And by fair
ways indeed they went, and so joyous was all about them, that little
by little Birdalone's gladness came back to her, and she made the
most of it to be as merry of seeming as she might be.
Now they rode fair and softly by thicket and copse and glade of the
woodland, following up the stream aforesaid for the more part, till
at last the trees failed them suddenly, and they came forth on to a
wide green plain, all unbuilded, so far as their eyes could see, and
beyond it the ridges of the hills and blue mountains rising high
beyond them.
When Birdalone's eyes beheld this new thing, of a sudden all care
left her, and she dropped her rein, and smote her palms together, and
cried out: Oh! but thou art beautiful, O earth, thou art beautiful!
Then she sat gazing on it, while the greyhead turned and smiled on
her, well pleased of her pleasure.
After a while she said: And might we go nigher? Yea, certes, said
he, yet I doubt if thou wilt like it the better, the nigher thou art.
Ah! she said, but if I were only amidst it, and a part of it, as once
I was of the woodland!
So thitherward they rode over the unharvested mead, and saw hart and
hind thereon, and wild kine, and of smaller deer great plenty, but of
tame beasts none; and the hills were before them like a wall.
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