After Prince was gone, the princess, by degrees, fell back into some of her bad old ways, from which only the presence of the dog, not her own betterment, had kept her. She never grew nearly so selfish again, but she began to let her angry old self lift up its head once more, until by and by she grew so bad that the shepherdess declared she should not stop in the house a day longer, for she was quite unendurable.
“It is all very well for you, husband,” she said, “for you haven’t her all day about you, and only see the best of her. But if you had her in work instead of play hours, you would like her no better than I do. And then it’s not her ugly passions only, but when she’s in one of her tantrums, it’s impossible to get any work out of her. At such times she’s just as obstinate1 as—as—as”—
She was going to say “as Agnes,” but the feelings of a mother overcame her, and she could not utter the words.
The shepherd felt he had no right to tell his wife she must submit to have her life made miserable, and therefore, although he was really much attached to Rosamond, he would not interfere3; and the shepherdess told her she must look out for another place.
The princess was, however, this much better than before, even in respect of her passions, that they were not quite so bad, and after one was over, she was really ashamed of it. But not once, ever since the departure of Prince had she tried to check the rush of the evil temper when it came upon her. She hated it when she was out of it, and that was something; but while she was in it, she went full swing with it wherever the prince of the power of it pleased to carry her. Nor was this all: although she might by this time have known well enough that as soon as she was out of it she was certain to be ashamed of it, she would yet justify4 it to herself with twenty different arguments that looked very good at the time, but would have looked very poor indeed afterwards, if then she had ever remembered them.
She was not sorry to leave the shepherd’s cottage, for she felt certain of soon finding her way back to her father and mother; and she would, indeed, have set out long before, but that her foot had somehow got hurt when Prince gave her his last admonition, and she had never since been able for long walks, which she sometimes blamed as the cause of her temper growing worse. But if people are good-tempered only when they are comfortable, what thanks have they?—Her foot was now much better; and as soon as the shepherdess had thus spoken, she resolved to set out at once, and work or beg her way home. At the moment she was quite unmindful of what she owed the good people, and, indeed, was as yet incapable8 of understanding a tenth part of her obligation to them. So she bade them good by without a tear, and limped her way down the hill, leaving the shepherdess weeping, and the shepherd looking very grave.
When she reached the valley she followed the course of the stream, knowing only that it would lead her away from the hill where the sheep fed, into richer lands where were farms and cattle. Rounding one of the roots of the hill she saw before her a poor woman walking slowly along the road with a burden of heather upon her back, and presently passed her, but had gone only a few paces farther when she heard her calling after her in a kind old voice—
“Your shoe-tie is loose, my child.”
But Rosamond was growing tired, for her foot had become painful, and so she was cross, and neither returned answer, nor paid heed10 to the warning. For when we are cross, all our other faults grow busy, and poke7 up their ugly heads like maggots, and the princess’s old dislike to doing any thing that came to her with the least air of advice about it returned in full force.
“My child,” said the woman again, “if you don’t fasten your shoe-tie, it will make you fall.”
“Mind your own business,” said Rosamond, without even turning her head, and had not gone more than three steps when she fell flat on her face on the path. She tried to get up, but the effort forced from her a scream, for she had sprained11 the ankle of the foot that was already lame5.
The old woman was by her side instantly.
“Where are you hurt, child?” she asked, throwing down her burden and kneeling beside her.
“Go away,” screamed Rosamond. “You made me fall, you bad woman!”
The woman made no reply, but began to feel her joints13, and soon discovered the sprain12. Then, in spite of Rosamond’s abuse, and the violent pushes and even kicks she gave her, she took the hurt ankle in her hands, and stroked and pressed it, gently kneading it, as it were, with her thumbs, as if coaxing14 every particle of the muscles into its right place. Nor had she done so long before Rosamond lay still. At length she ceased, and said:—
“Now, my child, you may get up.”
“I can’t get up, and I’m not your child,” cried Rosamond. “Go away.”
Without another word the woman left her, took up her burden, and continued her journey.
In a little while Rosamond tried to get up, and not only succeeded, but found she could walk, and, indeed, presently discovered that her ankle and foot also were now perfectly15 well.
“I wasn’t much hurt after all,” she said to herself, nor sent a single grateful thought after the poor woman, whom she speedily passed once more upon the road without even a greeting.
Late in the afternoon she came to a spot where the path divided into two, and was taking the one she liked the look of better, when she started at the sound of the poor woman’s voice, whom she thought she had left far behind, again calling her. She looked round, and there she was, toiling16 under her load of heather as before.
“You are taking the wrong turn, child.” she cried.
“How can you tell that?” said Rosamond. “You know nothing about where I want to go.”
“I know that road will take you where you won’t want to go,” said the woman.
“I shall know when I get there, then,” returned Rosamond, “and no thanks to you.”
She set off running. The woman took the other path, and was soon out of sight.
