There was a little rill running along the valley, and the Queen knelt down and drank of its brimfulness, taking the water up in her hand. It was very sweet and cool, and the Queen felt happy to be back on the earth again. "After all," she said to herself; as she sat herself down in the soft, cool grass, that tickled her hands—"after all, it’s something to have firm ground under one; one feels just a _little_ lonely up there, quite away from everything except shooting stars, and the world is a dear old place in the twilight like this." Up above the hill-top she saw a man’s head appear, together with a pair of horses and a plough. Quite plainly she could hear the bridle trappings’ rattle and click, and the heavy breathing of the horses in the evening stillness. It was all so quiet and natural that she did not feel at all surprised. Just at the brow of the hill, standing out black against the light, the man halted, and, lifting the plough, turned his team of horses round and set off down the new furrow. With very little hesitation, the Queen went up the hill towards the spot from which he had disappeared, and in a very short time she had reached the brow and stood looking down the furrows. The western sky was still a blaze of glory, and the yellow light gleamed along the ridge of shining earth that the plough turned up, and on the steel of the ploughshare. The ploughman was singing a song, and his voice came mellowly along over the sunlit stubble that was not yet ploughed up. "I wonder, now, if it will be safe for me to speak to him, or if he’ll fall in love with me as soon as he sees me? because it’s really too much of a nuisance." However, she went lightly across the stubble towards him. He was just turning the plough as she approached, and he did not seem to notice her. "Now, lads," he said to the horses, "the last lap for this evening." And the horses whinnied softly and set their necks to the collar. "Can I be of any use to you?" the Queen said. The man stopped his team for a moment, and looked towards her. Against the glow of the sky she could not make out his face; but he seemed to smile. "No, friend," he said. "I have all but finished my day’s work; but, if you will lead the horses up the furrow, they may go straighter than I can drive them." So the Queen went to the horses’ heads, and took one of them by the bridle, and the great beasts stretched to the work. And the Queen felt a new happiness come over her, at the thought that she was of use in the world. The sun set as they came to the edge of the field. The plougher stretched his arms abroad, and then came to the horses’ heads. "Thank you, friend," he said to the Queen. He did not look at her, but kept his eyes downcast on the ground with a strangely distant appearance in them. "Will you not come home and sup with us? It is hardly a hundred yards to the farm, and the nearest place to here is several miles onwards."