Right in the middle of the path before them stood a great gray owl, staring at them with his big round eyes. The shoes stopped still, and Merrimeg sat up on her heels. The owl seemed to be staring straight at her. He opened his beak, and a hoarse voice came out of his mouth, sounding as if he had a bad cold, and the voice said:
“What do you want here, child?”
“Kitten-tails,” said Merrimeg, remembering that she wasn’t on any account to say anything else.
The owl ruffled his feathers and winked one of his eyes, very slowly. He stared at Merrimeg for a moment, then he turned around and walked off down the path before them. The wooden shoes stepped along after him, and Merrimeg followed on her hands and knees.
Old Sappy, if that was his name, led them a long way under the vines and brambles, and stopped at the end of the path before a green wall of leaves, very tall, made of vines matted thick together. At the bottom of this leafy wall was a little opening, and after looking behind him for a moment old Sappy went in, and after him stepped the two pairs of shoes, and last of all in crawled Merrimeg.
When she was inside, she stood up. She was standing on a floor which looked like green marble, very hard and shiny, and as she moved her feet on it her shoes began to pinch her feet painfully. All around her, in a circle, was the high wall of green leaves, and overhead the branches of the trees hung down, making a green roof.
On one of these branches was perched a great black ugly bird, very like a buzzard. Its little sharp eyes were looking hard at Merrimeg.
Around the walls, on the ground, was a row of gray owls,—dozens of them, all staring at Merrimeg with their big round eyes.
In the middle of the floor was a dark opening, like the mouth of a well; and alongside of it were lying the bodies of the two gnomes, on their backs, with their eyes closed. They had no shoes on their feet. The two pairs of wooden shoes walked across the floor and stood beside the bodies.
Old Sappy stopped beside the well and looked up at the ugly black bird over his head, and ruffled his feathers as if he were shivering.