By and by, Rosamond found herself in the midst of a peat-moss—a flat, lonely, dismal17, black country. She thought, however, that the road would soon lead her across to the other side of it among the farms, and went on without anxiety. But the stream, which had hitherto been her guide, had now vanished; and when it began to grow dark, Rosamond found that she could no longer distinguish the track. She turned, therefore, but only to find that the same darkness covered it behind as well as before. Still she made the attempt to go back by keeping as direct a line as she could, for the path was straight as an arrow. But she could not see enough even to start her in a line, and she had not gone far before she found herself hemmed18 in, apparently19 on every side, by ditches and pools of black, dismal, slimy water. And now it was so dark that she could see nothing more than the gleam of a bit of clear sky now and then in the water. Again and again she stepped knee-deep in black mud, and once tumbled down in the shallow edge of a terrible pool; after which she gave up the attempt to escape the meshes20 of the watery21 net, stood still, and began to cry bitterly, despairingly. She saw now that her unreasonable22 anger had made her foolish as well as rude, and felt that she was justly punished for her wickedness to the poor woman who had been so friendly to her. What would Prince think of her, if he knew? She cast herself on the ground, hungry, and cold, and weary.
Presently, she thought she saw long creatures come heaving out of the black pools. A toad23 jumped upon her, and she shrieked24, and sprang to her feet, and would have run away headlong, when she spied in the distance a faint glimmer25. She thought it was a Will-o’-the-wisp. What could he be after? Was he looking for her? She dared not run, lest he should see and pounce26 upon her. The light came nearer, and grew brighter and larger. Plainly, the little fiend was looking for her—he would torment27 her. After many twistings and turnings among the pools, it came straight towards her, and she would have shrieked, but that terror made her dumb.
It came nearer and nearer, and lo! it was borne by a dark figure, with a burden on its back: it was the poor woman, and no demon28, that was looking for her! She gave a scream of joy, fell down weeping at her feet, and clasped her knees. Then the poor woman threw away her burden, laid down her lantern, took the princess up in her arms, folded her cloak around her, and having taken up her lantern again, carried her slowly and carefully through the midst of the black pools, winding29 hither and thither30. All night long she carried her thus, slowly and wearily, until at length the darkness grew a little thinner, an uncertain hint of light came from the east, and the poor woman, stopping on the brow of a little hill, opened her cloak, and set the princess down.
“I can carry you no farther,” she said. “Sit there on the grass till the light comes. I will stand here by you.”
Rosamond had been asleep. Now she rubbed her eyes and looked, but it was too dark to see any thing more than that there was a sky over her head. Slowly the light grew, until she could see the form of the poor woman standing9 in front of her; and as it went on growing, she began to think she had seen her somewhere before, till all at once she thought of the wise woman, and saw it must be she. Then she was so ashamed that she bent31 down her head, and could look at her no longer. But the poor woman spoke6, and the voice was that of the wise woman, and every word went deep into the heart of the princess.
“Rosamond,” she said, “all this time, ever since I carried you from your father’s palace, I have been doing what I could to make you a lovely creature: ask yourself how far I have succeeded.”
All her past story, since she found herself first under the wise woman’s cloak, arose, and glided32 past the inner eyes of the princess, and she saw, and in a measure understood, it all. But she sat with her eyes on the ground, and made no sign.
Then said the wise woman:—
“Below there is the forest which surrounds my house. I am going home. If you pledge to come there to me, I will help you, in a way I could not do now, to be good and lovely. I will wait you there all day, but if you start at once, you may be there long before noon. I shall have your breakfast waiting for you. One thing more: the beasts have not yet all gone home to their holes; but I give you my word, not one will touch you so long as you keep coming nearer to my house.”
She ceased. Rosamond sat waiting to hear something more; but nothing came. She looked up; she was alone.
Alone once more! Always being left alone, because she would not yield to what was right! Oh, how safe she had felt under the wise woman’s cloak! She had indeed been good to her, and she had in return behaved like one of the hyenas33 of the awful wood! What a wonderful house it was she lived in! And again all her own story came up into her brain from her repentant34 heart.
“Why didn’t she take me with her?” she said. “I would have gone gladly.” And she wept. But her own conscience told her that, in the very middle of her shame and desire to be good, she had returned no answer to the words of the wise woman; she had sat like a tree-stump, and done nothing. She tried to say there was nothing to be done; but she knew at once that she could have told the wise woman she had been very wicked, and asked her to take her with her. Now there was nothing to be done.
“Nothing to be done!” said her conscience. “Cannot you rise, and walk down the hill, and through the wood?”
“But the wild beasts!”
“There it is! You don’t believe the wise woman yet! Did she not tell you the beasts would not touch you?”
“Yes, they are; but it would be far better to be eaten up alive by them than live on—such a worthless creature as you are. Why, you’re not fit to be thought about by any but bad ugly creatures.”
This was how herself talked to her.
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1
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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2
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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3
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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4
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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5
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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6
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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7
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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8
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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9
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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10
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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11
sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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12
sprain
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| n.扭伤,扭筋 | |
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13
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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14
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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15
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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16
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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17
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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18
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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19
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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20
meshes
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| 网孔( mesh的名词复数 )； 网状物； 陷阱； 困境 | |
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21
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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22
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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23
toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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24
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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26
pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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27
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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28
demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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29
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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30
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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31
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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32
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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33
hyenas
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| n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
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34
repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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35
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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