little comfort will you get from her. Fairies have better business than helping headstrong young gentlemen out of their scrapes. I know very well that you never told your mother and Nanette that you were going wandering about in the woods, and a pretty fright they are in now! So help yourself, if you can!"
"But I don't know which way to go to get home," sobbed Rick.
"You'd better start off somewhere in a hurry, if you don't want to spend the night in these woods. Boys that have their own way must go by their own way, and suffer the consequences. So get up, and make your way across the mountains the best way you can; for you've gone up one hill, and come down another."
"I thought I came down the same side I went up."
"And so you would go and travel off in this direction, and leave the castle farther and farther behind, you? A fine fellow to have your own way! Come with me, and I will show you the mountain that lies between you and the castle; for I would have a boy of your stamp out of my woods as soon as possible. Nanette has told you, many a time, that fairies have no liking for folks who are no better disposed than you are. Come along, in a hurry, and stop your babyish crying! If Nanette and your mother could see their fine young gentleman now!"
Rick followed the fairy, sobbing more quietly to himself, until she brought him out of the woods, into a green open space with a brook flowing through it. Just before them was a mountain, sharply defined against the sky.
"Across that mountain you must go; and now let the young gentleman who likes his own way so well, take it as he chooses," said the austere fairy.
"Thank you," replied Rick, with more politeness than he had ever exercised before; and he started across the meadow, beyond which there was another wood at the foot of the mountain.
"How shall I get across the brook?" he asked, stopping suddenly, but not daring to look around at his stern guide.