of quartz, which sparkled as if it had wished to set
fire to all the old stubble of the heath. Above the hunter's head
the black-cock feathers spread out like a plume, and their
iridescence shifted from deep purple to steely blue. On the
unshaded part of his face the burning sunshine glowed. But he did
not open his eyes to look at the glory of the morning.

In the meanwhile the girl continued to dance, and whirled about so
eagerly that the blackened moss which had collected in the
unevennesses of the rocks flew about her. An old, dry fir root,
smooth and gray with age, lay upturned among the heather. She took
it and whirled about with it. Chips flew out from the mouldering
wood. Centipedes and earwigs that had lived in the crevices
scurried out head over heels into the luminous air and bored down
among the roots of the heather.

When the swinging skirts grazed the heather, clouds of small grey
butterflies fluttered up from it. The under side of their wings was
white and silvery and they whirled like dry leaves in a squall.
They then seemed quite white, and it was as if a red sea threw up
white foam. The butterflies remained for a short time in the air.
Their fragile wings fluttered so violently that the down loosened
and fell like thin silver white feathers. The air seemed to be
filled with a glorified mist.

On the heath grasshoppers sat and scraped their back legs against
their wings, so that they sounded like harp strings. They kept good
time and played so well together, that to any one passing over the
moor it sounded like the same grasshopper during the whole walk,
although it seemed to be first on the right, then on the left; now
in front, now behind. But the dancer was not content with their
playing and began after a little while to hum the measure of a
dance tune. Her voice was shrill and harsh. The hunter was waked by
the song. He turned on his side, raised himself to his elbow, and
looked over the pile of stones at the dancing girl.

He had dreamt that the hare which he had just killed had leaped out
of the bag and had taken his own arrows to shoot at him. He now
stared at the girl half awake, dizzy with his dream, his head
burning from sleeping in the sun.

She was tall and coarsely built, not fair of face, nor light in the
dance, nor tuneful in her song. She had broad cheeks, thick lips
and a flat nose. She had very red cheeks, very dark hair. She was
exuberant in figure, moving with vigor and life. H