On she went, meeting no one and with no hindrance in her way. Then she saw a tiny worm, writhing, as if in pain, and trying to crawl away from a twig which lay on it and seemed to hold it. And pitying the feeble creature, even more helpless than she was, Eva stooped and took it from under the twig, and laid it gently down again. The twig immediately put forth many legs and ran away, and the worm crept into a hole near by. And a few minutes later Eva saw an old woman sitting in the water and warming her hands over a fire built upon a stone, and the child went up to her, and asked her if she would tell her where Aster was. But the old woman would not even look at her; she only shook her head and mumbled something which sounded like “Ask my sister,” and then she seemed, as Eva stood by her, to fall apart and melt away, and then there was nothing left of her except a little vapor, and the child saw that the fire was only a little heap of the same green leaves which she had seen among the trees. And Eva went on, eager to leave a place where such strange things as this happened. Then the river seemed to disappear, and only a number of little pools of water were left. Picking her way carefully among them, in one she saw a poor, half-drowned mouse struggling, unable to get out; and when Eva saw it she took the little animal in her hand and laid it on dry land. It never even looked at her, but crept shyly away, as if it was afraid of her, and hiding itself under a leaf, Eva saw it no more. Weary and tired, the child went slowly onward. At last the pools of water were all gone, and the river flowed on as before, but its waters were now white like milk. Tall, shadowy forms every now and then rose from it, and made threatening gestures; yet they always vanished before she came up to them. The banks of the river became high and steep, and Eva was compelled to walk in its bed; at times these rocky sides were so close together that it looked as if it would be almost impossible to pass between them; then again it would spread out into a vast expanse, with no visible limit, or else the water would run, not _down_, but _up_ a rocky slope; it would smoke, and yet the water would be freezingly cold; masses of something as clear as ice would float in this smoking water, which were so warm that Eva could scarcely bear her hand upon them; on one of these masses lay a bird, like a robin, worn and exhausted, its feathers all wet and ruffled. Eva took it up tenderly, smoothed and dried its plumage, and held it till it was warm. And then the bird, seemingly impatient of her gentle hold, struggled to get free, and Eva released it, and in another moment it was gone too.