the lake, and at one spot, where an opening had been
made by a deer, Eliza went down to the water.

The lake was so clear that had not the wind rustled the branches of the
trees and the bushes so that they moved, they would have seemed painted
in the depths of the lake; for every leaf, whether in the shade or in
the sunshine, was reflected in the water.

When Eliza saw her own face she was quite terrified at finding it so
brown and ugly, but after she had wet her little hand and rubbed her
eyes and forehead, the white skin gleamed forth once more; and when she
had undressed and dipped herself in the fresh water, a more beautiful
king's daughter could not have been found anywhere in the wide world.

As soon as she had dressed herself again and braided her long hair, she
went to the bubbling spring and drank some water out of the hollow of
her hand. Then she wandered far into the forest, not knowing whither she
went. She thought of her brothers and of her father and mother and felt
sure that God would not forsake her. It is God who makes the wild apples
grow in the wood to satisfy the hungry, and He now showed her one of
these trees, which was so loaded with fruit that the boughs bent beneath
the weight. Here she ate her noonday meal, and then placing props under
the boughs, she went into the gloomiest depths of the forest.

It was so still that she could hear the sound of her own footsteps, as
well as the rustling of every withered leaf which she crushed under her
feet. Not a bird was to be seen, not a sunbeam could penetrate the
large, dark boughs of the trees. The lofty trunks stood so close
together that when she looked before her it seemed as if she were
enclosed within trelliswork. Here was such solitude as she had never
known before!

The night was very dark. Not a glowworm was glittering in the moss.
Sorrowfully Eliza laid herself down to sleep. After a while it seemed to
her as if the branches of the trees parted over her head and the mild
eyes of angels looked down upon her from heaven.

In the morning, when she awoke, she knew not whether this had really
been so or whether she had dreamed it. She continued her wandering, but
she had not gone far when she met an old woman who had berries in her
basket and who gave her a few to eat. Eliza asked her if she had not
seen eleven princes riding through the forest.

"No," replied the old woman, "but I saw yesterday eleven swans with gold
crowns on their heads, s