"
"Yea," said Ralph, "and she doth not dwell in this castle always;
where else then doth she dwell?" "I wot not," said the carle,
"but it should be in heaven: for when she cometh to us all our joys
increase in us by the half."
"Look you, father," said Ralph, "May it not have been more than one Lady
of Abundance that thou hast seen in thy life-days; and that this one
that now is, is the daughter's daughter of the one whom thou first sawest--
how sayest thou?" The carle laughed: "Nay, nay," said he, "It is not so:
never has there been another like to her in all ways, in body and voice,
and heart and soul. It is as I say, she is the same as she was always."
"And when," said Ralph, with a beating heart, "does she come hither?
Is it at some set season?" "Nay, from time to time, at all seasons,"
said the carle; "and as fair she is when she goeth over the snow,
as when her feet are set amidst the June daisies."
Now was Ralph so full of wonder that he scarce knew what to say;
but he bethought him of that fair waste on the other side of the forest,
the country through which that wide river flowed, so he said:
"And that land north-away beyond the wildwood, canst thou tell
me the tale of its wars, and if it were wasted in the same
wars that tormented this land?" The carle shook his head:
"As to the land beyond this wood," quoth he, "I know nought of it,
for beyond the wood go we never: nay, most often we go but a little
way into it, no further than we can see the glimmer of the open
daylight through its trees,--the daylight of the land of Abundance--
that is enough for us.
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