  Following the toad, and saying good-bye to his mistress, Eva passed unhurt through the falling stones, and picked her way carefully among those which lay in the bed of the river, till they came to the turn at which she had first caught sight of the Cascade of Rocks. There the toad hopped quickly on shore, and then he hopped across a large plain of mud, in which grew a multitude of toad-stools, and on every toad-stool, or mushroom, there sat either a frog or a toad, and in the mud at their feet were countless numbers of snakes and lizards, their long, shining bodies and tails coiled around the stalks of the toad-stools. It was almost impossible for Eva to make any progress through the mud, over which the toad, big as he was, hopped so lightly. Still, she succeeded in crossing the field after him, though when they reached a firmer soil, Eva was fairly ashamed of her dress, on which there was so much mud; and when they came to a little pool of clear water, in which she saw herself reflected, she wondered for a moment who that dirty little girl could be; and then she laughed to think how very different this little mud-stained figure was from the white-robed maiden who had passed without a soil or a spot on her dress through the forests of Shadow-Land. At last they came in sight of a little hut, built of rough stones, with a huge toad-stool for a roof, directly in the middle of a field, which was full of little pools of water. The field was surrounded by a strange fence, in which the posts were all toad-stools, and the rails all spider-webs. On each toad-stool a green frog was sitting, and in every web there hung either a red or a black spider. When they came to this fence, the toad, after going up to one of the green frogs and croaking something to him, turned round without so much as saying “good-bye” to Eva, and hopped away just as fast as he could go; and then one of the toad-stools; with the web attached to it, swung open as if it had been on a hinge, so that Eva could enter the inclosure. She went up to the door of the hut and knocked. And the third time that she knocked the door was opened by a large jackdaw, which Eva immediately recognized as the same bird which she had seen on the brook, dressed in the peacock feathers which he had stolen from the Toad-Woman’s fan; but although she knew him in a moment, he evidently did not know her, she was so very muddy, and so unlike her own self. In the hut, on a toad-stool, which served as a chair, sat the same Green Frog, with a little shawl over her shoulders, she had seen before, which had tried to carry Aster off, and had torn his coat; and it was with some little hesitation that Eva went up to her, and curtsied to her. And then, as she had been told, she asked the Frog if she needed a servant. The Green Frog inspected her from head to foot. “You are pretty dirty,” she said to Eva, “and I don’t think that I ever saw you before. But that don’t matter. You will have to work out-of-doors, and if you do your work properly, at the end of the week you may ask for your own wages. But if you don’t work well, I will give you nothing, but I will turn you into a frog, and put you on a toad-stool, as I have done with a great many before you.” Eva thought to herself that perhaps the Frog never before had a servant like herself, so she told her that she was still willing to hire herself. Then the Frog told the jackdaw to take the new servant out and tell her what she was to do. So the jackdaw hopped out, and Eva followed him. And when he told her what her work for that week was to be, she thought it was very funny work. And then he told her she might do as she pleased for the rest of that day, but the next morning she must go to work. And Eva amused herself by looking everywhere for Aster, But he was not to be seen. Only, just over the back-door of the hut, there hung a little wire cage, and in it there sat a little green bird, which screamed whenever the jackdaw or the Frog even looked at it. And when it began to grow dark, these two took the little bird out of his cage and picked out his tail and wing-feathers, the bird screaming and struggling all the time, and then they put him back into the cage. And it was just as much afraid of Eva as it was of the jackdaw and the Frog. There was neither sun nor moon in this place,—as in the forest, when the moon was gone, all the light seemed to come from the earth. And every morning Eva noticed that the tail and wing-feathers of the little green bird had grown again, though every evening either the Frog or the jackdaw pulled them out. I said that when Eva was told of the work she would have to do she thought it was very queer work. Every morning, when the light drove away the darkness, she was to wipe off and dust the tops of the toad-stools on which the frogs sat, and she thought it would be very easy to do. So she tried to do it, and the jackdaw stood on one foot and cawed at her all the time,—and the more she rubbed