Page 149 - Adventures in shadow-land

peared, till there was only one cage and one bird
left, and then the new bird never hesitated, but lit
on the top of this cage, and then he said to Eva:

“ This is Aster, who was changed by the Green
Frog into this form. He cannot regain his own

shape without you, and the Toad-Woman will
tell you what you are to do. As soon as the

Frog misses him she will know who you are,
which she does not yet know, and she will do
her best to get him away from you. Go at once,

and without any delay, to the Cascade of Rocks.
Your friend there will help you. And remember

that a kind action never goes unrewarded.”
And then the bird was gone, and Eva was
alone. She tried to open the cage and take the

little green bird out, hut there was no such thing
as opening it. So she took the cage, and the coat,
which she had mended, and the piece had grown

into the velvet, so that you never could tell that it
had been torn, and without going again into the

hut or telling the Frog she had found the bird,
she went, for the last time, by the same road by

which she had come, to the grotto of the Toad-
Woman.