CHAPTER XIII
MELON SEEDS
“Rosalind. Well, this is the forest of Arden.
“Touchstone. Ay, now am I in Arden: the more fool I;
when I was at home I was in a better place; but
travellers must be content?”—As You Like It.
“Where is it now?” said the stone-woman; and when Jack heard that he ran down to the river, and looked right and looked left. At last he saw his boat—a mere speck in the distance, it had floated so far.
He called it, but it was far beyond the reach of his voice; and Mopsa, who had followed him, said:
“It does not signify, Jack, for I feel that no place is the right place for me but that country beyond the purple mountains, and I shall never be happy unless we go there.”
So they walked back towards the stone-people hand in hand, and the apple-woman presently joined them. She was crying gently, for she knew that she must soon pass over the little stream and part with these whom she called her dear children. Jack had often spoken to her that day about going home to her own country, but she said it was too late to think of that now, and she must end her days in the land of Faery.