down under the cloth, deep into the moss, that you will not
find, and out of that acorn will grow up a tree, and when it is large
enough it will be cut down, and out of one part of the boards a cradle
wilt be made, and out of the other part a door, and a child will be
laid in the cradle, and when that child shall open that door for the
first time, I shall be released. Until that time I must wander about,
because I have been a forest-trespasser, and lived on dishonest means.'
The little dwarf laughs again, and then vanishes into the tree-stump
Since then he's been heard many a time, but nobody's seen him again.
Everybody knows the oak-tree in the forest, but no one disturbs it."

Roland shuddered. He did not believe in the story, but he gave
attention while the teamster continued to relate to him how hard it was
to get rid of possessions dishonestly acquired.

Gradually it began to be twilight. Roland extended his hand to the
teamster, and bade him good-bye, as he wished to stay here and wait
awhile. The teamster seated himself upon the wagon-shafts, and fixed
himself comfortably, as it was now day, and he could doze a little.

The boy sat down upon a pile of stones, gazing into vacancy, and
listening to the gradual dying away in the distance of the rattling and
creaking wagon. For the first time in his life, he represented to
himself in imagination the way in which a human being lives. He saw, as
in a dream, the teamster arriving at his place of destination, he saw
him lying in the shed upon the bundle of hay which he afterwards threw
to his horses.

Roland had never yet been so alone, so without attendance, so conscious
that no one could call to him; it seemed that he now saw, for the first
time, the world and all that is in it. He followed the path of a little
beetle, which crept swiftly along the ground and scrambled up a stalk.

Incomprehensible thoughts were stirring in his youthful spirit. What an
infinite fulness of existence is the world! In the hedges of wild
roses, just opening their buds by the roadside, sat motionless beetles
and insects of all kinds, and a great buzzing and humming came from one
open flower-cup to another. Here had beetles, butterflies, flies, and
spiders spent the night, and the well-roofed snails were quietly housed
upon the twigs.

He saw a field-mouse come out of its hole; first it remained resting
upon the edge, listening, looking round, moving its chaps, and finally
it slipped