On she went, meeting no one and with no hindrance in her way. Then she saw a tiny worm, writhing, as if in pain, and trying to crawl away from a twig which lay on it and seemed to hold it. And pitying the feeble creature, even more helpless than she was, Eva stooped and took it from under the twig, and laid it gently down again. The twig immediately put forth many legs and ran away, and the worm crept into a hole near by. And a few minutes later Eva saw an old woman sitting in the water and warming her hands over a fire built upon a stone, and the child went up to her, and asked her if she would tell her where Aster was. But the old woman would not even look at her; she only shook her head and mumbled something which sounded like “Ask my sister,” and then she seemed, as Eva stood by her, to fall apart and melt away, and then there was nothing left of her except a little vapor, and the child saw that the fire was only a little heap of the same green leaves which she had seen among the trees.
And Eva went on, eager to leave a place where such strange things as this happened. Then the river seemed to disappear, and only a number of little pools of water were left. Picking her way carefully among them, in one she saw a poor, half-drowned mouse struggling, unable to get out; and when Eva saw it she took the little animal in her hand and laid it on dry land. It never even looked at her, but crept shyly away, as if it was afraid of her, and hiding itself under a leaf, Eva saw it no more.
Weary and tired, the child went slowly onward. At last the pools of water were all gone, and the river flowed on as before, but its waters were now white like milk. Tall, shadowy forms every now and then rose from it, and made threatening gestures; yet they always vanished before she came up to them. The banks of the river became high and steep, and Eva was compelled to walk in its bed; at times these rocky sides were so close together that it looked as if it would be almost impossible to pass between them; then again it would spread out into a vast expanse, with no visible limit, or else the water would run, not down, but up a rocky slope; it would smoke, and yet the water would be freezingly cold; masses of something as clear as ice would float in this smoking water, which were so warm that Eva could scarcely bear her hand upon them; on one of these masses lay a bird, like a robin, worn and exhausted, its feathers all wet and ruffled. Eva took it up tenderly, smoothed and dried its plumage, and held it till it was warm. And then the bird, seemingly impatient of her gentle hold, struggled to get free, and Eva released it, and in another moment it was gone too.
And then she came to where another old woman sat on a rock, around which the milky waters were foaming, and mists and vapors rose above and behind her. To this old woman she also spoke, and asked her the same question which she had asked before,—where Aster was. And in reply she was told that still farther down the river, at the Cascade of Rocks, was where the Toad-Woman lived, and that perhaps she might tell Eva what it was that she wished to know. “But,” the Mist-Woman added, “my sister will not always answer those who speak to her, and I cannot tell you how to make her.” And, as she spoke, the vapors thickened and gathered around her for a moment, and then melted away, and the Mist-Woman had vanished with them, and nothing was left except the bare rock.
The child began to think that the wonders of the river would never cease, and that her journey down it would be endless. Yet, tired as she was, she persevered, and went on until all the water was gone, and only stones and rocks lay in its former bed. But, strange to say, as Eva walked among the stones and rocks, she found they were only shadows. Then, all at once, a loud noise, as of falling stones, met her ear, and on coming to a sudden turn in the river, she saw that the noise was caused by what she at once knew was the Cascade of Rocks; for from a high precipice crossing the river’s bed fell an endless stream of huge stones, and seated in a sort of cavern, just behind the fall, there was a third old woman, with a head like that of a toad, fanning herself with a fan made of peacock’s feathers.
Eva was at first afraid to go near the woman, lest the stones should fall and crush her. But at last she ventured to go near, and she saw that at her approach the stones parted, as though to make room for her; and summoning all her courage, she went close to the cascade, and finding that none of the stones touched her, but rather got out of her way, she walked into the grotto.
The Toad-Woman stopped fanning and looked at her. Then she took a pair of spectacles out of her pocket and put them on, and Eva thought she looked funnier than ever. And then she asked:
“What do you want?”
And Eva answered, “I am looking for Aster.”