Then the old woman grew angry, and she jumped off the stone, as if she wanted to get into the boat. But as she jumped, Eva spoke to the boat, and she moved on; and then the old woman fell into the water. And Eva saw that the old woman, changing her shape as soon as she touched the water, was nothing but the same great green frog she had seen before; and that her shawl was the piece torn from Aster’s coat which it was part of her business to find.
The third trout popped his head up out of the water:
“If you only could have known, and had given us the curl that the Green Frog asked you for, we would have made a net of it, in which we could have caught the frog, and then the hardest part of your task would have been over; for then you could have taken the piece of Aster’s coat away from her.”
“If you only had told me,” Eva said. “But it seems that you can only speak when it is too late.”
“Because when higher powers are present we must be silent. We are never allowed to speak till after they have spoken, and are gone.”
“Then, how could you have caught the frog?”
“Through the power you would have given us. But nothing can stop us or molest us now.”
Then the boat went on, down the brook, and nothing more happened to stop her progress. On she went, till at last, all of a sudden, the mists and vapors before her vanished, and Eva saw, just in front of her, what seemed the open mouth of a huge serpent ready to devour them. But the boat went on until it came near the terrible jaws, and then Eva saw that they were only two great rocks, one on each side of the brook,—and the boat passed unhurt between them. And just beyond them the water stopped short; and then the boat came to a pause, and nothing that Eva could say or do would move her one inch.
And then another of the trout put up his head, and told Eva she should bid the boat go to the shore; which she did; and the boat obeyed, and then stopped again, her bow resting on the shore.
“We can do no more for you,” the trout then told her. “We must now go home, for there, where the brook stops, the Enchanted River runs. On it our boat cannot go, and in it we cannot live; so, though we would like to help you, we cannot.”