but seemed as stiff as a wire. "I see the thread
quite plain," said the boy to himself, "and the very place where it
enters the dark wood on the other side. I will just leap to the nest,
and in a moment I shall have the eggs in my pocket, and then spring
back and catch the thread again. I cannot lose it here, with the sun
shining; and, besides, I see it a long way before me." So he took one
step to seize the eggs; but he was in such haste that he fell and
crushed the nest, breaking the eggs to pieces, and the little bird
screamed and flew away, and then suddenly the birds in the trees began
to fly about, and a large owl swept out of a dark glade, and cried,
"Whoo--whoo--whoo-oo-oo;" and a cloud came over the sun! Eric's heart
beat quick, and he made a grasp at his gold thread, but it was not
there! Another, and another grasp, but it was not there! and soon he saw
it waving far above his head, like a gossamer thread in the breeze. You
would have pitied him, while you could not have helped being angry with
him for having been so silly and disobedient when thus tried, had you
only seen his pale face, as he looked above him for his thread, and
about him for the road, but could see neither! And he became so confused
with his fall, that he did not know which side of the open glade he had
entered, nor to which point he was travelling. But at last he thought he
heard a bird chirping, "Seek--seek--seek!" and another repeating, "Try
again--try again--try--try!" and then he remembered what the lady had
said to him, and he fell on his knees and told all his grief, and cried,
"Oh, give me back my thread! and help me never, never, to let it go
again!" As he lifted up his eyes, he saw the thread come slowly, slowly
down; and when it came near, he sprang to it and caught it, and he did
not know whether to laugh, or cry, or sing, he was so thankful and
happy! "Ah!" said he, "I hope I shall never forget this fall!" That part
of the Lord's Prayer came into his mind which says, "Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil." "Who would have thought," said he
to himself, "that I was in any danger in such a beautiful, green, sunny
place as this, and so very early, too, in my journey! Oh! shame upon
me!" As he proceeded with much more thought and caution, a large crow up
a tree was hoarsely croaking, and seemed to say, "Beware, beware!"
"Thank you, Mr Crow," said the boy, "I shall;" and he threw him a bit of
bread for his good advice.