  Eva waited for a moment, with as much patience as she could, in hopes that the door might now be opened for her. Vain hopes, for the ringing laughter and the merry voices began again; and once more Eva would have been discouraged, if the thought had not come that perhaps her gentle knocking had not been heard, and once more she tapped, louder this time, at the door. A voice within immediately asked, “Who knocks?” “I—Eva,” was the child’s reply. “Eva may enter.” Poor child! She thought the permission was useless, for the door remained as tightly shut as ever. “Why do you not come in?” the same voice asked, after a pause, “You are permitted.” “I cannot come in, because the door is shut,” Eva said. “Take the key and unlock it.” But Eva, after looking around carefully, could see no key, and so she said, “I do not know where the key can be.” “Look under your right foot,” said the voice within; and Eva, stepping to one side, saw lying, just where her foot had been, a queer little key, which she picked up; and seeing a key-hole among the quaint letters of the inscription, she found the little key just fitted it; and on turning it, the door flew open, and, as it did, a band of beautiful children came forward to meet her, though not one of them crossed the threshold of the door, and they bade her welcome. But when Eva would have gone in, it seemed to her that invisible hands prevented her entrance; and then one of the children, seeing that she still held in her hand the white stone she had picked up near the spring, and with which she had made the mark over Aster’s hiding-place, told her to throw it away, for that nothing from Shadow-Land could be brought into their valley; and then to be careful and not touch the threshold of the door, but to step over it. And Eva did as they told her; but when she threw the white stone over the precipice, it changed into a large white moth as it left her hand; and Eva, watching it, saw one of the faces rise from out of the curling mists to meet it, and then the moth changed into a face like the one she had first seen, and then both disappeared among the mists and vapors. And the moment she passed through the door, it closed suddenly behind her, and could not be told from the solid rock; and Eva saw that she was in a place totally different from anything she had ever seen before in her wanderings. She found that she was now in a large, grassy valley, in the midst of which was built a beautiful rose-colored palace, shining like a star. Flowers of the gayest hues bloomed all through the grass; fountains of musical water, surrounded with rainbows, played here and there; birds and butterflies of brilliant colors flew among the flowers, and were so tame that they would alight on the children’s hands, and the birds were so wise that they could talk, and tell the most interesting stories, which you never grew tired of hearing. A little brook ran sparkling through the valley, and groups of beautiful children were playing on its banks, among whom Eva looked—but looked in vain—for Aster. The children gathered around her, asking where she came from, if she was the Queen who was to reign over them, and if she was not going to live always with them. And when Eva tried to explain how she had come, and asked them if they knew where Aster was, they joined hands and danced in a circle around her to their own singing, and then one of them gave her the leaves of a flower to eat. Now the leaves of this flower were delicious, and as sweet as honey to the taste, and one never wearied of eating them; and as Eva ate them, all memory of Shadow-Land and of Aster faded from her mind, and she was content to remain in the valley with the children. It was a pleasant life that she led in this peaceful valley, surrounded, as it was, and shut in by high, insurmountable, and steep rocks, over which nothing without wings could go; in which the children dwelt, and where there was neither sun nor moon, but only a soft, rosy light, which never hurt or dazzled the eyes, and where nothing ever happened which could disturb the peace of the place. To chase the brilliant butterflies, to listen to the songs and stories of the birds, to dance on the soft green grass, and gather flowers to make fragrant wreaths and garlands with which to decorate the beautiful palace in which, when darkness came over the valley, they all assembled, and where tables, spread with the most delicious fruits, always stood ready for them,—such was the life that Eva and the children led in the Valley of Rest. But at last a day came when the children told Eva that, as their custom was, they must leave the valley and carry baskets of flowers and fruit to the Queen for whom they had at first taken her. She could not go with them now, they said, but the next time that they went they would take her with them. They would be gone the next morning before she was awake, and she would be alone for that day in the valley; but then they would return; and the only favor they asked of her was this,—that she would not go near the brook, nor play upon its banks, while they were absent. Eva willingly promised this. Such a little thing as it was to promise, when she would have the whole fair valley to herself, to go where she pleased, and to do what she pleased! It would be very easy to keep away from the brook. But when once more the soft, rosy light came, and the darkness was gone, and Eva awoke to find herself lying, all alone, on her little bed in the palace, and to know that all the children were indeed gone, though only for a time, a strange restlessness came over her, and she felt that she could not stay all alone in the palace. She would go out of it into the valley. But she was no better off there. She gathered flowers and made beautiful wreaths and bouquets, but there was no one to admire them when they were made. The rainbows around the fountains were less