on grain,
Ell monta sur son ane,
Ma p'tite mam'sell' Marianne!
Ell' monta sur son ane Martin
Pour aller au moulin.

But Honey-Bee stopped:

"I have lost my shoe, my satin shoe," she cried. And so it was. The
little shoe, whose silken laces had become loose in walking, lay in the
road covered-with dust. Then as she looked back and saw the towers of
the castle of Clarides fade into the distant twilight her heart sank and
the tears came to her eyes.

"The wolves will eat us," she cried, "and our mother will never see us
again and she will die of grief."

But George comforted her as he put on her shoe.

"When the castle bell rings for supper we shall have returned to
Clarides. Come!"

The miller saw her coming nigh
And could not well forbear to cry,
Your donkey you must tether.
My dainty maiden, Marian,
Tether you here your donkey, Jan,
Who brought us twain together.*

* Le meunier qui la voit venir
Ne peut s'empecher de lui dire:
Attachez la votre ane,
Ma p'tite Mam'sell' Marianne,
Attachez la votre ane Martin
Qui vous mene au moulin.

"The lake, Honey-Bee! See the lake, the lake, the lake!"

"Yes, George, the lake!"

George shouted "hurrah" and flung his hat in the air. Honey-Bee was too
proper to fling hers up also, so taking off the shoe that wouldn't stay
on she threw it joyfully over her head.

There lay the lake in the depths of the valley and its curved and
sloping banks made a framework of foliage and flowers about its silver
waves. It lay there clear and tranquil, and one could see the swaying of
the indistinct green of its banks.

But the children could find no path through the underbrush that would
lead to its beautiful waters.

While they were searching for one their legs were nipped by some geese
driven by a little girl dressed in a sheepskin and carrying a switch.
George asked her name.

"Gilberte."

"Well, then, Gilberte, how can one go to the lake?"

"Folks doesn't go."

"Why?"

"Because..."

"But supposing folks did?"

"If folks did there'd be a path, and one would take that path."

George could think of no adequate reply to this guardian of the geese.

"Let's go," he said, "farther on we shall be sure to find a way through
the woods."

"And we will pick nuts and eat them," said Honey-Bee, "for I am hungry.
The next time we go to the lake we must bring a satchel full of