“Ask her where the clutch of eggs is that the goose was hatching,” said Rory the Fox anxiously, putting his head over the fence.
“And where is the clutch of eggs, ma’am, that your goose was hatching?”
“The robbers took the nest with the goose and the eggs with the nest,” said the Spae-Woman.
“And the Crystal Egg was with the other eggs,” said the Fox to Gilly. He said no more. He made a quick turn and got clear away before the Weasel could spring on him. He ran back to his burrow. He told the little foxes they must change houses again. That night they lay in a wood and at the first light they crossed water and went to live on an island where the Weasel never came.
“Where did the robbers go with the goose, the nest, and the eggs?” said Gilly of the Goatskin.
“They went to the river,” said the Spae-Woman. “I followed them every inch of the way. They got into a boat and they hoisted their sails. They rowed and they rowed, so that the hard gravel of the bottom was brought to the top, and the froth of the top was driven down to the bottom of the river. And wherever they are,” said the Spae-Woman, “they are far from us now.”
“Will you come with me?” said Gilly to the Weasel, “we will track them down and take back the Crystal Egg.”
“I engaged myself to be with you for a quarter of a year,” said the Weasel, “and the three months are up now, Gilly. Winter is coming on and I must see to my own affairs.”
“Then good-by, Weasel,” said Gilly. “I will search for the Crystal Egg myself. But first I must ask the woman to let me rest in the house and to give me some provision for my journey.” The Weasel looked up into Gilly’s face and said good-by to him. Then Gilly followed the Spae-Woman into her house. “Ocone,” she was saying to herself, “my dream told me I was to lose my poor goose, and still I never did anything to make it hard for the robbers to take her from me.”
XI