“When you bade me depart with that dreadful old Fuss, dear lady, my heart failed me entirely, and I thought I should not be able to do your bidding.  So long had I been used to her cruel power that the thought of opposing her filled me with alarm; but curiously enough the very night I hastened from you to the miserable cavern we called home, a young fox followed me, and unknown to me slept by my side.  When I awoke the witch was preparing for her journey, for on her back and by her side she carried bags of all shapes and sizes, with everything in them that could do mischief.  In one was snuff, in another was pepper, and in a third was mustard, and in all were flinty pebbles and bits of glass.  Some of these were for people’s eyes and some for their feet, and she had hardly room for the mouldly old crusts and pieces of cheese which furnished us with food.

“As soon as she saw the fox, which I was petting with delight, she made a pass at it with her stick, which I am sure would have killed it had I not caught the blow.  The little fellow sprang from my arms and bit her heel, which made her so very angry that I had to run for my life—­but, strange to say, after that he was my only protection.

“Although she bade me drown him, and although I, remembering your commands, disobeyed her, she did not dare come near me when I had him in my arms.  Day after day he followed me, night after night he slept beside me, and though I had fewer beatings, old Fuss watched me closely; she seemed to know that I wanted to get away from her.

“We toiled along on the roadsides, begging from house to house.

“At last one day we came to a beautiful sheet of water, blue and sparkling in the sunshine.  Everywhere I went I had gathered flowers—­sometimes they were only weeds, such as dandelions and daisies, but here on the banks of this lovely lake I found the sweetest blossoms.  From every one I had tried to learn the names of the plants, but it was a very difficult matter, for half the time they misunderstood my signs, and supposed I was only making game of them; besides, when Fuss came up with her horrible jargon, every one was so disgusted that he would have nothing to do with me.

“But every day I repeated as a lesson the one word ‘Edelweiss,’ and whenever I had the chance I would say this to a stranger.  Generally they took no notice—­sometimes they would smile, and point to the mountain-peaks before us.

“The day we reached the lake Fuss was in one of her ugliest moods:  she had not received a penny from any passer-by, and she had not been able to make a young boatman quarrel with his companions, although she had sprinkled pepper about until they were all sneezing as if they were crazy.  I was weary and disconsolate, sitting paddling in the water, and the fox was not by me, having run after a rat that had crawled from the wreck of an old unused craft.  Without a word of warning Fuss came up behind me and gave me a push.