and wiped the top of the toad-stool post the dirtier it became,—and she was nearly in despair, when she heard one of the frogs whisper to the other,— “If she would only catch the jackdaw and sweep one off with his tail, she would have no more trouble.” And Eva did as the frog had said, and though the jackdaw screamed and struggled, and tried to get away, it did him no good. But she found that when she had swept one toad-stool off that all the rest were as clean and nice as possible, and there was nothing more to be done to any of them. And every evening before the Green Frog went to sleep—she slept every night in a little pond or pool in the corner of the hut—Eva had to walk around the inclosure and count the spiders and see that their webs were whole. But she never had any trouble,—the webs were always whole; and one of the spiders was sure to tell her how many of them there were. So a whole week went by, and every morning Eva caught the jackdaw and swept one toad-stool off with his tail. Now, Mr. Jackdaw did not at all approve of this, and in the morning, when he saw Eva coming, he would run away and hide himself. Then Eva would stoop down and pretend to whisper to one of the frogs; and the jackdaw, who was very inquisitive, would be so terribly afraid that something might be said that he would like to hear, that he would come running up in a great hurry, only to be caught and used as a living duster. And when the week was over Eva presented herself to the Green Frog, and asked for her wages. And then the old Frog asked her what she wanted. And Eva did as the Toad-Woman had told her, and said she would like to go and consult her mother. This she was allowed to do, and Eva returned, by the same road by which the brown toad had led her, to the grotto behind the Cascade of Rocks. There sat the Toad-Woman, fanning herself, just as if she had never moved since Eva first saw her. And she knew all about the work Eva had to do without Eva’s telling her. She told Eva to ask for the little green coat which hung at the head of her mistress’s bed (if you can call a pool of water a bed). “She will refuse you,” the woman went on, “but you must insist. You have earned it, and will get it in the end.” Eva thanked her, and then returned to the hut. And sitting in the door was the Frog; and she said to her that she was ready for her wages. “What am I to give you?” croaked the Frog. “Nothing but the little green coat which hangs at the head of your bed.” Then the Frog told her that she could not give her that, and offered her all sorts of beautiful things instead. But Eva insisted upon having the little green coat; and as fairies—even when they are bad fairies—are compelled to keep their promises or else lose their power, the Frog had to keep her word; and she told Eva that if she could find the little coat she might have it. So Eva went into the hut and looked over the pool in which the Frog slept; and hanging against the wall were little green coats innumerable, which surprised Eva, for she never had seen anything hanging there before; and they all looked so much alike that she did not know which to choose. Then it seemed to her that a mist gathered in her eyes, and she raised her hand to rub it away, and then she saw, sitting on one of the little green coats, a beautiful, pure white moth; and then Eva saw that the other coats were only shadows, and the one on which the white moth sat was Aster’s coat. So she took it down, and the moth never moved,—and then it spoke: “Do you remember the tiny worm that you saved from the crawling twig? I was that worm; and this is the first opportunity I have had to thank you for saving my life, and the best service I could render you was this.” And without waiting to be thanked, the white moth spread her wings and was gone. The Green Frog was angry enough when she saw that Eva had chosen rightly. But there was nothing to be done, only she grumbled to herself and said,—she did not know that Eva heard her: “The coat is useless without the piece.” However, she hired Eva on the same terms for another week. For she thought that if the new servant failed this time she would not only change her into a frog, but get the little coat back. And the work Eva had to do this week was to empty, and then refill with fresh water every morning, the pool in which the Frog slept, and they gave her a pail with no bottom to do it with. And Eva would have been in a sad way if she had not heard the jackdaw say, as he stood by the pool: “Our new servant is caught at last; for, if she did take me for a broom last week, she will never have sense enough to know that if she shakes her pail over the pool and says ‘Water, go,’ it will empty itself, and then ‘Water, come,’ and she will have no more trouble.” And then out hopped the jackdaw, and never knew that Eva heard him. And she found he was right; and she noticed, too, that this week they only pulled out the little green bird’s wing-feathers, and never touched