stop again; and surely it is all right at last, for I saw a small
footpath. Now, thought I, you are safe--now you can go on boldly, for
this must lead to where men are. I saw a bone button lying on the path,
I picked it up, and put it into my pocket; and it was lucky I did so,
for I had quite forgotten that I had still a piece of bread there. I
thought I never tasted anything better--no, not even at a wedding
feast. In an intricate wood like this, it seems as if you could no
longer imagine that men ever sow grain, and reap, and thresh, and
grind, and bake. The path was so narrow, that I was obliged to thrust
aside the branches before I could get through. And now I saw that the
path went straight down, as steep as the side of a house. Good heavens!
what if some wicked man were to come at this moment, and rob me, and
throw me down yonder; no one would ever find me again. No, no! was I
resolved to say to him; here, here is all I have; here is my silver
thimble, and fifteen kreuzers. You have it all now, so let me go, and I
will swear an oath never to betray you. Should I be forced to keep such
an oath? I think, for the sake of other people, I ought to tell what
has happened, that others may not be robbed as I have been. In my
terror I began to sing, but search in my head as I would, I could think
of no pious song except 'The grave is deep and still,' and that was
really too dismal. I therefore sang all sorts of gay, frolicsome songs,
although my heart was beating with fear. Thank Heaven! at last I got to
the top, and then a spacious, pretty level meadow lay before me; but by
this time I was much heated, so overheated that I did not know what to
do. My cheeks were burning, and if I had been dragged through water I
could not have been worse. I could not venture to sit down to rest, and
I could scarcely recover my breath sufficiently to proceed; and in the
meadow I heard the humming and buzzing of thousands and thousands of
bees. Gracious powers! suppose I were to put my foot on a bee's nest,
and they were all to fly out and settle on me, and I to become dizzy.
My mother told me how that is--you become quite dizzy, and the only
thing that can save you is to jump into the water; and there is no
water here. I wish there was some water, for I am frightfully thirsty.
What is the meaning of this? Does the path end here? And there is a
precipice; and there are the great wild rocks. Am I actually on the
rocks of the Rockenthal, where