“Yes,” Eva said, “those are the same words that the brook brought me.” And then she told Aster about her dream: how the faces had asked why he lost his flower; and the frog had spoken of his coat; and the spider asked why he crept into the rock; and how, between it all, had come the wailing cry of “Eva! Eva! help me!” Then, too, Aster told her how they had spoken of what she must do, and that they thought she never would do it, or know what was to be done. And then he went on: “But at last the Green Frog grew angry, when she found that, no matter what she said or did, I only answered, ‘Eva! Eva! help me!’ For then, making her servants strip off my coat, she touched me with a stick, and said to me: “‘You shall never let Eva hear you. I will silence you.’ “And, as she spoke, I was changed all at once into the little green bird in whose shape you found me. And then the Frog, putting me in a cage, said: “‘You can never get out till your friend gets the piece of your coat, the coat itself, and then finds you. If she does these things, you may be free; but these things she cannot do unless others help her; and not till after all these things are done can she hope to find your flower again.’ “The rest, Eva, you know.” As Aster spoke, Eva looked at him. And she saw that, on the rich, green velvet of his dress, only a few tiny spots and stains were left; and then she began to wonder what would happen when the moon would again be full, and the flower they had sought so long should bloom and be found. Would Aster then return to his home? and, as for herself, what would become of her? But she did not wonder long, for the soft music which attended the disappearance of the moon thrilled through the forest, and Eva and Aster, by the side of the spring, lay down and slept. And, once more, as on the first night that Eva, holding the tiny form of Aster to her heart, had slept on the mossy bed where once the golden fountain had played, the two fair white forms bent over the sleeping children, and one said: “The punishment is over.” “Yes,” was the other’s reply, “Love has overcome Hate, and Aster has been led back, through its gentle influences, to his true self once more.” Yet, even as they spoke, two figures, with the hateful faces Eva had seen, crept slowly up through the darkness to where the children lay. But the white forms, hovering over their sleep, spoke: “Go back, oh, evil fairies! to the dark shadows among which ye dwell! Here your power is over, and our Prince is a prince once more.” And, with a low cry of disappointment and rage, the two, turning away from the bright forms, shrank into the darkness, and were seen no more. Then, with a smile on their beautiful faces, the two bright forms bent caressingly over the sleepers; and a moment later they, too, were gone, and Eva and Aster were alone. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XVII. _THE LAST OF SHADOW-LAND._