of the waste and dreary sands.

Many ways too had these enemies by which they enticed children to come on
the plain; for as long as they stayed within the boundary, and played
only in the happy garden, the evil one could not touch them. Sometimes
they would drop gay and shining flowers all about the beginning of the
waste, hoping that the children would come across the border to pick them
up: and so it was, that if once a child went over, as soon as he had got
into his hands the flower for which he had gone, it seemed to fade and
wither away; but just beyond him he thought he saw another, brighter and
more beautiful; and so, too, often it happened that, throwing down the
first, he went on to take the second; and then throwing down the second,
he went on to reach a third; until, suddenly, the enemy dashed upon him,
and whirled him away with them in a moment.

Often and often had little Kuhn {95a}--for so the eldest boy had been
named--looked out over this desert, and longed, as he saw the gay flowers
dropped here and there, to run over the border and pick them up. His
little brother, who was now old enough to run about with him, would stand
and tremble by him as he got close to the desert; but little Zart {95b}
would never leave him: and sometimes, I am afraid, they would have both
been lost, if it had not been for a dear little girl, who was almost
always with them, and who never would go even near to the line. When
Kuhn was looking into it, as if he longed for the painted flowers, the
gentle Glaube {96} would grow quite sad, and bending her dark sorrowful
eyes upon him, their long lashes would become wet with tears, and she
would whisper in a voice almost too solemn for a child, "O Kuhn,
remember." Then Kuhn, who could not bear to see her sad, would tear
himself away; and the flowers seemed directly to lose their brightness,
and the desert looked dry and hot, and the garden cool and delicious, and
they played happily together, and forgot their sorrow.

But it was very dangerous for Kuhn to go so near. The servants of the
Lord of the castle often told the children this; and seeing a bold and
daring spirit in Kuhn, they had spoken to him over and over again. What
made it so dangerous was this,--that the flowers of the wilderness never
looked gay until you got near to its border; afar off it seemed dusty,
dry, and hot; but the nearer you got to it, the brighter shone the
flowers; they seemed also to grow in number