Linde gazed at him for a moment or two without speaking. Was she dreaming? she asked herself. But the familiar fragrance rea.s.sured her.
"Is it--?" she began, "are these the roses that our fairy powder came from?"
Again the robin bent his little head.
"Even so," he replied. "Fairy roses, that never lose their perfume. And you would gladly fill the old jar again, would you not?"
Linde clasped her hands.
"Oh yes, yes!" she exclaimed. "The leaves mean everything to us. Not only food and clothing, but a home--a home for us two together, instead of terrible separation. Oh Robin, darling, may I gather the flowers and dry the leaves, ready for the market? I"d come any day--or every day, to fetch them, and oh how grateful we should be," and the tears rushed to her eyes in her eagerness.
But the redbreast"s tone grew grave, and Linde began to tremble with fear that he would say it could not be. But when he spoke again his words surprised her.
"Do you know the story of the forest?" he asked.
"Yes--some part of it, at least. We know that--that--" for she felt his bright eyes fixed upon her, and it made her hesitate, "something very sad happened, and since then, no robins ever come here," she murmured.
"Sad--yes indeed," he repeated, "and worse than sad. Wicked, cruel! A monster in the shape of a boy shot one of our favoured tribe, deservedly favoured, for, as a Christian child you know since when, we have been honoured for our faithful service?"
Linde bowed her head reverently.
"I know," she whispered. "It was very wicked of the boy. But it was a long time ago," she went on. "Can"t you forgive it, and come back to the forest again?"
""Tis almost fifty years ago," the robin said. "And for fifty years the place has been under the ban. Our queen--call her fairy queen, or guardian angel as best pleases you--p.r.o.nounced it. But around the tomb of the innocent victim," and he pointed downwards, "she planted the rose-trees, of whose flowers by special favour the old G.o.dmother, of whom you have heard, was allowed to gather a few. For she it was who found our poor brother--here on this very spot--and summoned us to his side. Our ancestor, I should call him, for it was long ago, and our bird lives are very short--so surely they should not be cut still shorter?"
"Surely not," said Linde. "Then are those the leaves we had in our jar?
I thought it was a powder--a fairy powder that the G.o.dmother bequeathed?"
"So it was. She dried and ground the precious leaves, and with the powder perfumed the petals of her own garden roses, every year, so long as she lived. But she never re-visited the spot. It has been closed ever since the day when, the arrow still transfixing his tender body, the robin was buried, though not dead."
"Not dead," cried Linde. "What can you mean?"
"That was the decree," he replied. "For fifty years he was to lie here, till the forest could be purified from the pollution of cruelty."
"And how can that be done?" Linde asked eagerly.
"By the hands of a maiden--a child-maiden, who never, _never_ has been guilty of cruelty to any living thing. Linde, are you that maiden?"
The little girl was silent. Then she looked up, and her blue eyes did not falter beneath the piercing gaze of the bird.
"I think, yes, I think," she said, "no, I _know_ that I have never wished or meant to cause suffering. If ever it has come through me, it has not been by any intention of mine."
"You speak the truth. We have watched and tested you, though you knew it not," was the reply. "Now something more is asked of you. Courage!"
"I"m afraid, I"m dreadfully afraid I"m not very brave," said poor Linde, all sorts of alarming ideas rushing through her brain as to what might be asked of her. Were they going to shoot _her_, possibly? Or to shut her up in the tomb with the dead, or not dead robin?
"Do not look so terrified," said the robin. "More shall not be asked of you than you can do. We are not a revengeful race, as you well know. We have always been faithful and loving friends to human beings. You know the story of----"
"Of the Babes in the Wood," interrupted Linde. "Of course I do. It was partly that, that made me think of you, about _leaves_, you know," and her face brightened. "I will try to be brave," she added.
"That is right," said the bird. "Some expiation _must_ be made for that boy"s evil deed, and, as I have already told you, it was decreed that the one to offer it must be a child entirely innocent of cruelty or unkindness. For this, _you_, little Linde, have been chosen. Three nights hence the fifty years come to an end--the moment for the spell to be broken will arrive. Before midnight, you must be here, standing on this very spot, where you now see me."
Linde started. Had she shut her eyes for an instant?--what had happened to them? For, to her amazement, the rose-bush was no longer there! The robin stood on the gra.s.s, in the centre of the cleared circle. Yet she had not seen the disappearance, nor heard the faintest rustle!
