declared this was not
his daughter. No one but the yard dog and the swallows would recognize
her; but they were poor animals who had nothing to say in the matter.

Then poor Eliza wept, and thought of her eleven brothers who were all
away. Sorrowfully she crept out of the castle, and walked all day over
field and moor till she came into the great wood. She did not know
whither she wished to go, only she felt very downcast and longed for her
brothers: they had certainly been, like herself, thrust forth into the
world, and she would seek for them and find them.

She had been only a short time in the wood when the night fell; she
quite lost the path, therefore she lay down upon the soft moss, prayed
her evening prayer, and leaned her head against the stump of a tree.
Deep silence reigned around, the air was mild, and in the grass and in
the moss gleamed like a green fire hundreds of glow-worms; when she
lightly touched one of the twigs with her hand, the shining insects fell
down upon her like shooting stars.

The whole night long she dreamed of her brothers. They were children
again playing together, writing with their diamond pencils upon their
golden slates, and looking at the beautiful picture-book which had cost
half a kingdom. But on the slates they were not writing as they had been
accustomed to do, lines and letters, but the brave deeds they had done,
and all they had seen and experienced; and in the picture-book
everything was alive--the birds sang, and the people went out of the
book and spoke with Eliza and her brothers. But when the leaf was
turned, they jumped back again directly, so that there should be no
confusion.

When she awoke the sun was already standing high. She could certainly
not see it, for the lofty trees spread their branches far and wide above
her. But the rays played there above like a gauzy veil, there was a
fragrance from the fresh verdure, and the birds almost perched upon her
shoulders. She heard the splashing of water; it was from a number of
springs all flowing into a lake which had the most delightful sandy
bottom. It was surrounded by thick growing bushes, but at one part the
stags had made a large opening, and here Eliza went down to the water.
The lake was so clear, that if the wind had not stirred the branches and
the bushes, so that they moved, one would have thought they were painted
upon the depths of the lake, so clearly was every leaf mirrored, whether
the sun shone upon it