brilliant; the birds were all gone with the children, so that she could not listen to their songs or the stories they might have told her. She might play and dance, but what fun was there in that, when she had no companions to dance and play with her? Eva thought she never had spent such a stupid, long, dull day in all her life; and she wished it was over. The only thing which seemed as merry as ever was the little brook, which she had promised to avoid, yet which rippled along so joyously that it was as much as Eva could do to keep away from it. But she remembered her promise to the children, and turning her back upon the brook, she went and sat down near one of the fountains. She had only been there for a few moments, when she felt something pull her dress; and looking round to see what it was,—wondering if the children could possibly have returned,—she saw, to her great surprise, a huge green toad, which had hold of her dress, and which, when she looked at it, said: “Croak! croak!” Then Eva knew that she had seen the toad before, and she began to wonder how it had gotten into the Valley of Rest, where she never had seen anything like it. But she did not have much time for wonder; for the toad, giving her dress another pull, said to her, “Come to the brook! Come to the brook!” And then it began to hop towards the brook just as fast as it could go. She forgot her promise to the children, and, just exactly as she had done once before, she obeyed the toad, and went down to the brook. And when she got there, she could not imagine why the toad wanted her to go there, for he was nowhere to be seen, and the brook looked just as it always did. But she sat down by it, and watched the merry water as it rippled along over its pebbly bed. Then, soothed by the low murmur it made, she lay down on the grass and fell asleep. And while she was asleep she had a dream; and this is what she dreamed: She saw Aster, his dress torn, dirty, and ragged, his long curls tangled; tired and sad, and compelled to carry burdens of stone too heavy for him to lift. And when he wanted to rest, two figures, with the faces which Eva had seen in the forest and among the curling mists and vapors at the foot of the precipice, beat him with rods full of thorns. And then a huge red-and-black spider would sting him in the foot, or a great green frog, with prominent black eyes, would threaten to swallow him; and then the boy would cry, and call for Eva to come and help him. Then the frog would say: “Why did you let me tear your coat?” And the faces would ask: “Why did you lose your flower?” And then the spider would say: “Why did you creep into the rock?” And to all this Aster would only answer with the cry, “Eva! Eva! help me!” Then one of the faces said, angrily: “We shall punish you here until three things are done, because through three things you fell into our power. First. Eva must find your coat. Second. She must get the piece to mend it with. Third. She must find you. But you need not call her, because she cannot hear you; for she is in the Valley of Rest with the Happy Children, who are the Dawn Fairies, and she has forgotten you. And there are many dangers to pass in Shadow-Land before, she can come to you; and she will not come, unless she hears you call.” Then they would beat him again; and Aster would cry, louder than ever, “Eva! Eva! help me!” And then the dream passed away, and Eva awoke. And it seemed to her that Aster’s voice mingled with the rippling of the water, and it cried, piteously, “Eva! Eva! help me!” And then Eva knew why it was that the children had begged her not to go near the brook while they were gone; because its voice would bring back to her all that she had forgotten. For now, as she sat by it, she remembered everything that the leaves of the flower which she had eaten had made her forget; and she sprang to her feet, determined to follow the course of the brook, and let it lead her to where Aster was. She went all through the fair valley, along the margin of the brook with whose waters Aster’s voice still seemed to mingle. It led her at last to the high rocks, which, like a steep wall, surrounded the valley, and where a low cavern, the roof of which was only a few inches above the surface of the water, received the brook. Eva could not enter it, neither could she climb the steep precipice-like wall; and, with Aster’s voice still sounding piteously in her ears, with a heavy heart, after several fruitless efforts to climb the rocks, she went back to the palace, determined to wait for the return of the children; for, although she had been very happy while with them, and was unwilling to leave them, she intended to ask them how she could leave the peaceful Valley of Rest, and if they would provide her with the means of continuing her search for Aster. Had Eva consulted her own wishes, and been able to carry them out, she would not have waited one moment, but would have gone at once out into Shadow-Land, which she now knew lay all around the valley. She knew, too, that the little brook running through the valley, and which had brought her Aster’s cry for help, was the same whose “Follow, follow me!” had led her to the golden fountain from whose crest she had received her little charge. But how to leave the valley she did not know. She could do nothing by herself,—she must wait till the return of the children,—so that she could scarcely be patient till the hours of darkness came, knowing that during them, and before the soft, rosy light could dawn again, that they would be with her. There was nothing for it, however, but patience, and at last, after a day which had seemed at least a year long, darkness covered the valley; and although Eva had fully intended to keep awake until the children’s return, her eyes, try and resolve as she might, would not stay open, and she slept. |
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