what the raven told you last night, and we know the two lords
are our fathers. Tell us how the spell may be broken."

"I fear the king of the forest fairies," said Lady Greensleeves,
"because I live here alone, and have no friend but my dwarf Corner. But
I will tell you what you may do. At the end of the path which leads from
this dell turn your faces to the north, and you will find a narrow way
sprinkled over with black feathers. Keep that path, no matter how it
winds, and it will lead you straight to that part of the forest in which
the ravens dwell. There you will find your fathers planting acorns under
the forest trees. Watch till the sun is near setting, and tell them the
most wonderful things you know to make them forget their work. But be
sure to tell nothing but truth, and drink nothing but running water, or
you will fall into the power of the fairy king."

The children thanked her for this good advice. She packed up cakes and
cheese for them in a bag of woven grass, and they soon found the narrow
way sprinkled over with black feathers. It was very long, and wound
through the thick trees in so many circles that the children were often
weary, and sat down to rest. When the night came, they found a mossy
hollow in the trunk of an old tree, where they laid themselves down, and
slept all the summer night--for Woodwender and Loveleaves never feared
the forest.

So they went, eating their cakes and cheese when they were hungry,
drinking from the running stream, and sleeping in the hollow trees, till
on the evening of the seventh day they came into that part of the forest
where the ravens lived. The tall trees were laden with nests and black
with ravens. There was nothing to be heard but cawing.

In a great opening where the oaks grew thinnest, the children saw their
own fathers busy planting acorns. Each lord had on the velvet cloak in
which he left his castle, but it was worn to rags with rough work in the
forest. Their hair and beards had grown long; their hands were soiled
with earth; each had an old wooden spade, and on all sides lay heaps of
acorns.

The children called their names, and ran to kiss them, each saying:
"Dear father, come back to your castle and your people."

But the lords replied: "We know of no castles and no people. There is
nothing in all this world but oak leaves and acorns."

Woodwender and Loveleaves told them of all their former state in vain.
Nothing would make them pause for a min