no escape was possible for poor little martin so long as it was dark, and there he had to stay all night, but morning brought him comfort; for now he could see the reed-stems that hemmed him in all round, and by using his hands to bend them from him on either side he could push through them. by-and-by the sunlight touched the tops of the tall plants, and working his way towards the side from which the light came he soon made his escape from that prison, and came into a place where he could walk without trouble, and could see the earth and sky again. further on, in a grassy part of the valley, he found some sweet roots which greatly refreshed him, and at last, leaving the valley, he came out on a high grassy plain, and saw the hills before him looking very much nearer than he had ever seen them look before. up till now they[110] had appeared like masses of dark blue banked up cloud resting on the earth, now he could see that they were indeed stone—blue stone piled up in huge cliffs and crags high above the green world; he could see the roughness of the heaped up rocks, the fissures and crevices in the sides of the hills, and here and there the patches of green colour where trees and bushes had taken root. how wonderful it seemed to martin that evening standing there in the wide green plain, the level sun at his back shining on his naked body, making him look like a statue of a small boy carved in whitest marble or alabaster. then, to make the sight he gazed on still more enchanting, just as the sun went down the colour of the hills changed from stone blue to a purple that was like the purple of ripe plums and grapes, only more beautiful and bright. in a few minutes the purple colour faded away and the hills grew shadowy and dark. it was too late in the day, and he was too tired to walk further. he was very hungry and thirsty too, and so when he had found a few small white partridge-berries and had made a poor supper on them, he gathered some dry grass into a little heap, and lying down in it, was soon in a sound sleep.
it was not until the late afternoon next day that martin at last got to the foot of the hill, or mountain, and looking up he saw it like a great wall of stone above him, with trees and bushes and trailing vines growing out of the crevices and on the narrow ledges of the rock. going some distance he came to a place where he could ascend, and here he began slowly walking[111] upwards. at first he could hardly contain his delight where everything looked new and strange, and here he found some very beautiful flowers; but as he toiled on he grew more tired and hungry at every step, and then, to make matters worse, his legs began to pain so that he could hardly lift them. it was a curious pain which he had never felt in his sturdy little legs before in all his wanderings.
then a cloud came over the sun, and a sharp wind sprang up that made him shiver with cold: then followed a shower of rain; and now martin, feeling sore and miserable, crept into a cavity beneath a pile of overhanging rocks for shelter. he was out of the rain there, but the wind blew in on him until it made his teeth chatter with cold. he began to think of his mother, and of all the comforts of his lost home—the bread and milk when he was hungry, the warm clothing, and the soft little bed with its snowy white coverlid in which he had slept so sweetly every night.
"o mother, mother!" he cried, but his mother was too far off to hear his piteous cry.
when the shower was over he crept out of his shelter again, and with his little feet already bleeding from the sharp rocks, tried to climb on. in one spot he found some small, creeping, myrtle plants covered with ripe white berries, and although they had a very pungent taste he ate his fill of them, he was so very hungry. then feeling that he could climb no higher, he began to look round for a dry, sheltered spot to pass the night[112] in. in a little while he came to a great, smooth, flat stone that looked like a floor in a room, and was about forty yards wide: nothing grew on it except some small tufts of grey lichen; but on the further side, at the foot of a steep, rocky precipice, there was a thick bed of tall green and yellow ferns, and among the ferns he hoped to find a place to lie down in. very slowly he limped across the open space, crying with the pain he felt at every step; but when he reached the bed of ferns he all at once saw, sitting among the tall fronds on a stone, a strange-looking woman in a green dress, who was gazing very steadily at him with eyes full of love and compassion. at her side there crouched a big yellow beast, covered all over with black, eye-like spots, with a big round head, and looking just like a cat, but a hundred times larger than the biggest cat he had ever seen. the animal rose up with a low sound like a growl, and glared at martin with its wide, yellow, fiery eyes, which so terrified him that he dared not move another step until the woman, speaking very gently to him, told him not to fear. she caressed the great beast, making him lie down again; then coming forward and taking martin by the hand, she drew him up to her knees.
"what is your name, poor little suffering child?" she asked, bending down to him, and speaking softly.
"martin—what's yours?" he returned, still half sobbing, and rubbing his eyes with his little fists.[113]
"i am called the lady of the hills, and i live here alone in the mountain. tell me, why do you cry, martin?"
"because i'm so cold, and—and my legs hurt so, and—and because i want to go back to my mother. she's over there," said he, with another sob, pointing vaguely to the great plain beneath their feet, extending far, far away into the blue distance, where the crimson sun was now setting.
"i will be your mother, and you shall live with me here on the mountain," she said, caressing his little cold hands with hers. "will you call me mother?"
"you are not my mother," he returned warmly. "i don't want to call you mother."
"when i love you so much, dear child?" she pleaded, bending down until her lips were close to his averted face.
"how that great spotted cat stares at me!" he suddenly said. "do you think it will kill me?"
"no, no, he only wants to play with you. will you not even look at me, martin?"
he still resisted her, but her hand felt very warm and comforting—it was such a large, warm, protecting hand. so pleasant did it feel that after a little while he began to move his hand up her beautiful, soft, white arm until it touched her hair. for her hair was unbound and loose; it was dark, and finer than the finest spun silk, and fell all over her shoulders and down her back to the stone she sat on. he let his fingers[114] stray in and out among it; and it felt like the soft, warm down that lines a little bird's nest to his skin. finally, he touched her neck and allowed his hand to rest there, it was such a soft, warm neck. at length, but reluctantly, for his little rebellious heart was not yet wholly subdued, he raised his eyes to her face. oh, how beautiful she was! her love and eager desire to win him had flushed her clear olive skin with rich red colour; out of her sweet red lips, half parted, came her warm breath on his cheek, more fragrant than wild flowers; and her large dark eyes were gazing down into his with such a tenderness in them that martin, seeing it, felt a strange little shudder pass through him, and scarcely knew whether to think it pleasant or painful. "dear child, i love you so much," she spoke, "will you not call me mother?"
dropping his eyes and with trembling lips, feeling a little ashamed at being conquered at last, he whispered "mother."
she raised him in her arms and pressed him to her bosom, wrapping her hair like a warm mantle round him; and in less than one minute, overcome by fatigue, he fell fast asleep in her arms.
