But she, like a strong stately vessel, moved
unhurt through the midst of them. Ever as they leaped against her
cloak, they dropped and slunk away back through the crowd. Others
ever succeeded, and ever in their turn fell, and drew back
confounded. For some time she walked on attended and assailed on all
sides by the howling pack. Suddenly they turned and swept away,
vanishing in the depths of the forest. She neither slackened nor
hastened her step, but went walking on as before.
In a little while she unfolded her cloak, and let the princess look
out. The firs had ceased; and they were on a lofty height of
moorland, stony and bare and dry, with tufts of heather and a few
small plants here and there. About the heath, on every side, lay the
forest, looking in the moonlight like a cloud; and above the forest,
like the shaven crown of a monk, rose the bare moor over which they
were walking. Presently, a little way in front of them, the princess
espied a whitewashed cottage, gleaming in the moon. As they came
nearer, she saw that the roof was covered with thatch, over which
the moss had grown green.
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