wixt
the sea and the rough of the mountain; and it was the fairest and
softest of summer evenings; and the deer of that place, both little and
great, had no fear of man, but the hart and hind came to Ursula's hand;
and the thrushes perched upon her shoulder, and the hares gambolled
together close to the feet of the twain; so that it seemed to them that
they had come into the very Garden of God; and they forgat all the many
miles of the waste and the mountain that lay before them, and they had
no thought for the strife of foemen and the thwarting of kindred, that
belike awaited them in their own land, but they thought of the love and
happiness of the hour that was passing. So sweetly they wore through
the last minutes of the day, and when it was as dark as it would be in
that fair season, they lay down by the green knoll at the ending of the
land, and were lulled to sleep by the bubbling of the Well at the
World's End.

BOOK FOUR

The Road Home

CHAPTER 1

Ralph and Ursula Come Back Again Through the Great Mountains

On the morrow morning they armed them and took to their horses and
departed from that pleasant place and climbed the mountain without
weariness, and made provision of meat and drink for the Dry Desert, and
so entered it, and journeyed happily with naught evil befalling them
till they came back to the House of the Sorceress; and of the Desert
they made little, and the wood was pleasant to them after the drought
of the Desert.

But at the said House they saw those kind people, and they saw in their
eager eyes as in a glass how they had been bettered by their drinking
of the Well, and the Elder said to them: "Dear friends, there is no
need to ask you whether ye have achieved your quest; for ye, who before
were lovely, are now become as the very Gods who rule the world. And
now methinks we have to pray you but one thing, to wit that ye will not
be overmuch of Gods, but will be kind and lowly with them that needs
must worship you."

They laughed on him for kindness' sake, and kissed and embraced the old
man, and they thanked them all for their helping, and they abode with
them for a whole day in good-will and love, and thereafter the carle,
who was the son of the Elder, with his wife, bade farewell to his
kinsmen, and led Ralph and Ursula back through the wood and over the
desert to the town of the Innocent Folk. The said Folk received them
in all joy and triumph, and would have them abid