Eva's Adventures in Shadow-Land

by Mary D. Nauman; Clara F. Guernsey

And then the spider would say:

“Why did you creep into the rock?”

And to all this Aster would only answer with the cry, “Eva! Eva! help me!”

Then one of the faces said, angrily:

“We shall punish you here until three things are done, because through three things you fell into our power. First. Eva must find your coat. Second. She must get the piece to mend it with. Third. She must find you. But you need not call her, because she cannot hear you; for she is in the Valley of Rest with the Happy Children, who are the Dawn Fairies, and she has forgotten you. And there are many dangers to pass in Shadow-Land before, she can come to you; and she will not come, unless she hears you call.”

Then they would beat him again; and Aster would cry, louder than ever, “Eva! Eva! help me!”

And then the dream passed away, and Eva awoke. And it seemed to her that Aster’s voice mingled with the rippling of the water, and it cried, piteously, “Eva! Eva! help me!”

And then Eva knew why it was that the children had begged her not to go near the brook while they were gone; because its voice would bring back to her all that she had forgotten. For now, as she sat by it, she remembered everything that the leaves of the flower which she had eaten had made her forget; and she sprang to her feet, determined to follow the course of the brook, and let it lead her to where Aster was.

She went all through the fair valley, along the margin of the brook with whose waters Aster’s voice still seemed to mingle. It led her at last to the high rocks, which, like a steep wall, surrounded the valley, and where a low cavern, the roof of which was only a few inches above the surface of the water, received the brook. Eva could not enter it, neither could she climb the steep precipice-like wall; and, with Aster’s voice still sounding piteously in her ears, with a heavy heart, after several fruitless efforts to climb the rocks, she went back to the palace, determined to wait for the return of the children; for, although she had been very happy while with them, and was unwilling to leave them, she intended to ask them how she could leave the peaceful Valley of Rest, and if they would provide her with the means of continuing her search for Aster.

Had Eva consulted her own wishes, and been able to carry them out, she would not have waited one moment, but would have gone at once out into Shadow-Land, which she now knew lay all around the valley. She knew, too, that the little brook running through the valley, and which had brought her Aster’s cry for help, was the same whose “Follow, follow me!” had led her to the golden fountain from whose crest she had received her little charge. But how to leave the valley she did not know. She could do nothing by herself,—she must wait till the return of the children,—so that she could scarcely be patient till the hours of darkness came, knowing that during them, and before the soft, rosy light could dawn again, that they would be with her.