irst day that I went there. And the thicket was just the same,
and I went up slowly till I came out on the big bare hill, and began to
walk among the wonderful rocks. I saw the terrible voor again on
everything, for though the sky was brighter, the ring of wild hills all
around was still dark, and the hanging woods looked dark and dreadful,
and the strange rocks were as grey as ever; and when I looked down on
them from the great mound, sitting on the stone, I saw all their amazing
circles and rounds within rounds, and I had to sit quite still and watch
them as they began to turn about me, and each stone danced in its place,
and they seemed to go round and round in a great whirl, as if one were
in the middle of all the stars and heard them rushing through the air.
So I went down among the rocks to dance with them and to sing
extraordinary songs; and I went down through the other thicket, and
drank from the bright stream in the close and secret valley, putting my
lips down to the bubbling water; and then I went on till I came to the
deep, brimming well among the glittering moss, and I sat down. I looked
before me into the secret darkness of the valley, and behind me was the
great high wall of grass, and all around me there were the hanging woods
that made the valley such a secret place. I knew there was nobody here
at all besides myself, and that no one could see me. So I took off my
boots and stockings, and let my feet down into the water, saying the
words that I knew. And it was not cold at all, as I expected, but warm
and very pleasant, and when my feet were in it I felt as if they were in
silk, or as if the nymph were kissing them. So when I had done, I said
the other words and made the signs, and then I dried my feet with a
towel I had brought on purpose, and put on my stockings and boots. Then
I climbed up the steep wall, and went into the place where there are the
hollows, and the two beautiful mounds, and the round ridges of land, and
all the strange shapes. I did not go down into the hollow this time,
but I turned at the end, and made out the figures quite plainly, as it
was lighter, and I had remembered the story I had quite forgotten
before, and in the story the two figures are called Adam and Eve, and
only those who know the story understand what they mean. So I went on
and on till I came to the secret wood which must not be described, and I
crept into it by the way I had found. And when I had gone about halfway