"Yes."
Axel is slow of mind, and slow to act. He stands there still. "Where is it, then?" he asks.
"You've no call to know," says she. "Help me back home. Twas dead. I can walk if you hold my arm a bit."
Axel carries her back home and sets her in a chair, the water dripping off her. "Was it dead?" he asks.
"I told you 'twas so," she answers.
"What have you done with it, then?"
"D'you want to smell it? D'you get anything to eat while I was away?"
"But what did you want down by the water?"
"By the water? I was looking for juniper twigs."
"Juniper twigs? What for?"