When they stepped in, the lady said: "A hundred years have I lived here, and my name is Lady Greensleeves. No friend or servant have I except my dwarf Corner, who comes to me at the end of harvest with his handmill, his basket, and his axe. With these he grinds the nuts, and gathers the berries, and splits the firewood; and cheerily we live all the winter. But Corner loves the frost and fears the sun; and when the topmost branches begin to bud, he returns to his country far in the north, so I am lonely in the summertime." By these words the children saw how welcome they were. Lady Greensleeves gave them deer's milk and cakes of nut-flour, and soft green moss to sleep on. And they forgot all their troubles, the wicked stewards, and the straying swine. Early in the morning a troop of does came to be milked, fairies brought flowers, and birds brought berries, to show Lady Greensleeves what had bloomed and ripened. She taught the children to make cheese of the does' milk, and wine of the woodberries. She showed them the stores of honey which wild bees had made, and left in the hollow trees, the rarest plants of the forest, and the herbs that made all the creatures tame. All that summer Woodwender and Loveleaves lived with her in the great oak tree, free from toil and care. The children would have been happy, but they could hear no news of their fathers. At last the leaves began to fade, and the flowers to fall. Lady Greensleeves said that Corner was coming. One moonlight night she heaped sticks on the fire, and set her door open, when Woodwender and Loveleaves were going to sleep, saying she expected some friends to tell her the news of the forest. Loveleaves was not quite so curious as her father, the Lord of the White Castle, but she kept awake to see what would happen, and very much afraid the little girl was when in walked a great brown bear. "Good evening, lady!" said the bear. "Good evening, bear!" said Lady Greensleeves. "What is the news in your part of the forest?" "Not much," said the bear; "only the fawns are growing very cunning--one can't catch above three in a day." "That's bad news," said Lady Greensleeves; and at once in walked a great wild cat. "Good evening, lady!" said the cat. "Good evening, cat!" said Lady Greensleeves. "What is the news in your part of the forest?" "Not much," said the cat; "only the birds are growing very plentiful--it is not worth one's while to catch them." "That's good news," said Lady Greensleeves; and in flew a great black raven. "Good evening, lady!" said the raven. "Good evening, raven!" said Lady Greensleeves. "What is the news in your part of the forest?" "Not much," said the raven; "only in a hundred years or so we shall be very genteel and private, the trees will be so thick." "How is that?" said Lady Greensleeves.