And it was easier for me to find a livelihood in the woods
than it had been for most folk, so well as I knew them.
So wore the days, and she came not, and I began to think that I
should see the wise carline no more, as indeed fell out at that time;
and the days began to hang heavy on my hands, and I fell
to thinking of that way to the west and the peopled parts,
whereof the carline had told me; and whiles I went out of
the Dale and went away hither and thither through the woods,
and so far, that thrice I slept away out of the Dale:
but I knew that the peopled parts would be strange to me and I
feared to face them all alone.
"Thus wore the days till July was on the wane, and on a morning
early I awoke with unwonted sounds in mine ears; and when my eyes
were fairly open I saw a man standing over me and a white horse
cropping the grass hard by. And my heart was full and fain,
and I sprang to my feet and showed him a smiling happy face,
for I saw at once that it was that fair man come back again.
But lo! his face was pale and worn, though he looked kindly
on me, and he said: 'O my beloved, I have found thee,
but I am faint with hunger and can speak but little.'
And even therewith he sank down on the grass. But I bestirred
myself, and gave him milk of my goats, and curds and berries,
and the life came into him again, and I sat down by him and laid
his head in my lap, and he slept a long while; and when he awoke
(and it was towards sunset) he kissed my hands and my arms,
and said to me: 'Fair child, perhaps thou wilt come with me now;
and even if thou art a thrall thou mayest flee with me;
for my horse is strong and fat, though I am weak, for he can
make his dinner on the grass.
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