"Oh dear," she thought, "magic doings are very queer. There _was_ a rose-bush there, I am quite certain," but she said nothing. Some instinct told her it was best to take things calmly, and to listen attentively to the robin"s instructions. "Where you now see me," he went on, "till you hear the clock strike twelve."
"The clock," Linde repeated. "There"s no clock here in the middle of the wood."
"Indeed," said the robin. "Would you like to know the time at the present moment?"
"Yes," Linde replied. "I suppose it"s nearly four o"clock."
"Listen," whispered the bird, and as she obeyed, there fell on her ears the prettiest bell-like chimes she had ever heard. "One, two, three--"
on to twenty, then a pause and in deeper tones, "one, two, three, four."
"Twenty minutes to four," said her friend. "If it had been _past_ four, the four would have struck first. All _our_ clocks are what your clumsy human watchmakers call "repeaters," you see."
"And what do you do to make them tell you the time?" asked the little girl eagerly.
"You just say "What o"clock is it?" That is of course if you are at one of the entrances to fairyland. You can generally find one if you look about. They are always in the centre of a ring."
"Oh," replied Linde, "that"s a good thing to know. I often see fairy rings, but I had no idea they had a door in the middle. Then tell me more, please. I must wait till I hear the fairy clock strike twelve, and then--will the door open? And--what do you want me to do? And--if I can do it, will you let me gather some roses?"
"Not so fast, not so fast," said the robin. "Let me see--what was I saying? You stand here--the clock strikes, at the twelfth stroke you tap the ground with the three feathers--you have them safe?"
"Yes," replied Linde, feeling for them as she spoke.
"The door will then open and you will descend. That is all you require to know at present. Three nights hence, three nights hence."
"But," began the little girl, "I must know something more. How am I to find my way here in the middle of the night when it is all dark? It wasn"t easy to distinguish the path even by daylight, and now, even now, I don"t know how to get through these thick bushes on to it. I can"t see any opening in them."
Instead of replying the robin suddenly spread his wings and alighted on a bush close beside her, and at once Linde perceived that there was a narrow sort of pa.s.sage through the hedge. She turned towards it.
"Thank you," she said, adding timidly, "May Aria come with me? Together we might find our way better perhaps. We might bring a little lantern."
"It will not be needed, and you must come alone. You may tell Aria all I have told you; and if she is wise she will encourage you. I make no promises. It is not for me to do so. But this you may depend upon--never will you have cause to regret obedience to this summons," and as he spoke, he spread his wings again and flew upwards. As he pa.s.sed her, there came a breath of the delicious perfume, and Linde felt that it meant a promise after all, which raised her spirits, as pushing her way through the hedge she found herself on the path outside and started on her way home.
"Aria will be getting anxious," she thought. "I must hurry. I do believe it is all going to come right, but--oh dear, I do feel frightened at the idea of finding my way here alone through these gloomy woods in the very middle of the night. Why wouldn"t the robin let Aria come too? I suppose it _had_ to be a rather dreadful thing to do, to make up for that cruel boy"s wickedness. Oh dear, oh dear!"
But as she ran on as fast as her feet would take her, some things grew clearer. She must make the best of it to her sister. She must conceal her terrors as much as possible.
"For supposing," she reflected, "that dear Aria really _wouldn"t_ let me go and that it all came to nothing--the dreams and the feathers and this wonderful talking robin, how could I ever get over it? We should have to be parted pretty certainly, and would not that be a thousand times more terrible than having to face the dark forest for once? For deep down in my heart I feel certain that I shall be taken care of. I am proud to be chosen to break the spell and to make the forest again a happy place--a home for the dear robins, and favoured by the fairies as it used to be all those years ago--yes, I am proud to be the chosen one. And I know it will lead to our getting the precious leaves to sell, as many as we want, and _that_ means everything to us, home and comfort and the being together. Yes, I _will_ be brave."
So when, at some little distance from the boundary of the forest, she caught sight in the gloaming of her sister"s figure anxiously looking out for her, she ran towards her with cheerful eagerness, calling out as loudly as she could, "It"s all right, darling. Good news--good news."
Nevertheless, when Aria had heard the whole strange story, her face grew very grave.
"Linde, my sweetest," she said, "I _cannot_ let you do it. Alone in the middle of the night, and winter close at hand! Wolves have been known to find their way into the forest, and not only that, we ourselves have every reason to believe there is some unhappy enchantment over the place----"