his tail. She did her work this time without any trouble. At the end of the week it was the same thing over again about the wages, and again Eva went to the Toad-Woman, and was told what she should do. So she said to the Green Frog, “My coat is useless as long as it has a hole in it. You can give me the jackdaw’s best cravat to mend it with.” The Frog laughed at this, and told Eva to go and get it. She did not know that the jackdaw, being fond of dress, and a thief, had stolen the piece of Aster’s coat for that purpose. However, she found it out soon enough, and when Eva went to look for it,—behold! a great spider had spun a web around it,—a web so strong that she could not break it. And after trying a long time, she was nearly in despair, when she saw a little gray mouse come out of a hole, and, climbing up to the web, gnaw and bite at it with its sharp teeth till it cut it all through; and then it brought and laid in her hand the same piece of velvet which had been torn out of Aster’s coat. Then the little mouse said to her: “You saved me from being drowned, and I am not ungrateful.” And then it crept back into its hole. But when the Green Frog saw what Eva had, she was very angry, and determined to give her something which was harder to do than anything she had yet tried. So for the third week Eva’s work was to wash and keep the shawl clean which the Frog wore when she went out. And the first time that Eva tried to wash it she found that the harder she rubbed it, and the more she tried to clean it, the dirtier it became. But late in the day she heard the Green Frog say to the jackdaw: “I’ll get my coat back, and you shall have your cravat again, for the servant is such a dunce that she will never learn that the only way to clean my shawl is to lay it on a toad-stool, and to walk around it three times, and say every time, ‘Shawl, be clean.’” But Eva’s ears were given to her for use, and, consequently, every night the shawl was like new. And this week she saw that they only plucked one of the little bird’s wings. The end of the week came, and Eva, instructed by the Toad-Woman, asked for her wages. “What is it this time?” “I want the little green bird that hangs in the cage over the back-door.” “No,” said the Frog, “I cannot give him to you.” “You cannot help it,” Eva said, quietly; “you promised to pay me, and I have earned my wages.” “Who told you anything about the little green bird,” the Frog went on. “He won’t sing for you, and you had better let me give you a purse full of gold.” But no, Eva would take nothing but the bird, and at last the Frog told her to go and take him, if she could find him. And then she went into the hut, grumbling and talking to herself. Eva went to the back of the house to look for the little green bird. When she got there she did not know what to do, for there were at least fifty cages there, and in each cage was a little green bird, and cages and birds were all exactly alike,—there was no telling them apart,—and which the one she wanted could be Eva did not know. And if she chose the wrong one, all her work would be lost. Yet, look as she might, she could not tell which was the right one. Then there was a flutter of wings in the air, and then she felt something pull her dress, and there at her feet was a beautiful bird, holding her dress in its beak, and it led her round and round the cages, and every cage that her dress touched melted away and disappeared, till there was only one cage and one bird left, and then the new bird never hesitated, but lit on the top of this cage, and then he said to Eva: “This is Aster, who was changed by the Green Frog into this form. He cannot regain his own shape without you, and the Toad-Woman will tell you what you are to do. As soon as the Frog misses him she will know who you are, which she does not yet know, and she will do her best to get him away from you. Go at once, and without any delay, to the Cascade of Rocks. Your friend there will help you. And remember that a kind action never goes unrewarded.” And then the bird was gone, and Eva was alone. She tried to open the cage and take the little green bird out, but there was no such thing as opening it. So she took the cage, and the coat, which she had mended, and the piece had grown into the velvet, so that you never could tell that it had been torn, and without going again into the hut or telling the Frog she had found the bird, she went, for the last time, by the same road by which she had come, to the grotto of the Toad-Woman. But she had not been gone many minutes before the Green Frog, wondering that her servant did not return to hire herself again, went in search of her. And the moment she saw that the bird was gone she knew who Eva was, and that she had discovered Aster; and, angry at herself for her own stupidity, she immediately set off in pursuit, hoping it was not yet too late to regain the prizes she had lost. |
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